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The ancient Greek and Roman
beliefs regarding the power and origins of black people and their
kingdoms are clear examples of their high regard for blacks.
Diodoros, reiterating the
common tradition among the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and Nubians wrote:
"Now the Ethiopians (Black people), as historians relate, were the
first of all men…They say also that the Egyptians are colonists sent
out by the Ethiopians, Osiris having been the leader of the
colony….And the larger part of the customs of the Egyptians are, they
hold, Ethiopian, the colonists still preserving their ancient manners.
For instance, the belief that their kings are gods, the very special
attention which they pay to their burials, and many other matters of
a similar nature are Ethiopian practices, while the shapes of their
statues and the forms of their letters are Ethiopian."1
Diodoros wrote that passage
after reading the works of several prominent Egyptian historians,
including Agatharchides of Cnidus, and the geographer Artemidoros of
Ephesos, "….whose homes were in Egypt." He also consulted,
"with not a few ambassadors from Ethiopia…who
were then in Egypt."2
The belief that the Egyptians, who the Greeks and Romans greatly admired
and believed that much of their own culture originated from, were
colonists from Ethiopia
demonstrates their lack of contempt and admiration for the black
Africans.
In another tradition,
Delphos, the mythical founder of Delphi,
was the offspring of the God Apollo and a woman who has been given
several names: Celaeno, Melaena, Melanis and Thyia, all derivatives of
the word black. Furthermore, archeologists have discovered 5th century BC
coins in Delphi and Athens
that depicts the head of a Negro, which many historians believe is
Delphos. Therefore, it is probable that the Greeks believed the founder
of Delphi was a Black man.3
Philodemus wrote that Celaeno,
the daughter of Atlas and wife of Argos,
begot four Ethiopians.
Tacitus believed that a
group of Ethiopians founded Jerusalem.4
In the Old Testament Isaiah
wrote that Ethiopia
was, "A nation dreaded near and far, strong and conquering."
The Nubians who controlled Egypt
in the 8th and 9th centuries BC had distinctly
non-Egyptian names, and their statues, like Taharqa's, are unmistakably
Negro.5
Diodoros recorded that the Nile dwelling
Ethiopians were black, with kinky hair, and flat noses. 6
When these Nile dwelling people took over Egypt
to form Egypt's 25th
dynasty, "The Greeks expressed no astonishment that Ethiopians, a
people whom they at times described as black or dark and having several
so-called Negroid physical traits, had conquered Egypt or had constructed
great temples."7
Strabo, a Greek historian and geographer, even included Taharqa, a Nubian
king of Egypt,
on his list of the world's greatest military conquerors.8
When King Ezana decided to
use Frumentius as his head of the bishopric of Aksum
(powerful kingdom in Ethiopia),
a man who did not agree with Constantine
on certain issues, Constantine addressed Ezana and Ezana's brother
Saizana in a letter as his, "greatly honored brothers."9
There are many cases of
blacks becoming kings or achieving great power in the Mid-East, North
Africa, and India.
"In the late fourteenth century Malik Sarwar was appointed vizier to
the Tughluq sultan of Delhi, Muhammad Firuz…In 1394 he was appointed governor of
the eastern provinces…He pacified the turbulent province and extended its
boundaries and on his death in 1399 was succeeded by his adopted son
Qaranful, another African slave. The latter made himself virtually
independent of Delhi,
even having his own coins struck. He was succeeded in 1402 by his
brother Ibrahim Shah whose 38 year rule in total independence of Delhi was marked not
only by great military strength but also by the blossoming of art and
scholarship at his court and the erection of many fine buildings."10
In Egypt a Black Nubian slave,
Dafur, was so respected by Sultan Muhammad Tughj that the Sultan gave him
substantial military and political power. When the Sultan died the slave
became the de facto ruler of Egypt for 20 yrs--the
Sultan's son was the official ruler-- and when the Sultan's son died
Dafur became the official Sultan until he died two years later.11
Egypt had a half black caliph (king) al-Mustansir
(1034-1094). His Sudanese mother even ruled the nation for sometime
because he was only seven when he became caliph. During this time the
black 50,000 man Egyptian army gained considerably prestige.12
"Habshis…was sold into
slavery as a youth and one of his early masters was the judge of Mocha in
the Yemen
who, realizing his qualities, trained him in administration and finance.
After several other changes of master he reached India in 1575 where, after
serving in various Habshi forces he rose to the command of the Habshi
forces in the Nizam Shahi sultanate of Ahmadnager shortly before 1600.
There he became the champion of Deccani resistance to Moghul imperialism,
defeating a Moghul force in 1601 and for many years waging successful
guerrilla war against the imperial power. Until his death in 1626 he
was the de facto power in the sultanate, reorganizing the revenue system,
setting up a sound financial administration and organizing the training
of an efficient army. He attracted poets and scholars to his court,
carried out extensive public works, canals, roads and gardens) and
erected several impressive public building--all in black stone…Later Malik's son Fath Khan also
enjoyed a similar dominant influence at court."13
Europeans traveling through Saudi Arabia
in the 1860-80's discovered that the great and famous Wahhabi ruler,
called the "treasure of Faysal," was "jet-black, a
Negro." Many other Negroes, "were shopkeepers, merchants and
officers of government."14
Morocco in the 17th century had a black
king.15
Black slaves were often the
teachers of Moroccan heirs to the throne. 16
Ibrahim, the
"excessively black," son of a black concubine nearly became
King of Baghdad between 817-819 because of his widespread public support.17
The records' of the ancients
show that blacks were not used as mere human tools or warriors, as is
shown in popular culture, but were themselves major players in the world,
possessing incredible power and influence that the whites of the time
lacked.
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