Ancient Egyptian race controversy

The question of the race of the people of ancient Egypt has been talked about for many years. This started in the 18th and 19th centuries when people began using early ideas about race. They often looked at the size and shape of skulls to decide where people belonged. Many ideas were shared about who the ancient Egyptians were and where their culture came from.

Some believed that ancient Egyptian culture was shaped by people from North Africa, the Horn of Africa, or West Asia. Others thought that people from Nubia or even Europe had big influences. In recent times, some people have wondered about the race of famous ancient Egyptians, like the pharaoh shown in the Great Sphinx of Giza, Tutankhamun, the queen Tiye, and the Greek Ptolemaic queen Cleopatra VII.

Most Western scholars today say it is wrong to call ancient Egypt either a "white" or "black" civilisation. They explain that using today’s ideas of black or white to describe ancient Egypt does not fit because these ideas did not exist back then. These scholars also say that ancient Egypt was not made up of just one kind of people. Skin colour was different among people from Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt, and the nearby area of Nubia, and different groups took power at various times.

International scholars, like those who worked on the General History of Africa for UNESCO, also think Egypt was an African civilisation with a mixed group of people. They believe the population came mostly from the Sahara and had many skin colours from both north and south of this area. Recent research continues to show that Egypt had both African and Eurasian people, with early populations moving into the Nile Valley from places far to the south.

Background

In the 1700s and 1800s, people talked a lot about who the ancient Egyptians were and where they came from. Some thought they looked like people from Africa because of their skin color and features. Others thought they were more related to people from Europe or nearby areas.

These talks happened when some people were working to end slavery. The discussion about the ancient Egyptians became mixed with these bigger issues. Scholars studied old paintings, writings, and mummies to learn more. Different experts had different ideas, and the question stayed important for many years.

1974 UNESCO committee

Main article: General History of Africa

See also: UNESCO statements on race

In 1974, people met at UNESCO in Cairo to talk about the people of ancient Egypt. Cheikh Anta Diop said that ancient Egyptians all looked the same and had darker skin. Many others disagreed, saying there wasn’t enough information to know for sure.

The meeting had many different ideas. Some thought ancient Egyptians came from places north and south of the Sahara and had different skin colors. Most did not agree with Diop. One person even said the earliest people in Egypt had lighter skin. The talk showed that people had many different ideas about the race of ancient Egyptians.

2025 UNESCO multidisciplinary review

In 2025, UNESCO gathered 60 experts from 28 countries to study ancient Egypt. The group, led by Augustin Holl, agreed that Egypt is part of Africa. They looked at Egypt’s past and found strong links between ancient Egyptians and people from Africa south of the Sahara.

The review showed how ancient Egypt’s culture and people were shaped by movements from Africa. Studies found connections between ancient Egyptians and groups from places like the Sahel and sub-Saharan Africa. Experts studied language, genetics, and archaeology to learn more about these links.

Biological anthropologist S.O.Y. Keita said that ancient Egyptians came from local Nilotic and Saharan groups, with some influence from nearby Arab groups. He noted that some genetic traits in Egypt also appear in tropical East Africa.

Archaeologist David Wengrow mentioned that recent studies place Egypt more clearly within an African context, using linguistics, anthropology, and genetics.

Egyptian historian H. A. A. Ibrahim studied ancient buildings in Upper Egypt and found similarities with buildings in sub-Saharan Africa.

Geneticist Jean Phillipe Gourdine reviewed studies showing African connections in ancient Egyptian remains. He stressed the importance of thinking about Africa’s geological history, including movements of people from the Green Sahara and changes in Lake Chad.

Linguistic studies placed the Egyptian language within the Afro-Asiatic family, which includes languages spoken across Africa and the Near East. There is debate about where this language family began, but many experts think it started in Africa.

Other scholars praised the work of Cheikh Anta Diop for encouraging a multidisciplinary approach to African history.

Position of modern scholarship

Main article: Population history of Egypt

See also: DNA history of Egypt

Modern scholars who study ancient Egyptian culture have different ideas about who the ancient Egyptians were.

Since the late 20th century, as science about human populations has improved, most experts no longer think of "race" as a useful way to study human biology.

Most scholars today say that the people of early southern Egypt came mostly from northeast Africa, including places like the Sudan, tropical Africa and the Sahara. They note that people in ancient Egypt looked different depending on where they lived. People in southern Egypt shared more traits with people from Sudan and other areas to the south, while people in northern Egypt shared more traits with people from the Levant and around the Mediterranean.

Scholarly views on bias

Scholars have talked about how old ideas about race affected early studies of ancient Egypt. Some said these studies were biased because of colonial thinking. They did not include enough views from other parts of the world. For example, Cheikh Anta Diop wrote that many ideas about ancient Egypt were shaped by these biased views.

Others pointed out that past studies sometimes did not treat Egypt as part of Africa. They said ancient Egypt shared many traditions with other African groups and was connected to northeast Africa. Some recent studies have tried to look at this more closely. Scholars worry that these studies can sometimes support unfair ideas about different groups of people.

Present-day controversies

Today, people talk a lot about who the ancient Egyptians were, but these talks can be tricky and hard for experts to handle. These talks mostly happen in public and focus on a few important ideas.

Different experts have used old writings from Greece and Rome to talk about what the early Egyptians looked like. Some of these writings say Egyptians looked like others, while others say they looked more like different groups. For example, the Greek writer Herodotus talked about Egyptians in certain ways, and later writers like Diodorus Siculus and Arrian shared what they saw too. These old writings still get talked about by researchers today.

People also argue about where the ancient Egyptians came from. Some think they came from places far south and west of Egypt. New studies point to links with places in modern northeast Africa, based on things like goods and animals in Egyptian art.

There have been many talks about famous people from ancient Egypt, like Tutankhamun and Cleopatra. Different ideas about how they looked and where they came from exist, shaped by today’s views and not a lot of old proof. For example, some people have asked questions about how Tutankhamun’s face looks in pictures, while others have looked into Cleopatra’s history, remembering that old writings call her mostly Greek but note that Egypt had many different kinds of people at the time.

The Great Sphinx of Giza’s look has also caused talks, with some saying it shows certain features, though most experts connect it to the pharaoh Khafra.

The word the ancient Egyptians used for their land, kmt, means "the black land." This was about the rich soil of the Nile, not about the people. Experts have different ideas about what this word tells us about who the Egyptians were and how they linked to other parts of Africa.

Art from ancient Egypt, like paintings and statues, gives hints about the people but often uses special colors instead of real ones. Pictures of different groups, such as Egyptians and Nubians, show changes in skin color and looks, mixing art styles with maybe real differences. Some researchers think Egyptian art clearly showed different groups, while others think the colors had secret meanings.

In the end, learning about who the ancient Egyptians were is still something historians and archaeologists are working on and talking about.

Historical hypotheses

Since the middle of the 1900s, scientists have changed how they think about race. Most experts now believe that using modern ideas of race for ancient Egypt is not right. Today, most scholars think that Egyptian civilization grew up naturally in the Nile Valley (see population history of Egypt). In 1974, a meeting organized by UNESCO led many to agree that the ancient Egyptian people were from the Nile Valley, coming from areas north and south of the Sahara.

There have been many different ideas about the race of ancient Egyptians. Some believed they were closely connected to people in Africa, while others thought they had ties to people from other areas. One idea is that ancient Egypt was a unified "Black" civilization. This idea came from a meeting in 1974, where some agreed that ancient Egypt was from Africa. However, many experts had questions about this idea, saying more research was needed. Others thought the Egyptians came from places far away, like Mesopotamia, but modern scholars mostly think that Egyptian civilization developed on its own in the Nile Valley.

The current view among scholars is that Egyptian civilization developed independently in the Nile Valley region.

Reactions in modern Egypt

Egyptian expert Fekri Hassan wrote in 2021 that old ideas about races are wrong. He said Africa has many different people and being African doesn't mean looking a certain way.

In 2023, American comedian Kevin Hart had to cancel a planned tour of Egypt after some people were upset about things he said. In response, Egyptian expert Zahi Hawass said that Africans did not build the pyramids. He has talked about these topics before.