posted
I'm not saying any of the women below are "white" or "non-African" but what is obvious when you look at a lot of the art is that many ancient Egyptian men seem to have female partners with much lighter skin then they had. Now you can pretend that these lighter skinned women are somehow in "symbolic" colors but I don't think so. That only applies to specific Gods or afterlife scene and not to other paintings and statues of Egyptian men who may have been divine royalty but not like Osirus painted green or Amen in blue- or may have just been common folk. To right it off as all "symbolic color" when it inconveniences you just means we don't want to deal with it. Let's face it some things never change. To the brothers that like light skinned women I have no problem. -that is unless, instead of seeing the woman as an individual you have some stereotype self hate of of your own sisters type hang up, that I would not condone. Does the fact that this thing seems to have been going on in ancient Egypt to some degree have some relevance? I don't know. Whatever it was, I think the AEs were nationalistic but not racist the way our world is today.
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the Lion - you stupid fuching bitch, couldn't you at least have read something on the subject, before posting your usual asinine drivel? The color used on the female had NOTHING to do with her own skin color.
Posts: 22721 | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
I have often warned about how Whites use their control over mass media to lie about, make stuff up, and propagandize racial issues. Here are some lovely examples.
Egyptian Art - Colors
The colors used in paintings traditionally showed that the body of a man was painted as a dark reddish-brown color whereas the body of a woman was painted as lighter, yellowish-brown color. These differences in colors represented the mainly outdoor life of a man as opposed to the more secluded lifestyle of a woman. Six basic colors were used in Ancient Egyptian art - white, black, red, yellow, blue and green. A tiny pestle and mortar was used for grinding colors. The colors used were symbolic and all had different meanings.
*
White - White represented purity, power and greatness, a sacred color *
Black - Black represented death and the night *
Red - Red represented life and victory. It was also used to convey anger *
Yellow - Yellow was often used to represent gold and therefore used to convey that the subject was imperishable and indestructible. The eternal color used to depict the the sun god *
Blue - Blue represented water, the sky, life, fertility and re-birth *
Green - Green was the color of vegetation and represented new life
The symbolism of the colors was used to great effect when depicting the images and characteristics of the various Ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses.
In ancient Egypt, color was an integral part of the substance and being of everything in life. The color of something was a clue to the substance or heart of the matter. When it was said that one could not know the color of the gods, it meant that they themselves were unknowable, and could never be completely understood. In art, colors were clues to the nature of the beings depicted in the work. For instance, when Amon was portrayed with blue skin, it alluded to his cosmic aspect. Osiris' green skin was a reference to his power over vegetation and to his own resurrection. 'the Great Green'
Of course, not every use of color in Egyptian art was symbolic. When overlapping objects, such as when portraying a row of oxen, the colors of each animal is alternated so as to differentiate each individual beast. Apart from these practical considerations though, it is safe to say that the Egyptian use of color in their art was largely symbolic.
The Egyptian artist had at his disposal six colors, including black and white. These colors were generated largely from mineral compounds and thus retain their vibrancy over the millennia. Each of these colors had their own intrinsic symbolic meaning, as shown below. However, the ambivalence of meaning demonstrated by some should be carefully noted.
The color green (wadj) was the color of vegetation and new life. To do "green things" was slang for beneficial, life-producing behavior. As mentioned above, Osiris was often portrayed with green skin and was also referred to as "the Great Green". Green malachite was a symbol of joy and the land of the blessed dead was described as the "field of malachite." In Chapter 77 of the Book of the Dead, it is said that the deceased will become a falcon "whose wings are of green stone". Highly impractical of course, it is obvious that the color of new life and re-birth is what is important. The Eye of Horus amulet was commonly made of green stone as well.
The pigment green could be produced from a paste manufactured by mixing oxides of copper and iron with silica and calcium. It could also be derived from malachite, a natural copper ore. A tiet made of red cornelian
Red (desher) was the color of life and of victory. During celebrations, ancient Egyptians would paint their bodies with red ochre and would wear amulets made of cornelian, a deep red stone. Seth, the god who stood at the prow of the sun's barque and slew the serpent Apep daily, had red eyes and hair.
Red was also a symbol of anger and fire. A person who acted "with a red heart" was filled with rage. "To redden" meant "to die". Seth while the god of victory over Apep, was also the evil murderer of his brother Osiris. His red coloration could take on the meaning of evil or victory depending on the context in which he is portrayed. Red was commonly used to symbolize the fiery nature of the radiant sun and serpent amulets representing the "Eye of Re" (the fiery, protective, and possibly malevolent aspect of the sun) were made of red stones.
The normal skin tone of Egyptian men was depicted as red, without any negative connotation.
Red paint was created by Egyptian artisans by using naturally oxidized iron and red ocher.
The color white (hedj and shesep) suggested omnipotence and purity. Due to its lack of color white was also the color of simple and sacred things. The name of the holy city of Memphis meant "White Walls." White sandals were worn at holy ceremonies. The material most commonly used for ritual objects such as small ceremonial bowls and even the embalming table for the Apis Bulls in Memphis was white alabaster. White was also the heraldic color of Upper Egypt. The "Nefer", the crown of Upper Egypt was white, even though originally is was probably made of green reeds.
The pure white color used in Egyptian art was created from chalk and gypsum.
Ahmose-NefertariIn ancient Egypt, black (kem) was a symbol of death and of the night. Osiris, the king of the afterlife was called "the black one." One of the few real-life people to be deified, Queen Ahmose-Nefertari was the patroness of the necropolis. She was usually portrayed with black skin, although she was not a negro. Anubis, the god of embalming was shown as a black jackal or dog, even though real jackals and dogs are typically brown.
As black symbolized death it was also a natural symbol of the underworld and so also of resurrection. Unexpectedly perhaps, it could also be symbolic of fertility and even life! The association with life and fertility is likely due to the abundance provided by the dark, black silt of the annually flooding Nile. The color of the silt became emblematic of Egypt itself and the country was called "kemet" (the Black Land) by its people from early antiquity.
Black pigments were created from carbon compounds such as soot, ground charcoal or burnt animal bones. Opening of the mouth ceremony
The color yellow (khenet, kenit) was created by the Egyptian artisans using natural ochres or oxides. During the latter part of the new Kingdom, a new method was developed which derived the color using orpiment (arsenic trisulphide).
Both the sun and gold were yellow and shared the qualities of being imperishable, eternal and indestructible. Thus anything portrayed as yellow in Egyptian art generally carried this connotation. The skin and bones of the gods were believed to be made of gold. Thus statues of gods were often made of, or plated with gold. Also, mummy masks and cases of the pharoahs were often made of gold. When the pharoah died he became the new Osiris and a god himself. In the image to the right of the Opening of the Mouth Ceremony, note the skin tones of the mummy and Anubis. Both are divine beings and both have golden skin. Compare this to the priest and the mourning women, who have the classic reddish-brown and pale pink skin tones of humans.
"White gold", an alloy of gold and silver (electrum), was seen as being the equivalent to gold and sometimes white was used in contexts were yellow would typically be used (and vice-versa).
"Egyptian blue" (irtiu, sbedj) was made combining iron and copper oxides with silica and calcium. This produced a rich color however it was unstable and sometimes darkened or changed color over the years.
Blue was symbolic of the sky and of water. In a cosmic sense, this extended its symbolism to the heavens and of the primeval floods. In both of these cases, blue took on a meaning of life and re-birth.
Blue was naturally also a symbol of the Nile and its associated crops, offerings and fertility. The phoenix, which was a symbol of the primeval flood, was patterned on the heron. Herons naturally have a gray-blue plumage. However, they were usually portrayed with bright blue feathers to emphasize their association with the waters of the creation. Amon was often shown with a blue face to symbolize his role in the creation of the world. By extension, the pharoahs were sometimes shown with blue faces as well when they became identified with Amon. Baboons, which are not naturally blue, were portrayed as blue. It is not certain why. However, the ibis, a blue bird was a symbol of Thoth, just like the baboon was. It may be that the baboons were colored blue to emphasize their connection to Thoth.
The gods were said to have hair made of lapis lazuli, a blue stone. Note in the image above of the Opening of the Mouth ceremony that the mummy and Anubis both have blue hair.
About.com - African History Yellow (Ancient Egyptian name 'khenet') was the color of women's skin, as well as the skin of people who lived near the Mediterranean - Libyans, Bedouin, Syrians, and Hittites. Yellow was also the color of the sun and, along with gold, could represent perfection. As with blue and green, the Ancient Egyptians produced a synthetic yellow – lead antimonite – its Ancient Egyptian name, however, is unknown.
When looking at Ancient Egyptian art today it can be difficult to distinguish between lead antimonite, (which is a pale yellow), lead white (which is very slightly yellow but can darken over time) and orpiment (a relatively strong yellow which fades in direct sunlight). This has lead some art historians to believe white and yellow were interchangeable.
Realgar, which we consider to be an orange color today, would have been classed as yellow. (The term orange didn't come into use until the fruit arrived in Europe from China in medieval times – even Cennini writing in the 15th century describes it as a yellow!)
Gold (Ancient Egyptian name 'newb') represented the flesh of the gods and was used for anything which was considered eternal or indestructible. (Gold was used on a sarcophagus, for example, because the pharaoh had become a god.) Whilst gold leaf could be used on sculpture, yellow or reddish-yellows were used in paintings for the skin of gods. (Note that some gods were also painted with blue, green, or black skin.)
posted
Egyptian brown is one of the most popular colors used to render Black skin tones.
i.e., African American art
Dead Egyptian: The recently deceased is painted with white skin in Egyptian art. (Ghostly?)
Ahmose Nefertari - Wife of Ahmose. She was a queen of great authority, which is why her skin is painted black. The traditional color for Egyptian women was yellow, not because they were actually that complexion, but yellow indicates a physical weakness vis-a-vis the Egyptian male. However, politically speaking, Egyptian women were far from weak in Egyptian society.
The Goddess Hathor with Egyptian gold complexion. The color of the gods.
Egyptian Noble family. All have the same brown complexions, illustrating social equality. This really became a more common rendition after the Amarna revolution of Pharaoh Ikhnaton.
Tutankhamen being reborn, his brown skin turning to black - the color of transformation and resurrection. The God Ptah (Toh) - "Lord of Resurrection", holding the sceptre (Wose), sits in judgment. His blue complexion shows that he is "god of creation and regeneration."
Egyptian male (dark) Egyptian brown skin.....masculine, strong Black skin.....................powerful, reborn White skin....................recently deceased
Old Egyptian male (light) Yellow skin....................weak, frail
Egyptian female (light) Yellow skin....................feminine, weak Egyptian brown skin.....equal of men (Amarna period) Black skin.....................powerful, reborn
Egyptian gods Gold skin......................flesh of the gods Blue skin......................the cosmic waters, the firmament Green skin...................life (i.e., plants) Black skin.....................resurrection, sacred, holy, benevolent
-------------------- Doctoris Scientia Posts: 341 | Registered: Feb 2010
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quote:Originally posted by Wally: Egyptian brown is one of the most popular colors used to render Black skin tones.
i.e., African American art
Dead Egyptian: The recently deceased is painted with white skin in Egyptian art. (Ghostly?)
Ahmose Nefertari - Wife of Ahmose. She was a queen of great authority, which is why her skin is painted black. The traditional color for Egyptian women was yellow, not because they were actually that complexion, but yellow indicates a physical weakness vis-a-vis the Egyptian male. However, politically speaking, Egyptian women were far from weak in Egyptian society.
The Goddess Hathor with Egyptian gold complexion. The color of the gods.
Egyptian Noble family. All have the same brown complexions, illustrating social equality. This really became a more common rendition after the Amarna revolution of Pharaoh Ikhnaton.
Tutankhamen being reborn, his brown skin turning to black - the color of transformation and resurrection. The God Ptah (Toh) - "Lord of Resurrection", holding the sceptre (Wose), sits in judgment. His blue complexion shows that he is "god of creation and regeneration." <><><> Egyptian Skin Tones - Symbolic & Conventional
Egyptian male (dark) Egyptian brown skin.....masculine, strong Black skin.....................powerful, reborn White skin....................recently deceased
Old Egyptian male (light) Yellow skin....................weak, frail
Egyptian female (light) Yellow skin....................feminine, weak Egyptian brown skin.....equal of men (Amarna period) Black skin.....................powerful, reborn
Egyptian gods Gold skin......................flesh of the gods Blue skin......................the cosmic waters, the firmament Green skin...................life (i.e., plants) Black skin.....................resurrection, sacred, holy, benevolent
quote:Originally posted by Djehuti: ^ Actually I've heard from other writings that the yellow or golden color is related to Hathor as the Golden Lady or other solar aspects. Either way, the yellowish convention for women was not always the case as there are plenty of paintings where women were portrayed just as dark or in some cases darker than the men.
lol at Wally showing up in my post with his cherry picked speculations on colors in Egyptian art
tying to cover up the ancient brother's taste for caramel
Posts: 42919 | From: , | Registered: Jan 2010
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quote:Originally posted by the lyinass: lol at Wally showing up in my post with his cherry picked speculations on colors in Egyptian art
tying to cover up the ancient brother's taste for caramel
Actually, I'm not covering up anything. This issue has been addressed several times but your lyinass would again feign amnesia and repeat the issue again!
quote:lyinass posted: I'm not saying any of the women below are "white" or "non-African" but what is obvious when you look at a lot of the art is that many ancient Egyptian men seem to have female partners with much lighter skin then they had. Now you can pretend that these lighter skinned women are somehow in "symbolic" colors but I don't think so. That only applies to specific Gods or afterlife scene and not to other paintings and statues of Egyptian men who may have been divine royalty but not like Osirus painted green or Amen in blue- or may have just been common folk. To right it off as all "symbolic color" when it inconveniences you just means we don't want to deal with it...
Of course I cut out the rest of your post which deals with modern African American issues that have nothing to do with ancient Egypt, yet you desperately project the former onto the latter. The truth of the matter is that you are a complete ignoramus when it comes to Egyptian artistic conventions and standards. Symbolic colors are not just limited to male divinities or kings in imitation thereof.
As long as you repeat the same topic, I will repeat the same source on the topic: The symbolism inherant in the skin colors used for some deities and royal figures suggest that the colors given to human skin---although initially seeming to be naturalistic -----might also be symbolic. Male and female skin colors were probably not uniform among the entire population of Egypt, with pigmentation being darker in the south [closer to sub-sahara Africans] and lighter in the north [closer to Mediterranean Near Easterners] A woman from the south would probably have had darker skin than a man from the North. Thus, the colorations used for skin tones in the art must have been schematic [or symbolic] rather than realistic; the clear gender distinction encoded in that scheme may have been based on elite ideals relating to male and female roles,in which women's responsibilities kept them indoors, so that they spent less time in the sun than men. Nevertheless, the significance of the two colors may be even deeper, making some as yet unknown but fundamental difference between men and women in Egyptian worldview --- 'Color Symbolism' by Gay Robins, The Ancient Gods Speak: A Guide to Egyptian Religion. Edited by Donald Redford
And again Robins is correct about everything except the part about Egyptian women staying indoors. The same Egyptian art shows common women working outside in the fields alongside the men as well as elite women joining their men in outdoor recreational activities. So obviously the light color of women has nothing to do with indoors but is strictly symbolic.
More proof that the coloring is schematic instead of realistic are the many exceptions to the rule.
some yellow some not but altogether
And then there are the murals which show *ALL* the women having the same complexion as the men (no yellow at all). There are just too many examples of this for me to post...
However, I will post an exceptionally rare example of a woman darker than her man.
Nebamun and his darker-skinned wife Hatshepsut (not to be confused with the female pharaoh)
^ Note even the child is darker than the father.
Again, this only confirms Robins' theory especially if a (lighter) man from the north married a (darker) southern woman.
And below we have an interesting scenario where there are no females at all.
Two boys being prepped for and then circumcised
There are some Egyptologists who theorize that the boy's coloring may be symbolic of them not yet attaining manhood which happens after they are circumcised (which is the exact case in countless African cultures).
What the yellow color of women symbolized or represented, nobody knows. But there are Tuareg in the Sahara as well as a few other groups in Northeast Africa whose women apply yellow ocher make-up.
lyinass productions flushed down the toilet, yet again.
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