Rediscover Ancient Egypt with Tehuti Research Foundation

The Ancient (and Baladi) Egyptians were/are very friendly and hospitable. Practically all notable Greeks went to Egypt for education, as noted by Diodorus of Sicily, Book I, [96, 1-2]:

But now that we have examined these matters, we must enumerate what Greeks, who have won fame for their wisdom and learning, visited Egypt in ancient times, in order to become acquainted with its customs and learning. . . .
. . .Homer and Lycurgus of Sparta, and Plato, and that there also came Pythagoras of Samos and the mathematician Eudoxus [The famous astronomer, geographer, and mathematician of Cnidus, pupil of Plato.]. . .

Homer, more than 3,000 years ago, made references to Egypt that indicated his high esteem. In the Odyssey, for example, he refers to the good reputation Egypt enjoyed in the ancient world in Asia, Africa, and Europe. In other passages, Homer relates the events of the Greek King Manelaus’ journey to Egypt, his arrival at Pharos Island (present-day Alexandria), and his 20-day sojourn in Egypt.

Herodotus visited Egypt during the 5th century BCE. He devoted the second volume of his Histories to accounts about Egypt. Herodotus spoke highly of Egypt, and stressed Greece’s indebtedness to it. Herodotus stated that the Egyptians culturally and scientifically surpassed all other societies of the world. Herodotus began his account of Egypt in his Histories, by stating,

Now, let me talk more of Egypt for it has a lot of admirable things and what one sees there is superior to any other country.

Crete was also indebted to the Egyptian civilization. The name Keftiu (present-day Crete) is found in Egyptian texts at least since the 12th century BCE. A passage in the Odyssey tells of King Odysseus’ journey to Egypt from Crete. He tells how the northerly wind helped his nine boats sail easily for five days until they reached the Nile. According to Homer, the Egyptians were extremely hospitable to the king and his entourage, and he greatly enjoyed his seven year sojourn there.

Some foreigners were allowed to settle in Egypt as mercenaries and security guards. Egyptians are renowned worldwide as un-warlike—who can’t (and won’t) fight. The European presence in Egypt began when the Assyrians marched into Egypt and conquered the country as far as Ta-Apet (Thebes), during the 7th century BCE. In 654 BCE, the Egyptian Psammatichus, from Sais, hired Greek (Ionian and Carian) mercenaries to drive the Assyrians out of Egypt. The Egyptians allocated tracts of land as a base/garrison for the foreign troops, to use while they were fighting the enemy. Herodotus wrote about these facts in The Histories, Book Two [154]:

The docks and ruined houses of their first home, where they lived before Amasis moved them to Memphis, were still to be seen in my day.

The temporary need for foreign mercenaries varied with the aggression of the foreigners. Therefore, when the Persians invaded Egypt, the Ancient Egyptians sought and hired mercenaries from the Greek islands to expel the Persians. Alexander the Great entered Egypt in 332 BCE, with the invitation and blessings of the Egyptians, to help them defeat and end the Persians’ second period of occupation [343–332 BC] of Egypt. Western academicians declared Alexander as a “conquerer of Egypt”, even though he never claimed that or thought of himself as a ruler of Egypt.

To provide for security in Egypt, the Ancient Egyptians allowed several foreign garrisons to work to protect Egyptians. Therefore, the mercenary troops (Greeks, Macedonians, and Syrians) were giving tracts of land among the Egyptian population in towns near the capitals of the provinces. Without the western biases, one can view the “Ptolemaic” era as nothing more than the collective centers of military/security bases, consisting of foreign mercenaries that served the Ancient Egyptians and never ruled them. It was the Romans who used these foreign bases to govern the Egyptian population and to collect taxes. That led the Romans to reinforce foreign settlements, by bringing in more foreigners, mostly Jews and Syrians.

Western academia has turned these foreigners who are (uneducated) mercenaries and their settlements/garrisons into “Hellenic”, enlightened centers in Egypt. Security guards, no matter what their skin color, are not intellectual geniuses.

Western academia is proud of their heritage of conquering and colonizing countries throughout the world. All conquerors picture themselves as the bringers of light and a new civilization to the people they conquer. It is therefore that western academia identifies with all other invaders as being superior to their conquered peoples. The invaders (Ptolemies, Romans, Arabs, or Europeans) actually came to profit and to dominate, not to “civilize”. They are actually the uncivilized who, in course, adopted some of the civilized aspects of the Egyptians. To add insult to injury, the invaders accredited themselves with the knowledge they stole from the Egyptians. As a result, numerous civilized aspects in Egypt were arbitrarily and generously accredited to the invaders. When invaders (Byzantines, Arabs, etc) adopt/accept the cultural aspects of their conquered people (such as the Egyptians), the credit cannot be reversed to the invaders—especially that in their homeland, these foreign invaders never had such “talents”.

Invaders, by their nature, are nomadic people. Ibn Khaldun—himself a proud nomad—testifies in his writings to the nature of the nomad and how it is contrary to the nature of civilization. Ibn Khaldun [1332–1406], in of his monumental Universal History [ch. 5, sect. 15], admits that civilized features/skills/crafts don’t come out of thin air.

The mind does not cease transforming all kinds of (arts and crafts), including the composite ones, from potentiality into actuality through the gradual discovery of one thing after the other, until they are perfect. This is achieved in the course of time and of generations. Things are not transformed from potentiality into actuality in one stroke, especially technical matters. Consequently, a certain amount of time is unavoidable. . . .