African influence in ancient Asia and Mesopotamia
The earliest modern humans to live in Asia and Mesopotamia were those Homo sapiens who migrated from Africa (Rashidi 2012, 18). These humans impacted the first ancient civilizations and in turn, aspects of today's culture. The African presence is seen in art and architecture, spiritual ideas, and in the creation of physical civilizations.
Many aspects of architecture show inspiration from African structures. For example, ziggurats built in ancient Sumer are similar to step pyramids
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The ziggurats are built from a fired-mud brick, while the pyramids are built from limestone. Also, the ziggurats were used as a temple for worship, compared to the use of the tombs as a tomb for the deceased (2). Artistically, there have been pieces found that depict people who have African facial features and skin color. These include artifacts found in China, for example a bronze statue from Shang dynasty China around 1250 BCE called "le tigresse" shows a small figure with typically African facial features, being held in the paws of a tigress (Rashidi 2012, 151). From the Tang Dynasty of China (618-907 CE) come statues of africoid looking dancers who have "spiral hair" (Rashidi 2012,152). From first millennium BCE and even prior, Edward Bruce Bynum says "black Mongolian horsemen can be discerned in some of the sculptures and reliefs of the east" (Bynum 1998, 41). Also in China but from the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368), comes a painting of "two powerful looking black men on horseback with Kubilai Khan during a hunt." "Kubilai Khan was arguably the most …show more content…
In original statues of ancient Buddhas of the east he is depicted with woolly hair always shown in corn rows or a peppercorn style with small tight curls, he is also shown with the wide nose and thick lips that are characteristic of African people (Nairaland forum, 2007). In a two volume work entitled "A Book of the Beginnings" Gerald Massey recorded: “it is certain that the Black Buddha of India was imaged in the Africoid type. In the Black [African] god, whether called Buddha or Sut-Nahsi, we have a datum. they carry in their color the proof of their origin. The people who first fashioned and worshipped the divine image in the Africoid mold of humanity must, according to all knowledge of human nature, have been Africans themselves. For the Blackness is not merely mystical, the features and the hair of Buddha belong to the Black race."(An Ethiopian journal, 2015) The Brahma Samhita is a text composed of prayer glorifying the supreme lord Krishna. "From Krishna everything emanates; by Krishna everything is maintained" (Krishna, 2002-2015) and in this text it says of the appearance of Krishna "The Lord was dressed in yellow garments and had a blackish complexion.” (Atlanta black star, 2013) "The matriarchal system is the base of the
The ziggurats are built from a fired-mud brick, while the pyramids are built from limestone. Also, the ziggurats were used as a temple for worship, compared to the use of the tombs as a tomb for the deceased (2). Artistically, there have been pieces found that depict people who have African facial features and skin color. These include artifacts found in China, for example a bronze statue from Shang dynasty China around 1250 BCE called "le tigresse" shows a small figure with typically African facial features, being held in the paws of a tigress (Rashidi 2012, 151). From the Tang Dynasty of China (618-907 CE) come statues of africoid looking dancers who have "spiral hair" (Rashidi 2012,152). From first millennium BCE and even prior, Edward Bruce Bynum says "black Mongolian horsemen can be discerned in some of the sculptures and reliefs of the east" (Bynum 1998, 41). Also in China but from the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368), comes a painting of "two powerful looking black men on horseback with Kubilai Khan during a hunt." "Kubilai Khan was arguably the most …show more content…
In original statues of ancient Buddhas of the east he is depicted with woolly hair always shown in corn rows or a peppercorn style with small tight curls, he is also shown with the wide nose and thick lips that are characteristic of African people (Nairaland forum, 2007). In a two volume work entitled "A Book of the Beginnings" Gerald Massey recorded: “it is certain that the Black Buddha of India was imaged in the Africoid type. In the Black [African] god, whether called Buddha or Sut-Nahsi, we have a datum. they carry in their color the proof of their origin. The people who first fashioned and worshipped the divine image in the Africoid mold of humanity must, according to all knowledge of human nature, have been Africans themselves. For the Blackness is not merely mystical, the features and the hair of Buddha belong to the Black race."(An Ethiopian journal, 2015) The Brahma Samhita is a text composed of prayer glorifying the supreme lord Krishna. "From Krishna everything emanates; by Krishna everything is maintained" (Krishna, 2002-2015) and in this text it says of the appearance of Krishna "The Lord was dressed in yellow garments and had a blackish complexion.” (Atlanta black star, 2013) "The matriarchal system is the base of the