Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - NIGERIA'S LITERATE ZOMBIES

For those of us who have taught college world history for years its like putting the cart before the horse.

It is undoubted that Egyptian architecture influenced the architecture of the Renaissance.

The art of the dome was unquestionably copied from the tomb of Pharaoh Seti I and then spread through Europe  by the trio of Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.  The last was credited with the mastery of pillar- less dome copied from the tomb of Seti.

The catacombs in Rome was unquestionably copied from Egyptian subterranean tombs some of which still bear the inscriptions of Romans who made pilgrimages there long before the Renaissance.

The Cretan labyrinths that gave rise to the Minotaur myth is also taught to have its origins in Egypt. Greek (and later American)names of cities like Memphis derived from Egyptian cities are well known.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------

From: "Emeagwali, Gloria (History)" <emeagwali@ccsu.edu>

Date: 03/03/2018 07:25 (GMT+00:00)

To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - NIGERIA'S LITERATE ZOMBIES

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Good point but the Egyptians built their first pyramid around 2600BC and Rome emerged as a city state around  753 BC.

 Can we say that the Romans influenced the Egyptians in their construction of the pyramids -  when pyramid construction ceased around 1500 BC?

The Ionian Greeks were the first group of intellectuals that we know and they are a bit  later than the Romans. The Greek philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates  and Socrates emerge around 400BC. Can we say that they influenced people like Imhotep who were long dead and buried over  two thousand years before? For example,   Plato was born around 427 BC.

 In the case of Mesopotamia, Persia and even China you have more contemporaneous interaction and there are areas of diffusion and borrowing using the model that you suggest,  but some cases are clear cut.

Professor Gloria Emeagwali

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