Herodotus in Living Colour 2.0

So continuing the process of bringing the works of Herodotus on ancient history back to life and back to the continent of Africa. In this one we we are going to look closer at Persia as an empire with very strong ties to ancient Babylonia, revealing Egyptian culture as it over the ages survived and integrated into Rwanda and the Amasunzu, moreover in the process of this charting we are finding a lot more of evidence confirming the Bible as a historical book. Believe every word from the Bible we say, sure you can scrutinise it, but you better believe every word. Furthermore, we are going look at the relationships between ancient peoples like the Persians and the ancient Israelites. Just as Egyptians and Hebrew were close in ancient times - Persians, Assyrians, Babylonians and Greeks also had a relationship with the People of the Book. The ancient Persians were spearheaded by King Cyrus, and tumultuous as these times were, they are still very important to note to understand the full historical narrative of the Biblical stories.

Amasunzu of Rwanda (Wikimedia Commons), is this a remnant of Egyptian culture?

In this research then, we have noticed especially one country that keeps coming up as a source of a preserver of a different cultures/customs and language from Biblical times. And it is Rwanda. We will get back to this country, but despite all of its struggles, some very important historical traits have been preserved. One can only listen to the music of Chrisy Neat (umumararungu) and you can (through the music) hear ancient Egyptian and Persian musical tones. This is were this ancient culture originated, in Central and Eastern Africa. But we get ahead of ourselves. Lets dive into this !

Amasunzu man from Rwanda displaying an Egyptian hair style (French National Archives)

Now Herodotus, who we are basing much of these historical evidences on a long with our Bibles, was as we have said a Greek man that travelled for YEARS through the Ancient Persian Empire (we believe still on the continent of Africa). He also traveled Egypt and a country he called Scythia. All the while observing and writing down what he saw and heard about from the different cultures he himself witnessed. A true researcher. Objectivity. He published a large work called The Persian Wars, and that led to the famous greek Cicero nicknaming him the father of history. The Persian Wars consists of nine books that deal with the Greek and Persian wars some 500 years before uMsindisi (Christ), with lots of geography, military history and African culture explained a long the way. He is generally regarded as one of the first (if not the first) man that unified the available records to get an historical narrative that could be told as readable literature. These works were therefore grounded mostly in oral tradition. This man however wrote things down, and we are so very grateful that he took the time and did that. Leaves us very much able to challenge things that are currently being thought that are simply not true.

Another Amasunzu man with Egyptian characteristics (attire) and hair style found in many different temple frescos.

We on the other hand are interested in placing the right images a long with the oral tradition unto the ancient peoples themselves. A kind of quest to try to give the ancient mythological peoples a name and a face to the name. Instead of settling for descriptions like Aethopian, when we today can not be certain what that meant in ancient times. So a re-mapping and re-imaging here is very much necessary in understanding the Biblical past. Now understand this, for ancient Persia to be on the continent and having wars with the ancient Greeks in the northern and eastern parts of Africa, as described in the Persian Wars. They must have been in close vicinity to one another. And they were. The Persians were on the continent, the same were the ancient Greeks before the waters dried up and they migrated, at least their vulture did, out of Africa. They inhabited parts of northern Africa in ancient times, which is another article looming. So to connect images to these peoples we need to look at tribes like the Rwandan Amasunzus and peak into the current Ethiopian (Ge`ez language) and culture. Herein lies the traces and evidences of the Biblical past. Persian, Egyptian and Babylonian traces.

Hebrews and Persians

If we go to the time after Babylon had fallen, the ancient Hebrew people went under Persian control for something like 20 odd years. These periods are talked about in the Bible as the times of King Cyrus, who was indeed a man of SoNiNi, yet he not of His people. He did the will of SoNiNi, but he was a foreigner. And foreigners is what SoNiNi uses to punish and push His people in the right direction. This benevolent Persian monarch issued a decree that allowed the ancient Hebrews to return to their homeland and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. They did start the rebuild but it fell apart, and it took another 15 years for the work to resume again.

For anyone who wants to dig into this, using the Bible as the frame but you are lacking some sources, Biblical archeologist Joseph P. Free (1911-1974) and Archeology and Bible History (1950) has a decent book on this. As far as that he is going through the ancient old `trustworthy` sources. If you do not have time to read books like the one from Joseph Free, do not fret. We will surmise. So, to remind anyone who thinks these books bring locations back to Africa, they do not, but they do bring to light powerful quotes like (Free, 1950:209):

“There is no evidence in the archaeological records that Sennacherib ever returned to the region of Palestine”

Yes and that is because this is not the right region of the ancient peoples, that is why there is no archeological evidence to support much of Biblical history. In these area. If we move the focus to the continent of Africa on the other hand, then things start to make sense. And the evidences are abound.

So, continuing on the Persians, we see that King Cyrus did make the decree of an authorisation of the rebuild of the Temple. And this was out of the ordinary as the Persian did not have a practise like the Egyptians with monuments, Hebrew with Temples of Greeks with their manlike statues (1.131):

131 These are the customs, so far as I know, which the Persians practise:—Images and temples and altars they do not account it lawful to erect, nay they even charge with folly those who do these things; and this, as it seems to me, because they do not account the gods to be in the likeness of men, as do the Hellenes. But it is their wont to perform sacrifices to Zeus going up to the most lofty of the mountains, and the whole circle of the heavens they call Zeus: and they sacrifice to the Sun and the Moon and the Earth, to Fire and to Water and to the Winds: these are the only gods to whom they have sacrificed ever from the first; but they have learnt also to sacrifice to Aphrodite Urania, having learnt it both from the Assyrians and the Arabians; and the Assyrians call Aphrodite Mylitta, the Arabians Alitta, and the Persians Mitra.

So, another reason why ancient Persian culture is so difficult to identify. Now, there are historical documents that point to the city of Ecbatana which was in the ancient province of Medes in Persia, stored in the treasuries of Babylon (still on the continent), as we can read in Ezra (Ezra 6,1-3):

King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon. 2 A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it:

Memorandum: 3 In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem:

What follows is the descriptions of the Temple and how it is to be rebuilt. Now this passage can be compared to another passage in Herodotus, which indicates that Cyrus court was in Ecbatana as the same place where his Archives were. Persia and Babylon were very close. More scholars do make a point out of this, by the likes of George Rawlinson (1812-1902) in Historical Illustrations of the Old Testament (1873), Persian and Babylonian archives were kinda one and the same (Rawlinson, 1873:196):

“...this is one of those little points of agreement between the sacred and the profane which are important because their very minuteness is an indication that they are purely casual and unintentional”

The money for the rebuild of the Temple was to be collected in the provinces beyond the Euphrates, according to Cyrus... Which gives the Borderline of Zambezi (Upper or Lower Euphrates) and Congo, a good idea and start for where these empires where indeed located in ancient times (Ezra 6,8):

8 Moreover, I hereby decree what you are to do for these elders of the Jews in the construction of this house of God: Their expenses are to be fully paid out of the royal treasury, from the revenues of Trans-Euphrates, so that the work will not stop.

Now according to Herodotus, Darius was the first King of the Persians that did implement this kind of citizen tax to build a Temple of another Kingdom (3.89):

89 Having so done in Persia, he established twenty provinces, which the Persians themselves call satrapies; and having established the provinces and set over them rulers, he appointed tribute to come to him from them according to races, joining also to the chief races those who dwelt on their borders, or passing beyond the immediate neighbours and assigning to various races those which lay more distant. He divided the provinces and the yearly payment of tribute as follows: and those of them who brought in silver were commanded to pay by the standard of the Babylonian talent, but those who brought in gold by the Euboïc talent; now the Babylonian talent is equal to eight-and-seventy Euboïc pounds. For in the reign of Cyrus, and again of Cambyses, nothing was fixed about tribute, but they used to bring gifts: and on account of this appointing of tribute and other things like this, the Persians say that Dareios was a shopkeeper, Cambyses a master, and Cyrus a father; the one because he dealt with all his affairs like a shopkeeper, the second because he was harsh and had little regard for any one, and the other because he was gentle and contrived for them all things good.

And, to put it bluntly King Darius was not someone you could mess around with. He warned that if anyone altered his decree... (Ezra 6,11):

11 Furthermore, I decree that if anyone defies this edict, a beam is to be pulled from their house and they are to be impaled on it. And for this crime their house is to be made a pile of rubble. 12 May God, who has caused his Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to change this decree or to destroy this temple in Jerusalem.

I Darius have decreed it. Let it be carried out with diligence.

This was not just a threat, and Herodotus talks at length about when Babylon was purged the second time, Darius did crucify (impale) 3000 citizens of the city of Babel (3. 159):

159 Thus was Babylon conquered for the second time: and Dareios when he had overcome the Babylonians, first took away the wall from round their city and pulled down all the gates; for when Cyrus took Babylon before him, he did neither of these things: and secondly Dareios impaled the leading men to the number of about three thousand, but to the rest of the Babylonians he gave back their city to dwell in: and to provide that the Babylonians should have wives, in order that their race might be propagated, Dareios did as follows (for their own wives, as has been declared at the beginning, the Babylonians had suffocated, in provident care for their store of food): - he ordered the nations who dwelt round to bring women to Babylon, fixing a certain number for each nation, so that the sum total of fifty thousand women was brought together, and from these women the present Babylonians are descended.

If we move on from King Darius, and another book called Esther, we can find that the maidens of the Royal Harem would only go in to the King when their turn came (Esther 1,12):

12 But when the attendants delivered the king’s command, Queen Vashti refused to come. Then the king became furious and burned with anger.

Any violation of this procedure and protocol would result in a death penalty (Esther 4,11):

11 “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold Scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”

We can read in Herodotus that there is a lot of truth to this (3.69):

69 To this the daughter sent back word: "I am not able either to come to speech with Atossa or to see any other of the women who live here with me; for as soon as this man, whosoever he may be, succeeded to the kingdom, he separated us and placed us in different apartments by ourselves." When Otanes heard this, the matter became more and more clear to him, and he sent another message in to her, which said: "Daughter, it is right for thee, nobly born as thou art, to undertake any risk which thy father bids thee take upon thee: for if in truth this is not Smerdis the son of Cyrus but the man whom I suppose, he ought not to escape with impunity either for taking thee to his bed or for holding the dominion of Persians, but he must pay the penalty. Now therefore do as I say. When he sleeps by thee and thou perceivest that he is sound asleep, feel his ears; and if it prove that he has ears, then believe that thou art living with Smerdis the son of Cyrus, but if not, believe that it is with the Magian Smerdis." To this Phaidyme sent an answer saying that, if she should do so, she would run a great risk; for supposing that he should chance not to have his ears, and she were detected feeling for them, she was well assured that he would put her to death; but nevertheless she would do this. So she undertook to do this for her father: but as for this Magian Smerdis, he had had his ears cut off by Cyrus the son of Cambyses when he was king, for some grave offence. This Phaidyme then, the daughter of Otanes, proceeding to perform all that she had undertaken for her father, when her turn came to go to the Magian (for the wives of the Persians go in to them regularly each in her turn), came and lay down beside him: and when the Magian was in deep sleep, she felt his ears; and perceiving not with difficulty but easily that her husband had no ears, so soon as it became day she sent and informed her father of that which had taken place.

And therein the invasion of the Kings private chambers were punishable by death (3.72)

72 To this Otanes, when he saw Dareios in violent haste, replied: "Since thou dost compel us to hasten the matter and dost not permit us to delay, come expound to us thyself in what manner we shall pass into the palace and lay hands upon them: for that there are guards set in various parts, thou knowest probably thyself as well as we, if not from sight at least from hearsay; and in what manner shall we pass through these?" Dareios made reply with these words: "Otanes, there are many things in sooth which it is not possible to set forth in speech, but only in deed; and other things there are which in speech can be set forth, but from them comes no famous deed. Know ye however that the guards which are set are not difficult to pass: for in the first place, we being what we are, there is no one who will not let us go by, partly, as may be supposed, from having respect for us, and partly also perhaps from fear; and secondly I have myself a most specious pretext by means of which we may pass by; for I shall say that I am just now come from the Persian land and desire to declare to the king a certain message from my father: for where it is necessary that a lie be spoken, let it be spoken; seeing that we all aim at the same object, both they who lie and they who always speak the truth; those lie whenever they are likely to gain anything by persuading with their lies, and these tell the truth in order that they may draw to themselves gain by the truth, and that things may be entrusted to them more readily. Thus, while practising different ways, we aim all at the same thing. If however they were not likely to make any gain by it, the truth-teller would lie and the liar would speak the truth, with indifference. Whosoever then of the door-keepers shall let us pass by of his own free will, for him it shall be the better afterwards; but whosoever shall endeavour to oppose our passage, let him then and there be marked as our enemy, and after that let us push in and set about our work."

And more (3.77):

77 When they appeared at the gates, it happened nearly as Dareios supposed, for the guards, having respect for men who were chief among the Persians, and not suspecting that anything would be done by them of the kind proposed, allowed them to pass in under the guiding of heaven, and none asked them any question. Then when they had passed into the court, they met the eunuchs who bore in the messages to the king; and these inquired of them for what purpose they had come, and at the same time they threatened with punishment the keepers of the gates for having let them pass in, and tried to stop the seven when they attempted to go forward. Then they gave the word to one another and drawing their daggers stabbed these men there upon the spot, who tried to stop them, and themselves went running on towards the chamber of the men.

Lets do one last on connected to Esther, which was in the times of Persian and the ancient Hebrews. Now Mordecai, Esthers cousin, made sure the plot agains Ahaseuerus was thwarted (Esther 2,21-22):

21 During the time Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, became angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. 22 But Mordecai found out about the plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai.

Mordecai foiled the plot and rewarded as a man that would support and fight for the Persians. We can actually tie this in with Herodotus, benefactors of the King AND a big clue for the Persian language orosangai (8.85):

85 Opposite the Athenians had been ranged the Phenicians, for these occupied the wing towards Eleusis and the West, and opposite the Lacedemonians were the Ionians, who occupied the wing which extended to the East and to Piræus. Of them however a few were purposely slack in the fight according to the injunctions of Themistocles, but the greater number were not so. I might mention now the names of many captains of ships who destroyed ships of the Hellenes, but I will make no use of their names except in the case of Theomestor, the son of Androdamas and Phylacos the son of Histiaios, of Samos both: and for this reason I make mention of these and not of the rest, because Theomestor on account of this deed became despot of Samos, appointed by the Persians, and Phylacos was recorded as a benefactor of the king and received much land as a reward. Now the benefactors of the king are called in the Persian tongue orosangai.

If we are correct, the Orosangai language is related to the northern Kenyan and Ethiopian oromo language (afaan oromoo), another article. Now of these few examples given here there are literally hundreds if not thousands of connections to Africa and ancient history that make us have a great confidence in Herodotus works. Therefore must be included in the ancient Biblical lore and research. The precision that some of these sources are written in and with are nothing short of miraculous, and have been reserved for us to decode now in this age. Herodotus proved a testimony and witness of the accuracy of the Old books in the Bible. And it makes our Scriptures look much more credible and should always be read as a historically accurate book. In universities.

The Amasunzu

Moving on, look at the plural form of this African tribe, AMA - meaning the multitude of people of Sunzu, to us this hints at the ancient Old Hebrew and Aramaic language forms that was and is used all over Africa. Example, Nguni languages like Zulu and Xhosa, you will many find similar words and forms in countries like Malawi and Chichewa, Mozambique and Rhonga, Zimbabwe and Shona, even Uganda and Luganda. They draw on similar words, actions, idioms and cultural figures of speech.

Now if you read a rather newly published book by Marie Béatrice Umutesi called Surviving the Slaughter: The Ordeal of a Rwandan Refugee in Zaire (2004), you will become familiar with the Rwandans and the Amasunzu.

In this book you will find descriptions a tradition so strong if not kept right, you would face jail time. Lets say having the correct style beard but not the required Amasunzu haircut. This particular style is and was to be found in the Frescos of what is left of ancient Egypt, what we would call Lower Egypt (northern Egypt). Hair is culture, even identity. The style can be seen in these photos, hair going sideways and towards the middle. Sometimes creating circles into cirles, giving the effect of the hair being like a wall behind another wall. Like a never-ending spiral. The spiral of life. The Amasunzu even had competitions on who had the best design, some tribes have kept this custom very much alive. We can go more into the importance of hair in African cultures, but alas we need much more time and even a study in its own right. We can include a few photos, but there is so so much to say about nappy hair and ancient history.

Images from the French National Archives 1920-1930 (Public Domain).

Take the examples of hygiene, it could be displayed in ones hair, or virgins would keep their locks a certain way also unmarried girls again would have their own style. You can also display class, like a nobleman and wealthy person would have their locks intertwined a certain way. Now these customs and trait have largely lost their cultural meaning, we are talking colonialism and post-Rwandan civil war times.

Now if we read our Scriptures, when Hezekiah ruled Juda, the King of Assyria called Sennacherib marched against the southern Kingdom, as we read in II Kings 18,13 and in Isaiah 36,1. We see that the king of Assyria took 46 cities from the territory of Juda. Sennacherib boasted that he shut Hezekiah King of Juda up like a bird in a cage. However, the Assyrian King was prevented from taking Jerusalem. SoNiNi responded to Hezekiahs prayer and destroyed 185.000 soldiers from Assyria in one fatal night. As we can read in II Kings 19,35. Now Herodotus has a very interesting account of this, and on how the Assyrian forces were disabled. He wrote that Sennacherib marched against Egypt (which makes sense as this was Lower Egypt, close to Juda in the South). And then during the night an army of field mice invaded the Assyrian War camp, bow strings and quivers got gnawed to bits, as was the case with leather shields and handles, thusly the Assyrians went to war very much disarmed. As a consequence of this attack of mice, many soldiers got killed and others would have fled the battle field (2.141):

141 After him there came to the throne the priest of Hephaistos, whose name was Sethos. This man, they said, neglected and held in no regard the warrior class of the Egyptians, considering that he would have no need of them; and besides other slights which he put upon them, he also took from them the yokes of corn-land which had been given to them as a special gift in the reigns of the former kings, twelve yokes to each man. After this, Sanacharib king of the Arabians and of the Assyrians marched a great host against Egypt. Then the warriors of the Egyptians refused to come to the rescue, and the priest, being driven into a strait, entered into the sanctuary of the temple and bewailed to the image of the god the danger which was impending over him; and as he was thus lamenting, sleep came upon him, and it seemed to him in his vision that the god came and stood by him and encouraged him, saying that he should suffer no evil if he went forth to meet the army of the Arabians; for he himself would send him helpers. Trusting in these things seen in sleep, he took with him, they said, those of the Egyptians who were willing to follow him, and encamped in Pelusion, for by this way the invasion came: and not one of the warrior class followed him, but shop-keepers and artisans and men of the market. Then after they came, there swarmed by night upon their enemies mice of the fields, and ate up their quivers and their bows, and moreover the handles of their shields, so that on the next day they fled, and being without defence of arms great numbers fell. And at the present time this king stands in the temple of Hephaistos in stone, holding upon his hand a mouse, and by letters inscribed he says these words: "Let him who looks upon me learn to fear the gods."

Great details on a Biblical account, fleshed out by Herodotus. If you pick up a book from professor of Semitic languages Ira Maurice Price (1856-1939), called The Monuments and the Old Testament (1907) you will see that this happening were the Assyrians fell in great numbers.

Price wrote that this account from Herodotus and the Bible (Price, 1907:191):

“...has some basis, doubtless, in fact, and is an echo of some calamity to the Assyrian army.

So, even a modern scholar will admit, something did indeed happen. Something bad. Well, off course it did. And if you believe your Scriptures then you will not really be looking for a detail of what happened, but really you will believe it when it says SoNiNi made sure 185.000 Assyrians perished. People not familiar with the stories in our Bibles would say these things are unexplainable miracles, sure we can call them that. No matter how unexplainable they are - all of them were caused by the hand of SoNiNi. And what a Mighty Hand He has.

Next up is Herodotus on Egypt, which will be a deep dive on Egypt and its customs, its location for Upper Egypt (which was in the south) and how these customs reflect in different African tribes and ancient peoples today. Perhaps especially in Zulu culture, a lot of Qamata/Khemet culture is to be found among the AmaZulu. How did it get to the South, remain intact and skip other tribes now countries on the way down? Upper Egypt was in the south, one of the Two Kingdoms of Biblical Egypt was in the South.

In closing we would say, that so much so is the prevalence of Egypt we would say for many Christians today are closer to Egyptian worship then what is going on inside the heart of a believer in SoNiNi and His Son uMsindisi. Pray to Amen, you get Egypt (which is confusion of spirit) and you get to serve the other gods. Then on the other hand, pray to SoNiNi, you get freedom of mind to see through the man made principles. We have been given the discernment of truth by uMsindisi. So let us use it. When something does not feel right, be suspicious, call it out. And as we believers who have chosen to walk the path of truth, you better believe that the truth shall indeed set you free.

SoNiNi unathi