tsukoui wrote:You're right, this obsession with skin colour is boring. I've never heard the Roman angle before. It's interesting. But I wouldn't write off the connection with Africa either. It is clear from the pottery that the relationship with Africa was one of respect:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-figure_pottery This says nothing of the skin colour of the actual Greeks, as I said, such a question is boring, but it does show that they were happy to be portrayed in black, showing a much more nuanced appreciation of people by the ancients, something sadly lacking in both the Afro-Centricists and the Euro-Centricists. The question is, is blaming it all on the Romans what Christ would have done? Note, I am not pushing for reconciliation between Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism. Some splits still have unanswered questions. To some people Euro-Centricists vs Afro-Centricists also still has unanswered questions. To some people Cyprus still has unanswered questions... where are we heading? Can we have spirituality without history? No. Can we learn from history's mistakes all at once? No. Can we chose which of history's mistakes to learn from a what time? If not, why not?
Every race on the planet has a connection with Africa, including the Angles and Saxons, Germanic Tribes, Vikings and Normans.
If there is reconciliation between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, I will hate Orthodoxy even more.
In Ancient Times, Africa had a great Civilization (Egypt) which predated the Greeks but was just as impressive. Now, if you go to Egypt, such Civilization has been relegated to the distant past even more so than Greece (sadly of course).
There is very little to connect Africa with European society these days other than posing an illegal immigration problem to Italy, Germany, Sweden, France, and the UK.