The First European Scholars Were Taught By Africans In Egypt.

Courtesy of Literary African Writers.
Again and again, documented historical evidence has shattered widely held views that Europeans were the pioneers of early human civilization. In fact, there is corroborative evidence that half of humanity’s recorded history has passed before anyone in Europe could even learn to read and write.

Religious priests in Egypt began keeping records as far back as 4000 to 3000 BC, compared to two thousand years later, when Homer’s poems were still being handed down orally within the confines of the Greek city-states. Sometime after 3000 BC when the pharaohs of Egypt were in the process of building their first world-renowned pyramids, Europeans were piling up nothing more than mountains of rubbish heaps.

History reveals that famous well known Greeks (Europeans) whom we study their history and writings, studied at the feet of Egyptian scholars along the Nile Valley, Kemet. For instance, Philosopher Plato was a student at the Temple of Waset for 11 years. Also, Aristotle was a student there for 11-13 years.

Even Socrates spent at least 15 years at the same temple; likewise, Euclid, who studied for 10-11 years at the same temple. Pythagoras spent 22 years there. Hippocrates studied there for 20 years, plus a host of other little known Greeks who matriculated at Waset, among whom are Diodorus, Solon, Thales, Archimedes, and Euripides.

In fact, the Greek scholar, St. Clement of Alexandria, once said that if one were to list out the names of all the Greeks who studied under Egyptian tutors, a 1,000 paged book won’t be enough. Even Herodotus mentioned it, same with Plato and Aristotle.

The truth is that it took at least 40 years to graduate from Waset, meaning none of the Greek scholars mentioned above even graduated. According to one African scholar, Thales was the first Greek student to receive training under Egyptian priests along the Nile Valley. Even Plato records that Thales was schooled in Egypt under the tutelage of the priests.

Many people today are of the opinion that the famous phrase ‘man know thyself’ (in Greek, qnothi seauton) were originally written and spoken by Socrates, the Greek philosopher, however, evidence suggests the ancient Egyptians were the first to write those words done on the outside of their Temple in the Bile Valley and addressed the same words to new students, one of whom was likely to be Socrates himself.

In another example, the words ‘eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we shall die’, hitherto assigned to Socrates, has been discovered to have been coined by Imhotep, the African deity and ‘the world’s first recorded multi-genius’, instrumental to building the world’s first stone building – the Step Pyramid at Saqqara around 2630 BC.

Furthermore, contrary to widely held views, the first Olympic Games held in Olympia, Greece in 776 BC, was not in reward of sportsmanship, physical strength or brinkmanship, rather, it was public ceremonial worship by the Greeks of the African God, Amon.

In fact, according to history, most of the European gods were of African descent and were given European names. The African god Amun, for example, was given the name of Zeus by the Greeks and called Jupiter by the Romans. Imhotep (the god of healing and medicine) has his name changed to Asclepius by the Greeks and Aesculapius by the Romans.

By far, one of the greatest contributions of the Egyptian Nile Valley to the world is its excellent educational system. In the Kemet educational system, the ultimate aim was for a person to become one with God, to “become like God” or “to become godlike through the revision of one’s own ‘Neter’ of how God is revealed in the person.” This was one of the highest endowments a family could bestow on a son in those days – education. 

When the boys got into the Temple/Schools (or Grand Lodge), they were expected to study for 40 years in subjects such as grammar, arithmetic, Rhetoric and Dialectic, Geometry, Astronomy, Music, Architecture, Masonry, Carpentry, Engineering, Sculpture, Metallurgy, Agriculture, Mining, Forestry, Art and Magic.

In conclusion, it’s only right to say that Egypt was truly the cradle of civilization, grooming European scholars and teaching the world the true essence of civilization. As a result, no thought or learning is alien to Africa, which was the land such ideologies emanated from in the first place. And no amount of Eurocentric research can erase the historical contributions Egypt has bestowed to the world.