- However, in a conservative society like that of ancient Egypt, where decorum circumscribed elite expression and encouraged conformity to a homogeneous ideal, ethnic-group membership, and the perception of ethnicity, is especially challenging to identify.
- The assumption that ethnic groups moved into Egypt from outside does not allow for ethnic differentiation within the indigenous or long-resident population of the Nile Valley and Delta [...]
- Many religious practices were strongly local, with emphasis placed on the cult of a specific town or nome in local hierarchies and on the use of personal names.
- Different dialects only become clear in Coptic, in which vowels are written, but such linguistic differences will have been evident throughout Egyptian history , as is attested by indirect evidence, such as the evocation in the Ramesside “satirical letter” of “the speech of a Delta dweller with a man from Elephantine” (Fischer-Elfert 1986: 238, 690 - 691).
- There were considerable regional differences in the production of art, forms of architecture, and burial practices, the extent of which varied from period to period.
- Thus the ethnonym “Medjay,” which is generally assumed to have designated the bearers of the Pan-Grave culture, remained the term for “policeman” throughout the New Kingdom, long after they had ceased to be archaeologically identifiable. Medjay may have constituted both a professional and an ethnic group within Egyptian society.
- Similarly, the ethnonym Aamu (aAmw), “Asiatic,” came to mean also “slave” in the Egyptian language (e.g., Hannig 2006: 487; see also Schneider 2003a: 289).
- [...] Whether this couple [edit:pictured on the stela] were immigrants or belonged to a distinct ethnic group settled within Egypt cannot be established from the evidence of the stela alone.
- Personal names may give some insight into the configuration of ethnic groups in Egypt.
- The ascription of ethnicity by reference to personal names is far from straightforward, and from an early period, expressions like “Nubian” ( NHsj) functioned both as identifiers and as personal names.
- Whether these “Nubians” were immigrants or ethnic Nubians from groups resident in Egypt cannot be known.
- New Kingdom and later instances of the personal name Panehsy (PA-NHsj, literally “the Nubian”) occur so frequently as to suggest that not everyone bearing this name necessarily identified himself, or was identified by others, as Nubian.
- ...individuals with non-Egyptian personal names attained the highest ranks in Egyptian society, especially in the New Kingdom and later...
- Paheqamen bore the alternate name Benya, which is non Egyptian, perhaps Semitic; the names of his parents are also of Syro-Palestinian origin.
- Similarly, the names of many New Kingdom royal women are non-Egyptian, and while some of these were foreign women who moved to Egypt for diplomatic marriages (Robins 1993: 30 - 36; see also Schulman 1979), others may have belonged to ethnic groups within the population of Egypt, and thus were not “foreign” at all.
- The dynasties of kings with ethnic Libyan names who came to power in the Third Intermediate Period render visible the presence within Egypt of ethnic diversity.
- The attested iconographic topos for male Libyans as foreigners—beards, ostrich feather headbands, patterned garments—is attested mainly from the New Kingdom, when these people were depicted mainly as enemies. It was not deployed as a self-image for the ethnic Libyan rulers of the Third Intermediate Period , for example, but these rulers and other Libyan elites in Egypt used names and titles that identified them as Libyan.
Immigrations during the late periods:
- In the Late Period , internationalism, migration, and trade are especially well documented, and immigration from Thrace and the Greek cities of Anatolia was facilitated by the establishment of Naukratis (attributed to the reign of Psammetichus I) and the use of Greek mercenaries, first against Nubia (Psammetichus II) and later against Persian rule.
- The descendants of Greek immigrants took Egyptian names and operated within Egyptian cultural practices[...]
Period of mass immigration:
- Alexander the Great’s conquest of Egypt, in 332 BCE, precipitated a period of mass immigration .
- Peaking in the third century BCE, immigration from the Mediterranean, the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor, and the Near East may have numbered into the hundreds of thousands and included foreign slaves and prisoners of war as well as economic migrants and military veterans.
- In Greek and Demotic sources, almost 150 different ethnic labels attest to the scale and geographic range of immigration and ethnic-group settlement (La’da 2003: 158 - 159)
- Greek was “the language of upward social mobility” (p. 105); the Egyptian language, as well as other cultural forms, changed both in relation to it and depending on the circumstances and interests of individuals and of social groups.
Conclusion:
- Comparative study shows that large-scale societies are rarely homogeneous in terms of ethnic self-definition, and we see no reason to suppose that Egypt was exceptional in this respect.
- People who are entirely acculturated, or who present minimal identifiers of difference, may possess a strong ethnic adherence.
- Nevertheless, the indicators cited in this article suggest that any notion that the ancient Egyptian population was ethnically uniform in any period should be abandoned [...]
Comments:
- The article provide a good general overview of ethnicity in Ancient Egypt. Mostly in line with what has been published before. Clearly, Ancient Egypt, like most large empire in Africa and in the world, was a multicultural and multiethnic society. The state "war propaganda" was (of course) patriotic and emphasized the uniqueness of Ancient Egyptians versus other nations, especially enemy nations, to create a sense of nationhood and belonging for soldiers and the population. I feel not enough emphasis has been placed on the different indigenous ethnicity within Ancient Egyptians, a subject rarely explored especially for the period after the AE foundation. The article states: "The assumption that ethnic groups moved into Egypt from outside does not allow for ethnic differentiation within the indigenous or long-resident population of the Nile Valley and Delta", and most of the rest of the text is about foreign migrants, their descendants and their integration and status in the AEian society. Still some mentions are made of the differences between regions like cultural differences, languages and religious cults. It is stated: " There were considerable regional differences in the production of art, forms of architecture, and burial practices". I wonder what the fact that Panehsy (PA-NHsj, literally “the Nubian”) occur so frequently in Ancient Egypt means. The article also mentions mass immigration of conquerors during the late periods which of course changed the ethnic composition of Ancient Egypt. A demographic phenomena already started by the Hyksos (Aamu) conquest of parts of Ancient Egypt during the second intermediate period (despite AEians, the 18th Dynasty, liberating the country).
A different article could put more emphasis on the ethnic and regional differences within indigenous Ancient Egyptians, a subject discussed quickly in the above article.
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from A Companion to Ancient History Edited by Andrew Erskine (2009)
This is another text mentioning how the late period mass immigration into Ancient Egypt, as well as previous period immigration, ultimately changed the ethnic and cultural character of Ancient Egypt.
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CHANGE IN THE ETHNIC COMPOSITION OF MODERN EGYPT:
We all know in terms of ethnic composition, modern Egypt, is much different from Ancient Egypt.
Contemporary Egypt, is mostly an ethnic admixture between foreign invaders and conquerors and indigenous African people. Autosomally, as a whole, they tend to cluster more with Eurasian especially the Middle East. In the south, populations like Nubians probably cluster more with Africans. All this is because of massive immigration from Europe and western Asian which started already in dynastic time, culminating in the Hyksos (Aamu) foreign rule during the second intermediate period, as well as during the late periods up to now (Assyrians, Arab conquest, British colonization, etc).
quote: As a consequence the many invasions of ancient Egypt, the population has changed over the years. There were Hyksos (Heka Khasut) from Asia, who melted into the Delta Region around 1500 B.C.E., and then a series of invasions by the Assyrians, Persians and Greeks. With the arrival of large groups of Arabians in the seventh century C.E., the racial character of Egypt began to change.
The resultant mixtures of Africans, Arabs, Greeks and Persians were to be jointed with Turks, Russians, Albanians, British, and French to create a different population that there had been during the ancient times.
One cannot say that today's Egypt is the same as the Egypt of antiquity anymore than one can say that today's North America is the same as it was 5000 years ago.
- From The Oxford Encyclopedia of African Thought, Volume 1 (2010)
quote:With the passage of time, each wave of new immigrants has assimilated into the local mix of peoples , making modern Egypt a combination of Libyans, Nubians, Syrians, Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Arabs, Turks, Circassians, Greeks, Italians, and Armenians, along with the descendants of the people of ancient Egypt.
- From A Brief History of Egypt by Jr. Goldschmidt Arthur (2007)
quote: - Alexander the Great’s conquest of Egypt, in 332 BCE, precipitated a period of mass immigration .
from Ethnicity (Riggs, 2012) see above/original post for more
quote:The Late Period is often singled out as the time when mass immigration into Egypt altered the character of the country
from A Companion to Ancient History Edited by Andrew Erskine (2009)
quote:The Muslim conquerors did not attempt a mass conversion of Christianity to Islam, if only because that would have reduced the taxes non-Muslims were compelled to pay, but a number of other factors were at work. Arab men could marry Christian women and their children would become Muslim. Large-scale Arab immigration into Egypt began during the eighth century.
from A History of Egypt: From Earliest Times to the Present by Jason Thompson (2009)Posts: 2981 | Registered: Jan 2012
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Hey guys, I know it's been a while but I've been busy with work and research that I plan on sharing with you all.
I personally have been interested in this topic of ancient Egyptian ethnic diversity for a while and I'm not really surprised by these findings. The Egyptian Nile Valley and Delta together make up a large area that I doubt the indigenes would comprise just one single homogeneous group. In fact that has been a theory I have had all along and I make analogous comparison with ancient Greece. Many people think the Greeks were one homogeneous group yet those familiar with ancient Greek history and culture know that the Greeks were not only divided geographically and politically into different nomoi (nomes) which were then divided into different city-states but that the Greeks divided themselves ethnically into different tribes i.e. Achaeans, Aeolians, Ionians, and Dorians with each tribal group having its own dialect. And of course there were regional differences in customs as well with great differences seen between say the Arcadians of the north and the Peloponnesians of the south. Even in Mesopotamia you have inhabitants of diverse ethnic and linguistic backgrounds.
Getting back to Egypt, it has been a long held theory that the different sepati of Egypt that were recorded since predynastic times represent the settlements of different tribes. So even if Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt were two different countries before unification, even within Upper Egypt itself there was still some ethnic diversity even though some sort of political unification was consolidated. This can be seen not only among the particular differences or cultural nuances between the different sepati but even historically when for example Manetho said that the first pharaoh Narmer came from This of the Thinite confederacy which is identified with the sepat of Abet (Abydos) with Nekhen and Nubet representing other polities. Then there are the differences in rituals and customs mentioned. It seems many laypeople are unaware of the ethnic diversity of the indigenous ancient Egyptians or if they are aware of it, tend to overlook these differences.
Posts: 26267 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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Welcome back, Djehuti. For a moment I thought this forum was a sinking ship and have pretty much abandoned it for the Facebook group, but your return might help raise ES back again.
quote:Getting back to Egypt, it has been a long held theory that the different sepati of Egypt that were recorded since predynastic times represent the settlements of different tribes. So even if Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt were two different countries before unification, even within Upper Egypt itself there was still some ethnic diversity even though some sort of political unification was consolidated. This can be seen not only among the particular differences or cultural nuances between the different sepati but even historically when for example Manetho said that the first pharaoh Narmer came from This of the Thinite confederacy which is identified with the sepat of Abet (Abydos) with Nekhen and Nubet representing other polities. Then there are the differences in rituals and customs mentioned. It seems many laypeople are unaware of the ethnic diversity of the indigenous ancient Egyptians or if they are aware of it, tend to overlook these differences.
Remember how each sepat had its own symbol or deity? Maybe this is a relic of clan or tribal totemism.
Posts: 7082 | From: Fallbrook, CA | Registered: Mar 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Truthcentric: Welcome back, Djehuti. For a moment I thought this forum was a sinking
I prefer to say we got rid of the rubbish.
quote: Remember how each sepat had its own symbol or deity? Maybe this is a relic of clan or tribal totemism.
Of course, it probably is.
In Africa, albeit even within people of the same ethic group and spiritual tradition, often have many different cults and family ancestors (for example, Sango, Ogun, Oshun in Yoruba religions) within the same (multiethnic) empire or regions.
It's more probable when you consider AE originates in the many different groups who settled along the Nile during the Saharan desertification. We still need more proof to see how and if those ethnic differentiation perpetuated during the dynastic era.
For example, was AEian (and its dialects) the only indigenous languages spoken in AE or was AEian a lingua franca, the state language, where each regions, especially the common people, had their own languages (not mere dialects of the same language)? I'm speculating of course, but maybe many of those languages didn't even have a written form. We already know only a few % of the people in AE knew how to read and write and those few were usually scribes aka government officials, and thus affiliated to the state (and thus the state language).
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quote:Originally posted by Truthcentric: Welcome back, Djehuti. For a moment I thought this forum was a sinking
I prefer to say we got rid of the rubbish.
quote: Remember how each sepat had its own symbol or deity? Maybe this is a relic of clan or tribal totemism.
Of course, it probably is.
In Africa, albeit even within people of the same ethic group and spiritual tradition, often have many different cults and family ancestors (for example, Sango, Ogun, Oshun in Yoruba religions) within the same (multiethnic) empire or regions.
It's more probable when you consider AE originates in the many different groups who settled along the Nile during the Saharan desertification. We still need more proof to see how and if those ethnic differentiation perpetuated during the dynastic era.
For example, was AEian (and its dialects) the only indigenous languages spoken in AE or was AEian a lingua franca, the state language, where each regions, especially the common people, had their own languages (not mere dialects of the same language)? I'm speculating of course, but maybe many of those languages didn't even have a written form. We already know only a few % of the people in AE knew how to read and write and those few were usually scribes aka government officials, and thus affiliated to the state (and thus the state language).
You make some valid points. You touched on the literacy issue. Has anyone any knowledge on the literacy rates amiong average Egyptians?
quote:Originally posted by Truthcentric: Welcome back, Djehuti. For a moment I thought this forum was a sinking ship and have pretty much abandoned it for the Facebook group, but your return might help raise ES back again.
Yes, I've also been posting on ESreloaded and I plan on joining the Facebook group. Like I said, other than work, I've been doing some research and have come across some pretty interesting things in regards to ancient Egyptian culture that I plan on sharing. As far as this forum recovering from the trolls, there is still the lyinass problem. But no worries she is just a fly.
quote:Remember how each sepat had its own symbol or deity? Maybe this is a relic of clan or tribal totemism.
Yes this is the popular theory. Each sepat was symbolized by a 'fetish' that was very likely a tribal fetish followed by a patron deity. The sepati were further divided into cities and villages. And it is interesting that I remember Ausar saying that unlike the Arabs who identify themselves through patrilineal tribal lineages, indigenous Egyptians while taking the surname of their father or grandfather, just identify themselves by their village or town name. The fact that these villages and towns since ancient times, have female names may indicate matrilineal origins as well as the fact that many of the tutelary deities of these locales are also female, though the deities of the overall sepat can be male as well.
Posts: 26267 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Truthcentric: Welcome back, Djehuti. For a moment I thought this forum was a sinking
I prefer to say we got rid of the rubbish.
quote: Remember how each sepat had its own symbol or deity? Maybe this is a relic of clan or tribal totemism.
Of course, it probably is.
In Africa, albeit even within people of the same ethic group and spiritual tradition, often have many different cults and family ancestors (for example, Sango, Ogun, Oshun in Yoruba religions) within the same (multiethnic) empire or regions.
It's more probable when you consider AE originates in the many different groups who settled along the Nile during the Saharan desertification. We still need more proof to see how and if those ethnic differentiation perpetuated during the dynastic era.
For example, was AEian (and its dialects) the only indigenous languages spoken in AE or was AEian a lingua franca, the state language, where each regions, especially the common people, had their own languages (not mere dialects of the same language)? I'm speculating of course, but maybe many of those languages didn't even have a written form. We already know only a few % of the people in AE knew how to read and write and those few were usually scribes aka government officials, and thus affiliated to the state (and thus the state language).
You make some valid points. You touched on the literacy issue. Has anyone any knowledge on the literacy rates amiong average Egyptians?
.
A quick google search gives us between 1 and 10%. Which is what I remember reading as well.
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Of relevance to the topic of Egypt's ethnic diversity...
Southern Upper Egypt, particularly the Aswan-Elephantine area was traditionally known as the 1st sepat of Kmt and was called Ta-Khent and Ta-Seti. For a long while now archaeologists have noted that the culture of that area bears many affinities to the A-Group/Qustul culture of Lower Egypt so much so that some scholars include the area into the A-Group domain.
There is even evidence of Qustul people traveling as far north as Nekhen to conduct trade and even settle there as evidence by the graves of a few elite individuals.
Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
Member # 19944
posted
The reason I posted that map elsewhere was to show the first known African polity TaSeti stretched from "Upper Egypt's" 2nd cataract to the Batn Hajr before unification with its firm 1st cataract border.
Could use a little tweeking but Ancient Egypt's southern borders (link) is still one of the good past threads on the topic of state primacy in the Lower Nile Valley.
Maybe its time for a pre-historic and ancient Nubia thread to go over Seele and Wms and more current Nubia info.
Posts: 8179 | From: the Tekrur straddling Senegal & Mauritania | Registered: Dec 2011
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The key point, is that the source of Ancient Egypt's culture was from the South. They continually turned to the South for support from invaders and the earliest elements of dynastic culture came from the South.
Case in point. Incense burners. Now incense is an African tradition. The use of incense by Africans is the basis of use of incense all over the world. Yet we call some forms of incense today 'Frankincense' as in "from the Franks(French)" when it is not. Or we look at at a Muslim thing, but again, that is simply an extension of African traditions.
Now keep in mind that black topped pottery is supposed to be a marker of "Nubian" culture by mainstream Egyptology,which is simply an artificial distinction. Such pottery is a Nile Valley artifact common among cultures along the Nile due to shared cultural and ethnic origins.
posted
Hyksos had personal names of Semitic origins
It's easy to see Hyksos were from foreign origin since they carry names of Semitic origins. Ancient Egyptians themselves considered them foreign rulers (Aamu/West Asians) and were later expelled after the 18th Dynasty victory over them.
The Prophecy of Neferti is very clear to the provenance of the 12th dynasty rulers:
quote:Extract from the Prophecy of Neferti :
Then a king will come from the South ,
Ameny, the justified, by name [Ameny, nickname for Amenemhat I] Son of a woman of Ta-Seti , child of Upper Egypt .
He will take the white crown, He will wear the red crown; He will join the Two Mighty Ones.. Rejoice, O people of his time, The son of man will make his name for all eternity! ..
ASIATICS will fall to his sword, LIBYANS will fall to his flame, Rebels to his wrath, traitors to his might, As the serpent on his brow subdues the rebels for him.
One will build the Walls-of-the-Ruler To bar ASIATICS from entering Egypt
The Prophecy of Neferti is very clear to the provenance of the 12th dynasty rulers:
quote:Extract from the Prophecy of Neferti :
Then a king will come from the South ,
Ameny, the justified, by name [Ameny, nickname for Amenemhat I] Son of a woman of Ta-Seti , child of Upper Egypt .
He will take the white crown, He will wear the red crown; He will join the Two Mighty Ones.. Rejoice, O people of his time, The son of man will make his name for all eternity! ..
ASIATICS will fall to his sword, LIBYANS will fall to his flame, Rebels to his wrath, traitors to his might, As the serpent on his brow subdues the rebels for him.
One will build the Walls-of-the-Ruler To bar ASIATICS from entering Egypt
wikipedia, Prophecy of Neferti
The Prophecy of Neferti is an Ancient Egyptian discourse text set in the reign of the 4th dynasty Old Kingdom king Sneferu(c.2550 BC), but was actually written during the early 12th dynasty (c.1991 – 1786 BC). The text is a pseudo-prophecy, i.e. one written after the event. It was published by Vladimir Golenishchev and stored in the Hermitage Museum.
The text has often been interpreted as a classic piece of Egyptian royal propaganda, since the saviour king 'Ameny' is generally interpreted as an oblique reference to the name of the first king of the 12th dynasty, Amenemhat I. Amenemhat I was not closely related to his predecessor, and his reign began in unsettled conditions.
Amenemhat I was probably same as the vizier named Amenemhat who led an expedition to Wadi Hammamat under his predecessor Mentuhotep IV, and possibly overthrew him from power. Scholars differ as to whether Mentuhotep IV was killed by Amenemhat I, but there is no independent evidence to suggest this and there may even have been a period of co-regency between their reigns. Amenemhet I was not of royal lineage, and the composition of some literary works (the Prophecy of Neferti,[4] the Instructions of Amenemhat and, in architecture, the reversion to the pyramid-style complexes of the 6th dynasty rulers are often considered to have been attempts at legitimizing his rule. Amenemhat I moved the capital from Thebes to Itjtawy and was buried in el-Lisht.
Assassination Two literary works dating from the end of the reign give a picture about Amenemhat I's death. The Instructions of Amenemhat were supposedly counsels that the deceased king gave to his son during a dream. In the passage where he warns Senusret I against too great intimacy with his subjects, he tells the story of his own death as a reinforcement: “ It was after supper, when night had fallen, and I had spent an hour of happiness. I was asleep upon my bed, having become weary, and my heart had begun to follow sleep. When weapons of my counsel were wielded, I had become like a snake of the necropolis. As I came to, I awoke to fighting, and found that it was an attack of the bodyguard. If I had quickly taken weapons in my hand, I would have made the wretches retreat with a charge! But there is none mighty in the night, none who can fight alone; no success will come without a helper. Look, my injury happened while I was without you, when the entourage had not yet heard that I would hand over to you when I had not yet sat with you, that I might make counsels for you; for I did not plan it, I did not foresee it, and my heart had not taken thought of the negligence of servants. ” This passage refers to a conspiracy in which Amenemhat was killed by his own guards, when his son and co-regent Senusret I was leading a campaign in Libya. Another account of the following events is given in the Story of Sinuhe, a famous text of Egyptian literature:
The Prophecy of Neferti can therefore be read as a political justification for his new dynasty. However, the chaotic descriptions of the text are more generally related to the broader Egyptian literary tradition of pessimistic laments, such as also occur in the 'Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All'. William K. Simpson, a professor emeritus of Egyptology at Yale University, states that Neferti can be classified as belonging to a "literature of pessimism" where the world is chaotic and therefore society's values are in need of restructuring, which is contrasted by the "literature of propaganda," embodied in such works as Loyalist Teaching, where the virtues of the king are extolled.
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Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
Member # 19944
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Indeed, much is made of supposed restricting of Nehesu (Nubian) movement into Egypt but nothing is ever said and little is even known of barring Aamu (Levantines) from Egypt as far back as the building of Memphis aka the White Wall to the above noted "prophecy."
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