Were the Ancient Egypt's Black?

Con

Thank you for taking up this debate.

Let me make myself clear. When I say “black” I am referring to the classification of people who “share certain morphological and skeletal traits that are frequent among most populations in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

I should have made myself clearer.

You Define Black "of or relating to a race of people who have dark skin and who come originally from Africa"

According to modern archeology, the first humans originated from Africa, and many humans are dark skinned. So, with the definition of “Black”, one could derive that the Ancient Egyptians were and are indeed black today. I disagree. According to today’s racial distinction, Egyptians are considered Caucasian. That doesn’t mean that they are or were white. It means that they are under a broad classification that includes light and dark skinned people with common features. Whether I agree or disagree with that classification is beside the point.

Egypt’s location has nothing to do with whether the Ancient Egyptian’s were black or not. Africa has always been diverse ethnically from the Berbers to the so-called Caucasians in the Horn of Africa. For example, even during Ancient Egyptian times, the Libyans to the West of Egyptians were not considered black by today’s standards.

[URL=http://s10.photobucket.com...][IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com...[/IMG][/URL]

In the picture/link above, you will see the four races of the world; a Libyan, Nubian, Asiatic and an Egyptian. This is an artistic rendering based on a mural from the tomb of Seti I. This shows a distinction between Ancient Egyptians and their Black African Neighbors.

The Ancient and Modern Egyptians do consider themselves “black” Africans.

Con

You are arguing that the Ancient Egyptians and the Modern Egyptians were and still are Black today.

I am arguing that Egyptians were never black and are not considered black today.

Rebuttal 1: Caucasian and The Caucasus

My opponent is confusing two words together.

“Caucasian” is a race, and “The Caucasus” is a geographical location! Those are two different words with two different meanings.

According to Blumenbach, De generis humani varietate nativa (3rd ed. 1795)

“The name "Caucasian" derived from the Southern Caucasus region (or what is now the countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia), because he considered the people of this region to be the archetype for the grouping.”

The word Caucasian and Caucasus are linked through linguistic history. Caucasian is a word to categorize a people that share features, and does not refer to where they came from.

According to book by Coon, Carleton Stevens (1939). The Races of Europe. On page 400–401.

“Caucasian race is the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia, Central Asia and South Asia.”

It seems my opponent missed the first part of their definition. According to my opponent’s source: http://dictionary.reference.com...

Caucasian:

“Anthropology. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of one of the traditional racial divisions of humankind, marked by fair to dark skin, straight to tightly curled hair, and light to very dark eyes, and originally inhabiting Europe, parts of North Africa, western Asia, and India: no longer in technical use.”

Notice how I bolded North Africa. Egypt is in North Africa, so according to my opponents source, Egyptians are considered Caucasian.

Rebuttal 2: AtlantaBlackStar.com

The website

http://atlantablackstar.com... is not a reliable source. It is not an Academic Journal or scholarly source. This looks more a like blog than anything.

After reviewing their page, it is clear that their use of art is subjective and selective, and a few of their photos are actually darkened to suit the narrative. The picture that you posted of the female, who is the actual color black, represents earth or soil; that is why she is drawn with the color black. No human is actually the color black. Black is a term to racially classify a group of people.

If I knew how to post pictures, I would show you many photos that contradict the ones on http://atlantablackstar.com....

For now, here are links to two photos:

Those are the races that Ancient Egyptians were in contact with. See how they differentiate Black Nubians from themselves.

<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Egyptian_races.jpg" width="300px" height="300px" />

<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/From_Giovanni_Battista_Belzoni-_Egyptian_race_portrayed_in_the_Book_of_Gates.jpg" width="300px" height="300px" />

Just because certain cultures in West wear jewelry similar to the Ancient Egyptians, does not mean that were related to them. The Ancient Egyptian civilization is the longest lasting one known to history. In different points in history, the Asiatics, Nubians, Libyans, Greeks, Romans, and Persians dressed like the Ancient Egyptians too.

Rebuttal 3: The Bible

Although I respect the Bible, I don’t think it is a good source for this debate. The Bible has been translated a number of times.

Black was just another name for people that were darker than Europeans. Anyone with darker skin could have been black.

According to history, the Bible (Old Testament) was first in Hebrew, and then translated to Greek. The Greeks are the ones who viewed any dark skinned non-Greek as Black. It was later translated into Latin before English.

Therefore, the Bible’s description of Black is not all that accurate.