I saw the photos of the upcoming Ten Commandments miniseries. Weren't the Egyptians of that day black?
KMeister1
Yeah! but when does American films make accurate depictions of people?
Dont Hate Me Because You Aint Me
I'm a student of Egyptology, so I can shed some light on this often misunderstood topic. In Egypt's earliest history, there were 3 main waves of migration. Africans came up from Nubia (modern Sudan), Asiatics came through the Wadi Hamammat (they traveled through the Saudi Arabian desert from the region of modern Iran), and finally through the Nile delta in the north from the Levantine coast (modern Lebanon, Israel, etc).
Over time, these different races intermingled and mixed to form the Egyptian people. Some would have what we consider African features, while others would have more Middle Eastern looking features. They weren't purely African, so they weren't really "black" as many people think. The people living in Egypt today are an excellent example of what the ancient Egyptians looked like. Even today, darker skinned people tend to be in southern Egypt, and lighter skinned in the north.
I hope this clears up some misconceptions about how Egyptians looked. Oh, just one more note. You can't really go by Egyptian art to tell exactly how people looked because they used set shades of colors (reddish brown for Egyptian men, yellowish for women), and even had set colors for foreigners. Art was very generalized in terms of appearance.
edit: I should add that there continuted throughout Egypt's history to be migration from all surrounding areas, and those people were incorporated into the Egyptian society. The Egyptians never thought of themselves in these racial terms, however. They new themselves only as the people of Kemet. (Egypt comes from the Greco-Roman term Aegyptos, which is what they called this region.)
While I do not disagree, I find it strange that the lion's share of "lighter skinned" African people live in countries bordering Eurasia (Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, etc.). Moses lived about 1,500 BC. The time of Alexander/Rome is a period of only a few hundred years before the birth of Jesus.
Conquests of Alexander the Great set in motion the pinnacle turning point in African history and set the stage for a Greek Cleopatra (the Caucasian daughter of Ptolemy) to be the last effective ruler in Egypt before its final capitulation to the Roman Empire.
Wouldn’t the season of Alexander followed almost immediately by Roman Empire have then further “mulatto-sized” northern Africa?
I've read so many of the replies to this that my head is spinning! and really, are we supposed to take this remake seriously? MOSES HAS A SCOTTISH ACCENT, for God's sake!
shareYes, it’s just a movie but you already know where this conversation is really headed, right?
The Hebrews spent so much time in Africa (as far back as Jacob - possibly even before Abraham, from whom they descend) that one wonders about the true ethnicity of the Hebrews. The closest they got to Europe was Persia and Rome so one simply wonders how they became so anglicized with the passing of time. We can’t rely on contemporary European descended Jews as the source evidence even as the ethnicity of America has turned from indigenous Native “Indian” Red to European White in the last 500 years.
Actually, the movie is very accurate in terms of race since Egypt was founded by plane crash survivors thrust back through time and space after spending a few seasons on an enchanted island somewhere in the Pacific. Most of the passengers were white, but the seed from Mr. Eko, Jin, Sun, Michael, Walt, and that other black lady spiced things up. Sayid's grandson became Moses' Egyptian brother. Check your facts, people.
shareJonnybusiness, you are just too de-amn funny (lol)!
Historical accuracy aside, I actually like English-designated movies where British accents are used. It’s very dramatic! You should see (hear) Peter O'Toole and Stephen Boyd in ‘The Bible’ (1966).
I just wish we all agreed on what human history really was so we could all get on with the business of living equitably. Amen!
(I actually like English-designated movies where British accents are used. It’s very dramatic!)
Uhm, I think this is one of the huge mistakes that "Alexander"made when they chose actors who spoke in English/Irish accents throughout the film! It was one of the worst movies, and I can't imagine what people of the region think of the hysterically un-professional way their culture's history was mocked!
I have to give it to Angelina Jolie, she actually used a half-decent accent to portray Olympias.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my lids and all is born again ~ Sylvia Plath
Ok, this is the first post to actually make sense. Truly, your insight is remarkable. See, I always knew there was more to the whole pyramid thing than scholars want to admit. Yes, Dharma is at the heart of it all. Actually, Locke is starting to look like a Pharoh and Jack is trying to act like Moses, so I feel you are on to something!
shareThe Egytians are the survivors of the nation Atlantis.
The Hebrews are a Semitic race together with the Arabs,one of Noahs
son Sem.Africa is/was inhabited by the other son of Noah desendents Ham, they were dark. Jafet the third sons desendents are the Japan/American Indian/China, desendents. Now there is a mixture of all. You can test yourself with a DNA test or regular Blood test and see what your bood grup is.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.Robert Halmi jr. and sn. have their own idea of who is who and leave it at that.
What text is used to determine that Ham was dark skinned? If it is Genesis 9:18-26 then it is a misunderstanding of the text. Ham uncovered Noah’s nakedness but Noah cursed Ham’s son, Canaan (because Canaan was the illegitimate offspring of Ham and Noah’s wife):
Lev 18:7 The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.(KJV).
Noah cursed Canaan saying he would be a servant of servants but he did NOT curse Ham or any of his other children.
Are we on the same page with this Ham thing?
Ham definition means dark skinned, nothing to do with cursed Canaan and inhabitants of native palestine.
shareAll Egyptians are descendants from the first couple to populate the land - Benny Hill and Ruth Buzzi.
You can't fix stupid.
Haha, learmoak, I agree! everyone in this movie has a celtic/british accent of some sort! That's a pet peeve of mine--an ancient period Egyptian or Roman movie is littered with british tongues, giving Shakespeare alot more FACTUAL credit than he deserves (he was STILL,at least, 1600 years too late...not much better than our own modern day interpretations).
anyways - the acting is painful, the dialogue(& dialect) is horrible, this "movie" is such a joke. i'm not even that religious and i thought the original was good.... but this this is just too bad, it's just too much...
According to "Hollywood" most people of the world need to be more "western-looking" and possibly a star of some magitude doesn't hurt either. I can't believe that in the 21st century, we still need to make movies which aren't relative to the original culture they are representing!
I have seen some really old movies with native americans who are portrayed by "white, or non-native" actors. This I probably can understand given the beginning of the Hollywood movie era. But we have been making movies for almost 100 yrs and still we need to use "non-ethnic" people portraying these cultures which should be respected, at the very least.
Please tell me why Hollywood can't seem to find any ethnic culture actors to portray their ancestors, I'm pretty sure there are many, many willing and able to portray their own cultural groups.
I'm sure I would feel that the movie is more credible and authentic if this were done more often.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my lids and all is born again ~ Sylvia Plath
purniacal,
Thank you very much for your kind post. I really appreciate it.
[deleted]
Egypt it in Northern Africa and had many European and Middle Eastern influnces. Mostly northern Egypt have more lighter skin. You can see examples like Cleopatra.
shareWasn't Cleopatra Greek? or Greek decendant.
share
No, Cleopatra was Egyptian. She and Ceasar (Roman) were going to unite two empires.
therealman,
True, Cleopatra ruled Egypt (as her family had for centuries), but she was of Macedonian descent. She was not of true Egyptian blood.
Actually, therealman, Cleopatra was a Ptolomy. The first Ptolomy was one of Alexander the Great's generals. He was Macedonian (which most people think of as Greek... and it's "close enough for government work.") So the previous poster is correct... Cleopatra was "Greek" by descent. She was Egyptian by nationality, but the thread is concerning race, and by racial descent she was Macedonian.
Look it up.
josephbentley72,
Yes, you are correct. Cleopatra was the last ruler in a dynasty of Egyptian royalty that originated in Macedonia, which was - at the time - considered part of northern Greece.
sedan374,
Didn't you read what has already been posted in this very thread about Cleopatra? She was NOT a true Egyptian by blood, and lived over 1000 years (close to 1500 years) after the period in question... I'm not gonna re-post what has already been posted on this very thread. Go back and read it.
People who live in certain areas of the world do have more melanin in their skin, causing them to appear darker. Today many natives of the area have a darker-than-caucasian complexion. It is believed that they had golden-tan colored skin then as well. It has to do with the native geographical location in respect to the equator (closer = dark skin). i hope this helps.
share