[BeaverFever]

Well most Greeks - especially from the time of Cleopatra- were pretty dark and swarthy. The light-skinned presence in southern Europe is predominantly due to the Germanic peoples who moved into the area in the Late Roman empire and later.

The term "caucasian" as it relates to white people is largely attributable to 19th century pseudo-science. There are fair skinned people in that caucasus region, but they typically have very dark hair and eyes -occasionally green eyes but blonde hair and blue eyes is virtually unheard of. Also, the caucasus is not very close to israel, especially in given the limited transportation available in those days.

I dont think Jesus really existed, but it would be very doubtful that anyone from that region at that time would be anything other than swarthy and dark-featured. Light skin came to that region later as a result of economic migration due to medeival trade, various settlers during the Crusades and various other "push and pull factors" attracting/driving Eastern Europeans to the region while it was under Arab, Mongol and particularly Ottoman rule.

[ShepherdsDog]

People throughout the ME have been mingling for thousands of years. You'll find people of varying pigmentation throughout the region. As far east as Afghanistan, you'll find pashtuns who look like they were transplanted from northern Europe, having red and blond hair with fair skin and light eyes. They didn't magically appear after the Russian occupation. The same can be said of Kurds who have a wide range of appearance from Mediterranean to Nordic. The Berbers of north Africa were often blue eyed as well

[BeaverFever]

Yes but different ppl mingled at different times. Most of what is considered "Nordic" (ie blue-eyed blonde), came to that region starting around the late 3rd century AD. The Light-skinned Berbers of North Africa are believed by many to be the descendents of Vandals, a Germanic tribe who moved from Germania through Spain after the fall of Rome and were eventually pushed into North Africa by the Visigoths. It is believed by some that after the decline of their society and defeats at the hands of the Berbers and Moores, they assimilated into Berber society. But one would probably find people of that time with very dark hair and light skin, the minority of which will have green eyes.

[CommanderSock]

The Egyptians before the Assyrian, Greek and Macedonian migrations were indigenous African, not swarthy Romans, but curly haired Africans. Not the West African (flat nose, large lips etc) we're accustomed to in the west, but North/East Africans. The closest sub groups next to ancient Egyptians were Somalis, Eritreans, Nuers, and Dinkas.

Egyptians didn't associate themselves with either the Berbers, Assyrians, or the black Nuers and Dinka groups to the south. Their skin pigmentation was probably what we'd think of as Mulatto in North America (but they weren't 'mulatto').

Their own charts, and paintings, pretty much confirm this.



Libyan, Nubian, Asiatic, Egyptians. When I picture them in today's context, it's probably something like:



The Egyptian would be the lighter one (Eritrean woman), and the almost pitch black Nuer next to her.

That being said, Ancient Egypt was ruled by Greeks/Romans for a very long time, and their influence is evident even before Egypt became a Roman province.

The Fayum Portraits of Mummies pretty much confirm the Roman rule, they range from Barack Obama lookalikes, to Catherine Zeta Jones (but no blondes or blue eyed people).


http://www.flickriver.com/groups/111748 ... teresting/


On a funny sidenote, the Book of Gates jpeg I pulled off a "protect your heritage website" claiming that Ancient Egypt was ruled by blonde blue eyes people, and and invaded by "negroes". LOL. I guess Eurocentrists can be just as retarded as Afrocentrists. Since Ancient Egyptians were neither W.African nor White.