Herodotus in Living Colour 1.0
- Ntandoyenkosi
- Oct 29
- 24 min read
In this topic that over the years has been developing into a series, we are going talk about the man that the historian Plutarch, famously called ` the father of lies`. We do not think he deserved that nickname and we will simply refer too him as Herodotus. And we have quoted him a lot on this page and we are not ashamed of it. You see, having an another man call you a liar, does not necessarily make you that. So as we see it maybe Plutarch, The High Priest bowing down inside the Temple of Apollo, was jealous of Herodotus objectivity and therefore he passed judgement on him,
seen as Herodotus allegiance lay not in Greek worship. We do not have to go far though, and looking towards one of the ancient Greek empires perhaps most intelligent and famous men, Marcus Tullius Cicero. He was a great orator and a Greek Nobleman (if there was such a thing), and he had other things to say about Herodotus. Namely that he was the Father of History. Interesting, some very conflicting views here. Two comments from each side of the spectrum. Let us get to know him then, as his writings will firmly place Africa back into the annals of ancient History. So lets get into this !
Herodotus, was a Greek historian and wrote the history of the known world almost 2500 years ago. And this is the OLDEST book that we know that talks in great length about the ethnicity and geographical locations of peoples from what we call Africa today. And he was one of few that was describing the people as he saw them. We cannot express enough gratitude to him for having taken the time to write down the stories and the peoples of the past, as he saw them. And remember how important that point is. No filter, he saw giants he wrote about giants. He saw complex culture he wrote complex culture. He did not divide the world by race, he divided it by continent, as we can see Europa, Asia and what he called Libya (which we think was a greater part of Africa). In terms of Biblical accounts he is not that old, but old enough that Upper Egypt as we know the north of Egypt and Paturisi (the southern Lands) had both been established, making it rather late in Egyptian history. You see, we gotta go back further in time. We have not looked back far enough. Not only does castles and buildings wither over time, ancient civilisations also erode. How then do find the traces of them? Lets go deeper.
If you read Herodotus works you can see that he divided what he saw by language, which he calls Greek/Egyptian and barbarian mostly, more importantly he saw culture and not race. He talks at great length about people with darker skin than usual, but never uses a phrase like "black people" as if they are some kind of a different species of humans. People of colour, thats all it was back in the day. Different shades, some darker some lighter, all caused by point of origin - humidity and sun. And Herodotus did use the term Ethiopian to describe some dark skinned peoples, because not all that were dark in their skin where Ethiopians. Much of it are descriptions of culture. Ways of living, sets of belief. So then, this is also a cause of confusion as Herodotus writings do not account for the later and coming invasions of Greek and Persians, but also others that made their conquests on the continent. So it does not make the mappings easier, however. If we can only agree on the colour and feature of the Ancient Egyptians, this research of locating the True Israelite Tribes would become much more nuanced, bringing us closer to the truth. Find the ancient Egyptians and you will find the ancient Hebrew. Now let us dive!
As a sidenote we are using George Campbell Macaulay (1852-1915) and his The History of Herodotus from 1890, if anyone wants to go through the whole thing. In these two volumes you can read A LOT about African customs that are still alive and in use today. And many comments on the appearance of all the tribes he encountered. Now Herodotus, saw Egyptians as having dark skin (black) and wooly hair, just like the ancient Hebrews had (Herodotus 2.104):
104 For the people of Colchis are evidently Egyptian, and this I perceived for myself before I heard it from others. So when I had come to consider the matter I asked them both; and the Colchians had remembrance of the Egyptians more than the Egyptians of the Colchians; but the Egyptians said they believed that the Colchians were a portion of the army of Sesostris. That this was so I conjectured myself not only because they are dark-skinned and have curly hair (this of itself amounts to nothing, for there are other races which are so), but also still more because the Colchians, Egyptians, and Ethiopians alone of all the races of men have practised circumcision from the first. The Phoenicians and the Assyrians who dwell in Palestine confess themselves that they have learnt it from the Egyptians, and the Assyrians about the river Thermodon and the river Parthenios, and the Macronians, who are their neighbours, say that they have learnt it lately from the Colchians. These are the only races of men who practise circumcision, and these evidently practise it in the same manner as the Egyptians. Of the Egyptians themselves however and the Ethiopians, I am not able to say which learnt from the other, for undoubtedly it is a most ancient custom; but that the other nations learnt it by intercourse with the Egyptians, this among others is to me a strong proof, namely that those of the Phoenicians who have intercourse with Hellas cease to follow the example of the Egyptians in this matter, and do not circumcise their children.
We see here the main trait of the old and deeply African customs inherited from the Books of Moses, circumcision. Abrahams descendants did embrace this custom, and it is indeed ALL over Africa. If we read Herodotus then - the so-called Colchis were Egyptian, and were black. Perhaps remnants of People that did not leave during the Exodus? Now Herodotus visited Egypt some 75 years AFTER the Persians took over, and again this was before Greeks, Romans and Arabs came on the scene. So image where we are today, from all those influxes of peoples and cultures. What would be left for us now? Play with some images here. So, Herodotus travelled Africa along its full length and around the coastal cites, and then into the Mediterranean. And he makes great effort in describing people with dark skin as being more civilised then people of lighter complexion, like Scythians and or Celts. And the most beautiful, according to Herodotus were the Ethiopians (Herodotus 3.20):
20 Then as soon as the Ichthyophagoi came to Cambyses from Elephantine, he sent them to the Ethiopians, enjoining them what they should say and giving them gifts to bear with them, that is to say a purple garment, and a collar of twisted gold with bracelets, and an alabaster box of perfumed ointment, and a jar of palm-wine. Now these Ethiopians to whom Cambyses was sending are said to be the tallest and the most beautiful of all men; and besides other customs which they are reported to have different from other men, there is especially this, it is said, with regard to their regal power,—whomsoever of the men of their nation they judge to be the tallest and to have strength in proportion to his stature, this man they appoint to reign over them.
A rather famous quote. Lots of interesting remarks for a book written thousands of years ago, describing intricate trade inside of Africa. He comes of a as very level headed and curious guy. Taking note of things he found interesting. If you read more of Herodotus work, and we have, from his many quotes we can begin to compile a list of People that had colour according to Herodotus.
Egyptians (not the same as we know them as Egyptians today) these would have an ethnicity similar to what we can call a specific type of Southern African and Central African. The area was called Mizraim in the Bible and these peoples had similar features to that of the ancient Hebrews, however they did not have similar customs when it comes to worship.
Ethiopians (not the same as modern Ethiopians) would have an ethnicity closer to Nubians (Babylonian and Assyrian) and so-called Nilo-Saharans, may also include many other tribes and certainly not limited to so-called Nilotic tribes. Sudanese and Somalians do come to mind, but these would also have spread since ancient times.
Asian-Ethiopians - This have been called by contemporary historians as Dravidians (though very few people know this ethnicity without using google), therefore these are more likely an early description of Persians, people of colour but had straight hair, not nappy. What we call Indians today.
Colchians - Another African tribe described as black men from the shores of the Black Sea (which presumably was a lake on the continent, maybe the now dried up Mega Lake in Chad or one of the Great African Lakes, certainly not in Europe). These people had black skin, wooly hair and would practise circumcision (among other Biblical traits). Herodotus added that they were Egyptians, which would place them in southern Africa as we are talking about Lower Egypt / Paturisi (closer to the Promised Land).
Herodotus does talk about MANY other peoples but these are the ones we will focus on, because if we can bring the colour back to these ancient peoples/tribes. Many things will follow suit. So lets look at the first ones on this list, the ancient Egyptians. And if you look at artefacts such as what we have of the Lady of Tiye (Lady Touy), a priestess of Min and part of Amenhoteph the 3rds vast harem. Things start to make more sense. This statuette, a wooden statue of this high-status woman from some 1400 years before Christ, which is from the NEW Kingdom (not from Lower Egypt which was further south). She was the Chief of Weavers and Mistress of the Harem. Quite the titles if you go into the full meaning of what she offered Pharaoh.
Now the queen in charge of courtly favours and her remains in the statuette, was apparently found in the 1900s, together with four other statues near Gurob and are categorised as being from the period of New Kingdom. In addition to being made from wood (ebony an African hardwood) it was embellished with gold and precious stones. The necklace around her neck had beads of gold with the Carnelian stone (SoNiNi stone) assembled into her necklace. She wore a long wig and a soft and almost see through robe, hanging over her left shoulder, tightened at the waist extending down to her feet. WATCH the fashion of this attire, because it has followed certain tribes. The details of the wig (weave) included with three long braids. She would also most likely have had the colour Egyptian blue on herself, but the paint has worn away. You can see remains of this blue pigment on the eyes and eyebrows. A little window into the past is what she is, and the past had colour and came from further south in Africa then we now call and know as Egypt.
What is interesting is that Herodotus talks about people that lived along the coast between Egypt and Carthage (ancient Carthage in Southeast Africa and the lands of Ophir and Havilah), to get this all to fit - ancient history needs just a wee bit of revisiting (Herodotus, 4.168-180):
168 Now the Libyans have their dwelling as follows:—Beginning from Egypt, first of the Libyans are settled the Adyrmachidai, who practise for the most part the same customs as the Egyptians, but wear clothing similar to that of the other Libyans. Their women wear a bronze ring (pselion) upon each leg, and they have long hair on their heads, and when they catch their lice, each one bites her own in retaliation and then throws them away. These are the only people of the Lybians who do this; and they alone display to the king their maidens when they are about to be married, and whosoever of them proves to be pleasing to the king is deflowered by him. These Adyrmachidai extend along the coast from Egypt as far as the port which is called Plynos.
We can see here that Herodotus is writing about the African customs of adornments, and the Bronze rings on their leg, this could be referring to the Ndebele tribes (Dzilla) customs, although we suspect this custom might be remnants again and coming from further up towards Mozambique, Tanzania and even Kenya (also Sudanese). Herodotus called them Adyrmachidai, and they lived along the Coast of Egypt to the port of Plynos, which means we were getting into ancient Greek territory in Northern Africa. Leaving ancient Greece to also be further South in ancient times. So we can see that Egypt even had a coast, towards the ancient Sea (the sea towards the East).
Now, Herodotus goes even further and starts talking about the caravan routes across the desert (4.181-199 ; presumably Sahara at an early stage but this is not a given), further he goes in great length describing the ways and life in Egypt. We will get back to that further below. First lets look at hair, the locks do not lie !
Thinking of Egypt, and looking at Amenhotep and his hair style, we cannot think of another place but Rwanda. This hairstyle still exists in some villages. With cultural traces like this spread along the river systems, we think ancient Egypt did stretch even further down than Rwanda in its glory days, as we have said many times towards Lower Egypt (in the south). And that is why upwards and along the internal Rivers of Africa is were you find these remnants of ancient Egyptian culture. So modern Rwanda is located in the Nile Valley but very far from what is regarded as ancient Egypt, its actually closer to Lake Victoria (Nyanza). But there are cultural connections to Egypt all along the Nile and the ancient Egyptians (the Old ones) did indeed come from Paturisi, the southern lands. So we can see the headgear that depicts Amenhotep was likely also made out of hair and not a crown made from precious metals. So the circular patterns are depictions of wooly hair coiled into the crown. Even though most of the royals wore braided wigs and weaves. But look now at the similarities between these two, and tell us there is no connection.
So then, based on Herodotus descriptions, and evidence we have from our research and Egyptian art, it is well within reason to claim that at later points (after invasions), Egyptians would now have a likening to East-Africans, but also Ethiopian, Eritreans, Ugandans and Rwandans. But also other ethnic groups now coming from or being close to Central and the Horn of Africa. And we must stress the fact that They, the ancient Egyptians, would have distinct features similar to the ancient Hebrews. Now in ancient times we have to expand the borders even further and include the southern parts as well. Reference to our article on Paturisi or Upper Egypt as it was called back in the day. And Remember some Hebrews stayed behind in Egypt, and likely from these one that stayed behind is one Moses later took to be his wife (but thats is another story but an interesting sidenote for showing the OLD connection between Egyptians and Hebrews).
The point is, Hebrews looked like Egyptians, so there is something to this so-called Semitic claim (not the modern semitic you are thinking about) but to the features of descendants of the tribes, we are talking about the of the physical the features of the ancient Hebrew tribes. Their Black Semitical (Shemite) traits. Not their colour or nappy hair. This should be pretty obvious by now, that most of the ancient peoples did have colour. Hebrews included. The Descendants of Shem = SEM ITE, ShemITE. Some tribes and other civilisations in these areas close to Egypt (Babylonia and Persia), went on to be as they were conquered, mixed with Greeks, Assyrians or even Persians, so the phenotypes of the Egyptian would have changed somewhat after this in the Northern parts of Egypt. But Paturisi, at least some form of the Two Kingdoms we suspect was still alive and well during Christ times. And remember we are talking here about the their brother of Shem, Ham - making many of the other civilisations mentioned in the Bible Hamites. Still black people, but of the line of the other brother. But thats a longer story, but not that complicated, three brothers populated the world. However the intermingling that did occur in ancients times, as we find proofs in Acts, that the Egyptians and Hebrews were the same during uMsindisis (Christs) time. So Hue and colour can and will change just as languages, when the conquerors take over, these things are often the first to go towards the ruler. We will get into that below.
But think about it, does it really take an Egyptologist to explain that what is left us today of the proofs of the once vast Mizrayim or Misri (מִצְרַיִם / מִצְרָיִם) and remembering it as the World Wide Kingdom it was said to be. Misri actually means The Two Kingdoms, if you look closer into its etymological source (called Semitic), the ending (מִצְרַיִם / מִצְרָיִם) Misr is in a standard dual form relates to Egypt as Two Realms: Upper Egypt (which was Paturisi or Pathros the southern Lands full of Reeds) and Lower Egypt, which could have been the Central portions (Rwanda ++). So then, what we can barely see the outlines of today is its remnants of just One of Those Two Kingdoms. And these Traces that we we find in visual records like: pottery, frescos, sculptures, mosaics and large structures - and they are are just that, traces; remnants of a people. Not the people themselves currently there. Just as time went on and the cumulative effect of mixing with lighter skinned people (again such as from invaders like Persians, Greeks and Arabs), this would make the common hue of the Egyptian population much much lighter as well. Then it should not come as any surprise to people that state of things today, its a watered down old painting we are looking at, to put it crudely with almost no remembrance of its world dominating past. There was wisdom in Egypt remember, even though they served other gods. Now these invasions over time (modern times as we shall see) would move them from looking more Mediterranean and loosing their features similar to that of Lady Tiye, the original Egyptians.
Later we see that in ancient Egypt we have frescos that shows that Misri (The Two Empires) did indeed become multi-racial, with many races working side by side, and the lighter skinned ones were actually slaves, with black Pharaohs ruling. Now this goes against much of the white supremacist assumptions that has been the standard for far to long. So we have to interpret the evidences differently, when the roles of slavery was indeed reverses in some periods of time in Egypt. Now when the lighter skinned people of Egypt became a ruling class is not certain, because well if we read our New Testament books, which are fairly recent works historically, even Paul of Tarsus, was mistaken for being an Egyptian. So the Descendants of Ham, even after ALL that time and influx of Greeks, Persians, Assyrians (and Arabs being the latest of peoples in modern times), and we are in the times of uMsindisi and Paul here, we can see that they did indeed looked similar. Paul is questioned for his abilities because he spoke and wrote Koine Greek (Acts 21,37-38):
37 As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, “May I say something to you?” “Do you speak Greek?” he replied. 38 “Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the wilderness some time ago?”
Paul spoke to the officer in Greek, his own tongue, and the man was surprised to know he spoke Greek, To which he answers are you not that Egyptian... And we can see, just out of curiosity what Paul answers (Acts 21,39-40):
39 Paul answered, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people.” 40 After receiving the commander’s permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic.
That is when Paul gives his famous statement, go on, go read it. Wonderful stuff, the people said lets remove Paul from this earth after he had said what he said. Ah the people was ripe with envy. So Paul looked PHYSICALLY like an Egyptian, with black skin and no dilution had happened yet, therefore this watering down of Egypt could not have happened at this time. Maybe in the parts we know as Egypt, but not in the Southern lands. Furthermore, we can see that the whole nation of Isreal did indeed look like Egyptians. Hard to separate, so similar where they. Moses story will attest to this.
If we read Matthew Chapter 2, we get to see another example of Egypt and Ancient Israel being close in proximity and likeness to one another in the times of uMsindisi (Christ). We see that in the verse where the angel of SoNiNI tells Joseph to take the young child and his mother Miriam to FLEE into Egypt. So therefore, Egypt could not have been that far off (Matthew 2,13-15):
13 When they had gone, an angel of SoNiNi appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what SoNiNi had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Joseph is told to stay there until he got further instructions, because Herod was hunting for this miraculous child. So they stayed in Egypt, very likely Upper Egypt, what we find described as Paturisi in our Scriptures. They did not flee into Egypt for its military protection or for food, Egypt was under Roman control in these times - and they fled into Egypt because this was a country where Christ could blend. A majority black skinned people, with the same phenotypes and features. These three, Miriam, Joseph and Immanuel (Christ) was just another black skinned family in Egypt. They came there to hide in plain sight. This knocks any theory about Christ looking ANYTHING other then Egyptian, because he had to look like them to blend. Just like Moses. So again we say, find the ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, and there you will find Christ. And we have the witness accounts from many historians saying the same thing.
If we read from the Roman historian, a chap called Tacitus, in his Histories he makes the same comments as all the others, The Hebrews looked like Egyptians and Ethiopians (Histories 5.2-5):
“A few authorities hold that in the reign of Isis the surplus population of Egypt was evacuated to neighbouring lands under the leadership of Hierosolymus and Judas. Many assure us that the Hebrews are descended from those Ethiopians who were driven by fear and hatred to emigrate from their home country when Cepheus was king. There are some who say that a motley collection of landless Assyrians occupied a part of Egypt, and then built cities of their own, inhabiting the lands of the Hebrews and the nearer parts of Assyria…”
Interesting remarks there from Tacitus the historian, even that many Hebrews did seek to relocate when Cepheus was king. Now Tacitus goes on, and describes those ancient Hebrews of that particular branch, possibly originated from Crete (ancient Greece not modern), Egyptian or Ethiopian. This certainly brings back on old verse from Scripture (Amos 9,7):
“Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith SoNiNi naNiNi. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Assyrians from Kir?”
This is also confirmed in Acts 21,38 as we have already seen. A people having a distinct look. Look at Queen Tiye again, and then I want you to think. Think of Herodotus, that we know made not effort whatsoever to distinguish between black or white. Just darker shades or and culture (which includes things like hairstyles and language). Putting an emphasis on the great and mutual respect between Khemet (Egypt), Ethiopians and Nubians (Babylonians) for their advancements in culture and ability to learn. And we can easily find the connection to the Greeks that make no effort in hiding the fact that they learned from these ancient "African" cultures. They studied at their "black Egyptian" feet. The artistic, historical, cultural and geographical evidences are all there. Why the pushback from this? Why the need to seemingly purge of ANYTHING being of black or of African origin? When indeed ALL ancient culture, good and bad, most of them stem from the continent. So then, the theme is - that it does indeed seem to be a thing of people claiming the roots of ancient peoples. This is a trend, taking pride in another nations work, when indeed its roots have a different outset and origin altogether. It all seems rooted in a jealousy and a stubbornness that is hard to fathom. Such has the ways and philosophies of the Greeks become so venerated by Scholars, when indeed the Greek roots of civilisations do come from the continent and Africans. And if the ancient Greeks had colour so did the Egyptians, as there could not have been Greek culture without ancient Egypt.
Yoruba and Misri (Egypt)
Now, we do not really have time for this little segment as we believe we have gotten our point across here, when it comes to a certain ethnicity that the ancient Hebrews and ancient Egyptians had. However, we can have a quick glance at West Africa and Central Africa, particularly in the Western areas of Africa as mirrored in the Odinani and Yoruba, they display ancient Egyptian spirituality - clearly. Its no big mystery where the ancient Egyptians have migrated to, they left the ever growing desert in the Lower Egypt (what looks like upper for us), on account of massive walls of sand that blew in. Then off course they migrated and assimilated further north from the areas know as Upper Egypt (Paturisi, the lands to the south). Confusing but stick with us. Remember SoNiNi said He would withdraw His presence from areas and a people that continually mock him and serve other gods, this we interpret as meaning; no water. Hence the increasing size of the Sahara desert. So both Lower and Upper Egypt did suffer, as we can see in their ancient geographical locations. And when the rain left, the people relocated. Some went South and others went West. That simple. Follow the culture, and you will find the people. And really, as a tongue in cheek comment - westerners and Europeans anthropologist should not be studying African culture, unless they become part of it. Living it. Ideally the people should extrapolate their own past, but this is easier said then done when the academic resistance is such that anything controversial is just buried in politics and or atheistic anthropology. Now though, at this moment in time, this is indeed what most of these countries scholars have been doing, researching their own past. Some with success and others with not so successful claims.
And example of a successful study you can find in the works of philosophy professor Kọ́lá Abímbọ́lá, you can learn a lot about the Yoruba cosmology and how eerily similar it is to ancient Egyptian beliefs. We can try to sum it up in short snippets of belief, it has destiny or what people call your fate (Àyànmô), ultimately we will become one in spirit with Olorun (Olódùmarè), the divine creator of all energy. And the thoughts and actions of each person in this world (Ayé) interact with all living beings, including the earth. This are the roots of Buddhism and the far east teachings. So, we can go as deep as we like into this, comparing Ancient Egyptian belief with Igbo belief systems:
WEST AFRICA - (Odinani) and in Ọdịnala every individual has assigned some amounts of "Chi" - which is what many Asian religions is built upon, concepts of life force. In Ọdịnala Chi becomes a spiritual being in it self, that takes care of mmadu, all assigned in the lower realms, so there is an overall Chi that takes care of the visible and invisible world, Chi Ukwu (Chukwu Supreme Being)
ANCIENT EGYPT - If you correlate this against the ancient Egyptian belief, we see that when death happens a persons KA ( vital life force) leaves the body. Intricate ceremonies upon death when the KA leaves the body, priests opens the mouth, to restore a persons physical abilities after death and to release BA (the personality) attached to the boy. Here BA and KA is united in the afterlife, creating an entity known as Akh.
We can do another quick comparison between Dogon people and Egyptian/Greek, that we have written about in The Dogon People of Philistia that now have their base in Mail. They did indeed originate from the lands of Moab, much further south. This people and other tribes had many ties to Ancient Egypt and ancient Greek Mythology. In Dogon belief you find the Nommo, the mythological ancestral spirits that are amphibious, hermaphroditic fish like creatures (mermaids etc). You can tie all this easily into the Ogdoad (Greek term, ὀγδοάς) which means the eight-folded (which can be tied into Buddhism and eight-folded path).
This number eight is again reflected in the Gnostic teachings that was around among the early Christian Desert writers. Its all the same teachings guys, deities with four male and female pairs, males were associated with frogs and females snakes. Zulu mythology, especially along the coast and in the mountains in KZN we are littered with these kinds of belief (inyoka) systems. And they can be traced to ancient Egypt as well.
If you get into it, its all about disassociating the male and female concepts, placing them into pairs, like Nu and Naunet (the primordial waters), Amun and Amaunet (the invisible ones), Kuk and Kauket (the darkness), Huh and Hauhet (eternity or the infinite). Together the four concepts represent the beginning, making them collected what SoNiNi really is. When these four are out of balance you get new entities like fish creatures (Leviathan and Dragon), like the creatures mentioned by Ezekiel, Lion or Man (Eagle with Bull face Seraphim). So these are systems to explain things that are seen in the Spirit. Not to be taken lightly. And a BIG topic to go into, and we will. However this needs a lot of research.
And just with these few examples (out of MANY others) you have the makings of a book, even a university discipline on the subject matter. That of tracing Ancient Egyptian beliefs among MANY West-African and Central African peoples. It becomes apparent then when looking at this information, that there is a camp of non-African views of ancient Egypt, and it is a manifestation of something. The role the African continent has played in ancient history is undeniable. The Greatest minds the west base their education systems on, the Greek model, extracted from the minds of Aristotle, Plato and Socrates - ALL of them got their studies and base information from Africa. You can even say they were Africans. The wisdom came from the continent, and it is not Afro-centric claiming that. It is rather the truth. Source of life and many belief systems came from the continent of Africa, both the many gods and one god concept.
Then, from the literature and most of our credible ancient sources, the original Greeks (and ancient Egyptians) were indeed black. Even if you look at the controversial DNA analysis (highly controversial we agree) you will find that Greeks (some MODERN Greeks) are placed in the same haplo-group as Black Africans, not mediterraneans. Sharing DNA strains with Ethiopians and Nigerians. If people want to go down this route, you can also research sickle cell anemia, another clue as to origins of a people. Anyways, the Greeks were clearly enamoured by the knowledge and wisdom that inhabited the Black so-called Africans, so much so was this admiration that black skin became a symbol of wisdom and achievement. And its all there apparent in their writings.
