Ancient Africa & African empires timeline

New Crisis, The, Jan/Feb 2000 by Agatucci, Cora

*Diaspora can be defined as the global community of Africans and peoples of African descent living outside of Africa.

The Problem of Sources: Modern [Western] scholars must confront 2 major problems when trying to establish the ancient sources of African traditions: (1 ) loss of sources due to human or natural intervention (e.g., destroyed by invading armies or carried off to Western museums and private collections); and (2) undeciphered documents (e.g., the Merotic texts of ancient Meroe remain undeciphered, though its civilization probably pre-dates ancient Egypt's).

2700 - 1087

Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, and New Kingdom of ancient Egypt and Upper Nile: the first pyramid was built at Saqquara by Old Kingdom era (ca. 2686-2182 B.C.E.) master architect Imhotep, also chief physician, prime minister, teacher, philosopher, priest, astronomer. Equated by the Greeks with their god of healing, Imhotep is regarded by many as the father of medicine.

ca.2300-2100

Heliopolis Creation Narrative of the Kemetic priests of On, and the Memphite Declaration of the Deities (carved on a granite slab at the order of Nubian King Shabaka, ca. 710 B.C.E., recopied from earlier papyrus version), are the earliest written human accounts of creation. In the Memphis theology, Ptah, deity of the city of Memphis, unites "heart and tongue" to create all "through utter ance"-the spoken word. Creation nar ratives are found throughout Afric, passed down across centuries and gen erations through oral traditions. (Asanti and Abarry 12-13).

SACRED WRITING: "Ancient Afri cans Qenevea tnat the deity Dhehuti invented writing...Dhehuti, who became the Greek Hermes, was associated with wisdom and knowledge. Writing brought with it so much power and influence that the ancient Africans reserved the knowledge and skill for priests and kings. Mystery and magic surrounded the development of the art, because few people could appreciate the strange markings on papyrus" (Asante and Abarry 2). "Although only a small portion of the population was literate, a great proportion of objects from Egypt are covered with writing," according to Univ. of Chicago's Oriental Institute. The Egyptians called their writing "medu netcher," or "the words of the gods" ["hieroglyph" is a Greek word which means "sacred writing"], according to Richard Hooker (World Civilizations, Washington State University, 1996). Later, throughout the continent, many traditional African cultures developed "secret societies, actually societies of secrets, with their own scripts" (e.g., the Vai, Bambara, Benin, Bakongo, Peul, and Akan). "As symbol systems for sacred occasions, these scripts are often under the control of specially trained and consecrated priests" (Asante and Abarry 2).

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN WRITING & LITERATURE: "Papyrus' is the Greek word for the plant material on Which ancient Egyptians did much of their writing, and is the origin for the word `paper.' Ancient Egyptian papyri reveal contributions in geometry, algebra, medicine, physics, chemistry, surgery, and astronomy. Employing three writing systems (hieroglyphic; hieratic; and demotic scripts), ancient Egyptians also contributed to the technique and art of writing some of which is evidenced on pyramid walls. Creative literature included poems, plays, and narratives, as well as the oldest religious and ethical texts which include the `Pyramid Texts' and the 'Declarations of Virtues.' Greek philosophy, as well as many of the basic tenets of the major world religions, were preconfigured in ancient Egyptian civilization; early Greek philosophers would later acknowledge the debt that they owed to "Egyptian knowledge systems in which they were educated" (Mutere). It was not until the 19th century, and the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, however, that scholars were able to decipher the ancient Kemetic writings on stone anc papyrus. (Rosetta Stone stands in the British Museum, London).