Loss of identity
Firstly, historically, the Greeks were Romans of a sort, as they were ruled by the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire, and until 1700 CE, many Greeks still called themselves Romans.
It should also be remembered that in the first century of our era, the modern state of Israel did not exist, nor did the term “Jew” to refer to the Ashkenazi and Sephardic European populations. However, there were black Greco-Romans known as Judeans or ioudaios (in Greek), who lived in the south of the Roman province of Judea (Palestine). Although the skin color of the early Judeans was recognized, it did not generally have the same social implications of racism as it does today. In fact, these black Greco-Romans were allowed to practice their religion and were free to mix with other racial and ethnic types.
Acts 16:1 "Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where he found a disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish woman and a Greek father."
However, systematic excavations of ancient Greek sites have uncovered a plethora of sculptures dating between 400 and 100 BC, depicting black Greco-Roman Judeans. In addition, Russian iconography, the catacombs* of Rome, as well as the backgrounds of many Orthodox and Catholic churches, also feature a considerable collection of ancient sculptures and paintings that seem to represent Hebrew patriarchs and prophets of black descent. (See video below)
*Catacombs are the underground cemeteries of ancient Rome, created by early Christians to bury their dead. The catacombs consist of a system of passageways, often forming labyrinths, and rectangular niches of varying size dug into the walls for burials. They were created by excavating a very soft, porous sedimentary rock called tuff. Before being exposed to air, tuff is a very malleable rock, relatively easy to excavate with hand tools. But after exposure to air, it gradually hardens. As a result, excavated passages become firm and do not collapse. There are over 60 different catacombs in Rome, most of them underground and located along the Appian Way, and nowadays, almost all the niches are open and empty, but some are still closed.
However, scholars have hypothesized that the icons have darkened over time due to varnishing, candle smoke, incense burning, lead white wash, etc. Although these factors sometimes darken paintings, in this case, the distinctive features of the individuals, such as frizzy or curly hair and nasal structure, suggest that they are people of African descent.
This reinforces the hypothesis that the true identity of the Judeans was obscured and replaced by that of European Jews, and that the narrative was also altered.
Psalm 83:4 "They have said, “Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation, That the name of Israel be remembered no more.”
You be the judge, and we encourage you to do your own research.
