From: c23st@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com (Spiros Triantafyllopoulos)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.greek
Subject: Walk Like An Egyptian
Date: 27 Jan 93 21:22:22 GMT
Organization: Delco Electronics Corporation
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

agscrib@afterlife.ncsc.mil (Arthur Scribner) jokes:

> The Ancient Africans ... "Africa: Mother of Western Civilzation" ...
> of Egyptian philosophy ... Egyptian Mysteries.... "Ancient Egypt:
> Light of the World" ... "Book of the Beginnings" ... "Black Athena"
> ... real African root of Western civilization. 

So, Arthur, how come you use the terms African and Egyptian
interchangeably? Most Africans I know are not Egyptians and Egyptians
consider themselves Arabs, not Africans... But it provides lots of
entertainment material for us amateur comedy writers. So, here it goes.

> First of all the Greeks were taught by the Egyptians the science of 
> agriculture. 

So what the hell were the Greeks eating until then? Dinosaurs? Rocks?

> It was in Ionia that the Egyptians first set up a colony
> to help to educate these people of the Aegean. 

Funny no evidence has been found. Seen any pyramids in Ionia? Must have
been an article in "Ionian Hieroglyphics Daily"...

> To do this, he [Pythagoras] needed consent of the Egyptian Priests
> to be accepted into the schools of Egypt. He was not initially
> accepted, but after he carried a letter from Polycrates, King of Samos, to 
> King Amasis, Pharoah of Egypt, the Pharoah gave him letters of
> introduction

I thought he got admitted after he aced the GRE, GMAT, and TOEFL...
But he failed the subject test in Math so he had to get in thru the
back door...

> The Egyptians had already formalized the Theorems
> and Proofs of their Mathematics, especially Geometry. 

Funny no records exist. The Egyptians were too busy building Pyramids...

> So how could Pythagorus
> give mathematical proof to something he had no prior knowledge of let alone
> while he was "learning". 

So how come you could give proofs in, say, formal language theory, (if
you took that in college) or trigonometry, on things you have no
prior knowledge of (i.e prove new formulae/problems) while you were
still "learning"?

> First of all, I can name books that have printed lies about the African
> contributions to Western civilization. 

And I can find books that prove that Hitler was a really nice guy...

> Where else did he [Pythagoras again] receive this "formal"
> training in principles of Mathematics and Physics. 

I think he applied at the University of Egypt but flunked his GRE but
he got in on probation after all...

> One more thing I would like to ask. If the Greek society was such a wholesome
> environment for Philosophy, then why is it that their "sons" of thought and
> ideology, namely the famous Greek "Philosophers" were the victims of
> relentless persecution for the teaching of "alien and foreign
> beliefs".

I.e. like Galileo, Colonel Mitchell of the US Air force in the 20's...
(You should know who Col. Mitchell is, right?), just about everyone
during the Dark Ages, etc... Did I forget Jesus Christ? 

> For example; Anaxagoras was imprisoned and exiled; 

Tough. Was he exiled first or imprisoned first?

> Socrates was executed;

He actually tried to do a Diet Conium commercial but he was allergic...

> Plato was sold into slavery 

He was the blond guy in 'Roots', right?

> Also, isn't it rather coincidental that Aristotle did not begin his writings
> until after Alexander the Great ransacked the libraries of and Temples of
> Alexandria (332 B.C.) and the fact that he died in 322 B.C. makes it hard to
> believe that he authored the close 800 or so books papers etc.. that is
> attributed to him.

His research assistants wrote most of the stuff actually; I can find
you modern professors who author and/or co-author a few dozen papers
a year; Aristotle (having a University named after him in
Thesallonica) did a bit better.

> First of all the reason that those names are Greek is because the Greeks 
> stole them and placed their name on it. It's common sense. 

So when Elgin stole everything from Acropolis how come he did not
place his name on all of them and claim the Brits did them? It's
common sense, right? How come foreighn WORDS have remained in English?

> Well where do I begin. To begin with, lets take Herodotus. If you ever read
> his work "The Histories" you would not be here debating me now. He admits to
> studying in Egypt and has no problem explaining how the "Black Egyptians"
> taught and educated the Greeks in Philosophy, Mathematics, and the
> Sciences.

So now the connection between Africans and Egyptians is made.....

> He even speaks of Ionia as being an colony set up by the Egyptians to help
> educate the early tribes of Pyrrhus (Ancient Greece). 

Artifacts? Ancient Greece was not Pyrrhus only, Arthur...

> So read what your
> "Father of History" has to say about the subject before going off half cocked.
> BTW, he was named the "Father" of history by the Europeans, just as they
> named themselves Father of everything as you have reitierated.

Therefore everything Herodotus said is crap and we should not believe
him. Why do you care?

> Hippocrates' oath is to an Egyptian Pharoah (Ahkenaten) 

Did Hippocrates mummify his patients? 

> and the symbol for
> medicine, the serpent on the staff, is one of Egyptian origin. Look
> it up!

So is the emblem of Jaguar Motor Cars (the Cat!). Egyptian too?

> Also if you ever get the chance to read Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, you will
> find that the Greek Gods Zeus and Apollo would travel once a year to a great
> feast in the land of their birth in Ethiopia!! Hard to believe. Look
> it up!

You're confusing mythology and history. Next time you'll tell us Zeus
was seen in Kalamazoo working first shift at a convenience store
(Elvis works second shift)

> You see I could go on and on explaining my point(s). You, like most of the
> "cilivilized" world have been indoctrinated into the belief that the 
> Europeans are the founders, discoverers, fathers etc.. of every thing dealing
> with civilization. I'm here to expose the myth. You should take the time to
> read "Anacalypsis" by Sir Godfrey Higgins. You would be surprised at some of
> the facts that he exposes.

Sounds like the Von Dainiken (sp?) crowd. At age 16 I was convinced
that UFO's exist and they're roaming the sky. At age 19 I was not so
sure anymore. How old are you?

> But just to warn you, I know what I'm talking about. I've spent years
> researching these things. In case you're wondering, I am a computer engineer
> with the Dept. of Defense. History, Ancient Civilzations etc.. is a hobby and
> a commitment to set the record straight.

Arthur, with all due respect, ye'r dead wrong. Here's one very simple
question that you can answer...

If the Ancient Egyptians were as advanced as you make us think they
were, they must have had SOCIAL advancements along with their
SCIENTIFIC, MEDICAL, PHILOSOPHICAL, etc advancements. I can not deny
the fact that they had a very sophisticated civilization, and some of
the stuff they built really blows my mind away. 

BUT...

I see very few social advancements. Certainly they had no enlightened
leaders (don't tell me enlighted leaders piss away hundrends of
thousands of peoples' labor to build elaborate TOMBS, monuments to
vanity and self-admiration); they had no alphabet to speak of; no
middle class; rampant slavery (I can not imaging paying salary to
the generations of slaves that built the pyramids...), etc etc. 

Anyhow, just like with other net fanatics, I'm not going to convince
you. But you provide good entertainment value for the money.

..... Walk like an Egyptian .....  ..... Walk like an Egyptian ..... 

Spiros

-- 
Spiros Triantafyllopoulos                    
(I'm not an Egyptian, but my Grand ^ N father was one :-)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.greek,alt.news.macedonia