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Post by Educate Me on Jul 11, 2005 19:16:36 GMT -5
Arent the Sumerians generally regarded as the first civilization?
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kmt
New Member
"Out of Africa there is always something new" ?Pliny the Elder
Posts: 21
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Post by kmt on Jul 11, 2005 19:42:40 GMT -5
The whole 'Western civilization built upon Egyptian/African foundation' thing is a load of rhetorical nonsense. Should I believe you, or should I believe the ancient greeks? "An Outline of Africa's Role in the History of Physics" by Dr. John Pappademos, Professor of Physics, University of Illinois ' ' As George Sarton has pointed out, "The understanding of ancient science has often been spoiled by two unpardonable omissions. The first concerns Oriental science. It is childish to assume that science began in Greece; the Greek "miracle" was prepared by millenia of work in Egypt. Greek science was less an invention than a revival". Sarton's statement is perfectly correct except for the fact that he makes the common error of classifying the Egyptian civilization as "Oriental" (Asian) rather than African. ' ' ' ' To assess the level of scientific development attained by the Egyptians, we may turn to the opinions of the ancient Greeks, whose civilization developed thousands of years after that of the Egyptians. The Greeks generally viewed Egypt as the seat of scientific knowledge. Socrates, in the Phaidros, called the Egyptian god Thoth, (see Fig. 2) the inventor of writing, astronomy, and geometry. Herodotos had a similarly high opinion of Egyptian science, stating that the Greeks learned geometry from the Egyptians. It was Democritos of Abdera's boast that his own scientific abilities were unsurpassed in the world, exceeded only by the Egyptian scholars. The most brilliant of the Greek students of science, such as Thales of Miletos (c. 600 B.C.), Democritos, Pythagoras, and Eudoxos (408-355 B.C.) travelled to Egypt to study. Seneca tells us that Eudoxos had to go to Egypt to study planetary motion; at that time Egypt must have been the world's leading center of astronomy. Pythagoras (c. 6th century B.C.) spent no less than 22 years in Egypt studying astronomy, geometry, and the mysteries. ' ' ' ' To the Egyptians, Greeks owed the concepts of most of the fundamental physical quantities; distance, area, volume, weight, and time. Ancient Greece was indebted to Egypt for the invention of standards, units, and methods for accurate measurement of all of these quantities. We have already alluded to the fact that the ancient Greeks recognized that the Egyptians were the inventors of geometry. The few papyri which have survived show that the Egyptians could compute the areas and volumes of abstract geometric figures, including the circle's area accurate to 0.6%. The Greeks and the Romans both continued to use the Egyptian methods of arithmetic, they being superior to their own for most types of calculations. To the Egyptians we owe the idea of letting a symbol represent an unknown quantity in algebra. The symbol they used was their word "aha" (heap), and they used it in solving equations of the first and second degree. More than once, the accusation has been made that the Egyptians knew nothing of scientific proof, their mathematics being nothing more than a collection of computational recipes. Gillings has effectively answered that criticism, in showing how the problem statements of the papyri have general applicability. While most authorities agree that the Pythagorean theorem was known to the ancient Mesopotamians 2000 years before Pythagoras (Pythagoras is not known to have proved the theorem; he merely announced it), it was known to the ancient Egyptians as well. In a forthcoming article in Historica Mathematica, Beatrice Lumpkin points out that not only is a knowledge of the Pythagorean theorem implied by problems presented in a papyrus dating from the 12th Dynasty (2000 B.C.) but the idea of the Pythagorean Theorem is implied by the Egyptian use of the double remen as a unit of length measure. ' ' ' ' The scientific measurement of time started with the Egyptians. Based on their stellar observations, the calendar they developed as far back as 4241 B.C. is the one we use today, with only two minor modifications. ' ' ' ' The strictly lunar calendar of the Babylonians, as well as the chaotic Greek calendars, depending not only on the moon but also on local politics for its intercalations, were obviously far inferior to the invariable Egyptian calendar.' ' ' ' The ancient Greeks viewed Egypt as the birthplace of astronomy.' ' ' ' In the so-called Hellenistic period, the leading center of science was in the African city of Alexandria, where the world's first university was established. What is perhaps not so well-known is the multiracial character of Alexandria and the other centers of Greek culture during this period.' ' ' ' There is strong evidence that Hero (1st century A.D.) was actually Egyptian, not Greek. Hero's engine, the first steam engine, undoubtedly served as the inspiration for engines built during the Industrial Revolution in Europe centuries later.' ' Oh and before you write this off as "Afrocentrist" know that Dr. John Pappademos is himself Greek......
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kmt
New Member
"Out of Africa there is always something new" ?Pliny the Elder
Posts: 21
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Post by kmt on Jul 11, 2005 20:27:07 GMT -5
Arent the Sumerians generally regarded as the first civilization? That view is outdated....today Egypt is generally regarded as the first civilization, but recent finds in Nabta Playa and in nearby sites are making apparent the existence of an even earlier civilization in Ta-Seti (nubia).
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mmmkay
Full Member
Internet Philosophiser, Leftist Hero
Posts: 127
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Post by mmmkay on Jul 11, 2005 22:31:49 GMT -5
Present evidence sir, (no bias or "afrocentric").
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Post by Mike the Jedi on Jul 12, 2005 5:30:22 GMT -5
Kmt is a drone who believes his own propaganda, unfortunately.
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Post by Ponto Hardbottle on Jul 12, 2005 8:09:37 GMT -5
Drones have their uses. kmt is one of those people who can't leave the Egyptians alone. Egypt is not a very good civilization. The Sumerians had extensive underground irrigation systems. They built pyramids too but not for some megalomaniacal leader but to be closer to the Gods. The had a form of writing. They influence the Babylonians who gave us Gilgamesh who despite his power could not save Enkidu and Hammurabi's code. What is Egypt known for? Oversized tombs, mummies and the scrubbling out of Hatshepsut and Akenaten. Mohenjodaro and Harappa had well constructed houses with bathrooms, connection to sewers and proper drainage. Egypt is small beer.
kmt does not understand things. Ta-Seti is the Egyptian name for Nubia and means Land of the bow. That doesn't sound very civilized. The Egyptians did not like Nubia or Kush. Often Kush would be adjectived with bad or vile. Anyway Nubia is not Egypt and Mexico is not the USA. Nabta Playa is in Egypt nothing to do with Nubia.
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Post by Mike the Jedi on Jul 12, 2005 8:15:14 GMT -5
Don't you love it when people parade around with names like "Kmt" or "Kemet" or whatever as if they've discovered something special? "Oooh, oooh! I know what the Egyptians called themselves!"
For goodness sakes, what's wrong with calling Egypt "Egypt"? I tell you what's wrong with it, it isn't African enough a word for their agendas.
And because Kemet means the "black land," they can't help themselves but only refer to Egypt as Kemet.
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Baladi
Junior Member
Posts: 63
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Post by Baladi on Jul 12, 2005 11:45:38 GMT -5
Nabta Playa was before Nubia or even dyanstic Egypt existed. It was around 6,700 B.C. Dating to around the pre-dyanstic era. Ta-seti was known as the first nome of Egypt and often called ''first of the first'' Ancient Egyptians never called Nubia the word Nubia and this was not used untill around the Greco-Roman period where is appears for the first time. Other than this the word Nubia was ''Nubt'' or gold when translated.
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Post by Mike the Jedi on Jul 12, 2005 12:55:42 GMT -5
Yeah, the Greeks referred to Nubia as Ethiopia before the word "Nubia" came about. The Egyptians of course would have had their own name for the region.
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Post by Ponto Hardbottle on Jul 12, 2005 23:35:01 GMT -5
I as I said the Egyptians called their version of Nubia, Ta-Seti. The other peoples had their names for their versions of Nubia. All these Nubia, Nubie?, were not the same places geographically in Africa.
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