Extemporaneous musings, occasionally poetic, about life in its richly varied dimensions, especially as relates to history, theology, law, literature, science, by one who is an attorney, ordained minister, historian, writer, and African American.
Sunday, February 26, 2017
ANCIENT EGYPT'S "NEAR EAST" HISTORY
Ancient Egypt's "Near East" History
"The Euphrates . During the New Kingdom (15067-1085 BC), Egypt conquered the Near East all the way down to the Euphrates , an Asian river."
I have for a long time suspected that the black ancient Egyptians had conquered their "Near East," neighbors, as attested above by Dr. Theophile Obenga in AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY: THE PHARAONIC PERIOD 2780-330 BC (2006), 297.
Dr. Theophile Obenga's learned disclosure corroborates much of what I had read elsewhere, about black history, including iconic black poet, Langston Hughes ' immortal poem, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers." In that epic encomium the historic Euphrates River is specifically mentioned:
"I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young."
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-p…/…/detail/44428
But, Obenga is adamant. He adds, going far beyond that one river :
"Ancient Egypt had an extremely interesting history of interactions with countries far and near. Throughout that history, a salient theme was the high prestige of the land of the pharaohs, source of the arts, philosophy, astronomy, religion, international law, and the concept of national identity reinforced by diplomacy and well-patrolled national borders. Pharaonic Egypt gave a great deal to, and received little from, the Aegean, Syrio-Palestinian , Phoenician, and other regions. Writing and philosophy originated from pharaonic Egypt, then spread to Phoenicia, the remainder of the western Mediterranean regions, and the Syrio-Palestinian corridor . Egypt was no less than the teacher of these Aegean and Asian cultures. Never did Egypt pay tribute to Libya, Crete, Syria, Israel, Phoenicia, or to the Hittite, Assyrian , Babylonian, and Sumerian kings. It was the Cretans, Aegeans, Syrians, Phoenicians and Assyrians who, acknowledging the pharaoh's authority, sent him annual tributes for centuries on end.
"Western historiography buries facts under a lethal haze, as if Western consciousness would be damaged by the simple recognition of historical realities, all verifiable from genuine written documents, paintings, and sculpture."
P. 299-300.