Posted on 09/26/2007 11:58:41 AM PDT by presidio9
Egyptian antiquities supremo Zahi Hawass insisted Tuesday that Tutankhamun was not black despite calls by US black activists to recognise the boy king's dark skin colour.
"Tutankhamun was not black, and the portrayal of ancient Egyptian civilisation as black has no element of truth to it," Hawass told reporters.
"Egyptians are not Arabs and are not Africans despite the fact that Egypt is in Africa," he said, quoted by the official MENA news agency.
Hawass said he was responding to several demonstrations in Philadelphia after a lecture he gave there on September 6 where he defended his theory.
Protestors also claimed images of King Tut were altered to show him with lighter skin at the "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" exhibit which leaves Philadelphia for London on September 30.
The exhibition sparked an uproar when it kicked off in Los Angeles in June 2005 when black activists demanded that a bust of the boy king be removed because the statue portrays him as white.
The face of the legendary pharaoh, who died around 3,300 years ago at the age of just 19, was reconstructed in 2005 through images collected through CAT scans of his mummy.
The boy king's intact tomb caused an international sensation when it was discovered by Briton Howard Carter in 1922 near Luxor in southern Egypt.
I have seen him many times on the Discovery Channel, Learning Channel, etc...
Bout one the straightest shooters most knowledgeable (on his subject) persons I have ever seen.
WHA?! He be mah homeboy!
Yeah, that guy is probably mooselimb I guess, but he’s an intellectual first. I really enjoy watching him talk.
Just as being born in Africa, moving to America and becoming a citizen doesn't make you an African American. Especially if you are white!
LAZARUS LONG
“not black despite calls by US black activists to recognise the boy king’s dark skin colour...”
You’d think you were reading Scrappleface.
Better that I post such musings on the internet(s) than act upon them and embarrass my offspring.
PaMom
Speaking of which in my above post, I remember several years ago some crazy female black activist got really upset with a black speaker on a panel because he refused to take the moniker African American. She repeatedly insisted he do so. He repeatedly refused. It really ticked her off.
The reason he wouldn't, though he was black, he had never been an American, nor had he ever lived in America!
But to her, simply by having black skin he should call himself an African American.
Any person with dark (black) skin in America would be called “African American”. Although the look of confusion on American faces when a thick British ascent comes out of an “African Americans” mouth is priceless.
Thats the danger of trying to assign Nationality on the basis of skin color. Personally, I think calling someone a (fill in the blanc based on apparent ethnicity) Americans is deplorable. In my humble opinion there should only be one kind of American, and that is an American.
It’s beating a dead horse, and just about a pointless point to make. Black’s in America are “African American” even if they are Australian, or Persian, or East Indian and just here on vacation.
Just as a personal point, as a boy I lived for a number of years in Africa, England, and Jamaica, and as a naturalized citizen, I am just a little bewildered with the PC habit of labeling people with black skin as “African American”.
that’s hilarious.
Now that is the funniest thing I've heard all week. I bet that would shut them up about Tut being black! Excellent comment and observation!
Recall that Teresa Heinz, Ketchup Boy’s mistress, claimed the title African American because she was born in Portuguese East Africa (now Mozambique). Too funny...
“Actually, it’s always confused me how an arab can be antisemitic. Are we talking self-loathing or something.”
The error was (originally) with those who coined the term, when they actually meant anti-Jewish (but few Arabs lived in Europe where and when the term first came into use). The error has been compounded by the continued acceptance of the term to mean “anti-Jewish”, in spite of the fact that most educated people know the error that that usage makes. I think most Arabs don’t even care to correct it. They accept that it is not used as if it applies to them. And, besides, many Arabs would prefer not to correct the error and claim the proximity of their genetic heritage with Jews.
“Zowie’s in the news again” ping!
SHHHHH!
Are ye trying tae wreck ta Scottish tartan industry? Don't gae aroun letting oon thet thar ware nae "Tartan Police" in ta Highlands 300 years uhgo, and tha' women spun and wove tartans tae whutevuh patturn they pleased, and did nae jes mindlessly reproduce soom patturn laid down by uh clan chief? Do ye knoo how many wee bairns will wind oop starving, with thar pare parents on ta dole, iffen ye let Uhmereicans knoo that ta custum of distinct tartans fer everuh clan was envented by Victorian mill owners tae increese thar sales?
/Willie the Groundskeeper voice
Clearly, they could have painted his face black if it were indeed black, because they painted the alternating stripes on his headdress.
I went to Egypt and spent 2 weeks there. In the North, most Egyptians I met were a very light brown. Similar in color to Indians or Pakistani. The Egyptians themselves dont consider themselves black. The blacks in Egypt are generally regarded as being of Nubian descent ... which makes them inferior because Nubia was conquered by Egypt and therefore most Nubians were in Egypt as slaves.
The Egyptian dynasties practiced close intermarriage supposedly to keep the royal blood pure.
Cleopatra (nobody knows what she looked like) may have looked very much like Jihan Sadat; with very regular features and lightly complected.
In Acts 21.38, the Roman tribune (chiliarch) mistakes St. Paul for an Egyptian--there is no reason to think that Paul, a Jew, was black, so the Romans didn't assume that an Egyptian had to be black.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.