Reclaiming our history
15th February 2016 · 0 Comments
By Edmund W. Lewis
Editor
It’s been said often that we should all be very careful about what we wish for. I thought about that after seeing the television commercial for the upcoming film Gods of Egypt, which tells the story of the epic battle between good and evil in ancient Kemet (Egypt).
It is a story that African-centered scholars know all too well about a clash between Osiris and his brother Set, upon whom the figure Satan is based. Osiris, whose Kemetic name is Ausur, was part of ancient Kemet’s Holy Trinity that included the goddess Isis (Auset) and the son Horus (Heru). Set murders his brother and scatters Osiris’ remains throughout the land but Isis gathers those remains and resurrects Osiris.
The story of Isis’ virgin birth of Horus predates the immaculate conception of Jesus Christ by thousands of years, just as the story of the son of the god Osiris avenging his father’s betrayal predates the Biblical story of Jesus defeating Satan.
It is important to note that the story of Isis and Osiris is a story conceived by Black people in Kemet who conceived of gods in their own image. The names of Ausar (Osiris), Auset (Isis) and Heru (Horus) were changed by the Greeks, just as they changed the name Kemet to Egypt. This is part of the “rename it and claim it” syndrome that led to Africa going from being called the Light of the World to being described by Western scholars as the Dark Continent.
Those same Western scholars continue to deny that Egypt is even part of the African continent. The reason is simple: The ancient Greeks were greatly influenced by the people of ancient Kemet and Greece is widely viewed as the bedrock of Western civilization.
In the new film Gods of Egypt, all of the main characters are white, despite the archaeological evidence and art of ancient Kemet. From the television ad, the film looks more like a remake of Clash of the Titans, Hercules or Troy than it does an accurate interpretation, which explains why the late Asa Hilliard once said that much of what we are taught about history is more hysterical than it is historical.
According to the website http://www.laits.-utexas.edu/cairo/teachers/osiris.pdf, this is how the story goes:
The Story of Osiris, Isis and Horus: The Egyptian Myth of Creation
“From Geb, the sky god, and Nut, the earth goddess came four children: Osiris, Isis, Set and Nepthys. Osiris was the oldest and so became king of Egypt, and he married his sister Isis. Osiris was a good king and commanded the respect of all who lived on the earth and the gods who dwelled in the netherworld.
However, Set was always jealous of Osiris, because he did not command the respect of those on earth or those in the netherworld. One day, Set transformed himself into a vicious monster and attacked Osiris, killing him. Set then cut Osiris into pieces and distributed them throughout the length and breadth of Egypt.
With Osiris dead, Set became king of Egypt, with his sister Nepthys as his wife. Nepthys, however, felt sorry for her sister Isis, who wept endlessly over her lost husband. Isis, who had great magical powers, decided to find her husband and bring him back to life long enough so that they could have a child. Together with Nepthys, Isis roamed the country, collecting the pieces of her husband’s body and reassembling them. Once she completed this task, she breathed the breath of life into his body and resurrected him. They were together again, and Isis became pregnant soon after. Osiris was able to descend into the underworld, where he became the lord of that domain.
The child born to Isis was named Horus, the hawk-god. When he became an adult, Horus decided to make a case before the court of gods that he, not Set, was the rightful king of Egypt. A long period of argument followed, and Set challenged Horus to a contest. The winner would become king.
Set, however, did not play fair. After several matches in which Set cheated and was the victor, Horus’ mother, Isis, decided to help her son and set a trap for Set. She snared him, but Set begged for his life, and Isis let him go. When he found out that she had let his enemy live, Horus became angry with his mother, and rages against her, earning him the contempt of the other gods. They decided that there would be one more match, and Set would get to choose what it would be.
Set decided that the final round of the contest would be a boat race. However, in order to make the contest a challenge, Set decided that he and Horus should race boats made of stone. Horus was tricky and built a boat made of wood, covered with limestone plaster, which looked like stone. As the gods assembled for the race, Set cut the top off of a mountain to serve as his boat and set it in the water. His boat sank right away, and all the other gods laughed at him. Angry, Set transformed himself into a hippopotamus and attacked Horus’ boat. Horus fought off Set, but the other gods stopped him before he could kill Set. The other gods decided that the match was a tie. Many of the gods were sympathetic to Horus, but remembered his anger toward his mother for being lenient to Set, and were unwilling to support him completely.
The gods who formed the court decided to write a letter to Osiris and ask for his advice. Osiris responded with a definite answer: his son is the rightful king, and should be placed upon the throne. No one, said Osiris, should take the throne of Egypt through an act of murder, as Set had done. Set had killed Osiris, but Horus did not kill anyone, and was the better candidate. The sun and the stars, who were Osiris’ allies, descended into the underworld, leaving the world in darkness. Finally, the gods agreed that Horus should claim his birthright as king of Egypt.
Gods of Egypt isn’t the first time — nor will it be the last time — that someone outside of our community presented a distorted version of our history. We saw this on the silver screen with the film The Mummy, which presented Imhotep as some evil, adulterous villain hellbent on destroying the world. Imhotep was a multi-discipline genius who served Kemet during the reign of Pharoah Djoser (2630 B.C. – 2611 B.C.), the second king of Egypt’s Third Dynasty.
It was Imhotep who was the true Father of Medicine, not the Greek figure Hippocrates. Imhotep was the first physician in recorded history, a medical processor and founded a school of medicine in Memphis some 2,200 years before Hippocrates was born. Imhotep was also a sage, poet, sculptor, administrator master builder and architect who built the Step Pyramid. Some 2,600 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, Imhotep was referred to as the “Prince of Peace.”
We saw this distortion of history when Elizabeth Taylor was cast in the role of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra and we saw it when a white woman was cast in the role of Isis on a Saturday morning television show in the 1970s.
In case you’re wondering why many of Egypt’s inhabitants don’t look Black today, consider how many times Egypt was invaded and occupied by Romans, Greeks, Arabs and other peoples. Think about how the “discovery” and invasion of what is now the United States changed the racial composition of this part of what is now called North America. The indigenous people of this land have been almost completely wiped out by “Manifest Destiny,” white supremacy and genocidal governmental policies. Also, keep in mind that there are still pockets of Blackness in Egypt in areas like Aswan that have not been wiped out by ancient gentrification.
Gods of Egypt and other films like it underscore the need for Black History Month. It is imperative that we tell our own stories and support filmmakers and scholars that present an African-centered worldview of our history and culture.
It is the absolute height of cultural disrespect for Western scholars and filmmakers to do everything in their power to push our beloved ancestors of ancient Kemet out of history.
It is up to us to make sure that it doesn’t happen.
While boycotting Gods of Egypt is a nice place to start, it is not enough.
We must do much more.
We can start by reading articles, essays and books by African-centered scholars and warriors like Chancellor Williams, Cheikh Anta Diop, John Henrik Clarke, Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, Molefi Kete Asante, Maulana Karenga, Yosef ben Jochanan, George G.M. James, Patricia Newton, Leonard Jeffries, Prof. James Small, Asa Hilliard, Marimba Ali, Ivan Van Sertima and Dr. Charles Finch.
The enduring truths contained in these writings and teachings will exist long after we have departed this life and will forever possess the power to set us free. All we have to do is open our minds and spirits to these liberating, life-affirming truths and share them with everyone we know.
This article originally published in the February 15, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
