#North African Dynasty

[baebeylik]

Fragment of a Woodblock Print on Linen. The Cleveland Museum of Art.

From the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt. 1200s/1300s.

[kemetic-dreams]

Kandake, kadake or kentake (Meroitic: 𐦲𐦷𐦲𐦡 kdke), often Latinised as Candace (Ancient Greek: Κανδάκη, Kandakē), was the Meroitic term for the sister of the king of Kush who, due to the matrilineal succession, would bear the next heir, making her a queen mother.

Pliny writes that the "Queen of the Ethiopians" bore the title Candace, and indicates that the Ethiopians had conquered ancient Syria and the Mediterranean.

In 25 BC the Kush kandake Amanirenas, as reported by Strabo, attacked the city of Syene, today's Aswan, in territory of the Roman Empire; Emperor Augustus destroyed the city of Napata in retaliation.

Cassius Dio wrote that Kandake's army advanced as far as the Elephantine in Egypt, but Petronius defeated them and took Napata, their capital, and other cities.

Four African queens were known to the Greco-Roman world as the "Candaces": Amanishakheto, Amanirenas, Nawidemak, and Malegereabar

Biblical usage

The Baptism of Queen Candace's Eunuch (c. 1625–30, attributed to Hendrick van Balen and Jan Brueghel the Younger)

In the New Testament, a treasury official of "Candace, queen of the Ethiopians", returning from a trip to Jerusalem, met with Philip the Evangelist:

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship

He discussed with Philip the meaning of a perplexing passage from the Book of Isaiah. Philip explained the scripture to him and he was promptly baptised in some nearby water. The eunuch 'went on his way, rejoicing', and presumably therefore reported back on his conversion to the Kandake

Evidence outside of Nubia that shows additional links to Kushite's queenship concept are found in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has a long dynastic history claimed to be over three millennia from before 1000 BC to 1973, the year of the overthrow of the last Menelik emperor, Haile Selassie. The Ethiopian monarchy's official chronicle of dynastic succession descends from Menelik I includes six regnant queens referred to as Kandake. The following queens from the king list have "Kandake" added to their name:

Nicauta Kandake (r. 740–730 BCE)

Nikawla Kandake II (r. 342–332 BCE)

Akawsis Kandake III (r. 325–315 BCE)

Nikosis Kandake IV (r. 242–232 BCE)

Nicotnis Kandake V (r. 35–25 BCE)

Garsemot Kandake VI (r. 40–50 CE) – Allegedly the queen who ruled at the time of the Biblical story of the Ethiopian eunuch.

Twenty-one queens are recorded as sole regent in the kingdom of Ethiopia until the 9th century CE. The conquest of Meroe by the Axumite King Ezana may well provide the historical fiction for the Ethiopian dynastic claim to the Nubian Kandakes and their kings, as it was from this point onwards that the Axumites began calling themselves "Ethiopians", a Greco-Roman term previously used largely for the ancient Nubians. For example, Makeda, Queen of Sheba, in the Kebra Nagast, is also recognized as Candace or "Queen Mother".

Alexandrian legend

Jewellery of Kandake Amanishakheto, from her tomb

A legend in the Alexander romance claims that "Candace of Meroë" fought Alexander the Great. In fact, Alexander never attacked Nubia and never attempted to move further south than the oasis of Siwa in Egypt. The story is that when Alexander attempted to conquer her lands in 332 BC, she arranged her armies strategically to meet him and was present on a war elephant when he approached. Having assessed the strength of her armies, Alexander decided to withdraw from Nubia, heading to Egypt instead. Another story claims that Alexander and Candace had a romantic encounter.

These accounts originate from Alexander Romance by an unknown writer called Pseudo-Callisthenes, and the work is largely a fictionalized and grandiose account of Alexander's life. It is commonly quoted, but there seems to be no historical reference to this event from Alexander's time. The whole story of Alexander and Candace's encounter appears to be legendary.

John Malalas has mixed the Pseudo-Callisthenes material with other and wrote about the affair of Alexander with Kandake, adding that they got married. Malalas also wrote that Kandake was an Indian queen and Alexander met her during his Indian campaign

List of ruling kandakes

Pyramid of Amanitore in modern day Sudan

See also: List of monarchs of Kush

At least eleven kandakes also ruled in their own right as monarchs (i.e. queen regnants) of Kush:

Nahirqo (middle 2nd century BC)

An unknown queen regnant (end of the 2nd–first half of the 1st century BC)

Amanirenas (end of the 1st century BC–beginning of the 1st century AD)

Amanishakheto (early 1st century AD)

Shanakdakhete (first half of the 1st century AD)

Nawidemak (first half of the 1st century AD?)

Amanitore (middle 1st century AD)

Amanikhatashan (middle 2nd century AD?)

Amanikhalika (second half of the 2nd century AD)

Patrapeamani [de] (early 4th century)

Amanipilade (mid-4th century)

Based on the reading of a single inscription, some lists give two later kandakes named Maloqorebar (266–283 AD) and Lahideamani (306-314 AD). A recently discovered inscription corrects this earlier reading, however, showing that neither was a woman.

Archaeological sources

The Kandakes of Meroe were first described through the Greek geographer's Strabo account of the "one-eyed Candace" in 23 BCE in his encyclopedia Geographica. There are at least ten regnant Meroitic queens during the 500 years between 260 BCE and 320 CE, and at least six during the 140 periods between 60 BC and 80 AD. The iconographic portrayal of the Meroitic queens depicts them as women often alone and at the forefront of their stelae and sculptures and shown in regal women's clothing. Early depictions of Kushite queens typically do not have Egyptian elements making their appearance drastically different from their Kushite men and Egyptian counterparts. As seen in the Dream Stela of Tanawetamani, a large shawl was wrapped around the body with an additionally decorated cloak worn over the first; typically, a small tab-like element hanging below the hem touches the ground and has been interpreted as a little tail. The first association with this element of dress is with Tarharqo's mother during his coronation ceremony.  

It was not until George Reisner excavated the royal cemeteries at El Kurru and Nuri that archaeological material became available to study the Kushite queenship. Additionally, a few royal tombs of Kushite women have been found at Meroe's cemetery and in Egypt at Abydos (Leahy 1994). At El Kurru, six pyramids belong to royal women of the 25th Dynasty and a pyramid for queen Qalhata of the Napatan period. At Nuri, the tombs of royal women are located on the west plateau with more inscriptional information available at the site, linking the roles that the kings' mothers played in succession and their importance during the Kushite dynasty.

The most important event that Kushite women participated in was kingship's ensured continuity, where royal women were mentioned and represented in the royal ceremony. The lunettes of the stelae of Tanawetamani, Harsiyotef, and Nastasen all provide iconographic and textual evidence of these kings' enthronement. In all of these stelae, the king is accompanied by a female member of his family, mother, and wife. The king's mother played an essential role in the legitimacy of her son as the king; textual evidence from Taharqo's coronation stelae represents inscriptional evidence suggesting that the king's mother traveled to her son's coronation. During the Kushite 25th Dynasty, the office that is known as God's Wife of Amun was established. The royal women in this role acted as the primary contact with the Kushite god Amun. They played a decisive role in the king's accession to the throne.

Bas-reliefs dated to about 170 B.C. reveal the kentake Shanakdakheto, dressed in armor and wielding a spear in battle. She did not rule as queen regent or queen mother, but as a fully independent ruler. Her husband was her consort. In bas-reliefs found in the ruins of building projects she commissioned, Shanakdakheto is portrayed both alone as well as with her husband and son, who would inherit the throne by her death.

[panafrocore]

Hesy-Ra: The Earliest Named African Dentist in Ancient Egypt

Hesy-Ra (also read Hesy-Re and Hesire holds the distinction of being the earliest named dentist in ancient Egypt, a remarkable figure whose legacy has endured for over 4,600 years. Living during the Third Dynasty of Egypt, Hesy-Ra served as a high-ranking official, filling the prestigious roles of scribe, dentist, and physician to the pharaoh Djoser. His multifaceted expertise and esteemed…

[knightofburgers]

Re: Mikus of the World

When I see Mikus from North-North America & Western Europe: "I really like this artstyle and the references the artist has managed to sneak in. Oh, and it's really nice how different artists from the same area have different conceptions of their own culture."

When I see Mikus from the global south, indigenous cultures, and other less-frequently-seen cultures of the rest of the World: "FRHGFDSEARWTG HNBVCBNTYUIREDSCPWE THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER! I PLEDGE MY SWORD TO YOU, DEAR ARTIST! Oh look at the details in the clothing! Oh look at the beauty! I wanna see her life! I wanna be her! I wanna live in that place! THis is what the internet was made for!"

In no particular order:

palestinian miku

malaysian miku

polish miku

moroccan miku

west bengal miku

tang dynasty miku

gujarati and danish mikus

nigerian miku

belarusian miku

desi miku

afghan miku

palestinian miku

guatemalan miku

irish miku

latvian miku

bengali miku

afghan miku

italian miku

kosovo miku

black american mikus

métis miku

indian miku

nigerian miku

pakistani miku

brazilian miku

turkish miku

persian miku

cherokee miku

palestinian miku

paraguayan miku

south african miku

māori miku

brazilian miku

polish miku

taiwanese miku

south sudanese miku

welsh miku

bulgarian miku

...and many more!

Yet still not enough. Keep the Mikus coming, please.

[council-of-beetroot]

MIKU INDEX

List I | List II | List III | Polish List

800+ mikus and counting ↑ in those four links above

French Bretonne Miku

French Auvergne Miku

French Alsace Miku

Spain Galicia Miku

Italian Miku

Belgian Miku

Finnish Miku

Finnish Miku

Swedish Miku

Norwegian Miku

Austrian Miku

Serbian Miku

Serbian Miku

Albanian Miku

Bułgarian Miku

Bułgarian Miku

Romanian Miku

Romanian Miku

Belarusian Miku

Belarusian Miku

Ukrainian Beer Miku

Ukrainian Miku

Grand Duchy of Lithuania Miku

Lithuanian Miku

Lithuanian Miku

Lithuanian Miku

Polish Miku

Polish Miku

Polish Łowicz Miku

Polish Biedronka Miku

Slovak Miku

Slovak Miku

San Marino Guard Miku

Pennsylvania Dutch Miku

Acadian Miku

Colombian Cundinamarca Miku

Chilean Miku

Venezuelan Miku

Surinamese Miku

Guyanese Miku

Guatemalan Miku

Puerto Rican Miku

Grenadian Miku

Trinidadian Miku

Antigua and Barbuda Miku

Dominica Miku

Barbados Miku

Muscogee Miku

Alaskan Yupik Miku

Aleut Miku

Nigerian Miku

Cameroonian Miku the real trendsetter

Cameroonian Miku

Liberian Miku

Liberian Miku

Egyptian Miku

Tunisian Miku

Mauritanian Miku

Congo (Brazzaville) Miku

Sierra Leonean Miku

Reunión Miku

Kikuyu Kenyan Miku

Kenyan Kamba Miku

Rwanda Miku

Ugandan Miku

Seychellois Miku

Bangladeshi Miku

Nepali Miku

Thai Miku

Khmer Miku

Vietnamese Miku

Samoan Miku

Samoan Miku

Tongan Miku

Australian Miku

Filipina Miku

Filipina Miku

Filipina Palay Maiden Miku

Taiwanese Miku

Ming Dynasty Chinese Miku

Qing Dynasty Chinese Miku

Chinese Miku with other Mikus from around the world

Korean Miku

Kazakh Miku

Don Kazakh Miku

Ingush Miku

Mari Miku

Armenian Miku

Armenian Miku

Syrian Miku

Syrian Miku

Israeli Miku

Jewish Miku

Jordanian Miku

Turkish Miku

Azeri Miku

I have yet to see any for

In Africa

Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea Eswatini, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Sao Tome, Tanzania,

In North America

Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St. Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines,

In Asia

Maldives, East Timor,

In Oceania

Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu,

If I am missing your miku let me know or if you have found a country I have listed that I couldn't find

[philsmeatylegss]

My favorite Mikus from someone who can’t art but wants to contribute to the trend!!

Please let me know if anything I post is AI. I already reblogged one that I was told was AI.

Please reblog all of these!!!

Cherokee Miku

Māori Miku

Gullah Geechee Miku

Etruscan Miku

Berber Moroccan Miku

Honduran Miku

Chinese Miku

Turkish Miku

Aboriginal Australian Miku

Albanian Miku

Croatian Miku

Palestinian Miku

Mexican Miku

Mapuche Miku

Bangladesh Miku

Yemeni Miku

Cyprus Miku

Malagasy Miku

Türkmen Miku

Irish Miku

Indian Miku with a Sitar

Uruguayan Miku

Zimbabwe/Brutish Miku

Long Island Miku

Washington Miku

Jamaican Miku

Pakistani Miku

Pittsburgh Miku

Cuban Mitski

Portuguese Miku

Honduran/Salvadoran Miku

Filipina Miku

Egyptian Miku

Polish Miku

Polish Miku 2

Czech Miku

Pakistani Miku

Louisiana Miku

Nicaraguan Miku

Finnish Miku

Kurdish Miku

Russian Miku

Andhra Pradesh Miku

Butch Miku

Indian Miku

Eastern Iowa Miku

Jewish Moroccan Miku

Turkish Miku 2

St. Louis Miku

Scottish Miku

Moldovan Miku

Swedish Miku

South African Miku

Tang Dynasty Miku

Puerto Rican Miku

Scottish Miku

Celtic Miku

Hungarian Miku

Burmese Miku

Dutch Miku

Brazilian Miku

Algerian Miku

Welsh/Celtic Warrior Miku

German Miku

North Caucasian Miku

Bulgarian Miku

New Jersey Miku

Bengali Miku

Portuguese Miku 2

Peruvian Miku

Alabama Miku

Colorado Miku

Venezuelan Miku

Vietnamese Miku

Liguria Miku

Scotland Miku

Panamanian Miku

Florida Miku

Polish Miku 2

Valencian Miku

Russian/Ukrainian Miku

Tartar Miku

Slovak Miku

Namibian Miku

Ukrainian Miku

Brazilian Miku 3

North Italian Miku

North Italian Miku 2

Hong Kong Miku

Nigerian Miku

Colombian Miku

Bolivian Miku

Taiwanese Miku

Assyrian Miku

Malaysian Miku

Guatemalan Miku

Chamoru Miku

Greek Miku

Australian Miku

18th century German noble Miku

[atlaculture]

Hi, I love your work and was wondering if you've done a post breaking down Earth Kingdom clothing inspiration and what the pieces are called. I'm writing a fanfiction and having a hard time finding info. Thanks!

The thing about the Earth Kingdom is that it's the most populated and diverse of the four nations in-universe. Meaning that each area of the Earth Kingdom has its own unique flavor. Some places are based off of specific Chinese dynasties, others around the various ethnic minorities of China, and some are other Asian cultures entirely.

Ba Sing Se's aesthetic is based off of the later years of China's Qing Dynasty (1636-1912):

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: Ba Sing Se Queues (tumblr.com)

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: Zuko's Teashop Outfit (tumblr.com)

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: Ba Sing Se Headdresses (tumblr.com)

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: The Dai Li (tumblr.com)

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: Royal Earthbender Guards (tumblr.com)

Toph's family and background are meant to appear refined and wealthy so their look is based off of the later years of China's opulent Tang Dynasty (618-907):

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: Toph’s Fancy Dress (tumblr.com)

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: Toph’s Sleepwear (tumblr.com)

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: Toph’s Hairstyle (tumblr.com)

Bumi likes to wear Chinese opera clothing and his character is broadly inspired by Lu Bu of the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280):

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: Bumi (tumblr.com)

Kyoshi Island is Heian & Edo period Japan mixed with Ainu culture:

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: Kyoshi Headbands (tumblr.com)

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: Kyoshi Makeup (tumblr.com)

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: Kyoshi’s Hair & Clothes (tumblr.com)

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: Kyoshi Warriors Uniform (tumblr.com)

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: Kyoshi Islanders Fashion Pt. 1 -... (tumblr.com)

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: Kyoshi Islanders Fashion Pt. 2 -... (tumblr.com)

When Zuko and Iroh are on the run in the EK, they encounter a Vietnamese town and a Korean village:

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Anatomy: “The Swamp” Episode (tumblr.com)

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Architecture: Song’s Village (tumblr.com)

The tribes of the Si Wong Desert are North African crossed with Mongolian:

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: Sandbenders (tumblr.com)

Chong and Lily (Secret Tunnel Hippies) wear Tibetan and Hmong clothing, respectively:

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: Chong (tumblr.com)

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: Lily (tumblr.com)

The refugee family with the pregnant wife is inspired by Yi people:

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: Serpent’s Pass Refugees Pt. 1 (tumblr.com)

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: Serpent’s Pass Refugees Pt. 2 (tumblr.com)

And, with the exception of culturally isolated areas like Ba Sing Se/Si Wong Desert/Omashu/Kyoshi/Foggy Swamp, most men in the EK wear their hair in Taoist topknots:

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: Earth Kingdom Top Knots (tumblr.com)

So the sort of clothing your characters will be wearing in the EK depends on where in the country they are or are from. If you plan on inventing a new setting that takes place in the Earth Kingdom, try to choose a culture and period that reflects the mood or theme you're trying to get across.

[whencyclopedia]

Kingdom of Kanem

The Kingdom of Kanem (aka Kanim) was an ancient African state located in modern-day Chad, which flourished from the 9th to 14th century CE. With its heartland in the centre of the African continent on the eastern shores of Lake Chad, the kingdom was formed by a confederation of nomadic peoples and then ruled by the Saifawa dynasty. The city prospered thanks to its position as the hub of trade connections with central African peoples, the Nile Valley, and North African states on the other side of the Sahara Desert. The kingdom adopted the Islamic religion after long contact with Muslim clerics and traders from the 11th century CE onwards. In the 1390s CE Kanem's king was forced to flee the invading Bulala people and so set up a new state on the other side of Lake Chad, which would become the Bornu Empire, sometimes known as the Kanem-Bornu Empire, which lasted until the late 19th century CE.

Origins & Formation

The Kingdom of Kanem, located just to the east of Lake Chad in Central Africa, may derive its name from the Teda and Kanuri term for 'south' (anem) which refers to its position in relation to the better-known states to the north. Perhaps, too, the name reflects the oral tradition that the people of Kanem had once migrated from the Sahara Desert following that region's increased desiccation. The process which saw the formation of the kingdom of Kanem is here summarised by the historian P. Curtin:

Kanem passed through a process of state-building different from that of the western Sudan. The nucleus was a nomadic confederation of peoples speaking separate languages of the Teda-Daza group, probably formed in the 9th century. Nomadic confederations of this kind are common enough in history; the unusual thing is that this one held together. Sometime before the early twelfth century it had become sedentary itself, with Njimi as its permanent capital. (75)

The first mention of Kanem in texts dates to 872 CE and the work of the Arab historian and geographer al-Yaqubi (in his Kitab al-Buldan). Even if the state may have been formed a century earlier, it confirms the above political process as we are informed that the population is still at that time mostly composed of nomads who live in huts of reeds and who have not yet formed permanent settlements. We are also told that the kings of Kanem (here and in other Arab sources called Zaghawa) also ruled over other kings, likely the tribes they had conquered in the region north and east of Lake Chad. The Arab historian al-Muhallabi, writing in the 10th century CE, notes that the kingdom now has two towns and its wealth is evidenced by large herds of cattle, sheep, camels, and horses.

Continue reading...

[sane-human]

Ever heard of the east african bronze age, land of Punt

I did not! But now I do and I find it very very cool!!

(Punt 2500–980 BCE)

"Land of Punt was an ancient kingdom known from Ancient Egyptian trade records. It produced and exported gold, aromatic resins, blackwood, ebony, ivory and wild animals." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Cool Article about Punt)

Punt was likely located in present-day Puntland State of Somalia or, at least, North West Somalia!

"...he country is best known from inscriptions regarding Queen Hatshepsut's famous expedition in 1493 BCE in the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. This exchange between the two countries brought back living trees to Egypt, marking the first known successful attempt at transplanting foreign fauna. "

(The possible route taken : Wadi Tumilat)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Punt came to hold a deep fascination for the Egyptian people as a "land of plenty" and was known as Te Netjer, the land of the gods, from which important goods came to Egypt."

In the 12th Dynasty (1991-1802 BCE), Punt was immortalized in Egyptian literature in the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor!

videos: (Audio Book online I found , more story like) (More faithful video to the original story, also read in egyptian, very cool)

"Punt is purposefully chosen in this story as the mystical land on which the sailor washes up because it was already understood as a faraway realm of exotic goods and generous people."

(A friendly game of Senet)

[moneeb0930]

‘Pimp’ and ‘Lyss’: The Immortal Young Brothers by Claude Johnson (Black Fives Foundation)

They were brothers on and off the court. William Pennington Young, sometimes known as “Pimp” to his friends, and his older brother Ulysses S. Young, known simply as “Lyss” to his pals, were an unstoppable sibling pair of African American basketball stars that played during the 1910s and early 1920s.

They also made significant pioneering contributions off the court, long after their playing days ended.

Ulysses was born in Virginia in 1894. A year later, after his hard working parents migrated tot he North in pursuit of a better life, younger brother William was born in Orange, New Jersey.

A few years later, in 1900, their parents rented a room of their home to a young couple from Virginia, the Ricks family, who had a newborn son named James. Over the years the Young brothers embraced little James as if he were their own kin, and as the older boys got involved in sports, so did their protégé.

Something in that combined household created serious athletic skills.

Lyss and William attended nearby Orange High School, where they starred in football, basketball, and baseball. In 1910, while still in high school, the pair began playing semi-pro basketball for the Imperial Athletic Club, a local squad that competed against such teams as the Newark Strollers, the Montclair Athletic Club, and the Jersey City Colored YMCA. The two immediately received attention in the black sports press, including the popular and nationally circulated New York Age.

Their attraction to basketball got young James hooked on the sport too, and he soon developed his own talent. One huge advantage was having the opportunity to learn from- and train with the Young brothers.

The little basketball apprentice, James Ricks, would grow up to become James “Pappy” Ricks, who would become a founding member of the New York Renaissance Big Five professional basketball team and eventually reach the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

After high school, the Young brothers attended Lincoln University in West Chester, Pennsylvania, which was not only America’s oldest historically black university but also was the closest to home for them. In college they both were once again three-sport stars. Though the brothers excelled in each sport, their first claim to fame was through football.

Playing quarterback, William was named as a Negro All-American during his senior year. Ulysses, playing end, was named to the Milton Roberts All Time Black College Football Squad for the 1910s Decade.

After graduating from Lincoln (“Pimp” was class valedictorian in 1917), the Youngs were recruited to play professional basketball in Pittsburgh by prominent African American sports promoter Cumberland Posey. Posey, historian Rob Ruck wrote in Sandlot Seasons, his landmark book that explores the city’s unique athletic heritage, “was,as much as any one man could be, the architect of sport in black Pittsburgh.”

The pioneering promoter had been cultivating Pittsburgh’s black basketball talent through his operation of several different squads in the city, most prominently the Monticello Athletic Association, since the early 1910s. But with America’s imminent entry into World War I and the resulting lack of resources, Posey decided to consolidate his best talent into one powerfully built team.

The result was the Loendi Big Five, a legendary combo that was sponsored and got its name from the Loendi Social & Literary Club, an exclusive African American social club in the the city’s predominantly black Hill District.

1921.

Adding the collegiate superstars from Lincoln not only helped Posey promote his new team but also sparked the Loendi Big Five’s domination of black basketball, with a dynasty that included four straight Colored Basketball World Championships from 1919 through 1923.

[beardedmrbean]

Denzel Washington being cast in Antoine Fuqua’s upcoming Netflix movie as ancient Carthaginian general Hannibal is sparking some controversy in Tunisia, the home country of the great military commander.

According to French newspaper Courrier International, there are complaints about depicting the Carthaginian general as a Black African being made in the media and the Tunisian parliament. Member of Parliament Yassine Mami has pointed out that Hannibal, who was born in 247 BC in Carthage — now known as Tunis, the Tunisian capital — was of West Asian Semitic origin. “There is a risk of falsifying history: we need to take position on this subject,” the Tunisian politician reportedly stated.

Concurrently, French-language Tunisian newspaper La Presse has published an editorial in which it similarly objects that depicting Hannibal as a Black African is “according to Tunisians and many observers, a historical error.”

However, Tunisian culture minister Hayet Ketat-Guermazi had a different, more pragmatic take on the matter.

“It’s fiction. It is their [Netflix‘s] right to do what they want,” she responded, according to French newspaper Le Monde. “Hannibal is a historical figure and we are all proud that he was Tunisian. But what can we do?” She went on to note that she is trying to negotiate with Netflix to shoot at least a portion of the film in Tunisia. “I hope they decide to shoot at least a sequence of the film here and that that this is publicized. We want Tunisia to go back to being a location where foreign films are shot,” Ketat-Guermazi said, as reported by Le Monde.

Representatives for Netflix, Washington and Fuqua did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The controversy in Tunisia over Washington playing Hannibal is reminiscent of the uproar sparked in Egypt in April over Britain’s Adele James, who is of mixed heritage, playing Cleopatra in Netflix’s docudrama “Queen Cleopatra.” The first-century Egyptian queen was born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 69 BC and belonged to a Greek-speaking dynasty. Egyptian academics went on a rampage over the fact that Cleopatra was of European descent and not Black.

The still-untitled film about the Carthaginian general will be written by John Logan, the three-time Academy Award winner who scribed Martin Scorsese’s “The Aviator” and Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator.”

According to the official logline, the movie is “based on real-life warrior Hannibal, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest military commanders in history. The film covers the pivotal battles he led against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War.”

Hannibal invaded Italy while riding a Northern African war elephant. Under his lead, the Carthaginians won key victories against the Romans, allowing Hannibal to occupy the majority of southern Italy for 15 years. Eventually, Hannibal was defeated by the Romans at the Battle of Zama after they counter-invaded North Africa.

Fuqua most recently directed Washington in the action-thriller “The Equalizer 3,” in which Washington reprised his role as ex-Marine Robert McCall.

Washington is currently involved in another war epic, the upcoming sequel to Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator,” which has resumed shooting in Malta after production was halted due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.  _______________

Netflix is at it again i see.

[baebeylik]

Folio from a Qur’an.

1313. Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt.

The Smithsonian: National Museum of Asian Art.

[panafrocore]

Tantamani: Kushite King of Napata & the Last Pharaoh of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty

Tantamani, also known as Tanutamun, was a significant figure in ancient Egyptian history as the last ruler of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. His reign marked the culmination of Nubian rule over Egypt and the subsequent end of the Kushite pharaohs’ dominance in the region. Tantamani’s story is a compelling narrative of ambition, power, and the struggle for control over a vast and culturally rich…

[matchestopetrol]

Gladiator II

Hey so what the fuck is up with the casting of the new Gladiator movie?

Because I just watched the trailer and I saw the portrayal of Geta and Caracalla and all I can think is wtf.

Don't get me wrong Joey Quinn and Fred Hechinger are fine actors, but why are the sons of the only African Roman emperor played by two white guys?

To add more context I'm an archaeologist whose focus is on north African archaeology and specifically Roman north Africa. I have a special place in my heart for Septimius Severus and his fail sons and I was pretty excited when I heard that the movie would be set during the rule of Caracalla and Geta. But now? I'm just pissed because seriously?

And before anyone comments, Septimius Severus was north African, he was born in Libya, to a family with Punic ancestry and he was described by Cassius Dio as "Libyan by race". This is how he was represented in official art.

and here is the lovely Marwan Kenzari who is also north African

Septimius Severus's wife, the lovely Julia Domna, was born in Syria. So tell me why Geta and Caracalla look like this?

I remember all the anger when Ridley Scott's Exodus came out and everyone was justifiably pissed that he whitewashed the shit out of it. It seems to me that because people know less about Severans that Scott felt he could more easily get away with whitewashing the dynasty and people simply wouldn't notice.

There are many amazingly talented Maghrebi and Arab actors out there and it's fucking ludicrous that they've been denied these roles.

It's fucking racist.

[kemetic-dreams]

Carol Diann Johnson was born in the Bronx, New York City, on July 17, 1935, to John Johnson, a subway conductor, and Mabel (Faulk), a nurse. While Carroll was still an infant, the family moved to Harlem, where she grew up except for a brief period in which her parents had left her with an aunt in North Carolina. She attended Music and Art High School, and was a classmate of Billy Dee Williams. In many interviews about her childhood, Carroll recalls her parents' support, and their enrolling her in dance, singing, and modeling classes. By the time Carroll was 15, she was modeling for Ebony. "She also began entering television contests, including Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, under the name Diahann Carroll." After graduating from high school, she attended New York University, where she majored in sociology, "but she left before graduating to pursue a show-business career, promising her family that if the career did not materialize after two years, she would return to college.

Carroll's big break came at the age of 18, when she appeared as a contestant on the DuMont Television Network program, Chance of a Lifetime, hosted by Dennis James. On the show, which aired January 8, 1954, she took the $1,000 top prize for a rendition of the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein song, "Why Was I Born?" She went on to win the following four weeks. Engagements at Manhattan's Café Society and Latin Quarter, nightclubs soon followed.

Carroll's film debut was a supporting role in Carmen Jones (1954), as a friend to the sultry lead character played by Dorothy Dandridge. That same year, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role in the Broadway musical, House of Flowers. A few years later, she played Clara in the film version of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess (1959), but her character's singing parts were dubbed by opera singer Loulie Jean Norman. The following year, Carroll made a guest appearance in the series Peter Gunn, in the episode "Sing a Song of Murder" (1960). In the next two years, she starred with Sidney Poitier, Paul Newman, and Joanne Woodward in the film Paris Blues (1961) and won the 1962 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical (the first time for a Black woman) for portraying Barbara Woodruff in the Samuel A. Taylor and Richard Rodgers musical No Strings. Twelve years later, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starring role alongside James Earl Jones in the film Claudine (1974), which part had been written specifically for actress Diana Sands (who had made guest appearances on Julia as Carroll's cousin Sara), but shortly before filming was to begin, Sands learned she was terminally ill with cancer. Sands attempted to carry on with the role, but as filming began, she became too ill to continue and recommended her friend Carroll take over the role. Sands died in September 1973, before the film's release in April 1974.

Carroll is known for her titular role in the television series Julia (1968-71), which made her the first African-American actress to star in her own television series who did not play a domestic worker. That role won her the Golden Globe Award for Best TV Star – Female for its first year, and a nomination for an Primetime Emmy Award in 1969. Some of Carroll's earlier work also included appearances on shows hosted by Johnny Carson, Judy Garland, Merv Griffin, Jack Paar, and Ed Sullivan, and on The Hollywood Palace variety show. In 1984, Carroll joined the nighttime soap opera Dynasty at the end of its fourth season as the mixed-race jet set diva Dominique Deveraux, Blake Carrington's half-sister. Her high-profile role on Dynasty also reunited her with her schoolmate Billy Dee Williams, who briefly played her onscreen husband Brady Lloyd. Carroll remained on the show and made several appearances on its short-lived spin-off, The Colbys until she departed at the end of the seventh season in 1987. In 1989, she began the recurring role of Marion Gilbert in A Different World, for which she received her third Emmy nomination that same year.

In 1991, Carroll portrayed Eleanor Potter, the doting, concerned, and protective wife of Jimmy Potter (portrayed by Chuck Patterson), in the musical drama film The Five Heartbeats (1991), also featuring actor and musician Robert Townsend and Michael Wright. She reunited with Billy Dee Williams again in 1995, portraying his character's wife Mrs. Greyson in Lonesome Dove: The Series. The following year, Carroll starred as the self-loving and deluded silent movie star Norma Desmond in the Canadian production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical version of the film Sunset Boulevard. In 2001, Carroll made her animation debut in The Legend of Tarzan, in which she voiced Queen La, ruler of the ancient city of Opar.

In 2006, Carroll appeared in several episodes the television medical drama Grey's Anatomy as Jane Burke, the demanding mother of Dr. Preston Burke. From 2008 to 2014, she appeared on USA Network's series White Collar in the recurring role of June, the savvy widow who rents out her guest room to Neal Caffrey. In 2010, Carroll was featured in UniGlobe Entertainment's breast cancer docudrama titled 1 a Minute and appeared as Nana in two Lifetime movie adaptations of Patricia Cornwell’s novels: At Risk and The Front.

In 2013, Carroll was present on stage at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards to briefly speak about being the first African-American nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. She was quoted as saying about Kerry Washington, nominated for Scandal, "She better get this award."

Carroll was a founding member of the Celebrity Action Council, a volunteer group of celebrity women who served the women's outreach of the Los Angeles Mission, working with women in rehabilitation from problems with alcohol, drugs, or prostitution. She helped to form the group along with other female television personalities including Mary Frann, Linda Gray, Donna Mills, and Joan Van Ark.

Carroll was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997. She said the diagnosis "stunned" her, because there was no family history of breast cancer, and she had always led a healthy lifestyle. She underwent nine weeks of radiation therapy and had been clear for years after the diagnosis. She frequently spoke of the need for early detection and prevention of the disease. She died from cancer at her home in West Hollywood, California, on October 4, 2019, at the age of 84. Carroll also had dementia at the time of her death, though actor Marc Copage, who played her character's son on Julia, said that she did not appear to show serious signs of cognitive decline as late as 2017. A memorial service was held in November 24, 2019, at the Helen Hayes Theater in New York City.

[theantonian]

Sculpture of Antony and Cleopatra's twin babies

A Sculpture that has been idling in a museum for ages. Egyptologist Giuseppina Capriotti of the Italian National Research Council believes a statue in the Cairo Museum depicts the twin children of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene. The sandstone statue was discovered near the temple of Hathor in Dendera on the west bank of the Nile in 1918. Cleopatra VII is known to have commissioned works in that temple, most famously a monumental pharaonic relief of herself and her son by Julius Caesar, Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar, aka Caesarion.

The Cairo Museum bought the five-foot-tall statue but didn’t pay it a great deal of attention, thinking it a representation of the twin gods Shu and Tefnet, son and daughter of the sun god Atum-Ra.

The statue is of two nude children, one male, one female, who bear the attributes of sun and moon respectively. They have an arm over each other’s shoulders while they hold a serpent in their other hands. The coils of two snakes wind around their legs and the base of the statue.

Capriotti noticed that the boy has a sun-disc on his head,‭ ‬while the girl boasts a crescent and a lunar disc. The serpents, perhaps two cobras, would also be different forms of sun and moon, she said. Both discs are decorated with the udjat-eye, also called the eye of Horus, a common symbol in Egyptian art. “Unfortunately, the faces are not well preserved, but we can see that the boy has curly hair and a braid on the right side of the head, typical of Egyptian children. The girl’s hair is arranged in a way‬ similar to the so-called ‭m‬elonenfrisur‭ (‬melon coiffure) an elaborated hairstyle often associated with the Ptolemaic dynasty, and Cleopatra particularly,” said Capriotti.

The statue dates to between 50 and 30 B.C. Mark Antony and Cleopatra’s twins were born in 40 B.C. so the timing fits, but it’s the unusual iconographic choices which suggest this is not just a statue of Shu and Tefnet. In the Egyptian pantheon, Tefnet, the sister, wears the solar disk, but in this piece the female twin wears the crescent moon and the male wears the sun, in keeping with the Greek tradition of the female moon goddess Selene and the male incarnation of the sun, Helios.

The twins’ embrace could suggest a solar eclipse, which is significant because when Mark Antony officially recognized the twins as his children three years after their birth, the event was marked by a solar eclipse. That’s when Cleopatra changed their names from plain Cleopatra and Alexander to Cleopatra Selene and Alexander Helios.

If these are Antony and Cleopatra’s twins, it’s the first representation of the two together ever discovered. The only other image we have is of an adult Cleopatra Selene on coins minted during her reign as Queen of Mauretania. Alexander Helios does not appear to have survived into adulthood, nor his younger brother Ptolemy Philadelphus.

After their parents’ suicides, all three of Antony’s children by Cleopatra were taken to Rome by Octavian in 30 B.C. to march in his triumph as royal captives in gold chains. He handed the three of them over to his sister Octavia, Antony’s third wife, to raise. The boys disappear from the historical record, perhaps dead at Augustus’ hand. Cleopatra Selene, on the other hand, was married around 20 B.C. to King Juba of Mauretania, a north African client state.