It never seizes to surprise me that the anti-Afrocentric crowd believe that because "at
least one pharaoh thought it [Egypt] was at risk of being overrun from the south", this
means that the Egyptians by and large weren't of the same ethnic origin as the people
to the south. Egypt was at all times at risk of being invaded from the West (Libai),
North (Hyksos) and East as well (Cambyses The Vandal/Persia). What does that tell
us about the ethnicity of Ancient Egypt? Nothing at all, of course. Didn't England and
Germany fight each other to the death just over 50 years ago?

Related to this argument, is the notion that the Egyptians portrayed themselves
different from their neighbors to the South. The catch is of course, that they also
portrayed themselves different from their neighbors to the North, East and West. They
portrayed themselves as being very distinct from the Semitic and Middle Eastern
types to their Northeast and East, in dress, hair and complexion. On the other hand,
the only difference between them and the Nubians, is in complexion, if that. Rarely in
dress, sometimes in hairstyle.

As to the skin tone they portrayed themselves with. Women are usually portrayed as
lighter skinned (beige and up) than men (dark red). Is this an ethnic difference
between the genders? Of course not.

It never seizes to amaze me that there are people who are stunned to find Black
people in Africa.

Egypt is an African civilization, and has been for 5000 years. It has always been very
close politically and culturally with Nubia, to the extent that parts of it have been parts
of Egypt throughout it's history. Many of the 18th Dynasty pharaohs are Black,
without dispute. The rest is semantics about what "Black " means. Mentuhotep I,
Queen Tye, Tutankhamon (her grandson), etc. are all Black to the extent that they
look so in sculpture, which for most is rare indeed.

Check out my site for a collection of the images of the pharaohs, at
http://www.geocities.com/vandeelen/Afrocentric/people.htm

For a modern view of the people of Upper Egypt, see:
http://www.geocities.com/vandeelen/Afrocentric/modern.htm

Cheers to all.