|
|
Post by wally on Jul 3, 2010 16:53:42 GMT -5
Egyptian brown is one of the most popular colors used to render Black skin tones.
i.e., African American art
Dead Egyptian: The recently deceased is painted with white skin in Egyptian art. (Ghostly?)
Ahmose Nefertari - Wife of Ahmose. She was a queen of great authority, which is why her
skin is painted black. The traditional color for Egyptian women was yellow, not because they
were actually that complexion, but yellow indicates a physical weakness vis-a-vis the
Egyptian male. However, politically speaking, Egyptian women were far from weak in
Egyptian society.
The Goddess Hathor with Egyptian gold complexion. The color of the gods.
Egyptian Noble family. All have the same brown complexions, illustrating social
equality. This really became a more common rendition after the Amarna revolution of
Pharaoh Ikhnaton.
Tutankhamen being reborn, his brown skin turning to black - the color of transformation and
resurrection. The God Ptah (Toh) - "Lord of Resurrection", holding the sceptre (Wose), sits in
judgment. His blue complexion shows that he is "god of creation and regeneration."  <><><> Egyptian Skin Tones - Symbolic & Conventional Egyptian male (dark) Egyptian brown skin.....masculine, strong Black skin.....................powerful, reborn White skin....................recently deceased Old Egyptian male (light) Yellow skin....................weak, frail Egyptian female (light) Yellow skin....................feminine, weak Egyptian brown skin.....equal of men (Amarna period) Black skin.....................powerful, reborn Egyptian gods Gold skin......................flesh of the gods Blue skin......................the cosmic waters, the firmament Green skin...................life (i.e., plants) Black skin.....................resurrection, sacred, holy, benevolent
|
|
|
|
Post by truthteacher2007 on Jul 3, 2010 17:14:37 GMT -5
Egyptian brown is one of the most popular colors used to render Black skin tones.
i.e., African American art
Dead Egyptian: The recently deceased is painted with white skin in Egyptian art. (Ghostly?)
Ahmose Nefertari - Wife of Ahmose. She was a queen of great authority, which is why her
skin is painted black. The traditional color for Egyptian women was yellow, not because they
were actually that complexion, but yellow indicates a physical weakness vis-a-vis the
Egyptian male. However, politically speaking, Egyptian women were far from weak in
Egyptian society.
The Goddess Hathor with Egyptian gold complexion. The color of the gods.
Egyptian Noble family. All have the same brown complexions, illustrating social
equality. This really became a more common rendition after the Amarna revolution of
Pharaoh Ikhnaton.
Tutankhamen being reborn, his brown skin turning to black - the color of transformation and
resurrection. The God Ptah (Toh) - "Lord of Resurrection", holding the sceptre (Wose), sits in
judgment. His blue complexion shows that he is "god of creation and regeneration." <><><> Egyptian Skin Tones - Symbolic & Conventional Egyptian male (dark) Egyptian brown skin.....masculine, strong Black skin.....................powerful, reborn White skin....................recently deceased Old Egyptian male (light) Yellow skin....................weak, frail Egyptian female (light) Yellow skin....................feminine, weak Egyptian brown skin.....equal of men (Amarna period) Black skin.....................powerful, reborn Egyptian gods Gold skin......................flesh of the gods Blue skin......................the cosmic waters, the firmament Green skin...................life (i.e., plants) Black skin.....................resurrection, sacred, holy, benevolent I've always speculated that the difference in colors of men and women were symbolic. It is often said the women were shown lighter in coor because they stayed in the house while the men worked in the fields. Okay, for one thing, of the peasant class, everyone worked in the fields, men and women and there was much work that needed to be done outside, fetching water, kindling, tending to live stock. Of the upper classes, the men were not going to be toiling in the fields, that was what the peasant class who lived on their land were for. Wealthy homes had gardens and pools, so people did indeed spend time outside in the sun and lets not forget they were also fond of hunting in the marshes, I'm sure the women folk came along too. The most obvious thing though is that if men were one color and women another, we would still see it in society today. I speculated that lightness has something to do with femininity or weakness because even today across North Africa lightness is associated with being weak and feminine and darkness is associated with masculinity and virility. I saw a Tunisian movie many years ago dealing with the issue of homosexuality. The main character was named Ahmed and he was haunted by the fear of people finding out about him. In one scene his sister joked "Ahemed is so fair skinned he should have been born a woman". Can you tell me where you found the information? I've been looking for years and never found any explanations. |
|
|
|
Post by olehint on Jul 6, 2010 0:49:12 GMT -5
 Wally is saying you can't tell what color the Kemites were because the colors were symbolic.  |
|
|
|
Post by Tukuler al~Takruri on Jul 6, 2010 10:57:43 GMT -5
MODERATOR MESSAGE
Though the title is borderline and the initial post
makes reference to African American art it still is
very relevant Egyptology delving into the uses
and meanings of human skin colors in AE art.
Let's not get irrelevant and continue posting
non-AE images and photos if this thread is to
stay here in the Egyptology folder where it
should belong. Thanks.
|
|
|
|
Post by Tukuler al~Takruri on Jul 6, 2010 11:02:51 GMT -5
I sometimes wonder if some Tjemehu in New Kingdom art are painted nearly white because they live in the west, Ament, which direction applied to the dead and hence was a semi-ghostland?
Dead Egyptian: The recently deceased is painted with white skin in Egyptian art. (Ghostly?)
Egyptian Skin Tones - Symbolic & Conventional
Egyptian male (dark)
White skin....................recently deceased
|
|
|
|
Post by truthteacher2007 on Jul 6, 2010 12:59:32 GMT -5
I sometimes wonder if some Tjemehu in New Kingdom art are painted nearly white because they live in the west, Ament, which direction applied to the dead and hence was a semi-ghostland?
Dead Egyptian: The recently deceased is painted with white skin in Egyptian art. (Ghostly?)
Egyptian Skin Tones - Symbolic & Conventional
Egyptian male (dark)
White skin....................recently deceased
That's a very interesting question. Not sure we will ever be able to answer it though. However, the white skin representing the recently dead makes sense to me. The color white is a color of mourning in many African cultures. It would also explain why the skin tones of many of the feather style coffins, (can't remember the exact name. I think its reshi?), is often white. I think its also important to keep in mind that tomb paintings were not art in the sense that we consider it today. Yes, they are beautiful expressions, but they didn't do it as art for art's sake. These images were functional, furthermore, they were not meant to be seen by the outside world. |
|
|
|
Post by egyptianplanet on Jul 6, 2010 14:33:30 GMT -5
In Egyptian, Nubian and Middle Eastern culture black is often synonymous with fertility and life. While white is symbolic of death and destruction. The Phoenicians and Carthaginians used to symbolize death by the color white, and if you knew about the Phoenicians it was their love of colors. It makes sense, the soil of Egypt is black along the Nile. It brings life.
The European concept of black being death and white being innocence isn't something Africans and Middle Easterners are accustomed to.
Also I believe there's a story that all Egyptians who were pale and had red hair were though of as sickly and killed? Perhaps just some sort of weird story. Anyways, to stand up to the sun color one must be dark. Perhaps it is symbolic of strength. Yet at the same time we can't dismiss the fact Egyptians made the Nubians darker than themselves quite often, though there was overlap, and I highly doubt the Egyptians implied the Nubians were stronger men than them.
Edit: Let's not forget the term, "are you sick? You look pale." Remember melanin is a protein and when you become sickly you do tend to look paler no matter what color you naturally are.
|
|
|
|
Post by Tukuler al~Takruri on Jul 7, 2010 15:38:22 GMT -5
Sorry, I don't follow what you're saying. I never submitted any such notions you attribute to me. I thought you believed depictions of excessively pale-skinned Temehu to be only found in the imagination of early Egyptology's drawers? I sometimes wonder if some Tjemehu in New Kingdom art are painted nearly white because they live in the west, Ament, which direction applied to the dead and hence was a semi-ghostland? |
|
|
|
Post by olehint on Jul 7, 2010 15:47:56 GMT -5
Sorry, I don't follow what you're saying. I never submitted any such notions you attribute to me. I thought you believed depictions of excessively pale-skinned Temehu to be only found in the imagination of early Egyptology's drawers? the "dead" are the ancestors. Who live on in the next |
|
|
|
Post by Tukuler al~Takruri on Jul 8, 2010 15:17:24 GMT -5
Though I have seen my share of pale skinned "Libyans," I made a post confessing never to have seen any AE depiction of blonde haired blue eyed "Libyans." I still await that sight. I'm quite sure I wrote nothing about olive skinned people as I see no meaning in that term, but the only human skin colors olives come in are reddish brown and black. It puzzles me whenever I hear Euros calling one another olive skinned. As for AL hair, I once wrote of a shade of it called chestnut and that this is the lightest I've ever seen AL hair. I did write where some ancient author mentioned blonde haired Libyan girls in attendance on a Cleopatra but a wriiten Greek era account is a far cry from an AE pictorial. I cannot find the thread right now, but I remember a post of yours on Egyptsearch.com, where you show that there is no evidence of the pale-skinned fair-haired, fair-eyed tmHw Champollion and Minutoli referred to, and that the only attested depictions of tmHw show them as olive-skinned and black haired. Please correct me if I'm wrong though. Sorry, I don't follow what you're saying. I never submitted any such notions you attribute to me. |
|
|
|
Post by olehint on Jul 9, 2010 19:15:12 GMT -5
  had trouble trying to find a people match |
|
|
|
Post by wally on Jul 11, 2010 11:11:13 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Tukuler al~Takruri on Jul 11, 2010 11:20:17 GMT -5
For those who may have never been to the Greeks and seen 'live' olives I'd like to present the reddish brown and the black.   Africans are olive skinned without stretching the imagination. |
|
