Page 110 - STOLEN LEGACY By George G. M. James

It is also going to mean a most important change in the mentality of the Black people: a change
from an inferiority complex, to the realization and consciousness of their equality with all the
other great peoples of the world, who have built great civilizations. With this change in the
mentality of the Black and White people, great changes are also expected in their respective
attitudes towards each other, and in society as a whole.

In the drama of Greek philosophy there are three actors, who have played distinct parts, namely
Alexander the Great, who by an act of aggression invaded Egypt in 333 B.C., and ransacked and
looted the Royal Library at Alexandria and together with his companions carried off a booty of
scientific, philosophic and religious books. Egypt was then stolen and annexed as a portion of
Alexander's empire; but the invasion plan included far more than mere territorial expansion; for
it prepared the way and made it possible for the capture of the culture of the African continent.
This brings us to the second actor, that is the School of Aristotle whose students moved from
Athens to Egypt and converted the royal library, first into a research centre, and secondly into a
University and thirdly compiled that vast body of scientific knowledge which they had gained
from research, together with the oral instructions which Greek students had received from the
Egyptian priests, into what they have called the history of Greek philosophy.

In this way, the Greeks stole the Legacy of the African continent and called it their own. And as
has already been pointed out, the result of this dishonesty has been the creation of an erroneous
world opinion; that the African continent has made no contribution to civilization, because her
people are backward and low in intelligence and culture.

This erroneous opinion about the Black people has seriously injured them through the centuries
up to modern times in which it appears to have reached a climax in the history of human
relations. And now we come to the third actor, and that is Ancient Rome, who through the edicts
of her Emperors Theodosius in the 4th century A.D. and Justinian in the 6th century A.D.
abolished the Mysteries of the African continent; that is the ancient culture system of the world.
The higher metaphysical doctrines of those Mysteries could not be comprehended; the spiritual
powers of the priests were unsurpassed; the magic of the rites and ceremonies filled the people
with awe; Egypt was the holy land of the ancient world and the Mysteries were the one, ancient
and holy Catholic religion, whose power was supreme. This lofty culture system of the Black
people filled Rome with envy, and consequently she legalized Christianity which she had
persecuted for five long centuries, and set it up as a state religion and as a rival of Mysteries, its
own mother. This is why the Mysteries have been despised; this is why other ancient religions of
the Black people are despised; because they are all offspring of the African Mysteries, which
have never been clearly understood by Europeans, and consequently have provoked their
prejudice and condemnation. In keeping with the plan of Emperors Theodosius and Justinian to
exterminate and forever suppress the culture system of the African continent the Christian church
established its missionary enterprise to fight against what it has called paganism.

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Stolen Legacy: Greek Philosophy is Stolen Egyptian Philosophy by George G. M. James
The Journal of Pan African Studies 2009 eBook