Christian and Jewish influences in Tolkien's work?

[The Telcontarion]

Originally Posted by Coffeehouse

It certainly is possible and even very likely that St. Maurice was black. I think the likelihood of him being black is strengthened by the geographical location in Egypt that his legion took its name from. Having been enrolled in the Roman Thebes legion, which takes its name from Thebes, the Egyptian city halfway between the Mediterranean coast and the Sudanese border (the further south you venture in Egypt the darker the skin), makes it more than plausible that he had roots from the area or even further south.

It makes for a good point if there are many depictions of St. Maurice as a white-skinned Caucasian-looking fellow. But I fail to see how the more than likely black skin color of St. Maurice (being from Thebes, far south in Egypt) makes you so sure everyone else further north in Egypt, even further north in Palestine and the area must be black as well.. There's not automatic logic in that.

What you are suggesting is the same as saying that the white people in south Africa are original south Africans. All of Egypt were black people, the other groups are invaders. The Arabs in Egypt (the latest invaders) today have only been there for a few hundred years after they invaded sometime in 640 AD. That is why they are found in the north were the capital is.

Yes you are right about the fact that the further south you go in egypt you find darker skin people. That is were the original Egyptians fled to during the invasion. A taxi cab driver in new york confirmed this for me when I inquired about the original Egyptians being the same as the people that are there today - that was what an Arab co-worker of mind said. The cab driver then informed me that he was indeed an Egyptian and that the Arab was lieing. He was the one telling me that the original people are now found mostly on the south and away from the main capitols as they face bigotry there and god knows what else in the past.

Sure enough when I went back and confronted the Arab with this he had nothing to say. But that is history, their history. So even though he knew his history (who knows, he could have been ignorant about it) he still said he was an original Egyptian, the same as those who built the pyramids yet history clearly shows that the Arabs are invaders.