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Ignorance seems to abound in layman acaedemic circles that "Sub-Saharans" did not have written scripts. Sadly, it seems folks are willfully uneducated and unwilling to accept the truth on the matter.
Should we judge northern Europeans who did not write anything of any signifigance until around the same time when West Africans began to write manuscripts via. Arabic adoption. How are the scribbles of natives of the British Isles and other Nordics any different than the scripts used by other Africans who would like Europeans adopt a Foreign script Via a foreign Religion.
__________________________________________________ Egyptian Quick Facts Type Logophonetic Genealogy Egyptian Location Africa > Egypt Time 3100 BCE to 400 CE Direction Variable
The Egyptian Hieroglyphs is among the old writing system in the world. Unlike its contemporary cuneiform Sumerian, Egyptian Hieroglyph's origin is much more obscure. There is no identifiable precursor. It was once thought that the origin of Egyptian Hieroglyphs are religious and historical, but recent developments could point to an economical impetus for this script as well as push back the time depth of this writing system.
How It Works
The Egyptian writing system is complex but relatively straightforward. The inventory of signs is divided into three major categories, namely (1) logograms, signs that write out morphemes; (2) phonograms, signs that represent one or more sounds); and (3) determinatives, signs that denote neither morpheme nor sound but help with the meaning of a group of signs that precede them.
Meroïtic alphabet Origin
The Meroïtic alphabet was derived from ancient Egyptian writing sometime during the 4th century BC in around 315 BC. A cursive form developed in 185 BC and the alphabet was used until about 440 AD. The alphabet was deciphered by the British Egyptologist Francis Llewellyn Griffith in 1909. Notable features
* There are two versions of the alphabet - one based on the Egyptian hieroglyphic script, the other a cursive version based on the Egyptian demotic script. * The hieroglyphic form of the alphabet was written in vertical columns from top to bottom and from right to left, while the cursive form was generally written in horizontal lines running from right to left.
Used to write:
Meroïtic, an extinct language that was spoken in the Nile valley and northern Sudan until about the 4th century AD, after which time it was gradually replaced with Nubian. Linguists are unsure about how Meroïtic is related to other languages and have therefore been unable to make any sense of the Meroïtic inscriptions.
quote:Originally posted by Spiralman:
quote:Originally posted by cassiterides: ''And you're a retard to say there was no art, sculpture nation or anything, and to ancient nation nutt-hug? You build that civilization? Ta fwog outta here'' ====
They had some stuff, but nothing compared to the great heights of Rome, Greece etc.
You know black sub-saharan africans couldn't even write to record their own history...
Not a single ancient black african text exists.
Who recorded the myths and legends of the black tribes across Africa? White Europeans did from around the 19th century...
I mean look how quickly Africa was colonised, europeans had guns and cannons while africans had wooden spears...
Couldn't have said it better myself.
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The Ge'ez or Ethiopic script possibly developed from the Sabaean/Minean script. The earliest known inscriptions in the Ge'ez script date to the 5th century BC. At first the script represented only consonants. Vowel indication started to appear in 4th century AD during the reign of king Ezana, though might have developed at a earlier date. Notable Features
* Type of writing system: abugida. * Writing direction: left to right in horizontal lines. * Each symbol represents a syllable consisting of a consonant plus a vowel. The basic signs are modified in a number of different ways to indicate the various vowels. * There is no standard way of transliterating the Ge'ez script into the Latin alphabet.
Used to write
Ge'ez, the classical language of Ethiopia which is still used as a liturgical language by Ethiopian christians and the Beta Israel Jewish community of Ethiopia.
Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia, has about 27 million speakers. It is spoken mainly in North Central Ethiopia. There are Amharic speakers in a number of other countries, particularly in Egypt, Israel and Sweden.
Afaan Oromo, a Cushitic language spoken by around 17 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Egypt. Since 1991 Oromo has been written with the Latin alphabet.
Tigrinya, a Semitic language with about 6 million speakers in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Israel.
Blin, a Cushitic language with about 70,000 speakers in Eritrea.
Me'en, a Nilo-Saharan language spoken in Ethiopia by about 56,585 people.
The Ge'ez script
May Most High Bless Ethiopia!!
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Ethiopia's Grima Gospels, the world's oldest preserved Christian Manuscript..??
(Just Like the Book of Jasher, it seems Ethiopia's literacy has bestowed another Gem to preserved Christian literacy..)...
Sunday, October 3, 2010 World's oldest christian illustrated manuscript found in Ethiopia World's oldest christian illustrated manuscript found in Ethiopia Guardian/ANI | July 6, 2010
A coloured manuscript found in a remote Ethiopian monastery could be the oldest illustrated Christian work in the world, experts have claimed.
The 1,600 year-old texts are named after a monk, Abba Garima, who arrived in Ethiopia in the fifth century.
Legend has it they were created in a day after God intervened to delay the sunset. Today, a British charity revealed how it had worked to save the Garima Gospels and set out evidence suggesting they may form one of the earliest surviving illustrated Christian manuscripts.
Kept at the remote monastery of Abuna Garima, near Adwa, in northern Ethiopia, the two volumes had become fragile. But an Anglo-French team of specialists sponsored by the Ethiopian Heritage Fund travelled there to preserve them.
The gospels are named after Abba Garima, a monk who arrived in Ethiopia in the fifth century. The story goes that, with God's assistance, he copied the four gospels in a day. In the 1960s specialists studied them and concluded they were created around 1100. Later, however, a French specialist in Ethiopian art took two fragments to Oxford and one was dated to the fifth century.
But the gospels were in poor condition. An Anglo-French team was put together, including Gloucestershire bookbinder and manuscript conservator Lester Capon, who described how his breath was taken away when he saw the "beautifully bright colours" of the illuminated pages. "I'd seen photos when I was preparing for this work, but seeing this book in real life was astonishing. It was big – you could fell an ox with it – it was beautiful, the colours were vibrant. But the condition was poor. It had the look of a burst mattress."
He set up his "bindery" in the monastery courtyard, which attracted the attention of monkeys. "I kept an eye on them as I was fearful that one may jump down from the roof, grab a folio, scrunch it up and run off down the hill."
Illustrations of the saints Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are all included in the book along with what may be the first ever Christian illustration of a building, the Temple of the Jews.
The text was thought to be medieval but carbon dating has taken it back to the 5th century AD.
Originally thought to be from around the 11th century, new carbon dating techniques place the Garima Gospels between 330 and 650 AD.
"The monks believe that the book has the magical powers of a holy text. If someone is ill they are read passages from the book and it is thought to give them strength. Although the monks have always believed in the legend of Abba Garima the new date means it could actually be true," the Telegraph quoted Mark Winstanley, who helped to carry out the conservation, as saying.
The team only had time to conserve the illuminated pages. Blair Priday, of the London-based Ethiopian Heritage Fund, said the story of the gospels was "magical", with nobody knowing where fact and fiction met. Photo: BNPS.co.uk
The Ethiopian Heritage Fund has conserved the vividly illustrated pages and it is hoped that the two volumes will be made available to visitors to the monastery, which is in discussions to start a museum there. --ANI
May the most high bless Ethiopia...
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quote:Originally posted by cassiterides: ''The 1,600 year-old texts are named after a monk, Abba Garima, who arrived in Ethiopia in the fifth century.''
perhaps you forgot the read that bit...
It was Christians from the Middle-east who gave Ethiopia writing and manuscripts.
Also the egyptians were not sub-saharan (black) africans.
So my statement that blacks never had a written history remains fact.
The first part of your comment has nothing to do with the fact that Ethiopians had a written language.
The fact that Ethiopia(Abyssinya) had a written language to preserve the world's oldest Illuminated Manuscript was the point.
You must have forgot it was "Middle Eastern" people who gave the Greeks their Alphabet script.
Second Egyptian culture and people originated in "Sub-Saharan" Africa and are closely related to Southerly Nile Valley people, so your comment there is a non-sequitur and is simply "Your" Opinion.
Third, the fact that the Nubians, Egyptians, and Ethiopians had a script proves you wrong.
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THE ROLE OF THE ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IN LITERATURE AND ART
By Adamu Amare and Belaynesh Mikael
Ethiopic or Ge’ez Literature
Ethiopia occupies a unique place among African countries south of the Sahara, having evolved her own literary language, Ge’ez, in very early times. A vast body of literary works in Ge’ez grew up from fifth century A.D onwards. Almost all of these works are religious in content. Religion lies at the very core of Ethiopian civilization and the Ethiopian Church has been not only the storehouse of the national culture, but also it propagator, instrumental in shaping and moulding Ethiopian literature and art. Ethiopian men of letters have, in almost all cases, also been men of the Church and many scholars consider that the most distinctive attainment of Ethiopian culture lies in the vast collection of manuscript, compiled and preserved in the monasteries and churches, which embody the national literary tradition. Their subject matter and their style strongly imbued with religious concepts.
It is interesting to note that while many of the literary works extant in Ge’ez are based on translations from Greek, Syriac, Coptic and in later times, Arabic originals, in every case the work in question has been not merely translated but, in Professor Ullendorff’s phrase, has been “conveyed into the spirit and ambiance of Christian Abyssinia”. In other words, these works have been submitted to such a process of adaptation and transformed that instead of being mere copies or hackneyed translations they stand as literary works of art in their own right.
The literary achievements of the Aksumite Period c. 5th- 7th centuries A.D
The major literary achievement of this period was the translation of the Holy Scriptures into Ge’ez.[b] This grate undertaking was the work of a group of learned Syrian monks known as the Nine Saints who came to Ethiopia in the fifth century to escape the Byzantine persecution of the Monophysites. The translation of the Old Testament was rendered from the Lucianic recension current in Antioch at that time. The Ethiopic Bible contains 81 Books; 46 of these comprise the Old Testament and 35 are found in the New Testament. A number of these Books are apocryphal or deuterocanonical, such as the Ascension of Isaiah, Jubilees, Enoch, the Paralipomena of Baruch. Noah, Ezra, Nehemiah, Maccabces, Moses and Tobit. They are of intrinsic importance to scholars either because no other complete version of the text is extant in any language other than Ge’ez or because the Ge’ez version is authoritative.
Perhaps the most important of these apocryphal works is [b]the Book of Enoch, which has been preserved in Ge’ez alone. The name Enoch signifies “teaching” or “dedication” and Enoch is one of the grate Biblical characters, the first-born son of Cain. The Book of Enoch was lost for centuries to western scholars who knew it only because it is mentioned in the Epistle of St. Jude, until, in 1773, James Bruce brought three complete manuscripts to Europe. This grate prophetic work mat be summarized in five parts as follows:
1. The laws governing the heavenly bodies. 2. An account in the form of visions of the history of the world until the Last Judgement and the coming of the Messianic Kingdom with its center at the New Jerusalem. 3. The establishment of a temporary kingdom that heralds the approach of the Last Judgement. 4. A vision of Enoch and other and his journeys through earth and heaven. 5. This section contains the Similitude’s and describes the coming of the Messiah as the judge of all mankind.
Other early Ge’ez works of significance which have been mentioned in a previous chapter include the famous work known as Qerlos, the grate collection of Christological writings which opens with the treatise by St. Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria, known as Haimanot Rete’et, or De Recta Fide. On this book is based the teaching of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Another work translated at this period was the Ascetic Rules of Pachomius, which established the rules governing monastic life in Ethiopia. It is interesting to note that the same period saw the translation of a secular work, the Physiologus, the well-know work of natural history, which was very popular in Europe during the Middle Ages.
The Solomonic Restoration
After the decline of the Aksumite Empire, towards the middle of the eight-century, Ethiopia entered a tenebrous period from which literary documents have not survived (or yet discovered). A grate period of cultural renaissance followed upon the restoration of the Solomonic dynasty about 1270, however, and the fourteenth century was the beginning of what has been termed the “Golden Age” of Ethiopian Literature. Although Ge’ez was no longer a living language it retained its primordial role as an ecclesiastical and literary language, like Latin in the western Church. In addition to works of a theological or dogmatical nature we find the beginning of the grate series of Royal Chronicles of Ethiopia with the reign of Amda-Seyone (1314-44). The chronicle of Amda-Seyone is an outstanding work. The vivid and compelling account of Amda-Seyone’s struggles against the Moslems was certainly the work of an eye-witness and denotes a new phase of Ge’ez literature. To the same period dates the earliest known Amharic text; a collection of solders songs celebrating the victories of Amda-Seyone. From this time onwards royal chronicles became a regular feature of the Ge’ez literary development in Christian Ethiopia.
This period also saw the composition of the Kebre Negest or Glory of the Kings which is perhaps the most significant work of Ethiopian literature. It was composed by the Nebura’ed Yeshaq of Aksum and combines history, allegory and symbolism in its re-creation of the story of the Queen Sheba, King Solomon and their son, Menelik I of Ethiopia. The grate achievement of the author, Yeshaq, lies in the way he has gathered together and syncretized all the myriad strands of this grate cycle of legends and stories which is woven into the very fabric of Ethiopian life.
Other works of this period include the Matshafa Se’atat or Horologium, a very popular work attributed to Abba Giyorgis of Gascha. The Weddase Mariam or Praises of Mary is, as the name implies, a collection of hymns and laudations dedicated to Our Lady and ordered according to the days of the week. It is ascribed to Abba Salawa, who also engaged in a revision of the text of the Bible.
A new genre of literature which appeared was devoted to the lives of the saints and martyrs. Well-known works of this nature are the Gadle Sama’etat or Acts of the Martyrs and the Gadle Hawaryat, or Acts of the Apostles. But the most important of these is the Senkessar or Synaxarium which has been translated by Sir E.A. Wallis Budge under the title The Book of the Saints of the Ethiopian Church. This is a compilation of the lives of the saints arranged in order of their feast-days throughout the year. In general these works are devoted to the struggle and suffering endured by the saints and martyrs in defense of their faith. The torments inflicted upon them are described as well as their patience in affliction, their working of miracles, their martyrdom and, after death, their receiving of the Crown of Glory. Mediaeval Ethiopian literature is particularly rich in hagiographies. The lives of well-known saints, such as Saint Anthony and Saint George enjoyed grate popularity and the lives of such famous Ethiopian Saints as St. Tekla Haimanot and Gabra Manfas Keddus provide important source books for Ethiopian Studies. In may manuscripts the whole volume is occupied with the life of a single saint and the miracles wrought by him both in his lifetime and after his death. Such manuscript often contain beautiful illustrations.
Two important original works appeared in the early fifteenth century. The first of these was the Fekkare Iyasus or the Explication of Jesus, an interesting work, messianic in tone and foretelling the coming of a king called Theodore (Tewodros) who would restore peace to suffering humanity. This prophecy became of considerable importance in Ethiopia until the middle of the nineteenth century when King Theodore II chose this throne name, apparently because of its associations with the prophecy. Another philosophical work was the Mystery of Heaven and Earth, setting forth the eternal struggle between good and evil.
The reign of the Emperor Zar’a Ya’iqob (1434-1468)
was notable for the development of grate literary activity. Zar’a Ya’iqob himself was a zealous reformer and wrote several important works, such as the Matshafa Berhan, or Book of Light and the Matshafa Milad or Book of Nativity. The king sought to refute heresies which had taken root and to attack the corruption of religious practices. Other works which have been attributed to him include the hymn collection entitled the Arganona Maryam Dingle or Organ of the Virgin Mary and the Egziabeher nagsa or God has reigned. Numerous edifying homilies were produced during this period, the most famous of these is the collection entitled Retu’a Haimanot (True Orthodoxy) ascribed to St. John Chrysostom.
The beginning of the sixteenth century saw many changes in Ethiopia. The Moslem invasions caused grate destruction to the nation’s Christian heritage. Many churches and monasteries were destroyed together with their collections of manuscripts. However enough survived to preserve national traditions. An interesting literary figure of this period was a certain Embakom (Habakkuk) an Arab converts to Christianity who entered the celebrated monastery of Debra Libanos. He was the author of the Ankasa Amin or Gate of Faith and of a number of translations from Arabic. A series of important literary works was inspired at this period by the need for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church to define her position vis-à-vis the Roman Catholic influence. The best known of these is the Confessio Claudii, or Confessions of the Emperor Claudius (1540-59), a spirited exposition of the Alexandrine Faith. Other works are Sawana Nafs or Refuge of the Soul, Fekkare Malakot, Exposition of the Godhead; and Haymanote Abaw or Faith of the Fathers.
No summary of Ethiopic literature would be complete without mention of the grate work known as the Fetha Negest or Laws of the Kings. The Fetha Negest is indeed the repository of Ethiopian ecclesiastical and civil law and as such a literary work of fundamental national importance. Throughout its history, the Fetha Negest has been closely linked with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which still observes many of its precepts. The Fetha Negest was always faithfully conserved in the monasteries and important churches. There it was available for consultation; there also it was studied and taught by leading ecclesiastical scholars. Even in modern times it has served as the basis or inspiration of much civil and penal law.
Liturgical Works
The liturgy of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church serves as the central point for the whole service conducted by priests and deacons. It is written in the form of a litany. Portions or passages of prayers, chants and hymns which are said by priests and deacons differ from those said by the faithful. As the liturgy is sometimes referred to as the “Drama of Salvation”, it is acted out like a drama, telling the life and teachings of Christ, relating the sufferings of the Saints and Martyrs of the Church and using many symbols such as the Cross with its signs, the Censer, the Bell, the Chalice, the Container for the holy water, the washing of hands by the Chief Priest, the bows and the whole elaborate vestment of the priesthood.
In the Ethiopia Orthodox Church, at least two priests and three deacons are required to celebrate the Holy Eucharist. No Mass can be performed after taking meals. Hence, the Holy Eucharist always takes place before and meal.
According to the teachings and practices of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the liturgy consists of two main parts, some of which are sung while other portions are read aloud by the priests.
The first part of the Mass is known as the Synaxis and includes the reading of the Epistles and Gospel, while the second part is called the Anaphora or Canon. This is the sacramental [art of the Mass which consists of fourteen Anaphoras: of these, the standard one in most common use is the Anaphora of the Twelve Apostles.
The first part of the Mass is known as the Synaxis and includes the reading of the Epistles and Gospel, while the second part is called the Anaphora or Canon. This is the sacramental part of the Mass which consists of fourteen Anaphoras: of these, the standard one in most common use is the Anaphora of the Twelve Apostles.
These Anaphoras may by listed as follows:- 1. The Anaphora of Our Lady Mary 2. The Anaphora of the Apostles 3. The Anaphora of Our Lord Jesus Christ 4. The Anaphora of St. John The Evangelist 5. The Anaphora of St. Basil 6. The Anaphora of St. Athanasius 7. The Anaphora of The Three Hundred and Eight Fathers 8. The Anaphora of St. Gregory the Armenian 9. The Anaphora of St. Epiphanius 10. The Anaphora of St. John Chrysostom 11. The Anaphora of St. Cyril 12. The Anaphora of St. James of Serug 13. The Anaphora of St. Dioscorus 14. The Anaphora of St. Gregory of Alexandria.
The exact origin of most of the Ethiopic Anaphoras has not been discovered. They first appear in Manuscripts of the 15th century, but were doubtless composed very much earlier. Scholars at one time assumed that all or most of these Anaphoras were translated of foreign liturgies, but recent studies, such as that of Ernst Hammerschmidt, have demonstrated that many of the Anaphora are genuine creation of Ethiopic literature evincing theological thought and liturgical poetry of a high order.
Painting and Manuscript Art The hall-mark of sophisticated artistic expression of any country can be tested by its capacity to assimilate many elements from foreign source and indigenous these foreign influences. Ethiopian representational art is no exception to this rule. In fact Ethiopian art has syncretized both Oriental and Byzantine artistic traits. Although architecture and metal work belong to representational art, we are here concerned with painting, which is by far the most representative and ubiquitous branch of Ethiopian Art.
With the exception of a few ancient rock carving or drawings which depict both human and animal scenes, Ethiopian painting is virtually wholly ecclesiastic. It is Christianity, the religion of the state, that has determined the scope and purpose of painting in Ethiopia.
Generally speaking, clarity, vividness and the capacity to convey an idea dominate Ethiopian painting more than the desire to give pleasure. Ethiopian artists may even go so far as to distort proportion in order to convey an idea vividly. Such paintings are found in the form of icons, as murals in churches and in manuscripts.
The imaginative church artists have beautified and ornamented these paintings with elaborate color, illumination and elegant design. Priests and monks insert pictures in their books in order to communicate the message to the faithful more vividly and colorfully.
In fact Ethiopian artistic accomplishment is considered by many scholars to have reached its apogee in the illuminated manuscripts produced in the grate monasteries between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. The finest manuscripts are written on goatskin, whereas for ordinary purpose sheepskin is used. The text is usually written in a copiously decorated heavy black script with occasional insertions in red. The pages very in size, but may be very large; the text is written in one, two or three columns according to the size of the manuscript. Lavish illustrations abound, sometimes occupying whole pages and sometimes incorporated into the text. The leaves are put together in quires, usually of ten pages. They are then bound between wooden boards often covered with tooled leather and the completed book may be provided with a leather case with straps that make it convenient for carrying.
Ethiopian paintings are characterized by Biblical themes and figures. Angles, evangelists, saints, martyrs and other biblical personalities are the subjects of painting in Ethiopia. Of all these biblical personalities the Virgin Mary occupies a very prominent place in Ethiopian painting. The extreme veneration attributed to St. Mary finds its expression in many ways. for instance, some pictures depict St. Mary as a delicate and modest young girl, while others show her as a strong, mature women and protector of the Ethiopian people.
The paintings and pictures found in various manuscripts and on the walls in churches, afford the viewer a moral lesson and religious instruction. As they communicate their message clearly they are a way of acquainting the faithful with the teachings of Christ, the history and teachings of the Church, the lives and acts of the Apostles. All this of course is in addition to the purely aesthetic role they fulfill as objects of beauty and decoration.
Sources Written by Professor Sergew Hable Sellassie and Professor Tadesse Tamerat “THE CHURCH OF ETHIOPIA A PANORAMA OF HISTORY AND SPIRITUAL LIFE” Addis Ababa –December 1970. A publication of the EOTC
Literacy is believed to have been particularly high in Christian Nubia. This is attested by the widespread graffiti found on building walls, rocks, and pottery.1 Moreover, written evidence indicates that multilingualism was very high among the Nubians. Documents written in Meroitic, Latin, Coptic, Hieratic, Greek, Old Nubian, and Arabic are found in large numbers and are widely spread.
Greek
Following the conversion of the Nubian kingdoms to Christianity in the sixth century, Greek replaced Meroitic as the primary written language. Greek was evidently the legal language of Old Dongola; 2 administrative and church documents discovered in the town were largely Greek. Although Coptic and Arabic were used throughout the kingdoms, Greek was more dominant in Old Dongola and Alwa than in the area of Nobadia in northern Nubia. Also, it is worth mentioning that Greek was widespread among the Nubians centuries before the arrival of Christianity in the sixth century.
Archeological excavations indicate a widespread use of Greek and Coptic in Nubia since the fourth and fifth centuries, if not before.3 Large numbers of documents and text fragments concerning a wide range of subject matters including royal commemorations and diplomatic correspondences have been uncovered from pre-Christian sites.4 Hence, the dominance of Hellenistic cultural features in the Christian Nubian kingdoms, including the adoption of Greek as a primary language, did not begin in the sixth century. Nonetheless, Christianity did play a major role in solidifying the base of the Roman (Byzantine) culture in Nubia and in establishing Greek as the primary language in the region.
Following the sixth century and the establishment of Greek as the official language of the kingdoms, writings in Greek became widespread in a number of native traditions. An example of such traditions is the extensive use of nomina sacra, a Christian system for abbreviating reoccurring divine names and expressions such as cross, father, spirit, heaven, holly, and son. Coptic
Confronted by a common enemy (i.e., the Muslim Arabs), the Nubians and the Coptic community formed a strong bond. Although less common than Greek, Coptic was a primary language in Nubia; evidence for teaching Coptic has been found in el-Ghazali, a Faras cathedral, as well as in other locations in Nubia.5
Coptic differs significantly from Nubian in many respects. Unlike Coptic, Old Nubian has no gender classes; grammatically the two languages are different. For example, in Nubian, the qualified follows the qualifier, and postpositions are used in place of prepositions; different from the case in Coptic.6
Manuscripts written in Old Nubian can be found throughout Northern Sudan, as far south as Soba and as far west as Kordofan.
7 Although the majority of Old Nubian documents are religious in nature, many administrative documents, concerning a wide variety of legal matters such as land and slave ownership, are found.8
The elaborate writing of these documents indicates a highly sophisticated culture and proficiency in literacy.
The found Old Nubian documents reflect the linguistic, cultural, and social complexity of the Nubian Christian society. It is worth mentioning that the Old Nubian alphabet consisted of Greek letters, in addition to Coptic and Meroitic characters, that are accommodated in the Nubian spoken language.
Like Greek, Old Nubian employed diacritical signs (i.e, dots used to mark vowels, consonants, numerals, as well as to separate between words, and to mark the end of sentences).9 Angled strokes and incurved lines were employed to indicate the end of a full text material. Asteriscs were used to mark word omissions.10 Also, Old Nubian is distinguished by a unique mark (-oy) placed at the end of proper names.11
* 1 D. A. Welsby, The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia: Pagans, Christians and Muslims on the Middle Nile (British Museum P, 2002) 238. * 2 A. Lajtar, "Greek Funerary Inscriptions from Old Dongola: General Note", Oriens Christianus 81, (1997):107-26. * 3 See: P. Lenoble, "The Pre-Christian Empire And Kingdoms", Sudan Ancient Treasures: An Exhibition Of Recent Discoveries From The Sudan National Museum, ed. D. A. Welsby, and J. R. Anderson (British Museum P, 2004) 186-92. * 4 T. Eide, T. Hägg, R. H. Pierce, and L. Török, eds., Fontes Historiae Nubiorum: Textual Sources for the History of the Middle Nile Region between the Eighth Century BC and the Sixth Century AD (Bergen, 1998). * 5 K. Michalowski. Faras. Fouilles Polanaises 1961-1962 (Warszawa, 1965), See: S. Jakobielski, Faras III. A History of the Bishopric of Pachoras (Warszawa, 1972), and secondary source: Welsby, note 1 above at 238-9. * 6. H. S. Atzinger, "Some Peculiarities Of Greek And Coptic Epigraphy From Nubia," Satzinger 7 (2004): 535-41. * 7 E. J. Ilevbare, Potential Contact Between The Central Valley Of The Nile And The River Niger Area In Ancient Libya In The First Seven Centuries A.D. , Nov. 1983, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Dec. 2008 <http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0005/000572/057218eb.pdf>. * 8 For slave ownership see: J. D. Fage, and R. A. Oliver, The Cambridge History of Africa: From C.500 BC to AD1050 (Cambridge University P, 1979) 574, and for land ownership see: G. M. Browne, Old Nubian Texts from Qasr Ibrim II (London, 1989), Gerald M. Browne, Old Nubian Texts from Qasr Ibrim III (London, 1991), and G. M. Browne, "Old Nubian Studies: Past, Present and Future," Egypt and Africa. Nubia from Prehistory to Islam, ed. W. V. Davies (London, 1991): 286-293. * 9 Catalogue of the Greek Inscriptions in the Sudan National Museum at Khartoum (I. Khartoum Greek), (Peeters Publishers, 2003) xix. * 10 Catalogue of the Greek Inscriptions, note 10 above at xviii-xix. * 11Catalogue of the Greek Inscriptions, note 10 above at 15, and G. M. Browne, Old Nubian Grammar, (München, Lincom, 2002).
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^^^^ I agree with Cassiterides on somethings and we disagree on other things.
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What? Geez writing appears 500 BCE and only in the Horn of Africa not in the Arabian Peninsula. So how is it you credit Middle-Eastern Christians for Ethiopia's scripts?
Your other lie about no ancient south of the Sahara texts is exposed in another thread where it's pointed out your people of the Tin (British) Isles have no ancient texts.
Remain hateful and ignorant at your own race consumed peril.
quote:Originally posted by cassiterides:
It was Christians from the Middle-east who gave Ethiopia writing and manuscripts.
Also the egyptians were not sub-saharan (black) africans.
So my statement that blacks never had a written history remains fact.
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Ancient Songhay had a number of scholars of which the historians Kati(Tariq al-Fattash) and Sadi(Tariq es-Sudan) are well known. Ahmed Baba wrote about 50 books. [See John Hunwick' research.]
But Europe has the same thing: when was the first history of Britain written by an indigenous British? Apart from the outlier Greeks and the South European Romans when did Europeans give up their oral traditions? Answer: very recently.
The fact that Herodotus--an actual eyewitness--described the AEs as blacks with woolly hair completely falsifies the bogus Eurocentric notion of "sub-Saharan" Africa. Aristotle in his Physiognomica says the same thing too.
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posted
''The found Old Nubian documents reflect the linguistic, cultural, and social complexity of the Nubian Christian society.'' ====
You don't get it...
You are citing examples of when non-black Christians gave blacks the knowledge of writing. Which precisely proves my point - blacks never made anything of their own, they have virtually no culture.
There is no such thing as an ancient, medieval or early modern black philosopher, poet, historian, inventor, scientists etc.
Blacks had to wait until whites brought them civilization. When Europeans colonised Africa, they found them living in mud huts with no sophisticated level of civilization.
Black Africans never had an ancient writing script of their own.
Posts: 2408 | From: My mother's basement | Registered: Dec 2010
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quote:Originally posted by cassiterides: ''The found Old Nubian documents reflect the linguistic, cultural, and social complexity of the Nubian Christian society.'' ====
You don't get it...
You are citing examples of when non-black Christians gave blacks the knowledge of writing. Which precisely proves my point - blacks never made anything of their own, they have virtually no culture.
There is no such thing as an ancient, medieval or early modern black philosopher, poet, historian, inventor, scientists etc.
Blacks had to wait until whites brought them civilization. When Europeans colonised Africa, they found them living in mud huts with no sophisticated level of civilization.
Black Africans never had an ancient writing script of their own.
No! I think you are the one that does not "get" it. You're whole argument is void of any historical credit. You are simply talking out of your arse at this point, thus there is no point for you to continue on my thread.
Posts: 8804 | From: The fear of his majesty had entered their hearts, they were powerless | Registered: Nov 2007
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posted
retard above, in your OP you claimed the egyptians were black african.
No scholar, historian or classicist takes the few the ancient egyptians were black.
So the only one talking out your arse is you.
Also you failed to cite an example of a black african written script. So far all you have shown is scripts of Christian middle-eastern origin which were taken to Ethiopia.
But let me guess you also think middle-easterners were black too?
You are a afrocentric crank.
Posts: 2408 | From: My mother's basement | Registered: Dec 2010
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posted
How many times will you ignore the fact Geez and Meroitic are ancient -- 500 BCE & 350 BCE respectively -- scripts of Africans who are both black and are south of the Sahara?
Meanwhile you have no comment about the lack of any ancient texts by you Tin (British) Isles people. People who played no part in ancient history whereas African blacks were living it up in your Tin Isles over 1700 years ago.
Why is this? Are you working under the Ostrich Theory? Afraid of what you see? Then bury your head, leave your arse exposed!
You compensate for the shame of your Dagda worshipping Tin Isles ancestors by vainly trying to castigate blacks to cover up your own peoples' failings.
quote:Originally posted by cassiterides: ... you failed to cite an example of a black african written script. So far all you have shown is scripts of Christian middle-eastern origin which were taken to Ethiopia.
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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No scholar, historian or classicist takes the few the ancient egyptians were black.
^^^^^ This is Appeal to beleif fallacy...
"Certainly there was some foreign admixture [in Egypt], but basically a homogeneous African population had lived in the Nile Valley from ancient to modern times... [the] Badarian people, who developed the earliest Predynastic Egyptian culture, already exhibited the mix of North African and Sub-Saharan physical traits that have typified Egyptians ever since (Hassan 1985; Yurco 1989; Trigger 1978; Keita 1990.. et al.,)... The peoples of Egypt, the Sudan, and much of East African Ethiopia and Somalia are now generally regarded as a Nilotic continuity, with widely ranging physical features (complexions light to dark, various hair and craniofacial types) but with powerful common cultural traits, including cattle pastoralist traditions.(Trigger 1978; Bard, Snowden, this volume).(F. Yurco "An Egyptological Review," 1996)[11]
"There is now a sufficient body of evidence from modern studies of skeletal remains to indicate that the ancient Egyptians, especially southern Egyptians, exhibited physical characteristics that are within the range of variation for ancient and modern indigenous peoples of the Sahara and tropical Africa. In general, the inhabitants of Upper Egypt and Nubia had the greatest biological affinity to people of the Sahara and more southerly areas." (Nancy C. Lovell, " Egyptians, physical anthropology of," in Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, ed. Kathryn A. Bard and Steven Blake Shubert, ( London and New York Routledge, 1999) pp 328-332)
2009 study finds the Nubians were ethnically the closest population to the ancient Egyptians not Europeans or Middle Easterners, confirming Egyptologist Frank Yurco's data from the 1980s and 1990s.
Gene flow may account for the homogeneity across these Nubian and Egyptian groups and is consistent with the biological diffusion precept. Small geographic distances between groups allow for the exchange of genes. The similarities uncovered by this study may be explained by another force, adaptation.. resemblance may be indicative of a common adaptation to a similar geographic location, rather than gene flow Egypt and Nubia have similar terrain and climate. Because of the similarity between and the overlapping of the two territories that would require similar adaptations to the environment, common adaptation cannot be discounted.
Gene flow appears likely between the Egyptians and Nubians, although common adaptations to a similar environment may have also been a factor in their cranial similarities. This study does not rule out the possibility that in situ biological evolution occurred at other times not represented by the samples in this analysis. "
quote:Originally posted by cassiterides: ... you failed to cite an example of a black african written script. So far all you have shown is scripts of Christian middle-eastern origin which were taken to Ethiopia.
[/QB][/QUOTE] You obviously have a reading comprehension problem, and very ignorant of historical academia. Merotic and Ge-ez are grouped by Historians as African developed scripts, your personal feelings and opinions have no bearing on these results.
posted
Cassiterides is envious and hateful of blacks due to the shame of what his particular people's debt.
Look at his avatar Dagda, his people's "Good God."
Now look at the real Dagda painstakingly researched by Marc.
Note that Dagda was king of the Tuatha de Danaan who were none other than an migrated to Ireland branch of the Danaides of whom Aeschylus makes the Argive king say are black girls. Also note the Celts claimed to be descended from Dana daughter of Dagda.
What are we to conclude other than Cassiterides is ashamed and embarrased?
posted
Vai Script West Africa Mande Script West Africa Nisibidi Script Nigeria Shumon script Cameroon very recent Cassiscoke
quote:Also you failed to cite an example of a black african written script. So far all you have shown is scripts of Christian middle-eastern origin which were taken to Ethiopia.
And you failed to open a frikin link and read.
quote:No scholar, historian or classicist takes the few the ancient egyptians were black.
Mary Lefkowitz classicist. Here is the work of the anthropologist so strongly recommended by Lefkowitz, Nancy Lovell: "There is now a sufficient body of evidence from modern studies of skeletal remains to indicate that the ancient Egyptians, especially southern Egyptians, exhibited physical characteristics that are within the range of variation for ancient and modern indigenous peoples of the Sahara and tropical Africa.. In general, the inhabitants of Upper Egypt and Nubia had the greatest biological affinity to people of the Sahara and more southerly areas." Thanks Zarahan you knew that would come in handy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u14EP9hKdtM From your own honored historian Basil Davidson. Martin Bernal political historian and linguist author of Black Athena And the list goes on and on..and guess what this is just wy folks,haven't even entered us colod folk who has just as much creds as them wy folks some of em Brits like ur self.
quote:But let me guess you also think middle-easterners were black too?
posted
So Jari is another afrocentric troll. For some reason i thought he wasn't originally. Turns out he has the same cranky views where he believes the ancient egyptians were black.
Very ''Black African'' indeed. Posts: 2408 | From: My mother's basement | Registered: Dec 2010
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posted
This is what we call Ad-Homenien attack as well as Red Herring Fallacy...
Sorry Kid, I don't consider the Egyptians as "Black", I report what the evidence tell us, that they were tropically adapted Africans with cultural and physical ties to the Nile Valley and southerly populations, the closest being the Nubians.
Unlike you, I can care less about skin color when it comes to history.
Also Im not going to get into picture Spams. The Egyptians had different hues, with a North to South Gradation incline from the Delta to the Southern Tip of Aswan.
If you want to see images of different Egyptians check out the below link...
For someone so educated in the classics, its sad to see you stoop to the level of radical Afrocentrics by allowing your emotions toward a particular people(Blacks Africans) distort the facts of History.
There is a difference between being naive and Ignorant, the Key word in the latter being "Ignor"[b]ant
[b]ignore[b] [ɪgˈnɔː] vb (tr) [b]to fail or refuse to notice; disregard n Austral informal disregard to treat someone with ignore [from Latin ignōrāre not to know, from ignārus ignorant of, from i- in-1 + gnārus knowing; related to Latin noscere to know] ignorable adj ignorer n
quote:Originally posted by cassiterides: So Jari is another afrocentric troll. For some reason i thought he wasn't originally. Turns out he has the same cranky views where he believes the ancient egyptians were black.
Very ''Black African'' indeed.
Posts: 8804 | From: The fear of his majesty had entered their hearts, they were powerless | Registered: Nov 2007
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quote:Originally posted by cassiterides: So Jari is another afrocentric troll. For some reason i thought he wasn't originally. Turns out he has the same cranky views where he believes the ancient egyptians were black.
Very ''Black African'' indeed.
Whatz up butch? You hating on your bytch?
Ooooooh this is simply delicious... Posts: 7419 | From: North America | Registered: Mar 2009
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quote:Originally posted by Just call me Jari: This is what we call Ad-Homenien attack as well as Red Herring Fallacy...
whine...whine...whinnnnnneeee.....:
quote:Originally posted by Just call me Jari: ^^^^ I agree with Cassiterides on somethings and we disagree on other things.
Bytch be a man this gay marriage ting ain't working for you or your lover...
Bytch be a man and stand up to Cassridee.. your once beloved but abusive gay husband...
Stop the psychological exploitation stop the your whining... do sum-ting; Bytch can you ever be a man again? Posts: 7419 | From: North America | Registered: Mar 2009
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By Dr. Aberra Molla Ethiopia has its own ancient calendar. According to the beliefs of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, God created the world 5500 years before the birth of Christ and it is 1994 years since Jesus was born. Based on this timeline, we are in the year 7494 of the eighth millennium (or smnTow vh). These are referred to as Amete Alem (]MT ]Lm) in Amharic or “the years of the world”. Era of the world dates from 5493 B.C.
Ethiopic is not the only calendar in Ethiopia either. The works of Enoch (hnk) had been in Ethiopia and Egypt before the times of Moses and on through the times of King Solomon and Queen of Sheba. As has been the case for Israel, Egypt and Ethiopia have had important roles in Biblical History. An Enochian year is completed in 364 days, Enoch 82:4-7 and Jubilees 6:23-28. More precisely, a 365-day-solar-year and the 365-year-solar-cycle appear as a 365-days-and-years single term. From the three books of Enoch, a curious 364-day length of calendar year lends new insight by reserving the last day of the solar year. Ethiopians followed the Old Testament before the introduction of Christianity (1 Kings 10:1-9). The Arc of the Covenant was brought to Ethiopia long before Christianity accepted the Old Testament and offered worship to God. The Oromo people have their own calendar. Bete Israel (bT asr]l) believe in the Jewish faith.
he Ethiopic Enochian Calendar had 364 days per year. The Book of Enoch, whose Ethiopic version in its entirety survived only in Ethiopia and was taken to Europe by James Bruce was publicized around 1790 A.D. The Book of Enoch has been part of the Ethiopian Bible and Enoch 28:11 mentions the completion of the year in 364 days. (In view of the Ethiopian Orthodox, Enoch wrote his Ethiopic Bible as the first and oldest author in any human language.)
The earliest known date is 4236 B.C.E., the founding of the Egyptian calendar. The ancient Egyptian calendar was lunar. The solar Coptic (ግብጽ) calendar, oldest in history, originated three millennia before the birth of Christ. The exact date of its Egyptian origin is unknown. It is believed that Imhotep, the supreme official of King Djoser C.2670 B.C. had a great impact on the construction of the calendar. Historically, ancient Egyptians initially used a civil calendar based on a solar year that consisted of 365 days only, without making any adjustment for the additional quarter of a day each year. Each year had 12 months. The heliacal rising of Sirius coincides with the arrival of the highest point of river Nile flood at Memphis marking the first day of the year. The new year of the ancient Egyptians started on Meskerem 1 (መስከረም ፩). This date is an Ethiopian new year signaling the end of Noah’s flood. (The Hebrew new years also start in Meskerem. The Egyptian solar calendar consisted of 12 30-day months with five extra festival days at the end of the year. It should be noted that the chronology of 3,000 years of Ancient Egyptian history, by modern Egyptologists, was made possible only because the Ancient Egyptians followed the Sothic Year of slightly over 365¼ days, i.e. 365.25636 days.)
The connection between Egypt and Ethiopia from at least as early as the Twenty-second Dynasty was very intimate and occasionally the two countries were under the same ruler, so that the arts and civilization of the one naturally found their way into the other.
The Ethiopian Calendar has more in common with the Coptic Egyptian Calendar. The Ethiopic and Coptic calendars have 13 months, 12 of 30 days each and an intercalary month at the end of the year of 5 or 6 days depending whether the year is a leap year or not. The year starts on 11 September in the Gregorian Calendar (G.C.) or on the 12th in (Gregorian) Leap Years. The Coptic Leap Year follows the same rules as the Gregorian so that the extra month always has 6 days in a Gregorian Leap Year.
Following his conquest of Egypt, Julius Caesar consulted the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes about calendar reform. The calendar that Julius Caesar adopted in the Roman year 709 A.U.C. (Ab Urbe Condita, i.e. since the founding of Rome or 46 B.C.) was identical to the Alexandrian Aristarchus’ calendar of 239 B.C., and consisted of a solar year of twelve months and of 365 days with an extra day every fourth year. This calendar that replaced the Roman calendar became the Julian calendar. The lunar Roman calendar had only ten months with December (the Latin decem for ten) as the tenth month until January and February were inserted. Quintilis, the fifth month, was changed to July in honor of Julius Caesar and Sextilis was renamed August for Augustus Caesar.
When the Roman papal chancellor, Bonifacius, asked a monk by the name of Dionysius Exiguus to implement the rules from the Nicaean Council for general use and to prepare calculations of the dates of Easter, Dionysius fixed Jesus’ birth in such a manner that it falls on 25 December 753 A.U.C., thus making the current era start with A.D. 1 on 1 January 754 A.U.C. It was about 525 A.D. that Dionysius Exiguus, started his count (instead of the Diocletian of 284 A.D.) with the year 1 A.D., considered to be the year of the birth of Christ. It is likely that Jesus was actually born around 7 B.C. or before King Herod’s death in 750 A.U.C.
The Venerable Bede wrote the history of the early centuries of England in 731 A.D. He adopted the system of Dionysius and its use spread. Unfortunately, Bede made a blunder when he invented the B.C. system and stuck it immediately before A.D. 1. A year and a day were lost because of this error and the controversy on the start of new millennium has even run into 2000 G.C. though 2001 is assumed to be the new beginning. The Julian Calendar was modified to the Gregorian calendar in 1582 A.D. Pope Gregory authorized that ten days be excised from October 5 through October 14 in the year 1582. Christians celebrated Easter on the same date, using the algorithm from A.D. 325 until 1582. In 1583 G.C. Joseph Scaliger introduced the Julian day and began counting time from 4713 B.C. taking it day by day. In 1740 G.C. Jacques Cassini used +1 to designate A.D. 1 so that +1 is preceded by year 0, which is preceded by year -1.
In the Gregorian Calendar, the tropical year is approximated as 365+97/400 days = 365.2425 days. Thus it takes approximately 3300 years for the tropical year to shift one day with respect to the Gregorian calendar. The approximation 365+97/400 is achieved by having 97 leap years every 400 years. Some claim that the Gregorian calendar took care of the extra 11 minutes and 14 seconds of the tropical solar year with 365.242199 days instead of the 365.25 days. Yet, in the Eastern Orthodox system a century year is a leap year only if division of the century number by 900 leaves a remainder of 200 or 600 with 365+218/900 days = 365.242222 days, which is certainly more accurate than the official Gregorian number of 365.2425 days. Furthermore, due to the gravitational dynamics of the Sun-Earth-Moon system the length of the tropical year is not constant. In the Ethiopian calendar leap years come every four years. The Julian year is equal in length to the Coptic or Ethiopic year. In the Gregorian calendar every year that is exactly divisible by 4 is a leap year, except for years that are exactly divisible by 100; these centurial years are leap years only if they are exactly divisible by 400. In other word, Ethiopic has 100 Leap years every 400 years while Gregorian has 97.
(With the proper intercalation the Ethiopic Enochian calendar can be made more accurate. For instance an intercalation of a year every 293 years (107016 days) gives 365.2423 days, a fraction very close to the real time of 365.2422 days (20926 divided by 86000 seconds equals 0.2422 of a day). An unexpected feature of the 364-day year of Enoch is that it results in an average year length even more accurate than the modern Gregorian calendar. The actual length of the year is now 365.2422 days. The Gregorian calendar averages 365.2425 days. But if 52 weeks are intercalated every 293 years into the calendar of Enoch, then it averages 365.2423 days which is extremely accurate. It is very surprising that such accuracy can be obtained by intercalating an entire week at a time over so short a time period. In contrast, the Gregorian calendar intercalates one day at a time over a 400-year cycle and achieves less long-term accuracy.)
The Ethiopic calendar differs from both the Coptic and the Julian calendars. The current 1994 Ethiopian Calendar (E.C.) year is equivalent to the 1718 Coptic Calendar (C.C.), the 2001 Julian Calendar (J.C.) and the 2001 Gregorian Calendar (G.C.) years. After the massive killing by the Romans that was so severe and traumatic the Egyptians began a new calendar called “The Martyr’s Calendar” in A.D. 284. The difference between the Ethiopic and Coptic is 276 years. In spite of this, the Ethiopic Calendar is closely associated with the rules and the different calculations influenced by the Coptic Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church. (According to Aymro and Motovu, the Calendar of the Ethiopian Church came from Egypt and as to methods and dates agrees with the Calendar of the Coptic Church. But the two calendars differ with regards to the saints’ days and the time of observing them.) According to Ethiopian scholars such as Aleqa Kidane Wold Kiflie (ኣለቃ ኪዳነ ወልድ ክፍሌ), the Ethiopic Calendar A.D. differs from other Christian calendars because of the continuity to these years after completion of the 5500 years and the former is religious while the latter is based on history. The Ethiopic years are seven years behind the Western and Eastern Church calendars. The seven years difference by Meskerem 1 becomes eight on January 1. Ethiopic uses the 5500 E.B.C. years in proleptic as well as modern calendrical calculations.
According to Asrat Gebre Mariam and Gebre Hiwot Mehari, the Romans endorsed an inaccurate figure by the time they started from counting the birth year of Jesus Christ. Exiguus suggested that the Romans (drop the A.U.C. calendar and) start with the Christian Calendar in 532 A.M. (and 19 lunar cycles times 28 solar cycles equals 532). Many churches accepted the A.D. 1 (or 753 A.U.C.) calculation of Exiguus, which was off by four years, only because of the difficulty associated with changing calendar rules and regulations established on it. The authors point out to evidence presented by Flavius Josephus and other which include Matthew 2:1. Also Tiberius Caesar became the king of Rome in the Roman 765 year and Jesus started teaching fifteen years into his reign, at the age of thirty, in 780 A.U.C.- see Luke 3:1-23.
The starting point of the Jewish calendar is 3761 B.C., the date for the creation of the world according to their religion. The Aztecs believed that the creation of the world occurred 3113 B.C. The Greek epoch correlates to 776 B.C.E. Olympiad. The Islamic Calendar started from A.D. 622 after the flight of Mohammed to Medina.
The Geez Calendar (QLnts) is divided into old and new. The old era which is equivalent to the B.C. is Zemene Bluy (Z.B.) or (ZMN bly). Zemene Haddis (Z.H.) or (ZMN ‘ds) is Anno Domini (A.D.), though it is commonly referred to as Amete Mihret (A.M.) which means “years of mercy”. Amete Mihret (]MT m’Rt) is abbreviated as ]!m! Coptic Years are Amete Semaetat (]MT Sm]tt or ]!S!). The Gregorian Calendar years are followed by anD awr[ a(uUr, which means according to the "European" calendar and is abbreviated as a!a!a! In Amharic Julius is ylys, Gregory is grgrys and B.C. is Kkrsts Bft (k!B!).The current Ethiopic year can be written as 19094 ]!m!, 1994 A.M., 1994 Z.H., 7494 A.A. and even 1994 ]!m!
The Ethiopians, like all their contemporaries, probably did not know about the zero between the B.C. and the A.D. years. In spite of this, 5500 + Amete Mihret years divided by 4 is an Ethiopic Leap year if the remainder is 3. Leap (>gr) years by the Ethiopian Calendar are those that end in a Gregorian calendar year preceding a Gregorian calendar leap year. The Ethiopic Leap day is Phagumien 6 ([gmn 6).
Calendar raises the issue of the types of counting glyphs used for documentation. The ancient people might have used the "Aebegede" (ABGD) digits. The numerals of the Heleheme (HL"M) Ethiopic are not alphabetic (fDlw a;z) to Ethiopic. Some Ethiopians claim that the resemblance of most Ethiopic numbers to the Greek or Coptic numerals do not necessarily mean they were copied from them. Recent research shows that the Greek alphabetic numerals were borrowed from the Egyptian Demotic system. The modern Ethiopian calendar is tabulated with Ethiopic and Latin alphanumeric characters to make it bi-alphabetic and includes the G.C. dates. Many incorporate national, Christian and Muslim holidays. (The week tables start with Sundays.) It has continued to play important roles in agriculture, genealogy, astronomy, history, astrology, commerce, science, etc. and in calculating movable holidays such as Ethiopian Easter. Many other movable Christian holidays change with the Easter (that also uses the Hebrew Calendar).
Ethiopian calendar tables are usually annual, though one spans 532 years. The calendar cycles repeat and thus the charts are re-usable. Dr. Getatchew has published examples and describes how the 532-year cycle table with the movable holidays (B]lt) and fast (aiwmt) days was created for the first time by Annianus (anyns), an Egyptian monk, who lived around 400 A.M. The table was for the 12th cycle or years 5853 to 6384 A.A.
Groups of years like those associated with lunar and solar cycles have Amharic names (qemer / QMr^ awde chereka / ]wD XRq^ terefe tsehay / TRF ?’y^ etc.). The Ethiopic years have four-year cycles. The years are named after the evangelists Matthew (mtws), Luke (lqs), Mark (mrqs) and John (y’ns). Each year has four seasons, similar to autumn (fall or ?Dy), winter (kRmt), spring (MIw) and summer (Bg). An Ethiopian week has seven days. Each day has a numeric value for use in calendarical calculations. For instance, Pope Demetrios (ptryrk dmurs) of the Church of Alexandria (seat of St. Mark see) utilized Mitonic cycles, the calculations of Ptolemy and the Egyptian calendar to establish the rules for calculating Easter and the day of a particular new year. Asrat and Gebre Hiwot have published the arithmetic of similar Ethiopic old methods.
Apart from hours, minutes, seconds, etc. Ethiopic also has a time frame known as kekros (kkrs). A kekros is 1/60th of a day. An Ethiopian solar year has 365 days and 15 kekroses while a lunar year has 354 days and 22 kerkoses. (A 1987 E.C. Amharic book by Asrat (].rt) and Gebre Hiwot (GbR ‘yWt) is recommended for more information on the calendar or calculations of the holidays in accordance with a book called Bahre Hassab (b’R ‘sb). For example, the 1994 A.M. Meskerem 1 day can be calculated by adding 7494 A.A.+1873 and dividing the sum by 7. If the remainder is one it is on a Tuesday. (1873 is 5500 Z.B.+1994 A.M. divided by 4.)
One of the reasons behind the controversy between the Ethiopian and the Gregorian calendars is because Pope Gregory abandoned the rules for calculating Easter and introduced new rules in 1582 without consulting the Alexandrian Church. Gregorian also changed the beginning of Julian new years from Mgbt (March) to ur (January) and reduced Leap years. It also involves the minutes that add up to one day (about every 128 years) and the relative positions of these days within the year numbers, while the days have constantly remained the same.
The Ethiopian calendar lacks the historical numerical discontinuity and inflation of the other Christian calendars and may be one of the oldest, even if it is another inaccurate calendar. As a result, it is not affected by the absence of the zero digit and it is reasonable to conclude that the new millennium will begin on Meskerem 1, 2001 E.C. (MsKRm 1 Qn 2001 ]!m!). Considering that all calendars are not really accurate and we continue to worry about leap seconds to improve on them while ignoring years, the reluctance of Ethiopians in accepting the Gregorian calendar is understandable. However, the four years gap introduced by Exiguus does not account for the seven years difference between the Ethiopic and the Christian calendars. If Jesus was born in 7 B.C. and nobody made the effort to correct the error, the A.D. years should have remained the same. The Ethiopians imply that Exiguus used 532 in the wrong year without mentioning the A.D. year, though he was working on his Easter calculations in (the proleptic) A.D. 525. Further research is justified for historical, chronological, computational and other reasons and to find out how the Ethiopians stayed younger in spite of hanging onto the calendar for millennia. The Ethiopian calendar is neither Julian nor Gregorian. (The difference between the Ethiopian and Julian calendars most likely appeared only after Exiguus came up with Anno Domini.) For instance, Ethiopic days could be references. In a new book in Amharic, b’R “sb (Bahra Hassab), Getatchew Haile (gtCw ;yl) used 365.25 days per year starting with Tuesday, Meskerem 1, 5500 years before the birth of Jesus. Nevertheless, if the birth of Christ is a new era for Christians we might as well get ready to celebrate the new millennium with Ethiopians in the year 2001 E.C. on September 11, 2008 G.C.
Posts: 8804 | From: The fear of his majesty had entered their hearts, they were powerless | Registered: Nov 2007
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Many people today are unaware of the genius of the African. Although they might admit to a complex verbal language structure, it may come as quite a surprise to many that African people have a multitude of written languages. In Liberia the Bassa people have a written script. The Kpelle, Gola, Lorma, Grebo, Vai and Kissi also are known to have their own written language. Most of these scripts have diminished over time, as a result of abandonment.
Had Hanibal visited Liberia in 500 B.C., particularly Kpowin(Tradetown) and Bassa Cove, he would have witnessed the Bassa script in use. The script is called Vah by the Bassas, which is translated to the phrase: To throw sign. Not to be confused with the Vai ethnic group, who also have their own written script as mentioned above. Vah was initially the throwing of sign or signals utilizing the natural environment. Teeth marks would be left on leaves and placed in a discrete location for the intended reader. Messages where also carved in the barks of trees. Eventually this evolved into a complex written language. During the era of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, many Bassas avoided slave traders by utilizing Vah(Bassa Script). During the colonial, and on through to the neo-colonial period in Africa, a decline in the usage of Vah script caused by external cultural forces, almost brought this written portion of the Bassa language to extinction.
Dr. Flo Darvin Lewis in the 1900s would re-discover the script in South America. Bassas that were sold into slavery now living in Brazil and the West Indies; kept the tradition of writing alive, passing it from generation to generation. Through his travels, Dr. Lewis was astonished to find out that he, being a Bassa himself, knew nothing of any such writing amongst his people back in Liberia. This discovery put Dr. Lewis on a determined path to learn, teach and revive the script in Liberia. Lewis attended Syracuse University and earned a doctorate in Chemistry, where he was known as the African Prince. Dr. Lewis returned to Liberia by way of Dresden, Germany where a company manufactured the first printing press for the Bassa alphabet. In Liberia, he established an institution for learning Vah. Among his students were, former Senator Edwin A. Morgan, Counselors Zacharia Roberts and Jacob Logan. Fear, mis-trust, sabotage and colonial thinking Liberians would lead to Dr. Lewis’ untimely death; leaving an open legacy yet to be completed.
posted
You are absolutely right most of Europe was illiterate and could not read nor write, many West Africans could read and write during the same period. If it wasent for the enslavement by the Romans many parts like West and North Europe still would have been the same as before.
Here are some demonstrations:
The History of Scripts
Handwriting is an individualistic craft and each scribe writes a little differently. However, over time the forms of letters and the style of writing have changed. Different styles have also developed for particular purposes, so that even in the same time and place, the handwriting of a majestic book of church liturgy, designed for reading aloud in solemn performance, may be different to that of a more modest book, and to that of a royal charter, and to that of a scribe in a court of law, and to that of a tired and irritable university student.
Two examples from one document showing the variations in hands between two scribes writing in essentially the same script, Caroline minuscule. The book is an 11th century manuscript, the Harley Psalter (British Library, Harley 603), by permission of the British Library.
Despite the variations, there are recognisable patterns of change which have occurred over time as writing has evolved. Styles of writing can be categorised into named scripts which can be identified as to their time and place of origin. Because of the natural variation and fluid relationships between these products of individual human creativity, the classification and nomenclature of scripts is somewhat variable. There are trends, developments of very different general categories of script, periods of diversification and periods of consolidation of styles. Change has sometimes occurred rapidly and sometimes slowly.
(See Bischoff 1990, also Brown 1990, also Jackson 1981, also Thompson 1912.)
The history of script changes reflects aspects of the history of the literate world. They are of interest not only to those who have a fascination for the changing shapes of letters, but to those with a more general interest in the history of social and cultural processes.
The scripts used by the Romans were used throughout the Empire and formed the basis for all later developments. After the fall of the Empire, surviving and reviving centres of literacy developed a diversity of scripts based on the Roman model. The script known as Caroline minuscule was developed in the revival of literacy and Classical culture which occurred under the Emperor Charlemagne. This became a standard across much of literate Europe by the 10th century. A new wave of diversification began in northern France and the Low Countries in the 11th century, resulting in the development of the large and diverse family of scripts known as Gothic. In the Renaissance period in Italy, a return to aspects of Classical culture included the revival of what were perceived as Classical scripts. This era represented the end of manuscript book production to any significant degree, although a range of stylised hands for document production remained in use.
Old Dutch comprises the historical language forms of Dutch from before 1150 AD.
But where does Dutch begin?
The first texts
The first Old Dutch texts which have survived are actually not texts as we would know them today, but short phrases or fragments from direct translations of biblical texts.
In 1932 an English academic in an Oxford library found a loose piece of parchment which had been used to reinforce the binding of a book, and on which, alongside a Latin inscription, a verse in Old Dutch has been immortalised as the so-called "probatio pennae".
This short text was written in around 1100 by a monk from West Flanders, living at that time in Rochester Abbey in the county of Kent in England. It would appear that he took up his new pen and wrote down the first thing that occurred to him. To make his text intelligible to others he wrote, word for word, the Latin translation above it:
UNIVERSITY OF BERLIN Structure and history of the Dutch language
Introduction to the linguistics of Dutch
The 18th century: the language builders and the artificial written language
Since the 17th century a Dutch standard language had been under construction. It was based on the dialect of Holland with the addition of southern elements. It is important to realize that it was a written language, and most of all, no language of the 'common' people. It was a language of the educated, cultivated upper class. This written language had a very artificial nature because of long, complex sentences and typical vocabulary. It was miles away from the spoken language, which, at that point, had not been given much attention.
Development of a standard language Language consciousness
In the seventeenth century the Netherlands were still an area with differing dialects but without an overarching standard language. These dialects can be split in three groups: southern dialects (Flanders, Brabant), eastern dialects and northern dialects (Holland province).
quote:Originally posted by Just call me Jari: Ignorance seems to abound in layman acaedemic circles that "Sub-Saharans" did not have written scripts. Sadly, it seems folks are willfully uneducated and unwilling to accept the truth on the matter.
Should we judge northern Europeans who did not write anything of any signifigance until around the same time when West Africans began to write manuscripts via. Arabic adoption. How are the scribbles of natives of the British Isles and other Nordics any different than the scripts used by other Africans who would like Europeans adopt a Foreign script Via a foreign Religion.
They had some stuff, but nothing compared to the great heights of Rome, Greece etc.
You know black sub-saharan africans couldn't even write to record their own history...
Not a single ancient black african text exists.
Who recorded the myths and legends of the black tribes across Africa? White Europeans did from around the 19th century...
I mean look how quickly Africa was colonised, europeans had guns and cannons while africans had wooden spears...
Couldn't have said it better myself. [/qb][/QUOTE] [/QB][/QUOTE]
Posts: 22234 | From: האם אינכם כילדי הכרית אלי בני ישראל | Registered: Nov 2010
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posted
You are absolutely right most of Europe was illiterate and could not read nor write, many West Africans could read and write during the same period. If it wasent for the enslavement by the Romans many parts like West and North Europe still would have been the same as before.
Here are some demonstrations:
The History of Scripts
Handwriting is an individualistic craft and each scribe writes a little differently. However, over time the forms of letters and the style of writing have changed. Different styles have also developed for particular purposes, so that even in the same time and place, the handwriting of a majestic book of church liturgy, designed for reading aloud in solemn performance, may be different to that of a more modest book, and to that of a royal charter, and to that of a scribe in a court of law, and to that of a tired and irritable university student.
Two examples from one document showing the variations in hands between two scribes writing in essentially the same script, Caroline minuscule. The book is an 11th century manuscript, the Harley Psalter (British Library, Harley 603), by permission of the British Library.
Despite the variations, there are recognisable patterns of change which have occurred over time as writing has evolved. Styles of writing can be categorised into named scripts which can be identified as to their time and place of origin. Because of the natural variation and fluid relationships between these products of individual human creativity, the classification and nomenclature of scripts is somewhat variable. There are trends, developments of very different general categories of script, periods of diversification and periods of consolidation of styles. Change has sometimes occurred rapidly and sometimes slowly.
(See Bischoff 1990, also Brown 1990, also Jackson 1981, also Thompson 1912.)
The history of script changes reflects aspects of the history of the literate world. They are of interest not only to those who have a fascination for the changing shapes of letters, but to those with a more general interest in the history of social and cultural processes.
The scripts used by the Romans were used throughout the Empire and formed the basis for all later developments. After the fall of the Empire, surviving and reviving centres of literacy developed a diversity of scripts based on the Roman model. The script known as Caroline minuscule was developed in the revival of literacy and Classical culture which occurred under the Emperor Charlemagne. This became a standard across much of literate Europe by the 10th century. A new wave of diversification began in northern France and the Low Countries in the 11th century, resulting in the development of the large and diverse family of scripts known as Gothic. In the Renaissance period in Italy, a return to aspects of Classical culture included the revival of what were perceived as Classical scripts. This era represented the end of manuscript book production to any significant degree, although a range of stylised hands for document production remained in use.
Old Dutch comprises the historical language forms of Dutch from before 1150 AD.
But where does Dutch begin?
The first texts
The first Old Dutch texts which have survived are actually not texts as we would know them today, but short phrases or fragments from direct translations of biblical texts.
In 1932 an English academic in an Oxford library found a loose piece of parchment which had been used to reinforce the binding of a book, and on which, alongside a Latin inscription, a verse in Old Dutch has been immortalised as the so-called "probatio pennae".
This short text was written in around 1100 by a monk from West Flanders, living at that time in Rochester Abbey in the county of Kent in England. It would appear that he took up his new pen and wrote down the first thing that occurred to him. To make his text intelligible to others he wrote, word for word, the Latin translation above it:
UNIVERSITY OF BERLIN Structure and history of the Dutch language
Introduction to the linguistics of Dutch
The 18th century: the language builders and the artificial written language
Since the 17th century a Dutch standard language had been under construction. It was based on the dialect of Holland with the addition of southern elements. It is important to realize that it was a written language, and most of all, no language of the 'common' people. It was a language of the educated, cultivated upper class. This written language had a very artificial nature because of long, complex sentences and typical vocabulary. It was miles away from the spoken language, which, at that point, had not been given much attention.
Development of a standard language Language consciousness
In the seventeenth century the Netherlands were still an area with differing dialects but without an overarching standard language. These dialects can be split in three groups: southern dialects (Flanders, Brabant), eastern dialects and northern dialects (Holland province).
quote:Originally posted by Just call me Jari: Ignorance seems to abound in layman acaedemic circles that "Sub-Saharans" did not have written scripts. Sadly, it seems folks are willfully uneducated and unwilling to accept the truth on the matter.
Should we judge northern Europeans who did not write anything of any signifigance until around the same time when West Africans began to write manuscripts via. Arabic adoption. How are the scribbles of natives of the British Isles and other Nordics any different than the scripts used by other Africans who would like Europeans adopt a Foreign script Via a foreign Religion.
They had some stuff, but nothing compared to the great heights of Rome, Greece etc.
You know black sub-saharan africans couldn't even write to record their own history...
Not a single ancient black african text exists.
Who recorded the myths and legends of the black tribes across Africa? White Europeans did from around the 19th century...
I mean look how quickly Africa was colonised, europeans had guns and cannons while africans had wooden spears...
Couldn't have said it better myself. [/qb][/QUOTE] [/QB][/QUOTE]
Posts: 22234 | From: האם אינכם כילדי הכרית אלי בני ישראל | Registered: Nov 2010
| IP: Logged |
posted
Originally posted by Just call me Jari: Ignorance seems to abound in layman acaedemic circles that "Sub-Saharans" did not have written scripts. Sadly, it seems folks are willfully uneducated and unwilling to accept the truth on the matter.
Should we judge northern Europeans who did not write anything of any significance until around the same time when West Africans began to write manuscripts via. Arabic adoption. How are the scribbles of natives of the British Isles and other Nordics any different than the scripts used by other Africans who would like Europeans adopt a Foreign script Via a foreign Religion.
Well, Europeans themselves never developed writing. Their alphabets are derived from sub-tropical peoples of the Near East. The standard 'Aryan" garbage is sheer hypocrisy. They talk about "sub saharans" but conveniently neglect to mention that Europe borrowed its script along with numerous other things, from peoples outside Europe. And the firearms that helped conquer some African peoples are not a European development. Firearms, including gunpowder and artillery are things developed first in Asia. Furthermore as you rightly show, Ethiopia itself is "sub- Saharan" with ancient scripts going back millenia.
And Egypt developed writing early on, precisely at a time when the "sub-Saharan" element was strongest, BEFORE the late-coming of Greeks, Hyskos, Romans, or Arabs, once more exposing 'Aryan" blather for the hypocritical garbage that it is.
Posts: 5905 | From: The Hammer | Registered: Aug 2008
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The origins of the Bassa alphabet are obscure. Its name in Bassa is Vah, which means 'to throw a sign'. The alphabet fell out of use in Liberia during the 19th century.
In the 1900s, a Bassa by the name of Dr Flo Darvin Lewis discovered that former slaves of Bassa origin living in Brazil and the West Indies were still using the Bassa alphabet. Dr Lewis had not encountered the alphabet before and, after learning it himself, he decided to try to revive the alphabet in Liberia.
Dr Lewis obtained a PhD in Chemistry at Syracuse University, then returned to Liberia via Dresden, where he commissioned a company to manufacture the first ever printing press for material written in the Bassa alphabet. In Liberia he set up a school to teach the Bassa alphabet.
Originally the Bassa alphabet was written on slates with charcoal, and the writing could be easily erased with a leaf known as yan. People began to write with pencils in the early 1940s. The original writing direction was boustrophedon (alternating between right to left and left to right, but the alphabet has been written from left to right since the 1960s.
Today the Bassa Vah Association promotes the use of the Bassa alphabet. Notable features
* Bassa in a tonal language. Tones are marked using a system of dots and dashes which appear inside the vowel letters.
Used to write:
Bassa, a Kru language spoken mainly in Liberia by about 300,000 people.
Interesting!!!
Posts: 8804 | From: The fear of his majesty had entered their hearts, they were powerless | Registered: Nov 2007
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The origins of the Bassa alphabet are obscure. Its name in Bassa is Vah, which means 'to throw a sign'. The alphabet fell out of use in Liberia during the 19th century.
In the 1900s, a Bassa by the name of Dr Flo Darvin Lewis discovered that former slaves of Bassa origin living in Brazil and the West Indies were still using the Bassa alphabet. Dr Lewis had not encountered the alphabet before and, after learning it himself, he decided to try to revive the alphabet in Liberia.
Dr Lewis obtained a PhD in Chemistry at Syracuse University, then returned to Liberia via Dresden, where he commissioned a company to manufacture the first ever printing press for material written in the Bassa alphabet. In Liberia he set up a school to teach the Bassa alphabet.
Originally the Bassa alphabet was written on slates with charcoal, and the writing could be easily erased with a leaf known as yan. People began to write with pencils in the early 1940s. The original writing direction was boustrophedon (alternating between right to left and left to right, but the alphabet has been written from left to right since the 1960s.
Today the Bassa Vah Association promotes the use of the Bassa alphabet. Notable features
* Bassa in a tonal language. Tones are marked using a system of dots and dashes which appear inside the vowel letters.
Used to write:
Bassa, a Kru language spoken mainly in Liberia by about 300,000 people.
Interesting!!!
I think the script is even older then what was mentioned in my previous post.
It was and is being used by priests, solely. And I have witnessed it being processed. I am not going to talk about this process, over the internet anyway.
Posts: 22234 | From: האם אינכם כילדי הכרית אלי בני ישראל | Registered: Nov 2010
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quote:Originally posted by zarahan- aka Enrique Cardova: Originally posted by Just call me Jari: Ignorance seems to abound in layman acaedemic circles that "Sub-Saharans" did not have written scripts. Sadly, it seems folks are willfully uneducated and unwilling to accept the truth on the matter.
Should we judge northern Europeans who did not write anything of any significance until around the same time when West Africans began to write manuscripts via. Arabic adoption. How are the scribbles of natives of the British Isles and other Nordics any different than the scripts used by other Africans who would like Europeans adopt a Foreign script Via a foreign Religion.
Well, Europeans themselves never developed writing. Their alphabets are derived from sub-tropical peoples of the Near East. The standard 'Aryan" garbage is sheer hypocrisy. They talk about "sub saharans" but conveniently neglect to mention that Europe borrowed its script along with numerous other things, from peoples outside Europe. And the firearms that helped conquer some African peoples are not a European development. Firearms, including gunpowder and artillery are things developed first in Asia. Furthermore as you rightly show, Ethiopia itself is "sub- Saharan" with ancient scripts going back millenia.
And Egypt developed writing early on, precisely at a time when the "sub-Saharan" element was strongest, BEFORE the late-coming of Greeks, Hyskos, Romans, or Arabs, once more exposing 'Aryan" blather for the hypocritical garbage that it is.
Here is a Dogon mask. The mask is used during certain rituals.
This dancing ceremony is called the dhama. There would be many kanaga dancers during this ceremony; they were all members of a secret society called the awa.
This is in the shape of a symbol used by the Tuareg.
It makes you wonder what wisdom other masks hold, which Europeans see as useless. Think about this one. Since the have stolen a lot of art and also masks. On which they think of as inferior.
Kanaga Mask in Three Pieces
Dancers perform with Kanaga masks at ceremonies honoring the dead. Rotating their upper bodies from the hips and swinging the masks in wide circles, the dancers imitate Amma, the creator god, who brought all things to life. Their outstretched movements spread the life force throughout the world.
Amma and Amon is only a slit of difference, considering the fact that language is dynamic. And according to the principles of linguistics, the root word is the same; AM.
Oddly Amon (AMEN) means the Hidden one, and the Kanaga masks at ceremonies is for honoring the dead (the Hidden).
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
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Dagda, his people's "Good God."
painstakingly researched by Marc.
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