Posted on 08/16/2002 1:32:09 PM PDT by Richard Poe
Chuck Yeager flew his last military flight this week. He's retired now, sort of.
I must have some sort of psychic power. I posted pictures of these Greek pyramids on FreeRepublic here two weeks ago. Check them out.
What your book should have asked is why was it the Greeks and not the Egyptians that created the modern human way of thinking? If they did have an Egyptian origin, how did they overcome the burden of that stunted dead-end civilization?
There is evidence that before the arrival of Indo-European Greek speakers the aborigines of what would become Greece might have come not from Egypt but from Libya and any similarity might be due to the fact that the original Egyptians also may have been cattle herders from around Libya. I have read that may be why the ancient Canary Islanders also had what seems somewhat like Egyptian traditions (mummies, step pyramids).
That is probably a more accurate explanation than the Egyptians being colonizers, something that there is no evidence of them ever doing.
I read your book Richard and it was poor scholarship.
[snip]
That is probably a more accurate explanation than the Egyptians being colonizers, something that there is no evidence of them ever doing. >>
Dear Destro:
Did you really read my book? Your post suggests otherwise.
You appear to have no familiarity with my arguments or even with my fundamental worldview (which is both Europhilic and Hellenophilic). When you lecture me on the superiority of classical Greek culture over Egyptian, you are beating a straw man -- something I think you would realize, had you actually read Black Spark.
Instead of attacking my book, you appear to be attacking some mirage of extreme and semiliterate "Afrocentrism," perhaps gleaned from reading a few of the more pig-headed scholarly sound bites quoted in mass-media discussions of Martin Bernal's Black Athena.
You state that there is "no evidence" of the Egyptians being colonizers. That statement alone would get you an "F" in Egyptology 101.
Had you actually read Black Spark, White Fire, you might still disagree with me, but you would at least be sufficiently well-informed to know that:
1. The Egyptians conquered and colonized virtually all of their neighbors, most extensively during the New Kingdom or "Empire" period, and had a well-developed system of imperial administration - a fact which no Egyptologist denies,
2. Certain pharaohs claimed suzerainty -- in writing -- over islands in the Aegean Sea. Conventional scholars dismiss these claims as mere boasts, but, unlike you, they are at least aware that the claims were made. They interpret the evidence their own way, but they do not deny the existence of such evidence, as you do.
If I had to bet, I'd say you never read my book. At most, you may have glanced at some of the promo copy on Amazon.com.
The fact that Egypt had trading relations with people in Europe and beyond is not in doubt. It is also a fact that Egyptian "colonies" were those that were directly next to Egypt proper and easily reached by land. What Egyptian population transfers occurred into Europe to be properly called a colony in the tradition of Greek colonies in let us say Magna Grecia? Where are the Egyptian versions of Naucratis in Europe?
Dear Mr. Destro:
I never claimed that there were massive population transfers from Egypt to Greece -- at least not during the historical period. You would know that, if you had read my book.
Then again, if Naukratis is your idea of a "population transfer," perhaps I had better ask for further clarification of just what you mean by this phrase. Naukratis was a trading colony, a small patch of land granted to Greek residents by the philhellenic Pharaoh Ahmose II.
I don't know what its population was, but surely there were a lot more British living in the Raj than Greeks living in Naukratis.
As for your challenge to name specific Egyptian colonies that may have existed in Bronze Age Greece -- well, that was the whole point of my book. Didn't you say you read it?
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
We had to read Kon Tiki in High School and I still remember it vividly. Does anyone know if schools still require it? Probably not. I think it would make a good birthday present for my 12 year old grandson.
Loved reading Kon Tiki as an adolescent, along with a couple Cousteau autobiographies that were out in those days. What a romantic thing an *Explorers Club* is.
If I remember right, Heyerdahl was something of a luddite.
BTTT
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
