Figure 4.18. Thomas Brophy with aligned megalith AO, one <strong>of</strong> the few megaliths still standing in original position, 2003
5 THE BIBLE, THE HAMITES, AND THE BLACK MEN Now this is the genealogy <strong>of</strong> the sons <strong>of</strong> Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood. . . . <strong>The</strong> sons <strong>of</strong> Ham were Cush, Mizraim (the name <strong>of</strong> <strong>Egypt</strong>), Put, and Canaan. GENESIS 10:1–8 Because Ham’s name meant both “ black” and “ hot,” Ham’s descendants had to come from <strong>Black</strong> Africa. DAVID GOLDENBERG, THE CURSE OF HAM: RACE AND SLAVERY IN EARLY JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM In practice it is possible to determine directly the skin color and hence the ethnic affiliations <strong>of</strong> the ancient <strong>Egypt</strong>ians by microscopic analysis in the laboratory; I doubt if the sagacity <strong>of</strong> the researchers who have studied the question has overlooked the possibility. CHEIKH ANTA DIOP HAM, SON OF NOAH In <strong>Egypt</strong>ology, we frequently come across the term Hamites in connection with the origins <strong>of</strong> the ancient <strong>Egypt</strong>ians. As we attempt to understand why and how the Hamites are associated with the ancient <strong>Egypt</strong>ians, we are <strong>of</strong>ten led to the Bible and the story <strong>of</strong> Noah and his sons. In the Book <strong>of</strong> <strong>Genesis</strong>, Ham is one <strong>of</strong> the sons <strong>of</strong> Noah. Ham’s children are Mizraim, Cush, Put, and Canaan, but in the Bible the names <strong>of</strong> Ham’s children are also used to denote geographical places: <strong>Egypt</strong> (Mizraim), Ethiopia (Cush), Libya (Put), and Palestine (Canaan). Many biblical scholars have proposed that the name Ham meant, in ancient Hebrew, “black” and “hot,” implying that the Land <strong>of</strong> Ham was a warm, tropical region populated by <strong>Black</strong> people. <strong>The</strong> Land <strong>of</strong> Ham is thus <strong>of</strong>ten said to be that part <strong>of</strong> the world we call <strong>Black</strong> Africa (what has been thought <strong>of</strong> as sub-Saharan Africa). Naturally, as has always been the case with the etymology <strong>of</strong> Hebrew words in the Bible, there is a heated debate over whether this interpretation is correct, because in <strong>Genesis</strong> 9:20–25 another story is told <strong>of</strong> how Noah, while tending his vineyard, became drunk and fell asleep naked in his tent, and then Ham did something unspeakable to him, *37 whereupon Noah cursed Ham through Ham’s youngest son, Canaan. This so-called Curse <strong>of</strong> Ham (also known as the Curse <strong>of</strong> Canaan) has generated, as we might expect, all sorts <strong>of</strong> debate and various interpretations among fundamentalists <strong>of</strong> the Bible as well as racists. To confound the issue even further, in the Bible, the Land <strong>of</strong> Ham is also unequivocally associated with the land <strong>of</strong> the pharaohs—that is, <strong>Egypt</strong>, the traditional enemy <strong>of</strong> Israel: “Israel also came into <strong>Egypt</strong>, and Jacob dwelt in the land <strong>of</strong> Ham” (Psalm 105:23) and “<strong>The</strong>y forgot God their Savior, who had done great things in <strong>Egypt</strong>, wondrous works in the land <strong>of</strong> Ham, awesome things by the Red Sea” (Psalm 106:21). As we have just seen, in the Bible, the land <strong>of</strong> <strong>Egypt</strong> is also known as Mizraim, the name <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> Ham’s sons. By implication, then, we can see how biblical literalists might conclude that the <strong>Egypt</strong>ians were the descendants <strong>of</strong> Ham. At any rate, we can see all these biblical interpretations as fueling the neverending conflict between Israel and <strong>Egypt</strong>—a conflict that supposedly started with the Jews in captivity *38 in <strong>Egypt</strong> at the time <strong>of</strong> Rameses II (ca. 1290 BCE) and ended in 1979 with the fragile peace treaty between Israel and <strong>Egypt</strong>—the so-called Heskem HaShalom Bein Yisrael Le Mizraim. We can note that even today Jews refer to <strong>Egypt</strong> as Mizraim. Indeed, the <strong>Egypt</strong>ians themselves call <strong>Egypt</strong> Mizr, clearly a derivative <strong>of</strong> Mizraim. Of course, biblical stories are not scientific evidence for the ethnic origins <strong>of</strong> the ancient <strong>Egypt</strong>ians, but we cannot ignore the possibility that such stories may be partially rooted in actual history. In any case, in these biblical stories, the term Hamites, for better or for worse, has <strong>of</strong>ten been adopted by scholars, particularly
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For my daughter, Candice, and my so
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book was not a
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More Mysteries at Nabta Playa The S
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INTRODUCTION ANCIENT EGYPT REBORN N
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1 STRANGE STONES In Nabta there are
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desert” emerge from the surroundi
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stage the CPE anthropologists were
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arguments—and especially on the B
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This time, some archaeologists took
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ole, he was known as Hor-Akhti, Hor
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The rounded planisphere that is see
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topped mound whose midpoint and end
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POSTSCRIPT DISCOVERY OF THE KIFAH C
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APPENDIX 1 BACK TO THE FIRST TIME V
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TAKE A WALK AT THE FIRST TIME WITH
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alignment is part of a symbolic sys
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Pyramid at Zawiyet el-Aryan) is ass
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APPENDIX 2 SOTHIC CYCLES AND IMHOTE
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APPENDIX 3 SAVING NABTA PLAYA Will
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Figure A2. Rubbish dumps in the cen
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a huge pumping station (the Mubarak
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In actual practice, though, the dev
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are not now capable of this percept
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*53. Actually, it is 365.242 days,
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Endnotes CHAPTER 1. STRANGE STONES
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Mentioning Yam and Tekhebet,” Sah
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13. J. M. Malville, R. Schild, F. W
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41. Thomas Brophy, The Mechanism De
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34. G. A. Wainwright, “Seshat and
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100. The story is told in the Westc
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Bibliography Abed, Wael T. The Othe
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Genzlinger, Neil. “Chasing Mummie
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Millennium: A Reassessment.” Jour
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About the Authors Egyptian-born Rob
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BOOKS OF RELATED INTEREST Lost Know
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