Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit: The Consequence of Negro Scholars
By Thomas de Aynesworth
I recall that during my undergraduate course work I had been tasked with the reading, analysis and review of an article from the much vaunted "Journal of Black Studies" in the United States. My professor was not necessarily anti-European like most intellectuals and later admitted that had he known the content of the article he would never had forced it upon any of his pupils. Nevertheless to me the article happened to make up in propagandistic value where it had lacked in any sort of academic merit. I shall post a few key passages of the article entitled, "Rediscovering the "Lost" Roman Caesar" by one Molefi Kete Asante and Shaza Ismail, along with some much needed commentary. It is to my great regret that both of these negroes hold PhDs.
The article focuses around one 3rd century A.D. Roman Caesar by the name of Septimius Severus. It sets out to prove in one way or another that the Emperor of most of the Aryan world (and much of the non-Aryan) was a coal black negro himself, as per the racist Afro-centric historical reinterpretation (black Cleopatra VII et al).
Here is the abstract:
"The aim of this article is to rescue, as much as possible, the history of the African Roman Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus in order to adequately place him, with his considerable faults and achievements, in the continental record of Africa. Thus, the authors present the reader with a general overview of the life and career of Severus, emphasizing the African character of his experience and that of his companions who worked to secure him the position of Emperor of Rome. They then interrogate the “identity” issues surrounding Severus’s history in order to rediscover his place in the history of the Roman Empire." (1)
What Asante et al means by "African character of his experience" is that Septimius Severus' treatment by scholars, both contemporaries of his time and modern historians tend to be generally negative within the framework of the SPQR, mainly because of his alleged black ancestry and supposed "racist biases" associated therein.
"The task of recovering and rediscovering African history is long and tedious because the intellectual debris around the enslavement of Africans has cluttered what would otherwise have been a clear playing arena." (2)
I find this to be a dubious statement to be placed right at the introduction of the article, as it seems to hold an ideological weight rather than a factual one. The fact that blacks were enslaved and Africa had been placed under Aryan control in the Age of Enlightenment means fundamentally little to the history of an emperor of a European empire. Asante also overlooks the fact that the area in which we are discussing, that is: Lepcis Magna (Severus' hometown) was painstakingly preserved and excavated as a Roman city, along with classical sites throughout North Africa. The common, albeit inaccurate belief that the later Europeans would have completely levelled the site as it is alleged they had done to entire (mythical and historic) African civilizations falls flat on its face. Instead, both Severus' life and family history are well preserved through comprehensive work and archaeological evidence, which Asante to a great degree overlooks.
"Second, we interrogate the “identity” issue surrounding Severus’s history and attempt to rediscover his place in the history of the Roman Empire." (3)
If one does a thorough search on Severus' identity using primary sources and secondary commentary, one will discover that his mother Fulvia Pia was of Roman extraction, and that his father Septimius Geta had also come from Rome. His grandfather - also named Lucius Septimius Severus - originally came from Lepcis Magna (according to Dio). This means that Severus could have been partially of Punic descent and I am not alone in this hypothesis. In either case: he could of been mixed, given his family's pedigree as a both citizens of Rome and going back and forth from Italy (as was common for families of the eques order) for long stints. But the "Semitic" (in line with contemporary works on race in Roman North Africa, along with DNA and archaeological evidence) vision of Severus was not Asante's intention.
To wit:
"In the Roman period, Africans were among the characters who helped to establish the Roman civilization all over its territories. Some of the distinguished figures were Antonius Pius, who lived during the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian and succeeded to win his spurs in the Jewish war. Another political character was a senator called P. Salvius Julianus who was chosen as a consul ordinaries, which was a very special honor during the celebration of the 900th anniversary of the foundation of Rome in 148 CE. In court, several African names were recorded, such as the tutor of Aurelius Caesar, whose name was M. Cornelius Fronto of Cirta. .." (4)
Surprisingly: this list of "Africans" goes on, with only circumstantial (i.e. geography) to back the allegations up. Asante perhaps is unaware of the mobility of the Roman upper classes into the provinces in search of wealth and reputation. To put it bluntly: the geography of the time and the demographics does not support Asante's version. Every single character listed had full if not majority Roman descent.
As an aside, to those who are unfamiliar, the correct terminology is consul ordinarius. Asante - unfamiliar with Roman history - most likely erred on the side of caution when his "spell-checker" notified him of his "misspelling." If this were a senior high school paper the error could be overlooked. Though as you will see this is one of many errors of syntax, grammar and spelling Asante Ismail has made. Keep in mind that this is a paper written by 2 "PhDs" published in a "peer-reviewed" journal and thus should not have even made the cut, but I digress.
"In fact, an inscription from the 4th century gives the account of the auxiliary unit, Numerus Maurorum Aurelianorum, being stationed at Aballaya, the modern day town of Burgh-by-Sands. The soldiers of this unit had all come from Mauretania and Morocco. Furthermore, there is some suggestion that genetic and physical studies, based on the skeletal remains, might prove that some modern-day British have closer African ancestry than they realize. At least we now know that skeletons found in a Roman British cemetery outside of York reveal limb proportions of some of the men that suggest they were Black Africans (Snowden, l971)." (5)
I find it unsurprising that Asante would point out this popular meme.
I have 2 issues with it:
1. There is no evidence that the modern descendants of Burgh-by-Sands hold any relation to this Auxilia in question, and I find it highly dubious that they would given the laws surrounding Roman soldiers on duty.
2. The mention of "limb proportions" in relation to "race" would mean that "race" is much more than skin color, and rightly so. Asante admits here that race is a determinant of more than just obvious superficial elements to a person, as is often purported by anti-whites on the subject. This is important to note as it alludes to the hypocrisy written by so-called "anti-racists."
"This means that he may have been a descendant of those Phoenicians (Lebanese) who fled into exile to Africa with the Princess Elissa Tyre in 814 BCE. She came with only a few followers, who soon were integrated into the indigenous African population of Africans and Berbers. The mother of Severus was Fulvia Pia, whose family moved from Africa to Italy. However, history does not give much information about Publius Septimius Geta, the father of Severus. We know only that he had two cousins who became consuls." (6)
Asante overlooks the historical data purporting that the Punic settlers who came to Africa were a sizable population that created colonies all along the North African coast - most notably Carthage - some 400 miles away from Lepcis Magna. The colonization of North Africa by the Punic people was unmatched in scale except for the Greeks who settled much of the Mediterranean and later Romans. It is mind-boggling to think that Hannibal, also of Punic origin was at the helm of a multi-racial civilization powerful enough to fight, and win in many instances against the Romans. It is thus unsurprising that Afro-centrists even claim that Hannibal himself was "African".
The truth - to the dismay of Afro-centrists - is not always so "black and white”.
"The last words of Septimius Severus tell a lot about his character and his capability of being a Caesar with no royal background, of being the man of Rome with a non-Roman origin." (7)
Here again Asante has Severus wrong: placing ideology before fact and critical analysis as the man himself was of a lower nobility eques and according to Dio's account as well as Historia Augusta and Herodian's Life of Septimius Severus was well acquainted with the well-to-dos of Rome even in his youth and with a corresponding story of him and other boys in the Caesar's dining room. The event was famous as Septimius allegedly sat in the Caesar's chair unknowingly, apparently as prophesy of his future power. This was purported to have happened when Severus was 18-20, while he would not be proclaimed emperor until his early 50s. In either case: Asante's version of Severus as a down and out negro newcomer in Rome reaching the top of imperial power is a complete fantasy. Severus' position during his ascent to power was on at least equal footing as any other privileged provincial Roman citizen.
"He was very rapidly promoted to the position of the governor of Galila Lugdunesis and Sicily." (8)
Again: a clear misspelling. What Asante was going for was Gallia Lugdunesis or todays Lyon in France. This sloppy attitude towards spelling and details sums up the attitude to accuracy in the article.
Asante also tends to quote primary classical sources by proxy. For example a quote from Cassius Dio reads: "Severus was careful of everything that he desired..." and the citation is accredited to "Meijer, 2004." I am bemused as to why Asante does this as there is no real reason to do so (nor is it acceptable in classical studies). He also misspells "Pannonia" (Southern Austria) as "Pannonis" a few sentences later. Again: I am not sure as to why he did this. Whether it was a spellchecker or merely an error on his part that such a thing was published after being peer-reviewed by other such "scholars".
This next bit even the most frothing anti-racists will chuckle at.
Misspelling again rears its ugly head:
"The supporters and the aliens of Niger were all punished, and in order to make sure there would not be any further attacks from Syria" (9)
I honestly hope that Asante does not turn out to be a member of Farrakhan's “Nation of Islam” movement, and that these "aliens" are anything more than Niger's "allies." Either way, probably the best bit of this article in terms of comic literature.
"Severus being a military man, he decided to achieve more victories by heading into Parthia in 197 CE. Parthia was weak by the time, so it did not take him along to add it to the Roman Empire (Wells, 1984, pp. 257-265)" (10)
Read the pair of sentences closely. Despite being grammatically incorrect it should be noted that "Parthia" was never completely subdued by the SPQR. Though Severus did make inroads into the various client kingdoms of Parthia and plundered them: he did not make any serious territorial gains. Parthia was never "added" to Rome as Parthia's eastern border was roughly to the extent of Alexander the Great's military campaign and even the passive observer knows that Rome never shared a border with India.
"Julia Domna introduced a new fashion to the Roman female coiffeur, which was the use of hair wigs, new to both the Syrian female and Roman style." (11)
The usage of hair wigs dates back to before Caesar Augustus in 31 A.D.. Given that there is no citation anywhere, we can assume that this too is "out to left field."
"He was the first to start a boule (city council) in each and every nome capital (metropolis)." (12)
"Boule" and "Nome" being Greek words would not extend to the entire Roman Empire (as Asante attests) but rather within Egypt, which is where the most numerous primary source material is located. Asante likely does not know that these words are Greek (given his lack of knowledge about European history in general) and thus conflates the words with their Latin equivalent (not knowing that a difference existed). He also notes that Severus lived during the "early Roman Empire" instead of "mid-Roman Empire" as would be more appropriate (in the 3rd century A.D.). On the next page Asante again quotes primary source material and cites a secondary source (that contains the primary material). Again this would be an error in academic circles. Asante perhaps was not notified when he wrote his dissertation that led to his doctorate.
"The facades on the northern and southern sides on the arch at Leptis Magna had scenes of male and female captives with Asian features." (13)
Asante's fantasy that Rome looked like modern downtown New York City is unabashedly revealed by "Asian features." Most likely when he took this idea from another book (no citation is provided) the "Asian" would be "Eastern" in what the Romans would have called "Asia." No doubt the author of whatever mystery source would have made this clear, as well, as is the tradition in classical scholarship. Of course such "features" would have been clothing and trinkets, as Syrians, Parthians and the various peoples in Anatolia (Asia Minor) were at the time racially European, with small Semitic communities. This was the trend up until 600-1500 A.D. during the genocidal campaigns throughout the region by both Mohammedans and invading Mongols.
"There remains in the literature and common thought in the West the idea that dark-skinned people never inhabited the northern part of Africa. This has given rise to the idea of Africa north of the Sahara and Africa south of the Sahara, a notion that has been disputed by the actual traversing of the desert on foot and camel for hundreds of years. Included in this formulation is the idea that northern Africa is White and southern Africa is Black. In fact, the earliest humans on earth, according to science, were black-skinned African people. The farther back into the past one goes, the Blacker the continent is from south to north. This means that the presence in the north of Amazighs and Arabs, who did not originate in Africa but who have now been resident in Africa for nearly 2,000 years, represents a more recent population than the Black population." (14)
Asante questions the validity of Severus being of Punic or Semitic origin and muses over the idea of an idyllic black emperor ruling over Aryans. I find it amusing that - unable to argue the point with facts - Asante falls back on the "out of Africa" theory to try and create a version of Africa where some North Africans evolved into ostensibly "white" people while others stayed black. Reality had other plans. Africa like any other part of the world was tribalistic. The blacks in North Africa (there were few: mainly in Morocco and in Egypt) would be in their own settlements away from northern Punic sites. This would be why their language - like that spoken by the Carthaginians - had no loan words from any African language groups, as the language itself was left unmolested by outsiders. This would not have been the case had the Semites who settled the land "blended" with the African natives as Asante would have us believe.
Asante also makes a critical error when using Carthage's creation myth purported by a secondary Roman source as the true historical record of Semitic colonization of North Africa. No major scholar today makes ethnic anecdotes regarding Rome based on the story of Romulus and Remus suckling a She-Wolf, or Aeneas travelling with the survivors of Troy to Italy. Does Asante also believe that Julius Caesar was the descendant of the goddess Venus, as well?
While the anti-racist movement tries to discredit "white" history by using "Afro-centric" inaccuracies: it is important to defend the traditional work made by Europeans thinkers (generally accurate and methodical), especially in a time of discrediting and slander by non-white "scholars." Asante's argument can be considered nothing of substance, and thus his work is without any historical value what-so-ever other than as a condemnation of the spineless of the modern university.
References
(1) Asante, M. K. and Ismail, S. "Rediscovering the "Lost" Roman Caesar: Septimius Severus the African and Eurocentric Historiography" in Journal of Black Studies Vol. 40, No. 4 (2010). pp. 606-618.
(2) Ibid.
(3) Ibid., Author's Note: 1. the abstract was a paragraph from the first page, and because of the way in which the journal is formatted, it is redundant. 2. For further reading into Severus' Punic ancestry, see: Birley, A. R. Septimius Severus: The African Emperor. London: Routledge, (2004).
(4) Ibid., pp. 607
(5) Ibid.
(6) Ibid., pp. 608,.Author's Note: Asante's best argument lay with his taking one of the 3000 year old foundation myths of Carthage, which in turn comes from Roman sources, as complete fact. In reality, the colonization of North Africa by the Semitic Phoenicians was a massive population shift. Individuals from years of migration from the Eastern Semitic world would eventually find their way to Carthage and other semi-independent Punic kingdoms.
(7) Ibid., Author's Note: Severus' relationship to the imperial family is well known. For further reading, see book 75 of Cassius Dio's palace source, the Historia Augusta's Life of Septimius Severus and Herodian's Roman History 3.9.
(8) Ibid., pp. 609
(9) Ibid., pp. 610 Author's Note: This quite literally made my professor laugh aloud. This kind of pseudo-intellectual work is not fit for any academic journal.
(10) Ibid., Author's Note: Severus' involvement in Parthia is much more complex than Asante gives credit for. In fact, Septimius led two separate campaigns into the east, both in retaliation of Parthia's support of Pescinnius Niger. Asante just has, "wanted to achieve[sic] more victories."
(11) Ibid., pp. 611
(12) Ibid.
(13) Ibid., pp. 612
(14) Ibid., pp. 615 Author's Note: Asante's decision to use "according to science" as an authority here marks the very powerful propaganda pull that the term in modern discourse holds.