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.
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
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.
_______.(1989). "Le Lecon Dravidienne",Carbet Revue
Martinique
de Sciences Humaines, no.9:7-58. This paper
discussed the origins of the Dravidian and their
relationship to Africans.
Asante,M.K. (1990) Kemet,Afrocentricity,and Knowledge.
Trenton
,NJ:Africa World Press. This book provides the
theoretical foundations for africalogical studies.
_________ (1991). "The Afrocentric idea in
Education",Journal
of Negro Education,60(2):170-180. The author
explains the importance of the Afrocentric field of
study for enrichment of the social studies curricula.
__________.(December 1991/January 1992). "Afrocentric
Curriculum".Educational Leadership, pp.28-31. This
article explains the practical reasons supporting the
institution of an Afrocentric curriculum within the
context of multiculturalism.
Baines,J. (11 August,1991). "Was Civilization made in
Africa?" The New York Times Review of Books,pp.12-13.
This article attempts to review the work of Bernal and
Diop in a negative light.
Bernal,M. (1987). Black Athena. New York. Volume 1.
Here the author explains his theory that there is need
for a new historiography for the Mediterranean which
recognizes the multicultural origins of Greece. The
author also returns to the ancient model which claimed
that the Egyptians were "Blacks".
________. (1991). Black Athena. New York. Volume 2. In
this volume Bernal outlines his theory that the
founders of Greece were Hyksos (Semitic) people from
Egypt.
Bonnet,C. (1986). Kerma: Territoire et Metropole.
Cairo: Instut
Francais D'Archeologie Orientale du Caire. This
is a fine examination of the Kerma culture of Nubia
which existed in Nubia before the Egyptians
established rule in this area.
Diop,C.A. (1974). The African Origin of Civilization.
(ed. & Trans) by Mercer Cook,
Westport:Lawrence Hill & Company. This book
outlines Diop's theory of the African origin of
Egyptian civilization.
_________.(1977). Parente genetique de l'Egyptien
Pharaonique et
des Languaes Negro-Africaines. Dakar: IFAN ,Les
Nouvelles
Editions Africaines. This is a very good
discussion of the extensive morphological and
phonological evidence of unity between Wolof
and Egyptian.
__________.(1978) The Cultural Unity of Black Africa.
Chicago:
Third World Press. This book details the
precolombian character of African
civilizations, and explains the common cultural
expressions they share.
___________.(1986). "Formation of the Berber Branch".
In Libya
Antiqua. (ed.) by Unesco,(Paris: UNESCO)
pp.69-73. In this article Diop explains that
the original inhabitants of Libya were Blacks.
____________.(1987). Precolonial Black Africa. (trans.
) by
Harold Salemson, Westport: Lawrence Hill &
Company. In this book Diop explains the origin
and connections between the major Western
Sudanic empires and states. These states are
compared to European states.
____________.(1988). Nouvelles recherches sur
l'Egyptien ancient
et les langues Negro-Africaines Modernes. Paris:
Presence
Africaine. This book provides a number of Diop's
theories regarding the relationship between
Black-African and Egyptian languages.
_____________(1991). Civilization or Barbarism: An
Authentic Anthropology. (trans.) by
Yaa-Lengi Meema Ngemi and (ed.) by
H.J. Salemson and Marjoliiw de Jager,
Westport:Lawrence
Hill and Company. This book details Diop's theory
of the genetic model for the study of
African civilization. It also gives a fine
discussion of the architecture, mathematics and
philosophy of the ancient Egyptians and other African
people.
Farid,El-Yahky. (1985). "The Sahara and Predynastic
Egypt an Overview".The Journal for the
Society for the Study Egyptian
Antiquities, 17 (1/2): 58-65. This paper gives a
detailed discussion of the affinities between
Egyptian civilization and the Saharan
civilizations which we call Proto-Saharan. The
evidence presented in this paper support the Saharan
origin of the Egyptians.
Galassi, . (1942). Tehenu. Rome. Galassi explains the
history of the Tehenu people forerunners of the
Libyans.
Graves, Robert. (1980). The Greek Myths.
Middlesex:Peguin Books
Ltd. 2 volumes. In this volume we see a detailed
account of the founding Myths of the ancient
Greeks as recorded in Greek literature.
Hopper, R.J. (1976). The Early Greeks. New York:Harper
& Row Pub. Hopper gives an informative narative on the
history of the ancient Greeks.
Hochfield,S. & Riesfstahl,E.(1978). (Eds.) Africa in
Antiquity: The Arts of Nubia and the Sudan. New York:
Brooklyn Museum. 2 vols. This is a fine source of
information on the Kushite and Meroitic
empires. It also provides many well
researched articles and photographs of the Kushites.
The evidence in this book shows that the
Egyptians and Kushites were one.
Hughes,R. (1992, February 3). "The Frying of America".
TIME ,pp.44-49. Hughes discussed the threat of
multiculturalism to unity of the American
people.
Jelinek,J. (1985). "Tillizahren,the Key Site of the
Fezzanese Rock Art". Anthropologie (Brno),23(3):223-275.
This paper gives a stimulating account of
the rock art of the Sahara and the important
role the C-Group people played in the
creation of this art.
Levine,M.M. (April 1992). "The use and abuse of Black
Athena", American Historical Review,pp. 440-460. This
articles attacks Bernal and the use of
Black Athena to estabish a new paradigm for
ancient history.
Lefkowitz,M. (1992,February 10). "Not out of Africa".
The New Republic, pp.29-36. This text deals with the
hyptohesis that Greek civilization came from
Africa. Lefkowitz contends that Africans failed
to play an important role in Greecian
civilization.
Marriott,M. (1991,August 11). "As a Discipline
Advances, Questions Arise on
Scholarship". The New York Times.
Marriott gives an excellent discussion of the
controversey surrounding Afrocentrism. It
provides a good discussion of the players pro
and against this field of intellectual
inquiry.
Martel, E. (December 1991/January 1992). "How valid
are the Port-land Baseline Essays". Educational Leadership,
pp.20-23. Martel gives reasons in this article why he
believes that many of the claims of
Afrocentrists are wrong.
__________.(1991). "Teachers's Corner:Ancient Africa
and the Port-land Curriculum Resource",Anthro Notes: National
Museum of Natural History(Smithsonian) Bulletin for
Teachers 13, pp.2-6. This text explains why Afrocentrism
should be kept out of the schools until it conforms with accepted Eurocentric
views about Africana affairs and history. He
does argue that the Egyptians were a multiculutural
society.
Moitt,B. (1989). "Chiekh Anta Diop and the African
Diaspora: Historical Continuity and Socio-Cultural
Symbolism". Presence Africaine, no. 149-150:347-360. This is
an excellent analysis of the influence of Diop on africalogical studies and the
European attacks against his research.
Nicholson,D. (1992, September 23). "Afrocentrism and
the Tribalization of America". The Washington Post,
B-l.Nicholson makes the claim that Afrocentrism is
causing the fragmentation of America.
Okafor,V.O. (1991). " Diop and the African Origin of
Civiliza-
tion:An Afrocentric Analysis". Journal of Black
Studies
22(2):252-268. This book offers excellent
guidelines on implimenting the research
methods of Diop in africological studies.
Parker,G.W. (1917) . "The African Origin of Grecian
Civilization
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short article provides a wealth of historical and
lexical evidence for the African origination of
Greccian heroes, literature and
civilization.
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Baltimore,Md.:
Black Classic Press. This book provides a short
discussion of the important role of Blacks in
the rise of civilization around the world.
Petrie,W.M.F. (1921). Corpus of Prehistoric Pottery.
London.Petrie provides the first detailed categorization
of Egyptian pottery and an informative
account on the origination of Egypt.
Pounder, R.L. (1992,April) "Black Athena 2:History
without Rules" American Historical Review, 461-464. This
articles attacks the credibility of Bernal's
,Black Athena.
Quellec,J-L le. (1985). "Les Gravures Rupestres Du
Fezzan (Libye)". L'Anthropologie, 89
(3):365-383. This text deals comprehensively
with the dates and spread of specific art
themes in the ancient Sahara.
Raphael, . 1947. Prehistoric Pottery . New York:
Pantheon Book. Raphael provides a thorough
explanation of the ceramics of the predynastic
Egyptians.
Ravitch,D. (1990,Summer). "Multiculturalism:E Pluribus
Plures". The American Scholar, pp.337-354.
Ravitch argues that multiculturalism is
causing America to become ethnicallly
polarized, while we abandon many of the values that
unite Americans.
Schlesinger,A.M. (1992). The Disuniting of America:
Reflections on a Multicultural Society. New
York: Norton. Schlesinger argues that
multiculturalism is bringing about the rise
of ethnocentrism in the United States.
Snowden,F. (1976). "Ethiopians and the Greco-Roman
World". In The African Diaspora. Washington: Howard University
Press. In this paper Snowden discusses the
role of Ethiopian slaves in Grecce.
___________. (1992, March 4). "Blacks as seen by
Ancient Egyptians, Greek and Roman
Artists". (Lecture) Chicago: Oriental
Institute of the University of Chicago. In this
lecture Snowden continues his theory that the
only Blacks in Egyptian and Classical art were
slaves.
Tounkara,B. (1989). "Problematique du comparatisme
egyptien ancien/langues africaines
(wolof)". Presence Africaine,nos. 149-150:
313-320. This book discusses the linguistic
relationship of wolof and Egyptian.
Trigger,B.G. (1987). "Egypt: A Fledging Nation". The
Journal of
the Society for the Study Egyptian Antiquities,
17 (1/2): 58-65. Trigger documents the rise
of Egyptian civilization in the Sahara and
Nubia.
____________. (1992). "Brown Athena: A Post Processual
Goddess".
Current Anthropology, 33(1): 121-123. This
article focuses on the misuse of the book
Black Athena as a tool to claim the Egyptians
were Blacks.
Vandier,J. (1952). Manuel d'archeologie Egyptienne.
Paris. This is a fine examination of the
archaeology of Egypt.
Williams,B. (1987). The A-Group Royal Cemetery at
Qustul: Cemetery L. Chicago: The
Oriental Institute University of
Chicago. This excellent text reviews the
important Qustul
cemetery, which provides a detailed account of
the rise of the first world empire in Nubia.
Winkler, H.A. (1938). Rock Drawings of Southern Upper
Egypt. London. 2 volumes. This book gives numerous
examples of rock art which point to an Egyptian
origin in Nubia.
Winters, C.A. (1983a). "The Ancient Manding Script".
In Blacks in Science:Ancient and Modern. (ed.) by Ivan van
Sertima,(New Brunswick: Transaction Books) pp.208-215.
This paper discusses the Manding origin for
many of the so-called Libyco-Berber
inscriptions and explains how these
inscriptions can be read. It makes it clear that
literacy was widespread in Africa 5000 years
ago.
__________. (1983b). "Les Fondateurs de la Grece
venaient d'Afrique en passant par la
Crete". Afrique Histoire (Dakar),
no.8:13-18. This rich historical account refutes
the idea that Greece was founded by the
Indo-European speakers. Winters argues
that credit should be given to the African
settlers of Anatolia from Libya, Egypt and Palestine.
_________. (1983c) "Famous Black Greeks Important in
the development of Greek Culture".
Return to the Source,2(1):8.
In this article Winters' discussed the famous
Greeks like Socrates, that were of African/Pelasgian origin.
________. (1984). "Blacks in Europe before the
Europeans".
Return to the Source, 3(1):26-33. This paper
provides insights into the long history
of Blacks in Europe, including the Old
Europeans, Danubians and other groups.
_________.(1985a). "The Indus Valley Writing and
related Scripts of the 3rd Millennium BC". India Past and
Present, 2(1):13-19. The author describes the
unity of the writing systems used by the
Sumerians, Minoans, Egyptians and Harappans.
He shows that these scripts have a common
ideological origin and that they can all be read due
to the genetic unity of the langauges spoken by
these people.
__________. (1985b). "The Proto-Culture of the
Dravidians, Manding and Sumerians". Tamil
Civilization,3(1):1-9. Winters uses linguistics , historical
and archaeological evidence to argue that the
Dravidian, Manding and Sumerian speakers
originated in the highland regions of the Sahara
which he called the "Fertile African Crescent".
Many of the culture terms of these groups are
discussed and the proto- terms are
reconstructed. It also provides numerous maps to
delienate the migrations of these people from their
archetype homeland.
__________. (1988). "Common African and Dravidian
Place Name Elements". South Asian Anthropologist,
9(1):33-36. This paper provides an analysis
of the common roots toponyms found in Asia
of African origin.
__________. (1989a). "Tamil, Sumerian, Manding and the
Genetic Model". International Journal of Dravidian
Linguistics, 18(1):98-127. Winters discusses the genesis of
the common culture of the founders of ancient
civilizations in Africa and Asia. It also
refutes the myth that the Sumerian and
Dravidian languages are unrelated to any other
languages on earth. Here you will find a
detailed explanation of the morphological,
semantic and lexical affinities shared by
these langauges that indicate their genetic unity.
__________. (1989b). "Review of Dr. Asko Parpola's
'The Coming of the Aryans'",International Journal of
Dravidian Linguistics, 18(2):98-127. This anthropological
and linguistic account of the prehistoric linguistic-history of South and
Central Asia outlines the fallacy of Parpola's
theory for an Indo-European founding of the Harappan
civilization. He provides numerous
examples of the Dravidian and African influences
on the Indo-European languages.
__________. (1990). "The Dravido-Harappan Colonization
of Central Asia". Central Asiatic Journal,
34(1/2):120-144. This paper discussed the
settlement of Asia by African people 4500 years
ago. Special attention is placed on the type and
expression of African civilization in ancient
Asia.
___________. (1991). "The Proto-Sahara". The Dravidian
Encyclopaedia, (Trivandrum: International School of
Dravidian Linguistics) pp.553-556. Volume l. This is a
detailed account of the Proto-Saharan
origin of the Elamites, Dravidians,
Sumerians, Egyptians and other Black African
groups. We also find here a well developed
illumination of the cultural features shared
by these genetically related groups.
Yurco,F. (1989,September/October). "Were the ancient
Egyptians Black?". Biblical Archaeological
Review, 15(5):24-29,58.Yurco argues that the Egyptians have always been
"light skinned", and that they got darker
as you went south into Nubia.
Wainwright, G. 1962. The Meshwesh", JEA 48, 89-99.
Osing,J. 1980. "Libyen, Libyer", LA III, 1015-1033.
