The first university in the world

Londinoupolis

Alexandria, in Northern Africa, became the most important centre of research and study of the ancient world, due to the policies applied by the Ptolemaic kings after the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great. King Ptolemy established in 280 B.C. a museum in the south-west part of the palace which housed foreign visitors, poets, scholars and researchers. There he founded the Serapeion Temple, honouring the God Serapis. 

When Ptolemy II took power he established next to the Temple the Serapeion Library. The Egyptian priest Manetho helped significantly in this project. According to historical sources found in libraries and temples of Memphis in Ain Shams, Manetho created replicas of Egyptian texts in Greek, which were placed in the Serapeion Temple in Alexandria.

Manetho achieved three important goals, first he gave an overview of ancient Egyptian history until the rule of the Ptolemies, secondly he gave a collection of hieroglyphic writings containing philosophical and theological explanations of the world and thirdly he gave numerous references to the natural laws of science.

The library was comprised of general knowledge and philosophical texts of the era form the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Babylon, Syria, Persia and Greece. Also one could find scrolls from difference disciplines, including language, rhetoric, jurisprudence, law, geography, history, philosophy, logic, sport, engineering, medicine, chemistry and physics. This was the first time in history, where human heritage of many civilizations was accumulated into a single place and in a language widely known to countless people, i.e. Greek, making it possible for students from all around the known world to be able to study at this school of thought and science. The Serapeion was hence the first university in the world and it is due to this establishment that countless students studied there from the 3rd century B.C. until the 4th century A.D. 

 

Saint Melania the Roman of Africa! (December 31)

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St John the Compassionate, Patriarch of Alexandria (November 12)

In Communion 

St John was Patriarch of Alexandria in the seventh century. When he was elected Patriarch he immediately asked that a list be drawn up of “all my masters, down to the least of them.” When asked what he meant by this strange request, St John replied “The people whom you call poor and beggars are my masters and helpers, for it is only they who can really help us and bring us to the Kingdom of Heaven.” The list ended up contains 7000 names, and to each one St John allotted a daily allowance of money.

St John then issued decrees about commerce, imposing penalties for those who cheated others in the markets, and then built seven hospitals, each with forty beds. To women who came to give birth in these hospitals, he gave a ‘maternity benefit’ upon leaving. He also built homes for the aged and infirm, and houses of hospitality for strangers.

He cared particularly for Syrian refugees when, in 614 the Persians invaded Syria. Many came to Alexandria, where he provided generously for them. The Persians also sacked Jerusalem, leading the saint to send large amounts of money and food to the city, and ransomed captives there.

St John was also a peacemaker. Twice a week he would sit outside his cathedral and would settle disagreements and advocate for justice for the oppressed. At one point, St John was stopped by a woman who was seeking a mediator for a conflict with her son-in-law, and the other religious officials tried to dismiss her and hurry St John along, no doubt to do what they considered important ecclesial work. St John rebuked them and said “How can I expect God to listen to my prayers if I do not listen to what this woman wants?”

Icon from here

St John loved to get money from the wealthy to give to the poor. One time a certain wealthy person tried to ingratiate the saint by buying him a lavish gift. St John sold it and gave the money to the poor, so another gift was given. This kept happening and St. John said “We shall see who gets tired of this first!” He would also say “If in order to help the needy one is able, without ill-will, to strip the rich down to their shirts, one is not doing wrong, especially if they are heartless skinflints.”

St John's compassion, mercy, and peaceability made him immensely popular with his people. Before him, Christianity in Alexandria was remarkably conflicted and at times violent, but through his peaceful mercy he was reportedly able to increase the number of churches tenfold.

St John the Compassionate/Merciful: the Mission named after him in Toronto Canada (photo)

Bread in Africa

clovegarden.com

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While domestication of grains for easy harvesting may have originated in Anatolia and Caucasus, about 10,000 years ago, the Horn of Africa was certainly not far behind. Grinding of grains into flour with sliding stones, and the baking of flat breads, is far older. Today, the main breads of Africa are still made under very primitive conditions. in a manner possibly in place before the dawn of history.   Photo by Lelaw Wondimu distributed under license Creative Commons.

More on Bread.

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North Africa   -   The Maghreb (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania), Egypt, Sudan   Baghrir   -   [Beghrir]  This is a popular bread in the Maghreb region, often eaten for breakfast with a mix of butter and honey, but also with jams. It is made from semolina or wheat flour.   Photo by Tamorlan distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike v3.0 Unported.   Pita Bread   -   [Pita (Greek); Pocket Bread; Pide (Turkey); Khubz Arabi (Arabic)]  This lightly leavened wheat bread is very popular throughout North Africa, and far beyond. The ethnic markets here in the Los Angeles region are piled high with pita, in both white (photo) and whole wheat versions, in the 7 inch and larger sizes. The earliest Arabic recipes (10th century) have these baked in a Tandoor, but today they are usually made in continuous industrial ovens so as to meet the high demand. Pita is baked in a very hot oven at 450°F/232°C or higher, causing the disk to puff up dramatically. When removed from the oven the disk collapses, but the two sides remain separated, so the bread can be opened into a pocket. Throughout the region, street foods of all kinds are packed into pita pockets. The photo specimen was a 7 inch diameter disk 0.15 inch thick. Half the top layer was removed to show the inside. Enriched wheat flour, water, yeast, salt, calcium propionate. Kisra Rhaheeefa  Kisra Rhaheeefa is much like Ethiopia's Injera and used similarly, but is made from Sorghum Flour or Wheat Flour rather than Teff. The "Kisra Rhaheeefa" name differentiates it from "Kisra Aseeda", which is a Sorghum Porridge.   Photo by Mohammed Elfatih Hamadien distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike v4.0 International. The Horn of Africa   -   Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia   Injera   -   [Injera (Amharic); (Bidenaa (Oromo)]  This is the bread of Ethiopia and Eritrea, usually made from Teff. It was traditionally, and is often still today, made very large, to fit the table for which it would be the tablecloth. Scoops of stews and other recipes are placed directly on it. Diners tear off pieces of the "tablecloth" and use them to pick up the food. Today, especially in restaurants it is often made smaller and served on an Indian thali, or a very large plate.   Photo by PhoTom distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike v4.0 International. This is a sour dough bread, made with a leavened batter similar to thin pancake batter. The batter is baked on a large clay or metal tray, over moderate heat, and on one side only. Bubbles on the top side burst, giving the bread a spongy texture, almost like honeycomb tripe, which is very good at holding sauces. Temperature is regulated so it sets through, but does not brown on the bottom (see the rolled examples in the photo at the top of the page). It can be made using white or brown Teff, or a mix. Farmers say the white Teff is preferred to the brown by most of their customers. Lahoh   -   [Luhuh (Somali), Laxoox, Lahooh, Canjeero, Canjeelo, Anjeero] This bread is popular in Somalia, Djibouti and Yemen, but now also popular in Israel, introduced by Yemenite Jews. It is a fermented sour dough bread usually made of Sorghum Flour or Corn Flour and cooked on circular metal stove called a taawa or daawo. In Yemen, it is often served by street vendors.   Photo by Gilabrand at en.wikipedia distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike v3.0 Unported attribution required. East Africa   -   Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan   Chapati Long influenced by India, East Africa has adopted the Indian Chapati as their main form of bread - but they use white flour instead of the whole wheat Atta flour used in India. As it is very inconvenient for me to produce Chipatis, I use Flour Tortillas, easily available here in Southern California. I prefer the small 5 inch diameter ones. Incidentally, Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas make an excellent substitute for Indian Chapatis   Kisra Rhaheeefa   South Sudan (Christian and Native Religion) is now a separate country from Sudan (all Muslim) and is moving strongly into the East African community. One thing they still have in common with Sudan is Sudan's Kisra Rhaheeefa.

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©Andrew Grygus - agryg@clovegarden.com - Photos on this page not otherwise credited are © cg1 - Linking to and non-commercial use of this page permitted

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Bread and Bread-Baking Technologies in Africa

Bread is a dietary staple in North Africa, Northeastern Africa, and the Horn of Africa, and it is important in the diet of many Saharan and sub-Saharan people. African breads are made from the flours of a variety of cereals, tubers, and corms that are baked, steamed, and sometimes fried to produce pancake, flat bread, leavened or slightly leavened loaves, or cakes using ovens, hearths, griddles, pots, and molds. Technical choice in bread baking is associated with the baking properties of bread ingredients and social group’s culinary practices and preferences and does not represent evolutionary stages.

The Bread/Oven Porridge/Pot Bread/Griddle Traditions

Research of Africa’s culinary practices includes the history of bread consumption and its associated technologies, an investigation that is far from exhaustive. Several researchers observe a general (but not absolute) culinary divide between bread-based cuisines that use ovens and griddles...

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    Additional Reading

1. Chazan, M., & Lehner, M. (1990). An ancient analogy: Pot baked bread in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Paléorient, 16(2), 21–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. Food and Agriculture Organization (1995). Sorghum and Millets in Human Nutrition (Food and Nutrition Series, No. 27). Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization.Google Scholar
3. Gebrekidan, B., & Gebrehiwot, B. (1982). Sorghum injera preparations and quality parameters. In L. W. Rooney & D. S. Murty (Eds.), Proceedings of the international symposium on sorghum grain quality (pp. 55–66). Patancheru, India: ICRISAT.Google Scholar
4. Larsen, H. (1936). On baking in Egypt during the Middle Kingdom. Acta Archaeologica, 7, 51–57.Google Scholar
5. Pomeranz, Y., & Shellenberger, J. A. (1971). Bread science and technology. Westport, CT: Avi Publishing Company.Google Scholar
6. Samuel, D. (1989). Their staff of life: Initial investigations on ancient Egyptian bread baking. In B. J. Kemp (Ed.), Amarna reports V (pp. 253–290). London: Egypt Exploration Society.Google Scholar 
    
   Egyptian Bread Websites

1. Amarna West Site blog, British Museum. http://blog.amarawest.britishmuseum.org/2013/01/14/amara-west-2013-expect-the-unexpected/
2. Harvard University. http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~aera/Giza_Pages/Aeragram_Pages/AERAG1_1/bakeries.htm
3. Hilary Stewart on Ancient Egyptian bread baking. http://ancientfoods.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/ancient-egypt-bread/
4. Theban mapping project. http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/articles/article_15.4.html
5. University of Memphis. http://www.prosphora.org/page38.html
6. Sally Grainger and Roman bread, British Museum. http://blog.britishmuseum.org/2013/07/19/a-very-versatile-roman-oven/

Voltaire and the ‘Blacks’ - The true, repugnant face of the “Enlightenment”

 By George Kekavmenos

Source: antibaro.gr

Orthodox Outlet for Dogmatic Enquiries

Ελληνικά: Ο Βολταίρος και οι μαύροι: Το αληθινό πρόσωπο του Διαφωτισμού (translation K.N.)

Saint Nephon (4^th century A.D.) had proclaimed that “just as the Earth produces both white and dark grapes, thus does it also give light and dark-skinned people; however, all of them are children of God, destined for Paradise.” Ever since the 5^th century, the Church also honors and celebrates the memory of the blessed Moses the “Ethiopian” (=with reference to his dark skin) – not forgetting to also mention the other “Ethiopian” Eunuch of the 1^st century: perhaps the first black person to become a member of the Church (as mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles). The important Father and Teacher, Gregory of Nyssa ("Precise Exegesis on Ecclesiastes", Homily 4, PG 44,664 etc) has been expounding from the 4th century the views of the Gospels, which certain others tried to copy, many centuries later:

"I have acquired slaves and servants"... Can you see the magnitude of one’s arrogance here? These words constitute a mutiny against God... if that person considers himself the lord and master of men and women he has - if anything - surpassed human nature with his pride. [ ... ] You condemn to slavery a human being whose nature it is to be free and self-governing, and you erect your own law opposite the law of God, thus overturning the law that governs the life of a human being. Him - who was forged precisely to be the lord of the earth and who was appointed by the Creator to rule – you have subjected to the yoke of slavery, which contravenes and opposes the divine commandment. [...] “I have acquired slaves and servants”... At what price? tell us. What did you find in nature that is equal to them? [... ] Somebody gave birth to them and likewise to you; your lives are common; the passions of the soul and the body are the same for all: joy and impatience, sorrow and pleasure, anger and fear, sickness and death. Does a master differ at all to his slave in all these? Don’t they both breathe the same air? Don’t they both see the sun in the same way? Won’t they both turn into the same dust after death? If therefore you are the same as all the others, tell me, where do you possess the advantage over the others, so that even though you are a human being yourself, you consider yourself the master of another human being?

When putting together all my studies regarding the 25^th of March anniversary and the “Secret School”, I was obliged to read all the “wisdoms” of progressive historians on these topics as well. That was where I noticed how the “refrain” common to all of them was their condemnation of the Church as something obscure and medieval, supposedly because She was opposed to progress and the light that the enlightenment movement had brought to mankind. And naturally, they never ceased to point out that the Church was also opposed to the 1821 revolution in Greece - the appearance of which we supposedly owe exclusively to the Enlightenment, which is the most progressive thing ever to have appeared on earth, given that we people all owe our “human rights” to it.

So, all people are indebted to the Enlightenment…..

All people?

Well, almost all, but not quite….

Because all those - who so vehemently label as an obscurantist anyone who dares to express any opposition to the enlightenment movement – have “forgotten” to show us another, not-so-enlightened aspect of the “century of lights”…

In other words, they omit to tell us that human rights -albeit a good and perfect idea- apply exclusively to ... the white race! Yes, all those magnificent and outstanding anti-racists of our time happen to be the staunch supporters and fiery heralds of the cruelest racist movement ever to have appeared, which is none other than the Enlightenment. This explains why all the major representatives of the Enlightenment are also the toughest kind of racists – in fact, with a racism so savage, that it profoundly shocks every person who has noticed it…

We will now begin with the views expressed by the Enlightenment’s “cream of the crop”, namely Voltaire, on negroes and … their “rights”; this philosopher had made the following… non-racist statement when describing our negro fellow-men : 

«Leurs yeux ronds, leur nez épaté, leurs lèvres toujours grosses, leurs oreilles différemment figurées, la laine de leur tête, la mesure même de leur intelligence, mettent entre eux et les autres espèces d’hommes des d i f f é r e n c e s prodigieuses »: Essai sur les moeurs, INTRODUCTION. [1]

(Their round eyes, their flattened nose, their lips which are always large, their differently shaped ears, the wool of their head, that very measure of their intelligence, place prodigious differences between them and the other species of men.)

«[Ε]t ils n’ont d’homme que la stature du corps, avec la faculté de la parole et de la pensée dans un degré très éloigné du nôtre. Tels sont ceux que j’ai vus et examinés»: Essai sur les moeurs, INTRODUCTION. [2]

(And they are not men, except in their stature, with the faculty of speech and thought at a degree far distant to ours. Such are the ones that I have seen and examined.)

«[Ε]t on peut dire que si leur intelligence n’est pas d’une autre espèce que notre entendement, elle est fort inférieure. Ils ne sont pas capables d’une grande attention; ils combinent peu, et ne paraissent faits ni pour les avantages ni pour les abus de notre philosophie»: Essai sur les moeurs, κεφ. CXLI. [3]

(And one could say that if their intelligence is not of another species than ours, then it is greatly inferior. They are not capable of paying much attention; they mingle very little, and they do not appear to be made either for the advantages or the abuses of our philosophy.)

And the best quote:

«C'est une grande question parmi eux s'ils son descendus des singes, ou si les singes sont venus d'eux. Nos sages ont dit que l'homme est l'image de Dieu: voilà une plaisante image de l'Etre éternel qu'un nez noir épaté, avec peu ou point d'intelligence! Un temps viendra, sans doute, où ces animaux sauront bien cultiver la terre, l'embellir par des maisons et par des jardins, et connaître la route des astres. Il faut du temps pour tout»: Lettres d’Amabed, Septième lettre. D'Amabed. [4]

(And it is a big question whether among them they are descendants of monkeys, or if monkeys come from them. Our wise men have said that man is the image of God: behold a pleasant image of the eternal Being with a flat black nose, with little or no intelligence! A time will come, without a doubt, when these animals will know how to cultivate the earth well, to embellish it with houses and gardens, and to know the routes of the stars. Time is a must, for everything.)

What repulsion that supreme Enlightener and FOUNDER of human rights –Voltaire- must have truly felt for black people! And how the teachings of the Holy Bible must have annoyed him (that all people originate from one sole couple, Adam and Eve!) And how could it be otherwise, given that for all racists this specific teaching of the Bible is like a red rag to a bull (see the amazing analysis by William B. Cohen, The French Encounter With Africans: White Response to Blacks, 1530-1880, Indiana University Press 2003, p. 84 etc.).

Of course the above are just a small sample of the beautiful non-racist things that Voltaire had written about negroes.

So, was it only Voltaire who had such…humanitarian and very anti-racist views? Of course not! Listen to what the equally great, enlightened philosopher David Hume says:

«I am apt to suspect the Negroes, and in general all other species of men, to be naturally inferior to the whites. There never was any civilized nation of any other complexion than white, nor even any individual eminent in action or speculation. No ingenious manufactures among them, no arts, no sciences... Such a uniform and constant difference could not happen, in so many countries and ages, if nature had not made an original distinction between these breeds of men»: Of national characters, in Essays: Moral, Political and Literary. [5]

It is a well-known fact that the great American president Thomas Jefferson – who, while in Paris had actually participated in the drafting of the famous Declaration of Human Rights for man and citizen – was himself the owner of more than a hundred negro slaves…

We will now apprehend that great philosopher of MORALITY in an … anti-racist explosion of his (and this is where we all die laughing): Mr. Emmanuel Kant (yes, the famous Kant!), who says the following:

«Die Negers von Afrika haben von der Natur kein Gefühl, welches über das Läppische stiege. Herr Hume fordert jedermann auf, ein einziges Beispiel anzuführen, da ein Neger Talente gewiesen habe, und behauptet: daß unter den hunderttausenden von Schwarzen, die aus ihren Ländern anderwärts verführt werden, dennoch nicht ein einziger jemals gefunden worden, der entweder in Kunst oder Wissenschaft, oder irgend einer andern rühmlichen Eigenschaft etwas Großes vorgestellt habe, obgleich unter den Weißen sich beständig welche aus dem niedrigsten Pöbel empor schwingen und durch vorzügliche Gaben in der Welt ein Ansehen erwerben. So wesentlich ist der Unterschied zwischen diesen zwei Menschengeschlechtern, und er scheint eben so groß in Ansehung der Gemüthsfähigkeiten, als der Farbe nach zu sein»: Beobachtungen über das Gefühl des Schönen und Erhabenen, Vierter Abschnitt. [6]

(The Negroes of Africa have not received any intelligence from Nature that rises above foolishness. Mr. Hume challenges anyone to suggest even one example of a negro who has displayed any talent. As he himself verifies, among the hundreds of thousands of blacks who have wandered far away from their homelands, even though many of them have been liberated, not one exists who has succeeded in anything great, either in the arts or the sciences or in any other noteworthy thing. On the contrary, among the whites, people continuously rise above the low point that they were and they evolve through their superior qualifications, attaining worldly fame. The difference therefore between the two races is an essential one: It appears to be equally big, both with regard to the capabilities of the mind, as well as to the color.)

And I will close this brief walk through the wonderful and… enlightened world of the Enlightenment, with the revealing words that Abraham Lincoln had said with regard to the rights that negroes in America could have, following their liberation:

«I will say, then, that I AM NOT NOR HAVE EVER BEEN in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the black and white races---that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with White people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the White and black races which will ever FORBID the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together, there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I, as much as any other man, am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the White race»: 4th Lincoln-Douglas debate, 18 ix. Collected Works, Vol.3, pp.145-146. [7]

And this was the great liberator of negroes, Abraham Lincoln…

Behold, the disgusting brutality of the Enlightenment in all its glory; an enlightenment which had proclaimed human rights and equality in many ways, but with one condition: that they apply exclusively to the white race. And as we all know, these “radiant” teachings of the enlightenment did not remain in written form, but were implemented with the utmost precision and fastidiousness during the years that followed, both through colonization but also through the racist discriminations that were officially established in the larger countries of the “enlightened” West, with America –naturally- first and foremost.

This, my friends, is the enlightenment that the “enlightened” intellectuals of our land want us to embrace as “progress” and “light”. This is the enlightenment that whoever dares to reject or even doubt is characterized as an obscurantist enemy of progress, of science and all the other things that we are aware of. This is the philosophy in whose name all the dynamic anti-racists of our time swear by.

Just so that we are fully aware of what they are “promoting” to us….

Footnotes with links to the excerpts

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[1] See it here  

[2] See it here   

[3] See it here

[4] http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltaire

[5] See it here

[6] With reference to several books

[7] See it here