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Post by archaeologist on Sept 17, 2024 6:59:07 GMT -5
Often in American films, Nubians are portrayed as slaves or as a sort of sidekick to either an Egyptian hero or a Greek or Roman one. Also Numidians are often portrayed as slaves. Funnily enough, you don't see Egyptian slaves as often for example in films about ancient Rome.
Sometimes, however, a Nubian person may have a different role, such as the Nubian king's daughter Tharbis who married Moses.
Tharbis, portrayed by Esther Brown in Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 biblical epic The Ten Commandments
In Verdi´s opera Aida the protagonist is an enslaved daughter of a Nubian king, who becomes the love interest of an Egyptian military commander.
A Swedish film version, from 1987, of Verdi´s opera Aida, with Margaretha Ridderstedt (who is white) as the Nubian princess Aida.
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Post by Brandon S. Pilcher on Sept 18, 2024 12:32:40 GMT -5
I don't think Tharbis married Moses in the DeMille adaptation. And I think we can all figure out why...
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Post by archaeologist on Sept 18, 2024 14:20:52 GMT -5
I don't think Tharbis married Moses in the DeMille adaptation. And I think we can all figure out why... Indeed, it was a time when interracial marriages were not approved of. It was even illegal in many states.
So it seems that it was acceptable in Germany in the 1400s to paint Moses with a Black wife, and also in the Southern Netherlands in the 1600s. But to depict Tharbis as Moses wife in a 1950s American film was obviously not possible.
Moses leaves Tharbis, early 15th century depiction from Germany
Moses with his "Ethiopian" wife (Zippora or Tharbis), painting by the Flemish Baroque painter Jacob Jordaens, c 1650.
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Post by archaeologist on Sept 18, 2024 14:33:19 GMT -5
By the way, it seems that Ester Brown had a minor role in the movie Sinuhe the Egyptian from 1954. In that film she was uncredited.
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