Time and Time again, western history has managed to establish many things that are not true about Africa and its history. For many years, modern-day Africans believed that ancient Africa had no writing history until the first explorers of European descent settled in the lands. Contrary to popular belief, ancient African societies did have a writing culture. (well-developed reading culture or European invasion)
Even though not as popular as oral history, recent findings have shown that many African civilizations recorded their history through writings and even had well-stocked libraries.
Here is proof that Ancient Africa had a well-established writing culture and libraries.
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- Why Are the Noses Broken on So Many Ancient Egyptian Statues?
- Different African cultural groups perceive and the use of land that influences their agricultural rituals.
Could Translation of Ancient Egyptian Texts Change Everything We’ve Known about Africa?
The rich writings of the magnificent civilization of ancient Egypt have until now been incomprehensible, unavailable, or totally removed from the general public, aside from a few archaeologists or scholars of ancient texts. Soon, however, they will be made available and comprehensible to the average reader of the English language.
A Guardian UK report says that Cambridge scholar Toby Wilkinson has embarked on the monumental task of translating the bulk of ancient Egyptian texts known as hieroglyphic writings into an anthology written in modern English. Wilkinson, an Egyptologist, says he wants to make the writings, wisdom, and amazing literary sophistication of the ancient Egyptians available to the general reader. His anthology, titled “Writings from Ancient Egypt,” is scheduled for release today by Penguin Classics.
Wilkinson’s work is apt and perhaps long overdue. It is intriguing that while there have been multiple modern translations of texts from ancient European civilizations (Greek and Latin) as well as ancient Asian and Middle Eastern civilizations (Chinese and Sumerian), very little effort or interest has been invested into translating the ancient African (Egyptian) texts from the world’s oldest civilization into modern, everyday English.
