Were they ancient Egyptians White?

Question

Why are they usually depicted that way in movies and books, while in artifacts they look African ??

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/images/tut_mannequin.jpg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/images/tut_back_panel_throne.jpg
http://www.stewartsynopsis.com/AncientEgyptianFamily.jpg
http://users.sunbeach.net/jrmoore/egyptian_workers.jpg

Answer 1

Don't believe what you see in the movies - Hollywood shows what its audience wants to see.
History reveals that the ancient Egyptians (and that covers a lot of territory over thousands of years) were probably black or at least very dark-skinned (like modern Middle Easterners).

Answer 2

Hollywood always gets things wrong. And historically it was more acceptable to hire white actors to play the roles. Same goes for all the Indian in all those westerns.

But Ancient Egyptians did put meaning to skin tone in their artwork. Women and Nobles often had fairer skin and slaves, workers and men often had darker skin. This depicted who spent a lot of time indoors or not working, or spent a lot of time outdoors. As well they would show the difference between Arabian Lower Egypt (North) descendants and darker skinned Upper Egypt (South) and concurred Nubians.

Answer 3

Well, It might depend on who is supposed to be being depicted. (though I'd never trust Hollywood for accuracy)

For effectively 300 years, the ruling family of Egypt was Greek, (including the famed Cleopatra, actually Cleopatra VII).
See "Ptolemaic dynasty"
That happened when the empire conquered by Alexander the Great (which included Egypt) was divided up amongst his generals.

"African" varies markedly too. Egypt as a major trading centre would have known the races of the North African coast as well as the darker-skinned tribes found southwards along the massive length of the Nile.

Answer 4

The be conscious "race" recognized around 50-seventy 5 years in the past. We stated people as black, white, yellow, purple. i do no longer understand who got here up with the belief of the be conscious "race." yet 'race' is a medical term for while animals are heavily bearing directly to different animals, form-of a sub-species of a particular animal. "Race' has definitely no longer something to do with people and the colour of their epidermis. the nearest be conscious we've it relatively is right is "ethics" a powerful occasion is the Civil warfare. there have been over a hundred diverse flags interior the Civil warfare. One Flag; the single we see each and all the time, grow to be shown in a black and white action picture, devoid of sound. unexpectedly that one flag; became THE flag, of the Civil warfare. That flag grow to be on a accomplice warfare deliver, that grow to be sunk after 2 days of conflict. It grow to be under no circumstances used lower back interior the Civil warfare. yet in television and movies, and on automobiles, that's each the place!

Answer 5

In depictions BY the ancient Egyptians they show themselves in constrast to other peoples such as the Black Nubians, tanned Semites and the Libyans of a lighter complexion. The Egyptians are shown as a brownish red colour so I believe they are of a brownish red colour

Answer 6

Egyptians today would look exactly like Egyptians from ancient times. Don't people from Switzerland look the same? How about people from Greece, Iceland, Italy, and so forth? Why would they look different? In Hollywood, characters have been portrayed as "WHITE", because (I believe), #1) almost all actors are Caucasian, and #2) if characters were portrayed for real for what they looked like, the viewership would go down. Think about this! Every picture you ever see of Jesus is painted as a white man. Jesus was not white. He looked just like the other men in the region He was from. Dark complected with curly black/brown hair, brown eyes.

Answer 7

They were African!! In movies they're depicted as being white because in Hollywood, white people try to be every race. Ancient Egyptians a dark tan.

Answer 8

The Copts in Egypt are the descendants of ancient Egypt in contrast to those descended from the Arab conquerors of Egypt. They are not black. They however are dark skinned.

Answer 9

They were a mix of Semitic and Black. In Egypt,Black traits were probably more pronounced than further east,because of it's location at the north coast of Africa.

Answer 10

they are middle eastern color, some darker than others....books and movies sometimes talk about people that are smart, or looked upon as great and focus on making them white...you will see this more in earlier films...sens color people didn't have the right to act...