Customer Reviews

Ancient Egyptians

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This was an excellent program. The stories of the Tomb Robbers,Battle with Kadesh,Cult of the Apis bull and Priests of Amun. All stories preserved on papyrus for us to hear centuries later. These programs were well worth the price. Extras include making of and production stills. Well done at I would think great expense. It's about the stories,not the shade or color of the performers. It is truly an enjoyable experience. I hope when they read these reviews centuries later they will find them helpful.Page 2!!!

This is the very best egyptian progam I have ever seen! Definately my favorite. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has even a slight interest in Ancient Egypt. I love the way it's set up and the acting is great.
Now, about the other review...clearly this person knows very little about Ancient Egypt. The Egyptians were not very dark skinned. Their skin was more of a light tan. It's true the Nubians did have dark skin, and in every documentary I've seen the Nubians are played by dark skinned actors. And it is only these actors who play the slaves because most slaves in Ancient Egypt were, in fact, Nubians. There is no racism in this, or any other Ancient Egyptian documentary that I've seen. The Egyptians are portrayed as they really were, slightly tan. The only reason most modern Egyptians have dark skin is because they have mixed with the Nubians and other dark skinned Africans.
I just want to state again what an amazing program this is. It is well worth the money!

I find most of the "reviews" thus far exceedingly tiresome and frankly wish people would grind their axes somewhere else. Not that that will stop me in turn from doing the same thing.... I frankly don't know what ancient Egyptians looked like, not having met any personally from any period of their multi-millennial history. A pity, that; but the opportunities are somewhat few and far-between these days. As for the images of themselves they left us, whether in papyri or on walls, the colour chosen by no means always shows "dark brown-skinned people", as one reviewer states. I've just taken a random sampling and the pigments chosen run quite a gamut, from near-black through medium red-ocres to a [shudder] delicate Hollywood beige. If you're going to base a theory on the colours they themselves chose, you're going to have to allow them to have been a multi-hued lot, and possibly not disposed to support any pet theories the present might wish upon them. Or if they were uniformly black in reality, one might conclude that they chose the pigments for their portraiture for the sake of the general décor of the tomb or temple and therefore didn't give a toss about the real colour of their skin. But I lapse into fantasy; enough of all this. Rant ended. Axe done.

As for the film, personally I think it's wonderful and moving and the sort of thing that could make one fall in love with ancient Egypt and want more. I only wish there had been more episodes. I myself definitely wanted more!

One of the stories in this DVD tells a story about female twins who were priestess for the Apis bulls. The Apis bull cult is probably the best known of the three most prominent and divine bull cults, and it is considered to be the most sacred Animal gods were gradually anthropomorphed, being portrayed with animal or bird heads on human bodies.

Among the most important animal cults were the bull cults, which appeared in Egyptian writings as far back as the First Dynasty. The ancients believed that the powerful bull represented the personality of the king; slate palettes dating back as far as 3100 BC even show kings as bulls.

This DVD is so powerfully good that I actually thought I have once lived in that era of time. I would recommend this DVD for those who love ancient history. The actors are actually hired locals who bring a real sense of clarity.

I had to have a laugh at some of the reviews here,so worried about what skin color the original people were.I suppose we may never actually know that for sure,because all we have is some letters from these ancient people.
What was most important was the stories themselves.
I found this entire series amazing.Watching the people act out there part,at times i imagined what it would be like to be amongst it all.
The Egyptians kept great details of certain happenings,and i suppose it's lucky so many artifacts have survived.I get fascinated by these people,their way of life and the things they left behind are amazing.
The embalming of poeple,and animals sounds kind of grotesque,but the good part of that is that we can view a people from that time.
The stories from that time were at times brutal at times,such at with what happened to the tomb robbers.The story of the twins was kind of unfinished,you were left wondering about how they managed to survive.There was 4 stories.
I loved these stories,pity there wasn't a whole lot more of them here.

This one is good not only because of the CGI effects it employs that help to bring ancient Egypt "alive" to the viewer, but also because it tells real stories from that culture that most folks have never heard of: murder in an Egyptian temple; two sisters betrayed by their mother and tossed out into the street to fend for themselves; etc. I really liked this one and felt that I caught a glimpse into what ancient Egypt was really like, not just for the nobility but the common man as well.

I am so glad that this came out on DVD. My favorite story is Cult of the Apis Bull about the twins Tagus & Taos. Their mother has her lover kill their father. Then she literally throws the twins out in the cold to fend for themselves. How many of us can relate to this. Rahna Reiko Rizzuto comes to mind. These twins have a stunning twist of fate.

What I was struck by was the truth of this. These were real stories that happened to real people. To think that this many years later, we can see how these people lived and loved is astounding.

I also love the story Priests of Amun. Again there is abandonment of a woman by her father after her sons are killed in an act of revenge against the woman's father. We hear the mother's agonizing cries upon hearing of the death of her only children.

If you like Egyptology, intrigue & pageantry you'll like this DVD.

But I have to disagree. A person of many racial ancestry, such as myself, visiting Tunisia in North Africa mistaken me as a Tuisinian. And, also having Egyptian friends, who denies they are arabs but Egyptians and then Africans will argue with you that you need to travel beyond your borders. I challenge you to read some of Herodotus (greek historian) and Josephus (jewish historian) writings and do indepth research on what that region was like. Then you can present a valid opinion on who was the original Egyptians, Arabs, etc... The only reason why people don't admit the truth is either because of ignorance or scared to find out the truth. After all what we've been taught in school is not the entire story. I feel the movie present a picture of how the Egyptians were like back in ancient times. And what about the dark skinned people that hang around the pyramids dressed in white? Are not most arabs of the Egypt and other regions, such as, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain are medium to dark-skin? You do your research. I recommend the movie and also an indepth research about the region before you make a valid opinion.

The review about Egyptians not being black is commonplace of most people's reactions when they hear of or see black people doing something great. The reveiwer says that race is not important and then continues to point out that Northeast Africans are of Middle Eastern descent. As a student of Egyptology, or a student with any kind of scientific background, you should know that people's skin tones do not change permanently, and all skin tones can not endure certain types of weather. Caucasian and light-skinned people cannot endure continued exposure to the sun without getting sunburned because of the lack of melanin in their skin. I am saying all of this to say that it is only common sense to say that the ancient Egyptians were black. Middle Eastern people invaded Egypt and then mixed with the origanal Nubian people, creating the new "Egyptian" race who look like multiracial people (wooly hair, different shades of brown and tan skin). The only race on the planet who has wooly hair is the black race, and the only way you can get wooly hair is to mix with the black race. The only way you can get dark skin and have offspring with dark skin is to mix with the black race. A white person can not go to Egypt, get a sun-tan, and then have a dark-skinned wooly-haired child, unless they are mixed with someone black. All of the ancient Egypitan drawings were of dark brown-skinned people, and you can see in the drawings that they had light tan (present "Egypitian" people) colors available to use. What difference does it make? The ancient Egyptians were one of the greatest, if not the greatest, society in the world. The reviewer is very proud of being an Egyptian. What do you think it does to a group of people when they think they come from the greatest civilization in the world? It makes them think they are capable of doing anything! That is why people try to hide and distort black people's contributions to the world. Because if they knew what a great legacy they came from, they might actually stop believing they were born to be inferior slaves and then people wouldnt be able to control them so much. Why is there always such a big conroversy when black people are portrayed as being great? (Jesus is described in the Bible as having wooly hair, but is always protrayed as a Caucasian with silky hair. And then people say it doesnt matter. If it doesnt matter, then why wont you be honest in your representations?). People are so used to believing that black people dont come from anything. That is why the people who are commited to revealing the truth make such a big deal about the way things really were.

Egypt eventually proved to be a lot like America is today, a somewhat of a melting pot or salad bowl (which ever you prefer). IMO claims of greatness belong to the Egyptians only and those that had the greatest influence on their development as a strong and mighty nation at the time. Because the "time" is so vastly spread throughout the ages we as modern day observers tend to get confused via our research on who should claim Egypt's heritage. I'll make it simple. Culturally. Linguistically, Politically, Spiritually, Egyptians shared their commonality with those who shared their continent, other Africans, especially during the early periods all through the pyramid building kingdoms and there after even. That doesn't mean that a person who today would be considered non-African based on visual assessment didn't exist in the society. However what it does mean is that they were not a majority by no means, nor a major influence in the early kingdoms and their development.

Thinking people: Simply put, Those of European decent today in America don't make a major deal over who is Irish or what have you. European descendants run America today period, that's a fact of life from big business to government although there are various European cultures that happen to exist here on these shores. Europeans (Caucasians according to science) share a common ancestry and heritage from Europe and inspite the fact they often fought each other before they got here, they share that common bond. In America, most non-whites see Caucasions (or whites) regardless of what part of Europe they are from ancestrally as the ruling or dominant ethnic group.

Well same is true of ancient Egyptians and their brother nations of which they shared the land and continent. Early Egyptians as a nation were all from the land of Kemet and even referred to themselves at times in their writings as black people, although not with an assumption of race for that in itself is a 20th century construct designed initially to support racism. So much information available that it's on the verge of comical for this debate to continue within these reviews with such lame arguments. Egyptians who were Africans more so than anything else for over half of its existence ran Egypt (get over it people). What did they look like? Like Africans and African Americans today from the lightest to the darkest hue. Whatever admixture they experienced did not negate their Africaness in culture, language, spirituality, and political practice.

Now that that's settled lets be real and honest. Egyptian writings and art shows that more than Africans existed in Egypt. It would be silly to believe, giving there was no such thing as racism, that contributions made by a non-African would not be received with gratitude. Joseph was made an instrumental part of the government according to the bible (Jewish records), so it would appear that non- Egyptians were allowed to hold some positions in the government. Does that mean that Jews should claim Egypt and all its accomplishments?

Sure Greece and later Rome conquered Egypt, they weren't the only conquers that were foreigners to Africa to lay such claim. Be that as it may they received Egypt during its decline from greatness (meaning most everything Egypt was famous for in regards to civilization was already accomplished) and the torch was picked up and carried on. Get over it, people from all walks of life (shades of color for those who need to hear it that way) have made some sort of significant contribution to so called civilization as we know it today.

No doubt you fit in somewhere with your heritage and ancestry as does the early Egypt of Africa.

Hotep