Afrikan Origin of the University

By Kwaku Person-Lynn, Ph.D.

    As world history is being re-written, old concepts considered
canon in academia are melting away as new, and/or neglected or omitted
information begins to surface. For instance, ancient Greece has been
credited with achievements created in Afrika before Greece existed. The
university is a worldwide entity, but only a handful knows of its genesis.
Very few are aware that ancient Kemet (called Egypt by the Greeks) was the
intellectual, spiritual, scientific and industrial center for the world. Ancient
Greece’s greatest scholars honed their skills and acquired their
knowledge in Kemet (Egypt). A small sample of the students from ancient
Greece who were educated in Kemet were: Thales (so-called father of
philosophy), Hippocrates (so-called father of medicine), Pythagoras (so-
called father of mathematics), including other noted Greeks: Socrates,
Plato, Aristotle, Democritus, and hundreds of other scholars from Greece
attended Afrika’s famous Kemetic (Egyptian) temple-universities in Ipet
Isut (called Karnak by the Arabs) and Waset (called Thebes by the Greeks;
Luxor by the Arabs).

    Dr. Asa Baffour Hilliard, the renowned educational psychologist

and historian tells us that the, “Ancient Kemetic (Egyptian) higher
education system was old and grey before the Greek Heroic age existed,
before the city states existed, before Greece as a nation existed, indeed
before the famed Greek scholars existed. The easy way to show this is to
look at Greece and Kemet (Egypt) at 2000 B.C.E. There was no textbook
in Greece at that time, but the Ahmes (Rhind) Mathematical Papyrus
material existed, with problems in geometry and trigonometry. Wisdom
literature was much older than that, such as the Teachings of Ptahotep.Â
Architecture and astronomy are manifest in the even more ancient
pyramids, tombs and temples. In fact, full university curricula in grammar
(MDW NTR, known as the hieroglyphs by the Greeks), mathematics,
sciences, arts, literature of many types, and philosophy as well. The
Greek record itself is full of references to the priority of Kemetic
scholarship, and to it as a source for Greek scholar's study. As Solon was
told by the scholars of Kemet, the Greeks were 'children in the 'mysteries,'
even in the knowledge of the history of Greece itself.” Incidentally,
Greece first written literature, The Iliad and The Odyssey, did not appear
until around 800 B.C.E.?

    The term of education was 40 years and the curriculum was quite
extensive. “The temple-university had a huge library and its faculty,
called ‘teachers of mysteries,’ were divided into five major
departments: astronomy and astrology; geography; geology; philosophy
and theology; law and communication.” Ivan Van Sertima Nile Valley
Civilizations. A student would not major in one discipline, as is today, but
would be trained in all disciplines. No known Greeks completed the entire
term. Pythagoras lasted 22 years, Plato 13 years, Democritus 5 years.

    The concept of education was holistic in nature. “The process

of education was not seen primarily as a process of acquiring knowledge. It
was seen as a process of the transformation of the learner who progressed
through successive stages of rebirth to become more godlike. Disciplined
study under the guidance of a master teacher was the single path to
becoming a new person.” Asa Baffour Hilliard Nile Valley Civilizations.

    The spiritual nature of the instruction was not only commonplace,

the language in which it was taught reflected the same. The medu neter
(defined as divine or sacred language or speech, known as the hieroglyphs
by the Greeks) also had a spiritual character. The symbol for one million
was a man kneeling, arms stretched forward, palms up, praising the
Creator.

    Another point of great debate and contention is who were the

ancient Kamites (Egyptians). Some of the most defining proof was
presented by two of Afrika’s greatest scientists: Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop
from Senegal, and his colleague, Dr. Theophile Obenga of the Congo, at the
January 1974 UNESCO conference of Egyptologists in Cairo entitled
“The Peopling of Ancient Egypt.” The report was published in major
volumes by UNESCO on the history of Afrika. Their striking multi-
disciplinary approach proved that the ancient Kamites (Egyptians) were the
black inhabitants of Kemet (defined ‘the land of Black people’),
though several Egyptologists, then and now, attempt to disprove their
work.

    The science of education, the university and library are only a

portion of the gifts the Nile Valley in Afrika has given to the world. Probably
the greatest gift of all, besides the birth of humanity, was organized
societies, what we today call, civilization.

Dr. Kwaku Person-Lynn is on the faculty at Loyola Marymount University in

African American Studies and instructor for Afrikan World Civilizations
history classes taught in the Leimert Park Community.

E-mail: DrKwaku@hotmail.com
Website: www.drkwaku.com