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What Christopher Ehret really thinks about the origins of Afoasiatic speakers
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by dana marniche: [QB] [QUOTE]Originally posted by Clyde Winters: [qb] The tehenu and Meshwesh The use of different names to describe the Tehenu and Asian in the Ramses III Table of Nations is understood in relation to the political and ethnic conditions in Egypt and Western Asia during this period. The research appears to indicate that the physiognomy of the Libyans had changed by this time . This resulted , for the most part from the invasion of Egypt by Sea Peoples in association with the Libu (Libyans). The figures on Ramses III Table of nations are associated with the nations Ramses was dealing with iduring his reign. The Libyans attacked Egypt during the 5th and 11th years of Ramses III's reign. Beginning around 1230 Sea People began to attack Egypt. In 1180 Ramses III had his decisive battle with the Libyans. Among the warriors fighting with the Libu were Sea People. [IMG]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dH3ZETZ8ZlM/S6pcr0hayNI/AAAAAAAAAa4/bNJr-ZFB_lE/s1600/image001.png[/IMG] Ramses III made multiple versions of his campaigns against the Libyans. To understand the naming method for Ramses III Table of Nations you have to understand that the term Tehenu was a generic term applied to the Libyans, who by this time were mixed with Palestinian-Syrian people (who were descendants of the Gutians), and People of the Sea (Indo-Europeans). The attack against Egypt in 1188 was a coalition of tribal groups led by the Meshwesh, who are believed to be a Tamehu nationality. As a result, we find that the Meshwesh were referred to as Tehenu\Tamehu. This may not be correct because the Meshwesh are not mention in Egyptian text until the 14th Century BC. The members of the coalition were led by Meshesher the wr 'ruler' of the coalition.Each group was led by a "great one" or a magnate. The Meshwesh were semi-nomads that lived both in villages and dmi'w 'towns'.The Tehenu lived in the Delta between the Temehu and the Egyptians. The Egyptians referred to all of the people in this area most often by the generic tern "Tehenu". The TjemhuTemehu which included the Meshwesh controled an area from Cyrenaica to Syria. As a result, in textual material from the reign of Ramses II, there is mention of Temehu towns in Syria. David O'Connor makes it clear that Ramses III referred to these Temehu by the term Tehenu/Tjehnyu (p.64). The Temehu were very hostile to the Tehenu/Tjehnya. In fact, the first mention of the Meshwesh in Ramses III inscriptions relating to 1188, was the attack of the Tehenu, by the Meshwqesh, Soped and Sea People . David O'Connor makes it clear that the the records of Ramses III make it clear that the Meshweshy "savagely" attacked the Tehenu and looted their cities during their advance to Egypt (p.35 & 105). The coalition of the Meshweshy had each unit of the army organized into "family or tribal ' units under the leadership of a "great one". As result to understand why the fAsian and Tehenu figures on the Table of Nations are identified differently you have use both the pictorical and textual material from the reign of Ramses III to understand the representations. As a result, Palestianian -Syrian personage or figure D, is labled Tehenu because he was probably a member of one Meshwesh units, thus he was labled Tehenu. The personage that is second from the Egyptians which is labled an Asian, eventhough he is clearly a Tehenu, was probably a member of a Syrian Palestinian unit when he was captured by the Egyptians thusly he was labled Asian. You can find out more about this reality if you check out: David O'Connor, "The nature of Tjemhu (Libyan) society in later New Kingdom; in Libya and Egypt c1300-750 BC, (Ed.) by Athony Leahy (pp.29-113), SOAS Centre of Near and Middle Eastern Studies and the Society for Libyan Studies, 1990. In the Table of Nation figure B we see the traditional depiction of a Tehenu, the sidelock, shoulder cape and clean face. The Temehu, called Meshwesh are different from the Tehenu and the original Tamehu recorded by the Egyptians prior to the New Kingdom. Below is a Meshwesh [IMG]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dH3ZETZ8ZlM/S6pc92_xAEI/AAAAAAAAAbI/lLZa_NdR3ug/s1600/image003.jpg[/IMG] The Meshwesh wore Tehenu traditional costumes but they are not believed to be real Tehenu. The Tehenu and the Temehu usually wore different costumes. In the New Kingdom depictions of the Temehu, the Meshwesh have "long chin beards", like the Syrian-Palestinians and Peoples of the Sea. They wear kilts, sheaths and capes open at the front tied at one shoulder. Like the earlier Tehenu they wore feathers as a sign of High Status. David O'Connor makes it clear that there was "marked hetergeneity of the Tjemhu" (p.41). The first attack by Libyans on Egypt were led by the Libu during the 5th year of Ramses III's reign. Diop has provided convincing evidence that the Libu, later migrated into Senegal, where they presenly live near Cape Verde The difference in dress among the Meshwesh and their hostility toward the Tehenu, have led many researchers to see the Temehu of the New Kingdom as a different group from the original Temehu of Egyptian traditions. O'Connor (p.74) in the work cited above makes it clear that the Temehu in Ramses III day--"[have] hairstyles, dress and apparently ethnic type [that] are markedly different from the Tjehnyu/tjemhu of the Old Kingdom (Osing, 1980,1018-19). Various explanations have been offered: Wainwright, for example, concluded that 'Meshwesh was a mixed tribe of Libu like tribesmen with their native chiefs who become subject to a family of Tjehnu origin'(1962,p.92), while Osing suggested that the New Kingdowm Tjemhu had displaced or absorbed the earlier Tjehnyu but had selectively taken over or retained some Tjehnyu traits, in the case of the rulers for Meshwesh (1980,1019-1020). Dr. O'Connor is of the opinion "that some rulers of the later New Kingdom Tjemhu deliberately adopted traits they discovered from the Egyptians to be chracteristic of ancient Tjehnyu/Tjemhu, so as to increase there prestige, or in some way had these rtraits imposed upon them by the Egyptians" (p.74). It is my opinion that given the organiztion of the Libyans into mhwt "family or tribal groups', sometime prior to 1230 BC over an extended period of time Indo-European speaking people later to be known as Peoples of the Sea entered Western Asia and Libya and were adopted by Tehenu families. This adoption of the new immigrants by Tehenu/Tamehu probably led to the Meshwesh and Soped adopting Tehenu customs but maintaining their traditional beards,. The original Temehu, like the Libu probably saw the integration of Sea Peoples into Temehu society as a way to increase their number and possibily conquer Egypt. It is interesting to note that the Meshwesh were very sure they might be able to conquor the Egyptians because they brought their cattle and other animals with them when they invaded the country. Moreover whereas the Meshwesh, were semi-nomadic, the Sea Peoples: Akawashu, Lukki, Tursha., Sheklesh, and Sherden remained nomadic. and used the spear and round shield. The Nehasyu were ancient members of the Tehenu/Temehu. This would explain the reason why the Meshwesh and Nehasyu were mainly bowman. In conclusion, the names for the personages in the Table of Nations from Ramses III tomb were labled correctly. These personages were recorded in the the Tables based on the military and family units were attached too, not the country identifiable by their dress. Annotated Bibliograpy Adler,J.(1991 September 23). "African Dreams", Newsweek, pp.42- 45. This magazine articles discussed the controversey surrounding Afrocentrism. Anselin,A.(1984). "Zeus, Ethiopien Minos Tamoul", Carbet Revue Martinique de Sciences Humaines,no. 2:31-50. This articles explains the African origin of the Libyans. It has several very good illustrations of Blacks in ancient Sahara. . [/qb][/QUOTE]The Tehenu portrayed here above and appearing in Lepsius canon are in my view the brown "brun" Libyans of in Oric Bates texts. The Lepsius Canon also depicts Libyans in a color that was evidently not even realistically reflected in the tomb paintings as shown by the many posters on this forum and as sstated to me by Charles Finch who saw the tombs in person stating the Libyans there were Maasai colored and that Lepsius must have deliberately misrepresented these folk. The Europeans that came down in the are wearing European hairstyles and not African Fulani ones. The Temehu and Tehenou appearing before the late dynasties are basically the same brown color as are in fact several groups of the period of the Ramses and Seti. If the braid-wearing Temehou that were creamy white existed they were not shown in the tomb Lepsius copied from. Least of all did any of them look Germanic. Temehou or Djemehou was indeed a generic name used in late dynastic times for populations that were both European (people of the Sea) and African or Afro-Asiatic west of the Nile extending into the Levant. Originally the bulk of the Libyans appear to have been the exact same color as Ramessids. The "chiefs of the Meshwesh" of the Libyan dynasties 22nd and 23rd dynasties were likely their descendants. [IMG]http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx108/khazraj/Libyanhelmet.jpg[/IMG] Ancient typical Libyan [IMG]http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx108/khazraj/libyannewkingdomhairstyle.jpg[/IMG] Ancient typical Libyans wearing the same costume as shown in Lepsius canon and the typical Afro-Libyan coiffure only known among the Fulani of Chad and Niger in recent times. [IMG]http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx108/khazraj/Libyan_3-1.jpg[/IMG] The ancient Libyans including those of the Libyan dynasties bore early and typical Berber names according to most books. [IMG]http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx108/khazraj/tanis_osorkon01-1.jpg[/IMG] Libyan Osorkon's tomb chief of the "Meshwesh" All Libyan dynasty rulers portrayed themselves the same color the Nubians and Ramessids did. The "Soped" are likely the dark brown Esbet or Isabaten as they are now called - a group of Tuareg-speaking agriculturalists , if not the Ethiopian colored Asfodelodes mentioned by Diodorus Siculus in Sergi's book. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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