Beatty emphasizes that clashes between Kushites and Egyptians
were political in nature (like between England and France) not "racial."
He criticizes people like Donald Redford for attempting to apply racial
spin re "wretched" Kush. He does not mention it, but not surprisingly,
Redford never "spins" in reverse and say various inscriptions against
ale Asiatics are "racial." Therei s plenty of "wretched Asiatic" to go around.
Applying a consistent 'race' model that
interprets war between Egyptians and
Nubians as 'racial', then the Egyptians also
pursued 'racial' wars against whites from
the Middle East. ![]()
digital.library.upenn.edu/women/edwards/pharaohs/207.gif[/IMG]
RAMESES II. SLAYING THE "whites"
BEFORE RA, THE TUTELARY
DEITY OF THE GREAT TEMPLE OF
ABÛ-SIMBEL..
THE DISCOURSE OF AMEN-RA,
LORD OF THRONES against "whites". Thou hast struck off the heads of the
Asiatics, and their children cannot escape
from thee. Every land illuminated by thy
diadem is encircled by thy might; and in
all the zone of the heavens there is not a
rebel to rise up against thee. The enemy
bring in their tribute on their backs,
prostrating themselves before thee, their
limbs trembling and their hearts burned
up within them." Campaign against "white" Mittani in
parts of Lebanon: "He is a king valiant ... Naharin which its
lord had deserted out of fear ... I hacked
up its towns and villages and I set fire to
them ... I carried off their inhabitants ...
also their herds of cattle ... I felled all
their plantations and their fruit trees ...I
had many vessels ... built on the
mountains of God's Land in the
neighborhood of the Lady of Byblos ...
then on that mountain of Naharin, my
Majesty erected my stela, carved out of
the mountain on the western side of the
Euphrates.."
Conquest against and tribute from
"white" Palestine:"Tribute of the princes of Retenu, who
came to do obeisance ... to the souls of
his majesty... Now every harbor at which
his majesty arrived was supplied with
loaves and with assorted loaves, with oil,
incense, wine, f[ruit] ---- abundant were
they beyond everything ...
Tribute from 'white' Lebanon:The chieftains, lord of Lebanon,
construct the royal ships in order that
people may sail south in them to bring all
the marvels of the "Garden" to the
palace. LPH. ... The chieftains of Retjenu
(Retenu) who drag the flagpoles by
means of oxen to the shore, it is they
who come with their dues to the place
where his majesty is, to the Residence in
...... bearing all the fine products brought
as marvels of the south and being taxed
for tribute annually as (with) all
bondsmen of his Majesty."
Operations against more 'white'
'Troglodytes':"Then my Majesty made them take their
oaths of allegiance as follows: never
again shall we do anything evil against
Menkheperre (another name for
Thutmose III), may he live forever ...
Then my Majesty had them set free on
the road to their cities*). They went off
on donkeys for I had seized their
chariotry. I captured their inhabitants for
Egypt and their property likewise." [W.
Helck transl. by B. Cummings (1982),
`Urkunden der 18. Dynastie', `Egyptian
Historical Records of the Later 18th
Dynasty']
"His majesty proceeded northward, to
overthrow the Asiatics (Mntyw-Stt). His
majesty arrived at a district, Sekmem
(Skmm) was its name. His majesty led
the good way in proceeding to the palace
of `Life, Prosperity, and Health (L.P.H.,'
when Sekmen had fallen, together with
Retenu (Rtnw) the wretched, while I was
acting as rearguard." [Breasted,
`Records', Vol. I, Sec. 680]
Time of Seti the Great - Presentation of
Syrian Prisoners and Precious Vessels to
Amon
"Smiting the Troglodytes, beating down
the Asiatics (Mn·t·yw), making his
boundary as far as the `Horns of the
Earth', as far as the marshes of Naharin
(N-h-r-n)." [Ibid., Vol. III, Sec. 118;]
"Slaying of the Asiatic Troglodytes
(Ynw-Mn·t·yw [Menate, Manasseh]), all
inaccessible countries, all lands, the
Fenkhu of the marshes of Asia, the Great
Bend of the sea (w'd-wr)."
Booty seized from "white"
Caananites:".... 340 living prisoners; 83 hands; 2,401
mares; 191 foals; 6 stallions; ... young ...;
a chariot, wrought with gold, (its) pole
of gold, belonging to the chief of
`M-k-ty' (as the land around Jerusalem
was called); .... 892 chariots of his
wretched army; total, 924 (chariots); a
beautiful suit of bronze armor, belonging
to the chief of Jerusalem; .... 200 suits of
armor, belonging to his wretched army;
502 bows; 7 poles of (mry) wood,
wrought with silver, belonging to the tent
of that foe. Behold, the army of his
majesty took ...., 297 ...., 1,929 large
cattle, 2,000 small cattle, 20500 white
small cattle." [JBRE, `Records', Vol. II,
Sec. 435; See also the following
sections.]
Tribute from "white"
Assur/Assyria"The tribute of the chief of Assur
(Ys-sw-r): genuine lapis lazuli, a large
block, making 20 deben, 9 kidet; genuine
lapis lazuli, 2 blocks; total, 3; and pieces,
[making] 30 deben; total, 50 deben and 9
kidet; fine lapis lazuli from Babylon
(Bb-r); vessels of Assur of hrrt- stone in
colors, ---- very many." "Tribute of the
chief of Assur: horses ---. A ---- of skin
of the M-h-w as the [protection] of a
chariot, of the finest of --- wood;
190(+x) wagons --- --- wood, nhb wood,
343 pieces, carob wood, 50 pieces; nby
and k'nk wood, 206 pieces; olive oil,
------.." [BREASTED, Vol. II, Sec. 446,
449]
"Whites" put to slave labor in
Egypt.from Project Guttenberg full text of:
A HISTORY OF EGYPT FROM THE
EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PERSIAN
CONQUEST
BY JAMES HENRY BREASTED,
II, 760-1, 773. 2 II, 761.
Inscription
"the Asiatics of all countries came with
bowed head, doing obeisance to the fame
of his majesty."
book text:
"Thutmose's war-galleys moored in the
harbour of the town; but at this time not
merely the iceaUh of Asia was unloaded
from the ships; the Asiatics themselves,
bound one to another in long lines, were
led down the gang planks to begin a life
of slave- labour for the Pharaoh (Fig.
119). They wore long matted beards, an
abomination to the Egyptians ; their hair
hung in heavy black masses upon their
shoulders, and they were clad in gaily
coloured woolen stuffs, such as the
Egyptian, spotless in his white linen robe,
would never put on his body.
Their arms were pinioned behind them at
the elbows or crossed over their heads
and lashed together ; or, again, their
hands were thrust through odd pointed
ovals of wood, which served as
hand-cuffs. The women carried their
children slung in a fold of the mantle
over their shoulders. With their strange
speech and uncouth postures the poor
wretches were the subject of jibe and
merriment on the part of the multitude ;
while the artists of the time could never
forbear caricaturing them. Many of them
found their way into the houses of the
Pharaoh's favourites, and his generals
were liberally rewarded with gifts of such
slaves; but the larger number were
immediately employed on the temple
estates, the Pharaoh's domains, or in the
construction of his great monuments and
buildings."
Ancient Egyptians warn against
cowardly, treacherous "whites"
comparing them to destructive thieves
and reptiles."The Instruction for King, Merikare
takes a similar tone for peoples in the
north (Lichtheim 1973: 10404):
Lo the miserable Asiatic (white),
He is wretched because of the place he's
in:
Short of water, bare of wood,
Its paths are many and painful because of
mountains.
He does not dwell in one place,
Food propels his legs,
He fights since the time of Horus..
He does not announce the day of combat,
Like a thief who darts about a group.."
"Asiatics (whites) are both cowardly and
pitiful, leading a marginal existence,
constantly fighting but with nothing ever
settled. They are also sly and ultimately
treacherous, attacking without warning.
This passage characterizes Asiatics as
both primitive and threatening.. In this
case, the passage reflects Egypt's
combination of colonial domination and
outright military conflict.."
Merikare goes on (Lichtheim 1976:
103-104)
"The Asiatic [white] is a crocodile on its shore
It snatches from a lonely road,
It cannot seize a populous town."
Along the same lines, the Prophecy of
Neferti (c. 1950 BC) portrays Asiatic
immigrants as a flock of rapacious birds
descending on Egypt, taking advantage
of civil wars of the First Intermediate
Period (c. 2150 - 2050 BC) to infiltrate
parts of the rich Egyptian delta
(Lichtheim 1973: 141): A strange bird will breed in the delta
marsh,
having made its nest besides the people..
All happiness is vanished,
The land is bowed down in distress,
Owing to those feeders,
Asiatics [whites] who roam the land..
From: --Stuart Tyson Smith. (2003)
Wretched Kush: ethnic identities and
boundaries in Egypt's Nubian empire.
Routledge, pp. 28-31
