CUSH

"All through the ancient classics, whenever the Egyptians and the Ethiopians are referred to conjointly, they are regarded as being of one and the same race. Neither of them ever claimed to be of Semitic or Japhetic origin; nor did the descendants of either Shem or Japheth ever identify the lineages of either the Egyptians or the Ethiopians with their own till within the last few centuries, when the racial stock of the Negro fell below par. Then it was that the wide-awake progeny of Japheth set about to rob the Cushite of his liberty, of his country, and rob him of his ancient name and fame. To this end the trend of ancient history was changed, archaeology revolutionized, and the sacred Scriptures made to bear false witness . Yet the original letter of the Kodesh Lashon is faithful, and the honest student of the Bible finds in it light and truth. "Speaking of the ancient Ethiopians, Dr. Anthon says: 'The Aethiopians are intimately connected with the Egyptians in the early ages of their monarchy, and Aethiopian princes, and whole dynasties, occupied the throne of the Pharaohs at various times, even to a late period before the Persian conquest . The Aethiopians had the same religion, the same sacerdotal order, the same hieroglyphic writing, the same rites of sculpture and ceremonies as the Egyptians... The Aethiopians, who were connected with the Egyptians by affinity and intimate political relations, are by the later Hebrew historians termed Cush. Thus Tizhakah, the Cushite invader of Judah, is evidently Tearchon, the Aethiopian leader mentioned by Strabo, and the same who is termed Tarakos, and is set down by Manetho, in the well-known table of dynasties, as an Aethiopian king of Egypt. In the earlier ages the term Cush belonged apparently to the same nation or race ; though it would appear that the Cush or Aethiopians of those times occupied both sides of the Red Sea.' And in discussing the origin of Egyptian civilization this author says: 'Everything seems to countenance the idea that civilization came gradually down the valley of the Nile from the borders of Ethiopia to the shores of the Mediterranean....Monuments, tradition, analogies of every kind, are here in accordance with natural probabilities. There was a period when the names of Ethiopia and Egypt were confounded together, when the two nations were thought to form but a single people.' Class. Dict.... "Dr. Charles Anthon says: 'Everything seems to countenance the idea that civilization came gradually down the valley of the Nile from the brother of Ethiopia to the shores of the Mediterranean. The old Egyptians as well as the Ethiopians were termed by the Greeks ..., 'kinky haired.' Again: 'We may consider it as tolerably well proved that the Egyptians and Ethiopians were nations of the same race.' Again : 'It is nowhere asserted that the Aethiopians and Egyptians used the same language, but it seems to be implied, and is extremely probable.... As regards the physical character of the ancient Aethiopians, it may be remarked , that the Greeks commonly used the term Aethiopians, as we speak of the Negroes, as if they were the blackest people known in the world.' Class. Dict. pp. 40, 72 and 73." P.41-43, "Egyptians and Ethiopians," THE CUSHITE, OR, THE DESCENDANTS OF HAM: AS FOUND IN THE SACRED SCRIPTURES AND IN THE WRITINGS OF ANCIENT HISTORIANS AND POETS FROM NOAH TO THE CHRISTIAN ERA by Rufus Lewis Perry (1893)