Education For Life Academy
Where Black History Lives!
The Standing on the Shoulders of Giants Curriculum
Page 3 of 3
“Stephanus of Byzantium, voicing the universal testimony of antiquity wrote, “Ethiopia was the first established country on earth and the Ethiopians were the first to set up the worship of the gods and to establish laws.” The later ages gained from this ancient empire, the fundamental principles upon which republican governments are founded. The basic stones of that wonderful dominion were equality, temperance, industry, intelligence and justice.”
Stephanus of Byzantium, 6th century A.C.E., Ethnica
That they did not arrive as immigrants but are the natives of the country and therefore rightly are called authochthonous is almost universally accepted. That those who live in the South are likely to be the first engendered by the earth is obvious to all. For as it was the heat of the sun that dried up the earth while it was still moist, at the time when everything came into being, and caused life, they say it is probable that it was the region closest to the sun that first bore animate beings.”
[160,000-year-old fossilized skulls uncovered in Ethiopia are oldest anatomically modern humans.]
Diodorus continues:
“They further write that it was among them that people were first taught to honor the gods and offer sacrifices and arrange processions and festivals and perform other things by which people honor the divine. For this reason their piety is famous among all men, and the sacrifices among the Aithiopians are believed to be particularly pleasing to the divinity.”
“The Aithiopians [Ethiopians] say that the Egyptians are settlers from among themselves and that Osiris was the leader of the settlement. The customs of the Egyptians, they say, are for the most part Aithiopian, the settlers having preserved their old traditions. For to consider the kings gods, to pay great attention to funeral rites, and many other things, are Aithiopian practices, and also the style of their statues and the form of their writing are Aithiopian. Also the way the priestly colleges are organized is said to be the same in both nations. For all who have to do with the cult of the gods, they maintain, are [ritually] pure: the priests are shaved in the same way, they have the same robes and the type of scepter shaped like a plough, which also the kings have, who use tall pointed felt hats ending in a knob, with the snakes that they call the asp (aspis) coiled round them."
“There are also numerous other Aithiopian tribes [i.e. besides those centered at Meroe]; some live along both sides of the river Nile and on the islands in the river, others dwell in the regions that border on Arabia [i.e. to the east], others again have settled in the interior of Libya [i.e. to the west]. The majority of these tribes, in particular those who live along the river, have black skin, snub-nosed faces, and curly hair.”
Ancient Greek Testimony Regarding the Ancient Egyptians cont.
Psychologist, Egyptologist, and Professor
Historian, Author, Professor
Televised Debate!
Black Athena: The Afro-Asiatic Roots of Classical Civilization, by Martin Bernal
Response to the review of Black Athena by Mary Lefkowitz, by Martin Bernal
Still Out of Africa: A Response to Mary Lefkowitz's Not Out of Africa, by Dr. Charles S. Finch M.D.
Unit 1: Ancient Africa (200,000 B.C. – 646 A.D.)
a hundred and twenty years old, while some even went beyond that age --- they ate boiled flesh, and had for their drink nothing but milk...”
“Where the south declines towards the setting sun lies the country called Ethiopia, the last inhabited land in that direction. There gold is obtained in great plenty, huge elephants abound, with wild trees of all sorts, and ebony; and the men are taller, handsomer, and longer lived than anywhere else...”
“The names of nearly all the gods came to Greece from Egypt . . . for the names of all the gods have been known in Egypt from the beginning of time...It was the Egyptians too who originated, and taught the Greeks...ceremonial meeting, processions and liturgies...The Egyptians were also the first to assign each month and each day to a particular deity, and to foretell the date of a man's birth, his character, his fortunes, and the day of his death...The Egyptians, too have made more use of omens and prognostics than any other nation...”
“There can be no doubt that the Colchians are an Egyptian race. Before I heard any mention of the fact from others, I had remarked it myself. After the thought had struck me, I made inquiries on the subject both in Colchis and in Egypt, and I found that the Colchians had a more distinct recollection of the Egyptians, than the Egyptians had of them. Still the Egyptians said that they believed the Colchians to be descended from the army of Sesostris.
Class 5: The Whitening of Ancient Kemet/Egypt
