Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Resemblance of Faces of Ancient Egyptian Statues to those of Sub-Saharan Africans

This attribution to the fall of the ancient world to christianity seems too simple to me. Didn't rome "fall" because of the "barbarians," the various gothic and other peoples who eventually conquered much of their extended territories? Didn't the rise of "barbarism" come with vikings etc; the fall of large urban states and replacement by feudal states; wasn't ancient philosophy and literature largely preserved, saved, by the muslim thinkers? Wasn't it the shift to local rulers, the rise of local feudal lords, that came in the 5th 6th 7th centuries etc? 

If ancient art declined, wasn't it supplanted by the rise of local christian art, that became magnificent over time, the great byzantine empire, the rise of romanesque and gothic cathedrals and their art.

We are the barbarians who have replaced our predecessors, just as they did to their forefathers. We don't stay static in this world.

Some regret this as loss, and use words like barbaric and decline; the "fall and decline" of this kingdom and that empire. 

I took it that the major achievement of Things Fall Apart was to demonstrate how the small and local was just another form of "civilization," with its own palm oil and words with which its cathedrals of thoughts were built. 

Ken

Get Outlook for iOS

---

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of cornelius...@gmail.com <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2023 8:12:50 PM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Resemblance of Faces of Ancient Egyptian Statues to those of Sub-Saharan Africans

 

Not Islam but Christianity 

"The triumph of Christianity brought with it the near-destruction of classical civilization."

On Monday, 18 September 2023 at 00:12:38 UTC+2 cornelius...@gmail.com wrote:

"The triumph of Christianity brought with it the near destruction of classical civilization. Libraries and museums,temples and statues were demolished or defaced at a large scale in what has been described as " the largest  destruction of art the world has ever seen" 

t.ly/we5AQ

Footnote to " the largest  destruction of art the world has ever seen" 

Catherine Nixey, The Darkening Age : The Christian Destruction of the Classical World ,London, Macmillan,2017, xxxvii

On Monday, 11 September 2023 at 18:58:54 UTC+2 Harrow, Kenneth wrote:

During the middle ages,or sooner, christian rulers/crusaders etc, disfigured ancient statues so as to discourage paganism. This was probably almost universal. 

Ken

Get Outlook for iOS

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 10, 2023 7:09:53 AM
To: usaafricadialogue <USAAfric...@googlegroups.com>; Yoruba Affairs <yoruba...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Resemblance of Faces of Ancient Egyptian Statues to those of Sub-Saharan Africans

 

I wonder why some of the faces of ancient Egyptian statues I saw some years ago in the British Museum looked like the faces of people I knew in Nigeria in terms of the bone structure.

I also wonder why so many of the noses of ancient statues, including the Sphinx,   were cut off at the nostrils.

The various explanations Ive read of these disfigurements don't look plausible to me.

I realize this is an old issue but would like to read from people who have explored the subject.

Thanks

Toyin

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAGBtzfP8Gbv66X15NTT-NXrBUbFA-mo3CT0mF8RQ4H1NXRPYGw%40mail.gmail.com.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/3b5bf000-9584-46f7-8b0e-7f4fcd2bf464n%40googlegroups.com.