The other day while watching a History Channel documentary on ancient Rome the narrator recounted how the emperors Caligula and Nero were “Italians” as opposed to the more enlightened ones such as Trajan and Hadrian who came from Spain.  True enough, but both Trajan and Hadrian were all or part Italian, born of Italian colonists in Spain.  In fact, the name Hadrian indicates ancestry from western Italy on the Adriatic Sea.  Just as England founded English colonies in North America and Australia, the Romans had plenty of Italians (by census, 5 million during the reign of Augustus) to plant colonies in the Near East, North Africa, and Europe.   Both Trajan and Hadrian were born in a colonial city named Italica (duh!).  Interestingly, the Spanish city of Zaragoza is a corruption of “CaesarAugusta,” the Italic emperor who founded the place in 25 B.C.

Just think of our Founding Fathers to grasp this reality.  Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Franklin were Americans but with English DNA.  Roman emperors came from various parts of the Empire, but just as Anglo-Saxon ancestry give American leaders an edge, having some Italian blood and speaking Latin was a way to the top.

But the media wants things their way.  The new epic Gladiator II stars Denzel Washington as a Numidian entrepreneur named Macrinus whose sights are on the Imperial throne.  Numidia was a Roman province in North Africa, not sub-Saharan Africa, meaning a Black actor was an odd choice for the role.    Denzel’s Macrinus is based on an actual Numidian who was verifiably White (pictured).

The thing about cultural appropriation is that it’s a two-way street.  It’s not just a White guy in blackface or talking jive.  Black Studies has insinuated itself into ancient history.  The Egyptian government has publicly objected to repeated claims that Cleopatra was Black when she was definitely of Greek or Egyptian-Greek origin (see coin).  Another ancient Egyptian, Queen Nefertiti was recast as Black by the Lenox China Company.  The photos here show the Lenox version and the queen’s actual Egyptian bust. The revisionism couldn’t be more obvious.

Some Black academics go so far as to claim that Egyptian civilization was Black, Nubian specifically.  Nubia bordered the south of Egypt, not to be confused with Numidia.  It appears that Black Nubians did control parts of Egypt for about 75 years, but they were only a speck in Egyptian history.

Tying sub-Saharan Blacks to Egypt has given revisionist academics a toehold into classical Western history.  In 1987, Jewish scholar Martin Bernal of Britain jumpstarted this movement with his book Black Athena, claiming that Classical Greece was born of African and Middle Eastern genius.  Of course, Greeks traveled throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East picking up all sorts of knowledge, but you don’t need a Ph.D to realize that Greco-Roman civilization was lightyears away from other cultures.  The Romans built aqueducts for the living; the Egyptians built pyramids for the dead.

Bernal went so far as to present as evidence of Greece’s debt to Africa a bust of Socrates (right).  Suggesting the philosopher had Negro features.  The bust pictured is from the Vatican collection and shows Socrates with a wide nose but clearly flowing hair.  His Greek contemporaries observed he was “no beauty” with a snub nose and bulging eyes, but did not mention his coloring or question his ancestry. Yet, on such sand does the Afro-centric claim stand.

To further confuse the matter, Afro-centrics use the ancient name for Egypt, “Kemet,” which means Black Land.  But the name referred to the dark, fertile muck that the Nile deposits each flood, not the natives of the place.

As Socrates said, “Know thyself” …and thy history. -JLM