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As world
history is being re-written, old concepts considered canon in academia are
melting away as new, and/or neglected or omitted information begins to
surface. For instance, ancient Greece has been credited with achievements
created in Afrika before Greece existed. The university is a worldwide
entity, but only a handful knows of its genesis. Very few are aware that
ancient Kemet (called Egypt by the Greeks) was the intellectual,
spiritual, scientific and industrial center for the world. Ancient Greece’s
greatest scholars honed their skills and acquired their knowledge in Kemet
(Egypt). A small sample of the students from ancient Greece who were
educated in Kemet were: Thales (so-called father of philosophy),
Hippocrates (so-called father of medicine), Pythagoras (so-called father
of mathematics), including other noted Greeks: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle,
Democritus, and hundreds of other scholars from Greece attended Afrika’s
famous Kemetic (Egyptian) temple-universities in Ipet Isut (called Karnak
by the Arabs) and Waset (called Thebes by the Greeks; Luxor by the Arabs).
Dr. Asa Baffour Hilliard, the renowned educational psychologist
and historian tells us that the, “Ancient
Kemetic (Egyptian) higher education system was old and grey before the
Greek Heroic age existed, before the city states existed, before Greece as
a nation existed, indeed before the famed Greek scholars existed. The
easy way to show this is to look at Greece and Kemet (Egypt) at 2000
B.C.E. There was no textbook in Greece at that time, but the Ahmes (Rhind)
Mathematical Papyrus material existed, with problems in geometry and
trigonometry. Wisdom literature was much older than that, such as the
Teachings of Ptahotep. Architecture and astronomy are manifest in
the even more ancient pyramids, tombs and temples. In fact, full
university curricula in grammar (MDW NTR, known as the hieroglyphs by the
Greeks), mathematics, sciences, arts, literature of many types, and
philosophy as well. The Greek record itself is full of references to the
priority of Kemetic scholarship, and to it as a source for Greek scholar's
study. As Solon was told by the scholars of Kemet, the Greeks were
'children in the 'mysteries,' even in the knowledge of the history of
Greece itself.” Incidentally, Greece first written literature, The
Iliad and The Odyssey, did not appear until around 800 B.C.E.?
The term of education was 40 years and the curriculum was quite
extensive. “The temple-university had a huge library and its faculty,
called ‘teachers of mysteries,’ were divided into five major
departments: astronomy and astrology; geography; geology; philosophy and
theology; law and communication.” Ivan Van Sertima Nile Valley
Civilizations. A student would not major in one discipline, as is
today, but would be trained in all disciplines. No known Greeks completed
the entire term. Pythagoras lasted 22 years, Plato 13 years, Democritus 5
years.
The concept of education was holistic in nature. “The process
of education was not seen primarily as a process of acquiring knowledge.
It was seen as a process of the transformation of the learner who
progressed
through successive stages of rebirth to become more godlike. Disciplined
study under the guidance of a master teacher was the single path to
becoming a new person.” Asa Baffour Hilliard Nile Valley
Civilizations.
The
spiritual nature of the instruction was not only commonplace, the language
in which it was taught reflected the same. The
medu neter (defined as divine or sacred language or speech, known as the
hieroglyphs by the Greeks) also had a spiritual character. The symbol for
one million was a man kneeling, arms stretched forward, palms up, praising
the Creator.
Another point of great debate and contention is who were the
ancient Kamites (Egyptians). Some of the most defining proof was presented
by two of Afrika’s greatest scientists: Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop from
Senegal, and his colleague, Dr. Theophile Obenga of the Congo, at the
January 1974 UNESCO conference of Egyptologists in Cairo entitled “The
Peopling of Ancient Egypt.” The report was published in major volumes by
UNESCO on the history of Afrika. Their striking multi-disciplinary
approach proved that the ancient Kamites (Egyptians) were the black
inhabitants of Kemet (defined ‘the land of Black people’), though
several Egyptologists, then and now, attempt to disprove their work.
The science of education, the university and library are only a
portion of the gifts the Nile Valley in Afrika has given to the world.
Probably the greatest gift of all, besides the birth of humanity, was
organized societies, what we today call, civilization.
Dr. Kwaku Person-Lynn is on the faculty at Loyola Marymount University in
African American Studies and instructor for Afrikan World Civilizations
history classes taught in the Leimert
Park
Community.
E-mail:
DrKwaku@hotmail.com
Website:
www.drkwaku.com
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