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Post by Charlie Bass on Apr 2, 2010 17:39:09 GMT -5
Hathor, who was worshiped as Aphrodite by the Greeks and Astarte by Canaanites www.crystalinks.com/hathor.htmlAnubis, worshipped as Hermanubis by Greeks and Romans www.experiencefestival.com/hermanubisPerhaps Mary Leftowitz whould do her homework a little more instead of trying to discredit so called "Afrocentrists" with strawmen arguments.
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Post by Tukuler al~Takruri on Apr 2, 2010 18:28:48 GMT -5
How do we know Hathor is the Greeks' Aphrodite? How do we know Hathor is the Canaanites' Astarte? Is Aphrodite Astarte or is Astarte Aphrodite? Why are the names Hathor, Astarte, and Aphrodite all different? Just what exactly is the role of each of these goddesses? Are their functions peculiar or general shared by all peoples?
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Post by anansi on Apr 2, 2010 23:57:02 GMT -5
The God Bes and the Goddess Isis I am reasonably sure Ephesus-Seljuk_Museum A scene (from Herculaneum), thought to show a shrine in a grove dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis, who had a cult following in Greece and Rome www.gardenvisit.com/order_form.htm
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Post by Tukuler al~Takruri on Apr 3, 2010 22:09:45 GMT -5
I hope it's not too hackneyed or passe to quote from Herodotus. In his Histories 2.48-64 he's too general to be applicable to this thread. In a few spots though, he's does go into particulars like
[/size][/i].[/quote]
I don't mean to pick on the ancient Greeks but they documented this themselves. Other peoples may have known of borrowing deities from AE but they are more or less silent about it. In that case we find notice in the art.
Same for the AE. It's in the art and sometimes in the names where recognition of borrowing occurs. Then there are mergers like Serapis and Jupiter-Ammon etc.
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Post by anansi on Apr 3, 2010 23:38:21 GMT -5
I hope it's not too hackneyed or passe to quote from Herodotus. In his Histories 2.48-64 he's too general to be applicable to this thread. In a few spots though, he's does go into particulars like
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Post by djehuti on Apr 24, 2010 5:39:28 GMT -5
How do we know Hathor is the Greeks' Aphrodite? How do we know Hathor is the Canaanites' Astarte? Is Aphrodite Astarte or is Astarte Aphrodite? Why are the names Hathor, Astarte, and Aphrodite all different? Just what exactly is the role of each of these goddesses? Are their functions peculiar or general shared by all peoples? It is almost certain that Aphrodite is the Canaanite Astarte. This is based on the historical documentation of her cult which the Greeks specifically say was centered in Smyrna off the Phoenician coast and on the island of Cyprus before she 'came' to Greece. She was described to be a goddess of seafaring as well as of love and fertility and few know that she also had some war-like aspects as well which were most acknowledged in city-states like Thebes and Sparta. All of this plus her depictions as a nude goddess all betray her Levantine nature. It is also no coincidence that the Egyptians identified the Canaanite Astarte with their own Hwether which was known as the 'Lady of Byblos'. All in all, judging from the Canaanite mythology provided by Phoenician author Sanchuniathon, it seems Greece borrowed heavily from Phoenicians if not their Anatolian kinsmen.
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Post by egyptianplanet on Apr 24, 2010 15:31:23 GMT -5
And the ideas of Polytheism and the Lower Egyptian gods were borrowed from where?
That's right, Mesopotamia. We can not attribute religion to a specific people, it was passed and improved upon to meet the needs of the society.
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Post by djehuti on Apr 24, 2010 18:06:58 GMT -5
^ And exactly what makes you think Lower Egyptian gods or even polytheism itself in Egypt came from Mesopotamia?? Do you have any evidence to back this claim up?
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Post by egyptianplanet on Apr 24, 2010 20:59:59 GMT -5
^ And exactly what makes you think Lower Egyptian gods or even polytheism itself in Egypt came from Mesopotamia?? Do you have any evidence to back this claim up? From about 5000 to 4200 BC the Merimde Culture, so far only known from a big settlement site at the edge of the Western Delta, flourished in Lower Egypt. The culture has strong connections to the Faiyum A Culture, but also links to the Levant. People lived in small huts, produced a simple undecorated pottery and had stone tools. Cattle, sheep, goats and pigs were held. Wheat, sorghum and barley were planted. The Merimde people buried the dead within the settlement and produced clay figurines. [27] The first Egyptian lifesize head made of clay comes from MerimdeClay figurines were a stable of Mesopatamian civilization, not Egyptian. Recall Egyptians used marble and not clay.
Such a hillock community was Merimde beni-Salame, situated thirty seven miles northwest of present-day Cairo [map, p. 3]. It was discovered in the winter of 1927-28 by Professor Herrman Junker, director of the Vienna Academy of Natural Science's expedition to Egypt. A large flat area of almost fifty acres rose about two meters over the surrounding plain. It was strategically placed between the remaining semiarid pasture-lands of the encroaching desert and the rich alluvial bottomland. It is one of the earliest known farming villages in Lower Egypt, having been settled around 4880 B.C.E. and remaining occupied thereafter for approximately 650 years.
An astounding population of from five to sixteen thousand was projected from the great number of houses identified. The latter figure may be a cumulative one based on dwellings over a period of time. In any event, it is evident that, more than a thousand years before the purported invasion of the Scorpion King, a sizeable, productive, and culturally advanced Asiatic community already had been thriving on the mounds for more than six centuries.
It was immediately clear to the excavators that the Merimdens were radically different from the peoples of Upper Egypt in every respect - physically, culturally, and technologically. Their burial customs were similar to those of the southwestern, Semitic-type Asians, and strikingly different from those of all the Africans. Whereas the African tradition was to bury the dead with a variety of earthly goods to sustain them in the afterlife, and with amulets to protect them from malevolent spirits, the graves of the Merimdens contained no grave offerings of any kind.
Throughout the village clusters of baskets or jars serving as granaries were buried up to their necks in the ground, Circular, clay-lined threshing floors also seemed to be associated with individual dwellings. The Merimdens clearly lived in more or less economically independent single family units, the foundation of the same type of patriarchal system being formed at the time in the Semitic cultures of southwestern Asia. They contrasted sharply with the autarchic systems being generated in Upper Egypt.
[Merimbe] shows none of the distinctively Egyptian characteristics... In its general aspects, Merimde seems more like a village of sturdy yeoman farmers than a collection of peasants subject to the whims, avarice, and authority of a powerful man or a government, although some cooperative efforts (if not collectivization of food-producing tasks) are recalled by the threshing floors up to 13 feet in diameter.2
Merimde's pottery, while technically advanced for its time, was plain and practical, "a theme which sets apart this and later Delta sites from the ornament-ridden and display-oriented culture of Upper Egypt.3 The technological differences between the two regions were most conspicuous in the tools employed, particularly for husbandry and agriculture. Such tools were then absent from Stone-Age Upper Egypt. "The site was originally settled by a people intimately familiar with the mixed herding and crop-raising techniques that dominated the Middle Eastern and Levantine worlds for two thousand years."4 The cultivation of grain crops like wheat and barley and useful plants like flax were all foreign to and entirely unknown in Egypt until that time. The cultivation of Levantine and Mesopotamian domesticated grains was introduced into Africa in a proliferation of gezirat villages such as that of the Merimdens.
The natives of Upper Egypt had not yet learned to farm. The arable enclaves along the Nile were not being cultivated. The natives sustained themselves by hunting, gathering, and raiding their neighbors.Point being, Egypt was not the end all be all of the Mediterranean, Africa and Europe.
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Post by homeylu on Apr 25, 2010 16:15:22 GMT -5
^ And exactly what makes you think Lower Egyptian gods or even polytheism itself in Egypt came from Mesopotamia?? Do you have any evidence to back this claim up? From about 5000 to 4200 BC the Merimde Culture, so far only known from a big settlement site at the edge of the Western Delta, flourished in Lower Egypt. The culture has strong connections to the Faiyum A Culture, but also links to the Levant. People lived in small huts, produced a simple undecorated pottery and had stone tools. Cattle, sheep, goats and pigs were held. Wheat, sorghum and barley were planted. The Merimde people buried the dead within the settlement and produced clay figurines. [27] The first Egyptian lifesize head made of clay comes from MerimdeClay figurines were a stable of Mesopatamian civilization, not Egyptian. Recall Egyptians used marble and not clay.
Such a hillock community was Merimde beni-Salame, situated thirty seven miles northwest of present-day Cairo [map, p. 3]. It was discovered in the winter of 1927-28 by Professor Herrman Junker, director of the Vienna Academy of Natural Science's expedition to Egypt. A large flat area of almost fifty acres rose about two meters over the surrounding plain. It was strategically placed between the remaining semiarid pasture-lands of the encroaching desert and the rich alluvial bottomland. It is one of the earliest known farming villages in Lower Egypt, having been settled around 4880 B.C.E. and remaining occupied thereafter for approximately 650 years.
An astounding population of from five to sixteen thousand was projected from the great number of houses identified. The latter figure may be a cumulative one based on dwellings over a period of time. In any event, it is evident that, more than a thousand years before the purported invasion of the Scorpion King, a sizeable, productive, and culturally advanced Asiatic community already had been thriving on the mounds for more than six centuries.
It was immediately clear to the excavators that the Merimdens were radically different from the peoples of Upper Egypt in every respect - physically, culturally, and technologically. Their burial customs were similar to those of the southwestern, Semitic-type Asians, and strikingly different from those of all the Africans. Whereas the African tradition was to bury the dead with a variety of earthly goods to sustain them in the afterlife, and with amulets to protect them from malevolent spirits, the graves of the Merimdens contained no grave offerings of any kind.
Throughout the village clusters of baskets or jars serving as granaries were buried up to their necks in the ground, Circular, clay-lined threshing floors also seemed to be associated with individual dwellings. The Merimdens clearly lived in more or less economically independent single family units, the foundation of the same type of patriarchal system being formed at the time in the Semitic cultures of southwestern Asia. They contrasted sharply with the autarchic systems being generated in Upper Egypt.
[Merimbe] shows none of the distinctively Egyptian characteristics... In its general aspects, Merimde seems more like a village of sturdy yeoman farmers than a collection of peasants subject to the whims, avarice, and authority of a powerful man or a government, although some cooperative efforts (if not collectivization of food-producing tasks) are recalled by the threshing floors up to 13 feet in diameter.2
Merimde's pottery, while technically advanced for its time, was plain and practical, "a theme which sets apart this and later Delta sites from the ornament-ridden and display-oriented culture of Upper Egypt.3 The technological differences between the two regions were most conspicuous in the tools employed, particularly for husbandry and agriculture. Such tools were then absent from Stone-Age Upper Egypt. "The site was originally settled by a people intimately familiar with the mixed herding and crop-raising techniques that dominated the Middle Eastern and Levantine worlds for two thousand years."4 The cultivation of grain crops like wheat and barley and useful plants like flax were all foreign to and entirely unknown in Egypt until that time. The cultivation of Levantine and Mesopotamian domesticated grains was introduced into Africa in a proliferation of gezirat villages such as that of the Merimdens.
The natives of Upper Egypt had not yet learned to farm. The arable enclaves along the Nile were not being cultivated. The natives sustained themselves by hunting, gathering, and raiding their neighbors.Point being, Egypt was not the end all be all of the Mediterranean, Africa and Europe. How did any of this prove the AE adopted "polytheism" from Mesopotamia? The Nafutian culture and the Kubbaniya culture, both farming cultures exists alongside AE, far away from Mesopotamia influence, in fact at an earlier date. It's just that scientists don't start counting Egyptian civilization prior to unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, although evidence shows that a pre-dynastic civilization took place long before, extending from the Sahara up to the Nubian A group. Evidence now dates the Badarian culture to be earlier than the previously noted, with artifacts dating back to 5000 B.C. (Watterson, Barbara (1998). Sorry but no mythical Indo-Europeans came over to 'civilize' the AE, if this is what you are suggesting in the above post.
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Post by Charlie Bass on Apr 25, 2010 16:22:47 GMT -5
^ And exactly what makes you think Lower Egyptian gods or even polytheism itself in Egypt came from Mesopotamia?? Do you have any evidence to back this claim up? From about 5000 to 4200 BC the Merimde Culture, so far only known from a big settlement site at the edge of the Western Delta, flourished in Lower Egypt. The culture has strong connections to the Faiyum A Culture, but also links to the Levant. People lived in small huts, produced a simple undecorated pottery and had stone tools. Cattle, sheep, goats and pigs were held. Wheat, sorghum and barley were planted. The Merimde people buried the dead within the settlement and produced clay figurines. [27] The first Egyptian lifesize head made of clay comes from MerimdeClay figurines were a stable of Mesopatamian civilization, not Egyptian. Recall Egyptians used marble and not clay.
Such a hillock community was Merimde beni-Salame, situated thirty seven miles northwest of present-day Cairo [map, p. 3]. It was discovered in the winter of 1927-28 by Professor Herrman Junker, director of the Vienna Academy of Natural Science's expedition to Egypt. A large flat area of almost fifty acres rose about two meters over the surrounding plain. It was strategically placed between the remaining semiarid pasture-lands of the encroaching desert and the rich alluvial bottomland. It is one of the earliest known farming villages in Lower Egypt, having been settled around 4880 B.C.E. and remaining occupied thereafter for approximately 650 years.
An astounding population of from five to sixteen thousand was projected from the great number of houses identified. The latter figure may be a cumulative one based on dwellings over a period of time. In any event, it is evident that, more than a thousand years before the purported invasion of the Scorpion King, a sizeable, productive, and culturally advanced Asiatic community already had been thriving on the mounds for more than six centuries.
It was immediately clear to the excavators that the Merimdens were radically different from the peoples of Upper Egypt in every respect - physically, culturally, and technologically. Their burial customs were similar to those of the southwestern, Semitic-type Asians, and strikingly different from those of all the Africans. Whereas the African tradition was to bury the dead with a variety of earthly goods to sustain them in the afterlife, and with amulets to protect them from malevolent spirits, the graves of the Merimdens contained no grave offerings of any kind.
Throughout the village clusters of baskets or jars serving as granaries were buried up to their necks in the ground, Circular, clay-lined threshing floors also seemed to be associated with individual dwellings. The Merimdens clearly lived in more or less economically independent single family units, the foundation of the same type of patriarchal system being formed at the time in the Semitic cultures of southwestern Asia. They contrasted sharply with the autarchic systems being generated in Upper Egypt.
[Merimbe] shows none of the distinctively Egyptian characteristics... In its general aspects, Merimde seems more like a village of sturdy yeoman farmers than a collection of peasants subject to the whims, avarice, and authority of a powerful man or a government, although some cooperative efforts (if not collectivization of food-producing tasks) are recalled by the threshing floors up to 13 feet in diameter.2
Merimde's pottery, while technically advanced for its time, was plain and practical, "a theme which sets apart this and later Delta sites from the ornament-ridden and display-oriented culture of Upper Egypt.3 The technological differences between the two regions were most conspicuous in the tools employed, particularly for husbandry and agriculture. Such tools were then absent from Stone-Age Upper Egypt. "The site was originally settled by a people intimately familiar with the mixed herding and crop-raising techniques that dominated the Middle Eastern and Levantine worlds for two thousand years."4 The cultivation of grain crops like wheat and barley and useful plants like flax were all foreign to and entirely unknown in Egypt until that time. The cultivation of Levantine and Mesopotamian domesticated grains was introduced into Africa in a proliferation of gezirat villages such as that of the Merimdens.
The natives of Upper Egypt had not yet learned to farm. The arable enclaves along the Nile were not being cultivated. The natives sustained themselves by hunting, gathering, and raiding their neighbors.Point being, Egypt was not the end all be all of the Mediterranean, Africa and Europe. Do you have a link or source?
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Post by egyptianplanet on Apr 25, 2010 16:37:54 GMT -5
Quite sad how the smallest reference to any Semitic influence in Ancient Egypt, especially Lower Egypt, warrants such an angered response. If you note, the Lower Egyptian culture was far separated from the Upper Egyptian culture. Keita notes this in grave patterns, they both were not the same until after the conquests of Narmer bringing about the unification of Egypt. Fact is during the predynastic, Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt were more different than similar. True, Upper Egypt was brought about by the Badarians who appeared to have adopted their agricultural habits from the Nubians. However the Lower Egyptians, who don't have a name attributed to them my guess is due to admixture, adopted more of a Levantine approach to agriculture. This is often said to be a Merimdian culture. Note, I made no mention of ethno-nationality. Also, I did not mention Indo-European. Mesopotamia is far from "Indo-European" it is merely Middle Eastern or proto-Semitic in the time frame of which we speak. Egypt’s Pre-dynastic Period lasted from the early Neolithic period, which is thought to have begun sometime around, 9500 BC and ended in 3100 BC. It was at this point that Egypt entered the Proto-dynastic period, which marked the beginning of Pharaonic Egypt, however, these dates were ascribed to this period of Egyptian history at a time when there were very few archaeological excavations being carried out in Egypt. As a result Egyptologists are uncertain precisely when the Pre-dynastic Period began and ended. Ancient Egypt's Early Pre-Dynastic Period
Egypt’s Pre-dynastic history is subdivided into a number of smaller epochs based on the regional cultures that arose during this period.
Most of the Pre-dynastic sites uncovered in Egypt have been found in Upper Egypt, to the south of Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. This is due to the Nile’s annual flood, which deposits large amounts of silt in the Nile Delta. As a result many of the Pre-dynastic settlements in Lower Egypt are permanently buried.
However, in Upper Nubia, to the south of Egypt, sites have been uncovered that provide evidence of a grain-based culture that researchers call the Qaadan Culture. Pre-Dynastic Lower Egypt
In Lower Egypt, a number of different farming cultures developed during this period, such as the Faiyum A Culture. The expansion of the desert forced the early ancestors of the Egyptians to permanently settle on the banks of the Nile River, in addition to adopting a sedentary lifestyle. It is around this time that the first evidence of weaving appears in the Egyptian archaeological record. However, unlike later Egyptian history, the practice of mummification had not yet developed. Instead families are thought to have buried their deceased loved ones in their homes. Archaeological digs reveal little of this time period, however, the many words in the Ancient Egyptian language for city indicate that many settlements existed in the Pre-dynastic period either as places of worship or as trading centres. Ads by Google Private Tours of Egypt 22 Years of experience & expertise. Tailored tours to fit you & yours. www.scopia.biz Become a Social Worker Start a career helping others with an U. of Phx Human Services Degree. www.Phoenix-Human-Services.com
Beginning sometime around 5000 BC, the Merimde Culture arose along the edge of the western Nile Delta. The Merimde Culture is believed to have had strong ties to the Faiyum A Culture, in addition to links with the Levant in modern day Turkey. Like the Faiyum A people, the Merimde people are known to have used stone tools and grew wheat, sorghum and barely.
By 4200 BC, the Merimde Culture had given way to the Maadi Culture. The Maadi Culture represented one of the most important phases in the evolution of Egyptian culture in Lower Egypt during the Pre-dynastic Period because it coincided with the beginning of the Proto-dynastic Period in Upper Egypt. egyptian-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/predynastic_egypt
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Post by homeylu on Apr 25, 2010 18:22:48 GMT -5
Quite sad how the smallest reference to any Semitic influence in Ancient Egypt, especially Lower Egypt, warrants such an angered response. If you note, the Lower Egyptian culture was far separated from the Upper Egyptian culture. Keita notes this in grave patterns, they both were not the same until after the conquests of Narmer bringing about the unification of Egypt. Fact is during the predynastic, Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt were more different than similar. True, Upper Egypt was brought about by the Badarians who appeared to have adopted their agricultural habits from the Nubians. However the Lower Egyptians, who don't have a name attributed to them my guess is due to admixture, adopted more of a Levantine approach to agriculture. This is often said to be a Merimdian culture. Note, I made no mention of ethno-nationality. Also, I did not mention Indo-European. Mesopotamia is far from "Indo-European" it is merely Middle Eastern or proto-Semitic in the time frame of which we speak. Egypt’s Pre-dynastic Period lasted from the early Neolithic period, which is thought to have begun sometime around, 9500 BC and ended in 3100 BC. It was at this point that Egypt entered the Proto-dynastic period, which marked the beginning of Pharaonic Egypt, however, these dates were ascribed to this period of Egyptian history at a time when there were very few archaeological excavations being carried out in Egypt. As a result Egyptologists are uncertain precisely when the Pre-dynastic Period began and ended. Ancient Egypt's Early Pre-Dynastic Period
Egypt’s Pre-dynastic history is subdivided into a number of smaller epochs based on the regional cultures that arose during this period.
Most of the Pre-dynastic sites uncovered in Egypt have been found in Upper Egypt, to the south of Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. This is due to the Nile’s annual flood, which deposits large amounts of silt in the Nile Delta. As a result many of the Pre-dynastic settlements in Lower Egypt are permanently buried.
However, in Upper Nubia, to the south of Egypt, sites have been uncovered that provide evidence of a grain-based culture that researchers call the Qaadan Culture. Pre-Dynastic Lower Egypt
In Lower Egypt, a number of different farming cultures developed during this period, such as the Faiyum A Culture. The expansion of the desert forced the early ancestors of the Egyptians to permanently settle on the banks of the Nile River, in addition to adopting a sedentary lifestyle. It is around this time that the first evidence of weaving appears in the Egyptian archaeological record. However, unlike later Egyptian history, the practice of mummification had not yet developed. Instead families are thought to have buried their deceased loved ones in their homes. Archaeological digs reveal little of this time period, however, the many words in the Ancient Egyptian language for city indicate that many settlements existed in the Pre-dynastic period either as places of worship or as trading centres. Ads by Google Private Tours of Egypt 22 Years of experience & expertise. Tailored tours to fit you & yours. www.scopia.biz Become a Social Worker Start a career helping others with an U. of Phx Human Services Degree. www.Phoenix-Human-Services.com
Beginning sometime around 5000 BC, the Merimde Culture arose along the edge of the western Nile Delta. The Merimde Culture is believed to have had strong ties to the Faiyum A Culture, in addition to links with the Levant in modern day Turkey. Like the Faiyum A people, the Merimde people are known to have used stone tools and grew wheat, sorghum and barely.
By 4200 BC, the Merimde Culture had given way to the Maadi Culture. The Maadi Culture represented one of the most important phases in the evolution of Egyptian culture in Lower Egypt during the Pre-dynastic Period because it coincided with the beginning of the Proto-dynastic Period in Upper Egypt. egyptian-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/predynastic_egypt Some people may call the area now identified as the Middle East, the birthplace of Indo/Iranian/European culture, and try to use the Elamite culture, rather than Hitite culture to pre-define their origins. I'm not claiming that you are doing this so I don't know why you believe that any amount of "hatred" originated from my statement...as it ended with "If that's what you're suggesting." Meaning, clarification was required. Nothing more. Although I am aware that the culture in Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt were different as evidenced in the pottery left by both. I do believe they were indigenous to the area, as Mesopotamia is much further from both Upper and Lower Egypt than they are from each other. Yet the Levant is in closer proximity, so it is more logically for me to believe the Natufian culture spread both West towards Lower Egypt and East towards Mesopotamia, than the other way around. Yet I still don't find any connection to the religion of the 2 regions,(to stay on topic) by simply arguing who had farming first. It's always been my belief that farming arose independently in several regions, and it spread into others. I can't attest to only one particular culture being responsible for influencing the spread of farming all around the globe.
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Post by sundiata on Apr 25, 2010 18:45:27 GMT -5
Welcome egyptianplanet. I agree with a lot of your points though this here, warrants correction. There were no 'proto-semitic' speakers evident in Mesopotamia circa 3100 BCE. Their presence was first attested per documents of the Sumerians, around 2500 BC with the rise of the Akkadians. I'm sure they were present in the region for some time but when one thinks of "Mesopotamian influence", one usually means Sumerian, who were not Semitic-speakers.
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Post by anansi on Apr 25, 2010 18:57:42 GMT -5
Quite sad how the smallest reference to any Semitic influence in Ancient Egypt, especially Lower Egypt, warrants such an angered response. If you note, the Lower Egyptian culture was far separated from the Upper Egyptian culture. Keita notes this in grave patterns, they both were not the same until after the conquests of Narmer bringing about the unification of Egypt. Fact is during the predynastic, Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt were more different than similar. True, Upper Egypt was brought about by the Badarians who appeared to have adopted their agricultural habits from the Nubians. However the Lower Egyptians, who don't have a name attributed to them my guess is due to admixture, adopted more of a Levantine approach to agriculture. This is often said to be a Merimdian culture. Note, I made no mention of ethno-nationality. Also, I did not mention Indo-European. Mesopotamia is far from "Indo-European" it is merely Middle Eastern or proto-Semitic in the time frame of which we speak. Egypt’s Pre-dynastic Period lasted from the early Neolithic period, which is thought to have begun sometime around, 9500 BC and ended in 3100 BC. It was at this point that Egypt entered the Proto-dynastic period, which marked the beginning of Pharaonic Egypt, however, these dates were ascribed to this period of Egyptian history at a time when there were very few archaeological excavations being carried out in Egypt. As a result Egyptologists are uncertain precisely when the Pre-dynastic Period began and ended. Ancient Egypt's Early Pre-Dynastic Period
Egypt’s Pre-dynastic history is subdivided into a number of smaller epochs based on the regional cultures that arose during this period.
Most of the Pre-dynastic sites uncovered in Egypt have been found in Upper Egypt, to the south of Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. This is due to the Nile’s annual flood, which deposits large amounts of silt in the Nile Delta. As a result many of the Pre-dynastic settlements in Lower Egypt are permanently buried.
However, in Upper Nubia, to the south of Egypt, sites have been uncovered that provide evidence of a grain-based culture that researchers call the Qaadan Culture. Pre-Dynastic Lower Egypt
In Lower Egypt, a number of different farming cultures developed during this period, such as the Faiyum A Culture. The expansion of the desert forced the early ancestors of the Egyptians to permanently settle on the banks of the Nile River, in addition to adopting a sedentary lifestyle. It is around this time that the first evidence of weaving appears in the Egyptian archaeological record. However, unlike later Egyptian history, the practice of mummification had not yet developed. Instead families are thought to have buried their deceased loved ones in their homes. Archaeological digs reveal little of this time period, however, the many words in the Ancient Egyptian language for city indicate that many settlements existed in the Pre-dynastic period either as places of worship or as trading centres. Ads by Google Private Tours of Egypt 22 Years of experience & expertise. Tailored tours to fit you & yours. www.scopia.biz Become a Social Worker Start a career helping others with an U. of Phx Human Services Degree. www.Phoenix-Human-Services.com
Beginning sometime around 5000 BC, the Merimde Culture arose along the edge of the western Nile Delta. The Merimde Culture is believed to have had strong ties to the Faiyum A Culture, in addition to links with the Levant in modern day Turkey. Like the Faiyum A people, the Merimde people are known to have used stone tools and grew wheat, sorghum and barely.
By 4200 BC, the Merimde Culture had given way to the Maadi Culture. The Maadi Culture represented one of the most important phases in the evolution of Egyptian culture in Lower Egypt during the Pre-dynastic Period because it coincided with the beginning of the Proto-dynastic Period in Upper Egypt. egyptian-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/predynastic_egypt Not sad but weary of such claims as it has often been used as an excuse to negate African originality of Kmt no matter how small such out side influences may have been. and one has to remember that the Semitic speakers themselves radiated out of east Africa in connection with the Natufian culture ..per Christopher Ereth.
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