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Vivant Denon etched the image of the Sphinx of Giza
around 1798, prior to its defacement. This image and written
account (a part of Dr. Freeman's
collection) is from the 1803 issue of Universal Magazine. From that
same magazine, here is the written account in Denon's own words, "...Though
its proportions are colossal, the outline is pure and graceful; the
expression of the head is mild, gracious, and tranquil; the character
is African, but the mouth, and lips of which are thick, has a softness
and delicacy of execution truly admirable; it seems real life and flesh.
Art must have been at a high pitch when this monument was executed; for,
if the head wants what is called style, that is the say, the straight and
bold lines which give expression to the figures under which the Greeks
have designated their deities, yet sufficient justice has been rendered to
the fine simplicity and character of nature which is displayed in this
figure...".
The Sphinx of Giza image is from the Joel A.
Freeman Black History
Collection.
In
1787, a Frenchman who visited Egypt for the first time
expressed amazement that the Egyptians – whose civilization
was greatly admired in Europe – were not White!
"All the Egyptians,"
wrote Count Constantine de Volney,
"have a bloated face,
puffed-up eyes, flat nose, thick lips – in a word, the true
face of the mulatto. I was tempted to attribute it to the
climate, but when I visited the Sphinx, its appearance gave me
the key to the riddle. On seeing that head, typically Negro in
all its features, I remembered the remarkable passage where
Herodotus says:
'As for me, I
judge the Colchians to be a colony of the Egyptians because,
like them, they are black with woolly hair...' "In other
words, the ancient Egyptians were true Negroes of the same
type as all native-born Africans. That being so, we can see
how their blood, mixed for several centuries with that of the
Greeks and Romans, must have lost the intensity of its
original color, while retaining nonetheless the imprint of its
original mold."
Count de Volney then made an observation that still applies
today in the debate about how much racial truth our children
and other children will be taught in the public schools:
"Just think," de
Volney declared incredulously,
"that this race of Black men,
today our slave and the object of our scorn, is the very race
to which we owe our arts, sciences, and even the use of
speech! Just imagine, finally, that it is in the midst of
people (i.e., Americans) who call themselves the greatest
friends of liberty and humanity that one has approved the most
barbarous slavery, and questioned whether Black men have the
same kind of intelligence as whites!"
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When visiting Egypt today,
this is what we see of The Sphinx of Giza. |
This is what Vivant Denon saw in 1798 before the
Sphinx was defaced. |
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For more information
about
Return To Glory Foundation
please visit
RETURNTOGLORY.ORG
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