Mr. Beke on the Complexion of the Ancient Egyptians, 347 



Lastly: we know full well, that in the present day the com- 

 plexion of the natives of Egypt is far from being black ; and 

 that, in reality, they possess the general physical characters 

 of an European or Asiatic, rather than of an African race. 



What, then, is the conclusion to be come to under this con- 

 flicting evidence? It seems utterly impossible to reject alto- 

 gether the testimony of iEschylus and Herodotus, and espe- 

 cially of the latter, by which the fact is established, that, at 

 about 500 years before the commencement of the Christian 

 aera, the complexion of the natives of Egypt, if not actually 

 black, was at all events of so dark a shade, that such an epithet 

 might not improperly be applied to it among the fairer inha- 

 bitants of Greece: and if we admit this fact, there appear to 

 exist no means of reconciling it with the other evidences which 

 have been enumerated, except by the hypothesis which is ad- 

 vocated in my 'Origines Biblicce*? namely, that the natives of 

 ancient Egypt were derived from two distinct original stocks; 

 the one, and the earliest possessors of the country, being of 

 Ethiopian descent, who entered Egypt from the south ; and 

 the other being the people who are mentioned in the Hebrew 

 Scriptures under the name of DH¥p (Mitzrim), or Mitzrites, 



who, in all the translations of those Scriptures, from the Sep- 

 tuagint downwards, are incorrectly called Egyptians; and 

 their country, Mitzraim, is, in like manner, improperly de- 

 signated Egypt; and whose original country was not any por- 

 tion of Egypt itself, but was situate wholly to the eastward of 

 the isthmus of Suez. 



The former of these two peoples was, as may well be con- 

 ceived, of a race which came from the south, of a dark colour, 

 approaching to, if not actually, black; and it is to this people 

 that are applicable not only the descriptions of iEschylus and 

 Herodotus, but also (see { Orig. BibL' p. 295, note) the allu- 

 sion of the prophet Jeremiah ; — the Cushites, or Ethiopians, 

 and the primitive Egyptians being in fact identical. 



The latter people, the Mitzrites, being sprung from an 

 Arabian and northern stock, would not have been of much, 

 if any, darker complexion than the Israelites themselves; and 

 hence we can satisfactorily account for the absence in the 

 Hebrew Scriptures of all reference or allusion to their colour. 



A remarkable exemplification of the distinction which thus 

 existed between the Egyptians and the Mitzrites, is afforded 

 by the comparison of a notice of iElian concerning the former 

 people, with a statement contained in the Hebrew Scriptures 

 respecting the latter. The Roman writer informs us, that 



* * Origines Biblicce, or Researches in Primeval History,' vol. i. London, 

 1834. 



2Y2 



