WHO CREATED CIVILIZATION?
HATSHEPSUT
BLACK
EGYPTIANS
ANCIENT NUBIAN
BLACKS IN
AMERICA
BLACK MULTIGENIUSESS
HANNIBAL
President Thomas Jefferson said, "Never yet could I find that a
Black had uttered a thought above the level of plain
narration...never saw an elementary tract of painting or
sculpture." Congressman Thomas Hardwick of Georgia, in 1904,
demanded and received the disenfranchisement of Black people from
the gains made after the Civil War. He said, "Black people never
founded a government nor made a single step toward civilization that
did not soon lapse in barbarism, except under the fostering care and
guidance of White people." Historian Arnold Toynbee wrote in his
1934 history book: "It will be seen that when we classify mankind by
color, the only primary race that has not made a creative
contribution to any civilization is the Black race."
Former
President Richard Nixon was quoted in the Haldeman Diary as stating
"the Black race is the only race, which never founded a
civilization." Scientist and Professor R.B. Carrell concludes,
“Savages, including the whole Negro race, should on account of their
low mentality and unpleasant nature be painlessly exterminated.”
Were White scholars and presidents never taught the correct version
of history, or has there been a conspiracy for the past 200 years to
deny Black civilizations? Before Greece, Rome or Europe were ever
established, there were multiple Black civilizations throughout the
world, which were already thousands of years old.
All of
the elements of civilization first began in Africa, including
religion, art, science, government, mining, writing, mathematics,
architecture, engineering, and agriculture. Dr. Charles Nelson at
the University of Massachusetts states that animal domestication
occurred in Kenya 15,000 years ago; and that agricultural sites have
been carbon dated in Egypt to 18,000 BC.
The
oldest numeration system was found in Zaire by Dr. Jean de Heinzelin
with markings on the Ishango Bone dated 8000 BC. She also said that
the people were familiar with prime numbers and multiplication by
two since the markings were paired at 3-6, 4-8, and 5-10.
Astronomy and astrology are believed to have existed for almost
50,000 years. The oldest stellar calendar is dated 4241 BC. It has
365 1/4 days and 12 months with 30 days in each month. The ancient
Africans were also the first to divide the day into 24 hours and to
begin the day at midnight.
African
medical textbooks have been found that are over 5,000 years old.
Ancient Africans were very well versed in medical diagnosis and
treatment with as many as 1,000 animal, plant and mineral products
used in the treatment of illness.
All
religions are believed to have originated in Africa, including
Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. General Massey states
that the religious records of all religions including the Christian
Bible are traceable and in many cases are direct copies of the
religious records of ancient Egypt and Nubia. St. Augustine, one of
the founding fathers of Christian Theology, wrote "What is now
called the Christian religion has existed among the ancients and was
not absent from the beginning of the human race."
The
ancient Black Egyptians created paper about 4000 BC, which made the
recording of history and science more practical for library
storage. It is estimated that over 700,000 books were in the
libraries of Egypt before Homer, the father of Western literature,
was even born.
Could
it be that Black history is the best kept secret in the world or
have politicians, including past presidents, denied Black history to
accelerate Black disenfranchisement?
Hatshepsut of ancient Egypt is considered the greatest female ruler
of all time. This black empress is the first woman in recorded
history to challenge and destroy the theory of male supremacy.
After fighting her way to power, she held the throne of the world’s
mightiest empire at that time for 34 years. Since her father
Thutmose I had conquered most of the known world, Hatshepsut was not
faced with an external enemy. Her greatest nemeses were the priests
of the God Amen who were determined not to end more than 3000 years
of masculine tradition.
When
the priests demanded that she step aside and allow her brother
Thutmose II to rule as pharaoh, Hatshepsut tried to discredit her
half brother by announcing that Thutmose II was the son of
Mutnefert, a concubine, and therefore royal blood was only passed
through to her. She knew that all black African societies,
including Egypt, were matrilineal, which means that inheritance,
including the power of the throne, was passed through the female
line. Hatshepsut could easily trace her female ancestry to her
jet-black Ethiopian grandmother, Nefertari-Aahmes, but faced with
the alternatives of possible civil war or compromise, she agreed to
marry Thutmose II. By all accounts, however, Thutmose II was an
overweight, sickly, weakling and allowed Hatshepsut to run the
affairs of the monarchy unopposed during their 13 years of marriage
(1492-1479 BC). Upon the death of Thutmose II, Hatshepsut startled
the nation by boldly announcing that she was a man. She donned a
fake beard, male clothes, and changed her name from Hatshepsitu to
Hatshepsut, its male equivalent. This would be similar to changing
one’s female name from Demetria to the male version of Demetrius.
Hatshepsut crushed all further opposition by also announcing that
she was not the daughter of Thutmose I, but the virgin birth son
of God Amen and her mother Ahmose. She declared that the great God
Amen appeared to her mother “in a flood of light and perfume” and by
“Immaculate Conception” this union produced a baby boy. For those
in doubt, she had the entire bedroom scene painted on the walls of
her temple in intimate detail. Thereafter, her sculptured portraits
depicted her with a beard and male features. She also demanded that
her title be changed to “King/Pharaoh of the North and South; the
Horus of Gold; Conqueror of All Lands; the Mighty One.”
These
changes must have come as quite a shock to the priests who had
witnessed her giving birth to two daughters, Nefrure and
Merytra-Hatshepset, while married to Thutmose II. Several priests
also joked that the one title she could not add was “Mighty Bull of
Maat” which implies male fertility.
Hatshepsut became firmly established as King/Pharaoh for the next 21
years (1479-1458 BC), and her popularity increased tremendously as
did the prosperity of Egypt. She was such a shrewd administrator,
sending ambassadors to all her conquered lands, that gold tributes
became so plentiful they no longer were weighed but measured in
bushel baskets. J.A. Rogers wrote: “She began to publicize herself
in the most sensational manner of that time, that is, by the
building of temples, pyramids, and obelisks, the size and grandeur
of which had never been seen before and regarded by the popular mind
as a gauge of the ruler’s power.”
To
further demonstrate her triumph over the priests of Amen, Hatshepsut
commissioned her black architect boyfriend, Senmut, to build a
structure that would overshadow the colossal temple of Amen-Ra
(Karnak), which was the stronghold of her opponents. Under Senmet’s
genius was created a magnificent temple, called Deir el Bahari, out
of the sheer rock cliff that looks down on the temple of Amen-Ra.
It sits
high in the cliffs with a frontage of 800 feet and a series of
courtyards and colonnades decorated with reliefs, shrines,
inscriptions, innumerable statues, wonderful terraces, and
paradisiacal gardens. Deir el Bahari is still considered one of the
world’s most remarkable architectural specimens and the embodiment
of Senmut’s multi-faceted genius. Hatshepsut lined the walkway to
her temple with sandstone sphinxes of herself. Sphinx monuments
were previously reserved only for the male as “Loving Horus”.
As a
final blow to her detractors, Hatshepsut ordered the creation of two
of the largest most beautiful rose granite obelisks the world had
ever seen and presented them as gifts to the temple of Amen-Ra.
Hatshepsut astutely ordered the obelisks taller than the temple so
that the roof had to be removed to accommodate her gifts, despite
the fact that this temple was one of the most colossal structures
made by man. Hatshepsut made the obelisks even more conspicuous and
overshadowing of the temple by encasing their tops with a precious
gold-silver mixture. This made the obelisks so brilliant in
sunlight that whenever a visitor looked out on the city, the most
dazzling sight was no longer the temple of Amen-Ra but her obelisks.
By
riding into battle with her troops, Hatshepsut was the forerunner to
all the great African warrior queens from the Candaces of Ethiopia
to Queen Nzinga of Angola. Although there were no major wars during
her reign, there were revolts. One ancient scribe recounted
Hatshepsut’s military accomplishments during a Nubian revolt on a
wall in Senmut’s tomb: “I followed the ‘Living Horus’ (Hatshepsut)
of upper and lower Egypt - may HE live forever! I saw when HE
overthrew the Nubian Bowman, and when their chiefs were brought to
HIM as living captives. I saw when HE razed Nubia, I being in HIS
majesty’s following…” Denoting Hatshepsut with masculine pronouns
was demanded by her and was also a method used to exalt her position
as “Living Horus”.
Despite
the fact that she often dressed as a male, she never lost touch with
her feminine side. Scribes wrote that she was “lovely to look at;
graceful in her movements, and fragrant as a flower.” Hatshepsut
wrote of herself: “My fragrance is like a divine breath; my scent
reaches as far as the land of Punt; my skin is that of pure gold…I
have no equal among the gods who were since the world was.”
Hatshepsut’s rule was one of the most prosperous times ever for the
people of Egypt who had abundant work, shelter, and food. Memories
of Hatshepsut persisted for many centuries after her reign and
stories were passed down from generation to generation about her
wonderful deeds, brave nature, beauty, and ingenuity until she
reached godlike stature. Hatshepsut, a great black leader of
Africa’s Golden Age, has been called “the first great woman in
history” but in actuality may be “history’s greatest woman”.
The
ancient Egyptians produced one of the highest forms of civilization
ever known. They were outstanding in the fields of mathematics,
astronomy and astrology, medicine, religion, philosophy,
architecture, engineering, art, government, science, mining and
virtually all other fields involving the elements of civilization.
In
mathematics, the ancient Egyptians gave us not only arithmetic, but
algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and also calculus. Higher math was
needed for building temples and pyramids. The Egyptian Great
Pyramid is among the 7 Wonders of the World, and even today we could
not reproduce this structure. Egyptian medical textbooks have been
found which are over 5,000 years old and many of their methods of
diagnosis and treatment are still used today.
Gerald
Massey states that the religious records of virtually all religions
including the Christian Bible, are traceable and in many cases,
direct copies of the religious records of ancient Egypt. J.A.
Rogers says, "every Christian priest from Moses through Jesus was
taught in the Egyptian mysteries system". Acts 7:22 in the Bible
confirms that Moses was learned in the wisdom of the Egyptians.
Every Greek philosopher and writer from Homer to Pythagoras and
Aristotle are known to have studied in ancient Egypt. The Egyptians
were also the first to produce paper and had over 700,000 books in
their libraries when invaded by Alexander.
Given
the outstanding accomplishments of the ancient Egyptians, it is
understandable why every society on Earth has claimed the ancient
Egyptians as their ancestors including: Arabs, Europeans, and
Asians. However, the current Egyptian is as different from the
ancient Egyptian as the current American is from the ancient
American. Cheikh Anta Diop, a Senegalese professor and scientist,
claims that the original ancient Egyptian civilization was built by
Black Africans long before Egypt was invaded by Assyrians, Libyans,
Persians, Greeks, Romans, and Arabs.
A Cairo
symposium was held on February 3, 1974 by the United Nations
Economic Social and Cultural Organization called (UNESCO) on the
ethnicity of the ancient Egyptians. Diop convinced everyone in
attendance that the ancient Egyptians were Black Africans based on
his seven- (7) point presentation.
First
of all, he developed a melanin dosage test and demonstrated that
ancient Egyptian mummies had heavy doses of melanin in their skin,
which was non-existent in White skinned races.
Second,
he proved that ancient Egyptians had group B type blood, common
among Africans, and not group A type blood, characteristic of the
White race.
Third,
he gave osteological measurements of the skull and long bones and
demonstrated typical Negroid facial and bodily proportions among the
Egyptians.
Fourth,
Diop produced records from ancient Greek and Latin writers, who were
contemporary with the ancient Egyptians, including Herodotus,
Aristotle, Lucian and Diodorus. These writers all claimed that the
ancient Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Colchidians all had Black skin,
thick lips, kinky hair, and thin legs.
Fifth,
Diop showed artwork by ancient Egyptians who drew themselves with
Black skin and wooly hair. They even named their country Kemit,
which means Black and called themselves Kemites.
Sixth,
ancient Egyptian gods were all portrayed as jet-black in color and
this in as much as most nations draw their deities in their own
image.
Seventh, circumcision is of African origin beginning before 4000 BC
in Ethiopia and Egypt. Circumcision was not practiced in the rest
of the world unless they were taught by the Egyptians.
Finally, there is a strong linguistic kinship or affinity between
the ancient Egyptian language and the languages of Africa,
especially the West African language of Wolof. These languages have
many words, which are the same in sound and meaning.
Cheikh
Anta Diop was successful in convincing everyone at the 1974 UNESCO
Symposium that the ancient Egyptians were Black Africans, and yet
western society continues to portray them as White. The epitome of
unconscionable cultural thievery is the Pyramid shaped Luxor hotel
in Las Vegas, which displays White Egyptian figures inside, and a
Sphinx outside with blue eyes and a European nose.
Nubians
played a major role in Egyptian civilization, both at its beginning
and near its end. Nubia is an ancient Black country now located
within southern Egypt and northern Sudan. Dr. Bruce Williams from
the University of Chicago published in 1979, after extensive
archaeological investigation, that a great Black Nubian dynasty
preceded the 1st Egyptian dynasty by several hundred years and
introduced all of the principles of civilization, which were later
brought to fruition by the ancient Egyptians. Evidence of an
advanced political organization with Pharaohs, an advanced writing
system with hieroglyph, and an advanced religious concept with Horus
and Osiris were all found to precede the first Egyptian dynasty.
During
the Ninth Century BC, Egypt became dominated by foreign rulers
including the Libyans and Assyrians and again looked for help from
her southern Black neighbor. The Nubian emperor Piankhy conquered
all of Egypt and became the first ruler of the 25th Egyptian
dynasty. He sponsored a cultural revival in Egypt and resurrected
the linguistic and artistic style of the old and middle Egyptian
kingdoms. He refurbished all the Egyptian temples and monuments
and had many new pyramids and other buildings erected.
It was
during this 25th Egyptian dynasty, between 800 BC and 654 BC, called
the "Nubian Renaissance," that Africans were also responsible for
tremendously influencing the first American civilization called the
Olmec civilization. Speculation as to a possible African element in
the first major American civilization began in 1858 AD, when the
first of many colossal stone heads were discovered by Mexican
peasants. These colossal heads were over eight feet in height and
weighed over 10 tons each. The colossal heads were carbon dated to
800 BC and all have typical Nubian features including full lips,
fleshy noses, and Africoid facial contours. The ancient Egyptian
harbor at Tanis is the only other place in the world with colossal
heads of Nubian Blacks.
Dr.
Ivan Van Sertima studied extensively the Egypto-Nubian presence in
ancient Mexico and found tremendous technological and cultural
contributions made to the Olmec civilization by Nubians.
These
technological advancements included the art of mummification, the
art of pyramid building, and the skills needed to transport massive
blocks of stone for long distances. Buildings required great
mathematical precision in the laying, reveling, and fitting of the
stone, and this was done for the first time in ancient America with
Nubian instructors. Dr. Barry Fell of Harvard says the
Egypto-Nubian hieroglyphic writing system has been found as far
north as eastern Canada, among the Micmac tribe after spreading from
its Olmec center. Bronze technology was also given to the Olmecs in
addition to the Egyptian calendar.
Cultural traits adopted by the Olmecs from the Egypto-Nubians
included the use of the color purple, the artificial beard, and the
double crown headdress for signifying royalty. Professor
Wiercinski, a Polish skull and skeletal expert, says that 13.5% of
the bones found in one Olmec cemetery were African and that many
were dressed in a royal or priest fashion and were lying side by
side with a native American female.
During
the Nubian renaissance, long before Christopher Columbus and even
before Jesus Christ, Blacks were masters of the old world of Egypt
and the new world of America. Dr. Van Sertima says that this fact
in itself opens a new historical window from which to view the
history of America and of the entire Black race.
World
history has produced many men who have been described as geniuses
but very few have ever been described as multi-genius. European
historians have used the term multi-genius to describe such men as
Aristotle and Leonardo de Vinci. However, these historians have
never described a Black person as a multi-genius despite the fact
that there have been just as many Black multi-geniuses as there are
White. In fact, the world's first and greatest multi-genius in
recorded history is a small Black Egyptian named Imhotep. Others
include Benjamin Banneker and Cheikh Anta Diop.
Cheikh
Anta Diop was born in 1923 in Western Senegal. He completed his
bachelor's degree in Senegal and his doctorate degree in Paris.
Diop began as an extremely promising physicist who did experiments
in the world famous laboratory of Marie Curie (who earlier had won
the Nobel Prize for the discovery of radiation). At a time when
only a handful of people in the world understood Einstein's
relativity theory, Diop translated the theory into his native
Senegalese language of Wolof.
In mid
stream, Diop decided to change his Ph.D. dissertation to ancient
Egyptian history and to use his scientific background to prove that
ancient Egyptians were Black skinned indigenous Africans, who taught
the Greeks what later became Western civilization. Diop wanted
Black people around the world to be able to claim the ancient
Egyptians with great pride as their ancestors.
Diop’s
Ph.D. dissertation was rejected three times until he developed a
chemical process for testing melanin in the skin of Egyptian mummies
and proved that ancient Egyptians were a dark skinned race. He also
became an expert in linguistics and proved that the Egyptian
language was African and that it was genetically related to a family
of African languages including is own native Wolof. In 1966, Diop
built a radiocarbon laboratory in Senegal for carbon-14 dating to
help prove that the human race first started in Africa.
Another
Black genius was Benjamin Banneker, who was born near Baltimore,
Maryland in 1732. At the age of 22, he looked at a pocket watch
from England and constructed America's first large wooden clock in
his front yard, which kept accurate time for over 20 years. White
people traveled from 5 neighboring states to see this unusual clock
built by a Black man.
The
first scientific book ever written by an African American is
believed to be the
Astronomical Almanac
first published by Banneker in 1791, which accurately predicted
eclipses, high and low tides, positions of the planets, times for
sunrise and sunset, and many other useful items. Banneker was also
the most important member of a federal surveying team, which laid
out plans for the construction of Washington, D.C.
The
first and greatest of all multi-geniuses was Imhotep, who served the
Egyptian Pharaoh Zoser around 2980 BC. His titles included: Chief
Physician, Grand Vizier, Chief Architect, Head Priest, Chief Scribe,
and Astronomer. Imhotep was the real “Father of Medicine”, and his
reputation as a healer was so great that he was worshiped as the
“God of Medicine” by Persians, Greeks, and Romans over a period of
3000 years.
As
Grand Vizier, Imhotep served as the King's supervisor of all
departments of State including: the judiciary, the treasury, the
Army and Navy, agriculture, and on all the king's construction
projects. Imhotep's father was a distinguished architect who taught
his son very well. Imhotep built the first and largest stone
structure in recorded history called the Step Pyramid of Zakkarah.
It was designed to become the tomb of Pharaoh Zoser and consisted of
large blocks of limestone, which reached 195 feet high and 396 feet
wide at the base.
As
Chief Priest, Imhotep was responsible for reading religious text
during burial ceremonies. Common people held the Chief Priest in
high esteem because they felt that he influenced the final destinies
of dead spirits and also served as a mediator between the king and
unseen powers of the universe.
Imhotep
was such a great philosopher that much of his advice has been passed
along for 5000 years, such as, "Eat, drink, and be merry for
tomorrow we die." As an astronomer, Imhotep believed that heavenly
bodies exerted a profound influence on the welfare of men, so he
carefully charted the movements of the planets, the moon, the sun,
the eclipses, and the stars.
Malcolm
X once wrote that history is best prepared to reward all research.
With just a little research, one could uncover the enormous
contributions for the benefit and betterment of mankind made by our
brilliant Black multi-geniuses.
Hannibal Barca (247-183 BC) from the ancient city of Carthage (North
Africa), is considered the greatest military genius of all time.
The maneuvers and strategies this Black general used to defeat the
larger Roman armies repeatedly over a period of 14 years while on
Italian soil have been studied for centuries at military academies
throughout the world. Moreover, it is believed that the German army
successfully used several of Hannibal’s strategies in World War I,
including the “Schlieffen Plan” of envelopment that was based on
Hannibal’s famous battle at Cannae.
Ancient
Carthage was a magnificent city founded on the Northern coast of
Africa (near present day Tunisia) around 800 BC. This city was the
undisputed leader in maritime trade and commerce throughout the
Mediterranean Sea and most of the known world for over 400 years.
During the third century before Christ, Rome became powerful enough
to challenge its African rival, and eventually they fought three
bloody wars called the Punic Wars. Hannibal’s father was also a
great general named Hamilcar Barca, who lost to Rome in the first
Punic War that was fought for control of the Mediterranean Sea and
trade with several neighboring island, especially Sicily.
After
loosing the first Punic War (264-241 BC), Hamilcar Barca conquered
most of Southern Spain (called Iberia by the Romans) in an attempt
to replace or compensate for the trade and commerce lost to Rome.
It is believed that Barcelona, Spain was named for the Barca
family. Hannibal’s father made his sons pledge undying hatred for
Rome and eventual revenge for Carthaginian losses during the first
Punic War. Hamilar also made certain his sons were trained in the
finest African military tradition, and also had them tutored by
superlative Greek scholars. Hannibal was the eldest and most
brilliant of the sons and could speak five languages, including
Greek and Latin, before age 20.
Upon
the death of his father, Hannibal was appointed supreme commander of
the Carthaginan military at the tender age of 25. After Rome
continued to attack Carthaginan allies and suppress trade routes,
Hannibal decided to organize the world’s most diversified army and
attack Rome. His 90,000 men included soldiers from several
different North African tribes, in addition to swarthy Spaniards,
and white Celts and Gauls. His multiracial army was also
multilingual and required over a dozen interpreters for Hannibal’s
every word. Few military minds today would have given Hannibal much
of a chance against a powerful homogeneous single race, single
language Roman army fighting in defense of its own homeland.
Hannibal’s other greatest challenge was getting his army into Italy
since Rome controlled the waterways. His decision to march his
massive army over the Alps had never been attempted before and is
again a testimony to his great genius. For example, in crossing
turbid river, such as the Rhone, Hannibal would build large flat
rafts and cover them with dirt so as to trick the elephants on
board. The larger elephants were forced to cross upstream, which
provided a partial damming of the river, that allowed the smaller
pack animals and horses to cross down stream.
On one
occasion, large 1,000-ton boulders blocked Hannibal’s only path, and
his soldiers were afraid they would have to turn back. Hannibal
drew upon the Greek science he had learned and ordered his men to
cut down all the neighboring trees and place them under the
boulders. Once the trees were set afire and the boulders became so
hot they glowed, he then ordered his men to pour large amounts of
vinegar on the stones, which caused the boulders to break up into
smaller movable pieces.
Hannibal repeatedly provided ingenious solutions to apparently
unsolvable problems that made this African appear god-like in the
eyes of his soldiers. However, traveling over 1,000 miles and five
months through the Pyrenees Mountains and the Alps was still very
treacherous, and Hannibal lost half of his army through harsh
weather exposure and battling with hostile tribes seeking plunder.
Once
Hannibal reached Northern Italy, he attempted to enlarge his army by
telling local inhabitants that he had come to liberate them from the
oppressive Romans. He had the wisdom to form an alliance with
several of the larger tribes by using his army to defeat their local
enemies. Hannibal thoroughly interviewed all the local leaders and
also sent out scouts to determine the best areas for battle and
ambush. He would also thoroughly investigate the character of his
opposing Roman generals to determine which generals were most likely
to be short tempered, impetuous, and prone to mistakes. The Roman
Republic elected two different generals every six months and allowed
those generals to rotate leadership every other day. Hannibal only
did battle when the general he considered less capable was in
charge.
In his
first battle against the Roman army (217 BC) at the Trebia River,
Hannibal hid several thousand of his best soldiers and cavalry in
the swampy river bed overnight. Once the Romans arched past the
hidden troops, Hannibal’s army was able to attack them from the
front and rear and destroyed them easily. The Romans soon regrouped
and sent a second army after the Carthaginians. Hannibal studied a
local lake adjacent to a steep mountain cliff (Lake Trasimene) and
chose this as his second battleground. He noted that the lake
produced a heavy fog in the morning, which allowed his soldiers to
hide in the cliffs and pounce upon the unsuspecting Roman army,
which could not see his trips until it was too late.
After
having two large armies slaughtered by Hannibal in ambush, the Roman
Senate decided to canvas all of Southern Italy and to produce the
largest army in their history, which would only fight Hannibal in
open combat. Over 80,000 troops were recruited to fight against
Hannibal who had less than 40,000 soldiers left in his multiracial
army. Hannibal defeated the large Roman army in a strategy that was
copied for centuries thereafter. Noting that the Romans fought only
in rigid columns, he placed his poorest Gaullic soldiers in a large
semicircle facing the Romans and his best African soldiers far to
the left and right of this semicircle. As their rigid Roman columns
beat back the semicircle of Gaullic infantry, which went from convex
to concave, they failed to notice that Hannibal’s best African
soldiers were forming a vice on the left and right. Hannibal’s
crack Numidian cavalry fought their way to the rear of the Roman
army, which was now surrounded. In this deadly Battle of Cannae,
more than 70,000 Roman soldiers were killed within three hours,
which in comparison was more than one third of all Americans killed
during the first four years of World War II.
One of
the greatest mysteries of all time is why Hannibal did not attack
the city of Rome after destroying its entire army. Many of his
officers were bitterly disappointed. Some historians suggest that
Hannibal may have become compassionate after seeing 70,000 Romans
dead on the battlefield. Perhaps he felt he could not penetrate the
fortified walls without bettering rams and other wall storming
equipment he did not have. Over the next 14 years, Hannibal
conquered all of Southern Italy virtually unopposed since Roman
armies were afraid to confront him. Hannibal divided his war spoils
and booty between his troops and Carthage, which disposed both to
hold him in high esteem/
After
many years, a brilliant young Roman general named Publius Cornelius
Scipio, who spent most of his life studying Hannibal’s warfare
techniques, convinced the Roman Senate that Hannibal would leave
Italy if Rome attacked Carthage. Scipio was also able to turn
almost all of Hannibal’s North African allies against him including
the powerful Numidians by making outlandish and unfulfilled promises
of land and riches. Upon returning to Africa (202 BC), Hannibal
could not defeat the combined alliance of Africans and Romans at the
Battle of Zama, and Carthage was forced to surrender. Unable to
escape, Hannibal subsequently chose poisoning over imprisonment.
One has
to speculate what type of world we would have if Hannibal had
destroyed the city of Rome after completely destroying her entire
army. Perhaps the Black Africans of Carthage could have provided a
“kinder and gentler” world than the Roman Empire did over the next
700 years.
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