HOW BEER WAS DISCOVERED: THE TRUE MYTHOLOGY

HOW BEER WAS DISCOVERED: THE TRUE MYTHOLOGY
by Michael H. Brownstein
http://thecamelsaloon.blogspot.com/2013/09/how-beer-was-discovered-true-mythology.html

Pandora of Nubia, near the ivory trade route,
took possession of a grand ebony chest,
watched it with the eyes of a cheetah.

Somewhere within its thick walls
a secret stayed itself, and she could hear it,
now and then bumping into things.

She ignored it at first, or tried,
made promises to herself she knew she couldn't keep,
touched the wood with her palm,

played with the flimsy lock of grass and twig,
found herself admiring the grain with her fingertips.
Too much cat, the Shaman knew this to be true,

and bided her time from her grass covered home
overlooking the village near the great river.
There was something in the chest too great for her,

but not too great for Pandora with braided dark hair,
full lips and perfect skin—almost ebony black.
She was right, of course. Pandora was curious,

and it was curiosity that made her play with the lock,
break it open with an ah ha and a smile.
She opened the chest later that day,

let escape the demons the Shaman knew were inside,
thick fogs of madness and bitterness,
jealousy and selfishness, greed and contempt.

Pandora allowed them to sting her.
their noise intolerant and vulgar,
and then she peered into the shadow of the chest,

saw a round object corked and scented,
and pulled out a painted gourd
a vessel full of rich golden water,

a liquid with a smell she could not remember.
She drank from it.
It made her happy.

The painful stings left her skin,
she felt whole,
calm, able to see into her dreams.

Hope did not come with a fairy.
Hope came with Pandora’s gourd of beer—
a magic beer too easy to replicate.

The shaman went on to greatness,
made the best varieties,
and the people lined up to drink it.

Pandora kept the gourd in her home,
shared its contents with everyone,
especially those who wanted her to tell her story.

And then the Greeks came.

Nubia and Egypt 10,000 B.C. to 400 A.D. From Pre-History to the Meroitic Period--Larry Ross

"This is the first book to claim that the Black Nubians played an essential role in the rise of Ancient Egyptian civilization. Ross is the first scholar to argue that there is a shared origin of Nile Valley Civilization between Nubian and Egyptian cultures. Nubia today is known as the nation-states of Sudan and South Sudan, and has been misrepresented for thousands of years by Egyptian sources, which minimized the role the people played in world history. This book draws on recent archaeological findings that claim Pharonic symbolism, sacred bark, and serekh, are of Nubian origin, not Egyptian."

http://www.academia.edu/2446393/Nubia_and_Egypt_From_Prehistory_to_the_Meroitic_Period_10_000_B.C._to_400_A.D

http://mellenpress.com/mellenpress.cfm?bookid=8623&pc=9

Nubian Jar in the University of Missouri Art and Archaeology Collection

The threads below show the mistakes the University of Missouri Art and Archaeology Museum continues to make about Nubia.

The black topped jar in the exhibit is dated 3900 BCE to 3150 BCE. Egypt became Egypt at approximately 3200 BCE. The jar is created in the Nubian style--and even if dating is not an exact science the range of years in the date given in the exhibit makes it a Nubian piece--not Egyptian.

Its time for the museum to correct its error and show the real origination point of the black topped jar.

See also:

http://historyofnubia.blogspot.com/2010/02/university-of-missouri-archeology.html

http://historyofnubia.blogspot.com/2010/02/more-mistakes-from-museum-of-art-and.html

The Nubian People Created Egypt

Because of Bruce Williams of the Oriental Museum and the University of Chicago, Larry Ross of Lincoln University and the author of  Nubia and Egypt: 10,000 BCE to 400 AD and this blog that I have been working on for the past few years, there is no more issues in my mind--and their should not be any in yours either--that Nubia is the reason Egypt came to be. In fact, between the three of us, we have offered enough evidence to prove Nubia is the actual founder of Egypt.

I began this blog to discover Nubia's impact on Egypt. My initial hypothesis was: Nubia started it all--it is the reason Egypt began. Now, a few years later--I''m going to state again: Yes, it did.

Michael H. Brownstein

Nubian Firsts

   The tradition of the pharaoh began not in Egypt, but in Nubia. Furthermore, Nubia developed an international trade with other nations in Africa and the Middle East long before Egypt had. “Egypt needed Nubia more than Nubia needed Egypt.” Even though Egypt was able to produce their own pottery, they preferred Nubian pottery to their own and adopted it into their culture. Even religious objects like the small fertility figurine were found in parts of Egypt.

Nubians were active in pottery making as early as 8,000 BCE. By 6000 BCE, Nubians were domesticating animals. “The Egyptians were late arrivers in the ancient trade networks, because Nubia had already established trade.” Much of the development of Nubia was unknown to Egypt until the Nubians moved north into Egypt around 5,000 BCE and spread their genes, culture, belief systems and technological advances with the inhabitants of Egypt.

--Larry Ross. Nubia and Egypt: 10,000 BCE to 400 AD, p. 122-123, 147, 195

Nubia Invented Writing

"With the discoveries of King Scorpion's tomb, dated 3250 BCE at Abydos in the 1990s by Dr. Gunter Dryer and the Scorpion Tableau at Gebel Tjauti by Dr. John and Deborah Darnell...history itself was introduced because King Scorpion's tomb contained the world's first complete writing system. Dr. Bruce Williams contends that the early kings of Egypt came from Nubia....Based on the archeological remains at Qustul Cemetery L, and other artifacts from Nubia, it is now clear that the practices displayed on the Scorpion Tableau did not originate in the area designated as Egypt."

--Ross, Larry. Nubia and Egypt: 10,000 BCE to 400 AD, p. 80

Add writing to the list of Nubian firsts.

More Proof--as if it was needed--Nubia Came First

“The pictoral documents left by its (Nubia) kings reveal Ta-Seti’s (another name for Nubia) claim to having conquered and ruled over Upper Egypt for the time (3400 BCE to 3200 BCE).”

--Ehret, Christopher. Te Civilization of Africa, 2002, p. 144-145.

Here is strong evidence by archeologists that the first pharaohs who ruled over Egypt came from Nubia.

Then there's more evidence:

The Qustul incense burner and Horus Nekhen incense burner are considered to be royal documents. These burners are documentation that the pharonic system was in place before Egypt. There is even strong evidence that the first writing began under the Nubian King Scorpion.

--Ross, Larry. Nubia and Egypt: 10,000 BCE to 400 AD, 2012, p. 74.

Links within this blog for more information:

http://historyofnubia.blogspot.com/2009/12/more-from-archeology-part-2.html

http://historyofnubia.blogspot.com/2010/04/interview-with-bruce-b-williams.html

Keep in mind that boundaries for nations--a term that did not exist at the time mentioned above--were fluid and not mapped out the way we map boundaries today. 

More on who came first:

"Nubia is Egypt's African ancestor. What linked Ancient Egypt to the rest of the North African cultures is this strong tie with the Nubian pastoral nomadic lifestyle...Thus, not only did Nubia have a prominent role in the origin of Ancient Egypt, it was also a key area for the origin of the entire African pastoral tradition."

--Gatto, Maria. The Nubian Pastoral Culture as Link Between Egypt and Africa, Oxford Press, 2009, p. 26.

More proof Nubia came before Egypt

Nubian pottery has been found dating to as long ago as 8,000 BCE—more proof that Nubia had a civilization before Egypt. There was no Egypt in 8,000 BCE. Furthermore, there was no gold in Egypt, but there were many gold mines in Nubia and Nubian trade with Egypt--once Egypt began as a people and country--shows a reliance on Nubia by Egypt for one of the resources Egypt desired: gold. Apparently Nubians knew how to mine gold and how to utilize it as a trading tool long before Egypt was defined.

According to Larry Ross, “Egypt’s reliance on Nubian products was perpetual from the emergence of Dynastic Egypt around 3,250 BCE until…525 BCE.” (p. 15: Nubia and Egypt: 10,000 BCE to 400 AD)

12th Egyptian Dynasty--Nubian

 Nubia ruled Egypt in the 25^th Dynasty, but they also ruled in the 12^th.

Amenembet 1 took the throne of Egypt around 1991 BCE, the beginning of the 12^th Dynasty, and he had a Nubian mother.

It was not at all uncommon in Egypt during this time for Nubians to marry Egyptians and have children.

This information came from  to Nubia and Egypt: 10,000 B. C.. to 400 A. D. by Larry Ross, a professor at Lincoln University, Missouri.

Much of the 12^th Dynasty was ruled by individuals with Nubian ancestry.

My question is: If it truly was not uncommon for Nubians and Egyptians to marry, how can anyone say for sure that any of the dynasties did not have a ruler with Nubian blood?

The Beginnings of Egypt

Egypt became Egypt because of Africa.

"The Amrarian white-lined pottery was introduced into Egypt by 'Libyan invasions', while the Gerzean culture was brought there by 'the Eastern Desert Folk', who overran and dominated Egypt. Finally, Egypt was unified by the 'Falcon Tribe' or 'Dynastic Race', that certainly had originated in Elam and came to Egypt by way of Ethiopia..."

--Bruce Trigger, et. al. Ancient Egypt: A Social History, 1983.

Where did the Egyptian language come from?

"...The Afrasan language famiy...originated in Africa, in the regions between the Nubian Nile and the northern Ethiopian Highlands...and [moved] northward up the Nile...The arrival along the lower Nile of the ancient Egyptian language, a member of the Afrasan family, ultimately traces back to these northward movements."

--Christopher Ehret, The Civilizations of Africa, 3002, p. 38-39

Larry Ross, Nubia and Egypt 10,000 BC to 400 AD, 2012, p. 4-5

A New Book on Nubia: Nubia and Egypt (10, 000 B.C. to 400 A.D.)

My new book on Nubia will be published on February 28th, and I mention our discussions, and your trip to meet with Dr. Williams, in the book:

http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/jsp/welcome.jsp?action=search&type=isbn&term=0773426469&awaid=35779&awgid=0&awbid=0&awid=35779&awpid=0&awcr=&src=awin

Dr. Larry Ross
Professor of Anthropology
Social & Behavioral Sciences

Dr. Ross is referring to discussions I had in his office and discussions we had on--and about--the blog you are currently reading. We will post selections fronm his book on this blog.

Michael H. Brownstein