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Went on a bit of a black book binge 😅

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More than two decades after it went missing, a ceremonial crown dating back to the 18th century has found its way home to Ethiopia. The country’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, received the glistening artifact at a ceremony Thursday in Addis Ababa, in a triumphant end to a twisty saga that transcends national borders.

Abiy expressed his gratitude to the Dutch officials who facilitated its return — and to the man who found it, Sirak Asfaw, who was there for the handoff.

Sirak, a political refugee who fled to the Netherlands in the 1970s, played a big role in the curious journey of the ornate bronze crown, which Ethiopian authorities say had been missing since 1993.

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The Fasiladas’ bath in Gondar, Ethiopia

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Subterranean room in the House of Amphitrite

Roman Empire, Tunisia

(Roman Mosaics Across the Empire March 30–September 12, 2016, Getty Villa)

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MOORS When the topic of the Moorish influence in Europe is being discussed, one of the first questions that arises is, what race were they? As early as the Middle Ages, “Moors were commonly viewed as being mostly black or very swarthy, and hence the word is often used for negro,” according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Author and historian Chancellor Williams said “the original Moors, like the original Egyptians, were black Africans.” The 16th century English playwright William Shakespeare used the word Moor as a synonym for African. His contemporary Christopher Marlowe also used African and Moor interchangeably. Arab writers further buttress the black identity of the Moors. The powerful Moorish Emperor Yusuf ben-Tachfin is described by an Arab chronicler as “a brown man with wooly hair.” Black soldiers, specifically identified as Moors, were actively recruited by Rome, and served in Britain, France, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. St. Maurice, patron saint of medieval Europe, was only one of many black soldiers and officers under the employ of the Roman Empire. Although generations of Spanish rulers have tried to expunge this era from the historical record, recent archeology and scholarship now shed fresh light on the Moors who flourished in Al-Andalus for more than 700 years – from 711 AD until 1492. The Moorish advances in mathematics, astronomy, art, and agriculture helped propel Europe out of the Dark Ages and into the Renaissance. Source: Stewartsynopsis.com/moors_in_europe.htm Moorish Chess - A depiction of Moorish noblemen playing the board game Book of Games, 1283 ADUniversal Education The Moors brought enormous learning to Spain that over centuries would percolate through the rest of Europe. The intellectual achievements of the Moors in Spain had a lasting effect; education was universal in Moorish Spain, while in Christian Europe, 99 percent of the population was illiterate, and even kings could neither read nor write. At a time when Europe had only two universities, the Moors had seventeen, located in Almeria, Cordova, Granada, Juen, Malaga, Seville, and Toledo. In the 10th and 11th centuries, public libraries in Europe were non-existent, while Moorish Spain could boast of more than 70, including one in Cordova that housed hundreds of thousands of manuscripts. Universities in Paris and Oxford were established after visits by scholars to Moorish Spain. It was this system of education, taken to Europe by the Moors, that seeded the European Renaissance and brought the continent out of the 1,000 years of intellectual and physical gloom of the Middle Ages.

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19th century oil paintings of North African medieval Muslims (Moors) who conquered Spain, France, and Sicily.

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White privilege

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Map of Ancient Egypt and Nubia.

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On matriarchy in African societies from: the african origin of civilization: myth or reality.

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“Scene: I’m reading some fat fantasy book set in Yet Another Faux Medieval Europe. Nothing in this story jibes with my understanding of actual medieval Europe. There’s no fantasy version of the Silk Road bringing spices and agricultural techniques and ideas from China and India and Persia. There’s been no Moorish conquest. There aren’t even Jewish merchants or bankers, stereotypical as that would be. Everyone in this “Europe” looks the same but for minor variations of hair or eye color. They speak the same language, worship the same gods — and everyone, even the very poor people, seems inordinately concerned with the affairs of the nobility, as if there’s nothing else going on that matters. There are dragons and magic in the story, but it’s the human fantasy that I’m having trouble swallowing. It doesn’t matter which book I’m reading. I could name you a dozen others just like it. This isn’t magical medieval Europe; it’s some white supremacist, neo-feudalist fantasy of same, and I’m so fucking sick of it that I put the book down and open my laptop and start writing. Later people read what I’ve written and remark on how angry the story is. Gosh, I wonder why.”

—

N. K. Jemisin, “How Long ’til Black Future Month?”  (September 30th, 2013)

This essay definitely stands the test of three years, and I highly recommend reading the whole thing. It’s spectacular.

(via medievalpoc)

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Portrait of a Black Woman, Marie-Guillemine Benoist, 1800, Louvre, Paris. The painting expresses a period in time. The woman in the picture is calm and self-confident. Even though the naked breast of the model shows a different type of captivity, the portrait is done to celebrate the end of slavery in colonies.

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Wedding Ensemble for a Bride (Umtshakazi), Thembu, 1950, Art Institute of Chicago: Arts of Africa

For the Thembu and other Xhosa-speaking peoples, the beauty, translucence, and weight of layers of beaded ornaments have spiritual dimensions. Shiny, reflective materials are associated with enlightenment, purity, and access to the ancestral realm. Thembu beadworking flourished among young women in the 1940s and 1950s, but declined in the 1960s. Each of the items in this wedding ensemble was lovingly made. Many are notable for their creative reuse of materials: for example, the bracelet from which a handkerchief is suspended; the armlets made of twisted brass wire; and the beaded teaspoon necklaces, which were intended to make the marriage sweet. Restricted gift of the Woman’s Board of the Art Institute of Chicago; partial gift of Axis Gallery (Gary Van Wyk and Lisa Brittan) Size: H. 114 cm (44 7/8 in.) Medium: Cotton cloth, glass beads, mother of pearl beads, thread, and leather

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/151361/

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City of Prague Museum: Ferdinand Maximilian Brokoff & WS

Apotheosis of St Ignatius of Loyola, 1710-11

submission from Frances d'Ath via Twitter

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Anonymous Venetian Artist

Bust of a Black Youth in Livery

Italy (c. 1740s)

Carved Polychrome Marble, 65.4 cm.

The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

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South German Master

Saint Maurice and The Theban Legion

Germany (c. 1515-20)

Oil on Wood, 68.4 x 70.1 cm.

Collection of Marei von Saher (heir of Jaques Goudstikker), New York.

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Gold Weight: Drum with Jaws of Defeated Enemies, 1800s, Cleveland Museum of Art: African Art

The wealth and power of the Asante kingdom was derived primarily from its massive gold resources. Since at least 1600, small weights in brass and bronze were used to weight gold dust and nuggets. The royal court had the most elaborate store of weights, while commoners often had about a dozen. Their imagery falls into two broad cateogries: geometric and representational. The latter often refers to proverbs, which used judiciously, marked a wise person. Size: Overall: 3.6 x 5.3 cm (1 7/16 x 2 1/16 in.) Medium: brass, bronze

https://clevelandart.org/art/1969.266