Skywizard
26th February 2017, 21:14
http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah82/skywizard11/blueeyessumer2_zpsje4pkvap.jpg
The Nazis added Swastikas to some of the Sumerians' artifacts. Was this an example of that brand of historical revisionism? Or did the Sumerians simply use lapis lazuli for the eyes to add character to them, just like they did with most of their other sculptures (with black or brown eyes) that they made with enormous eyes?
Blue eyes originated as a mutation around 6,000 to 10,000 years ago, somewhere around the Black Sea. The people carrying this mutation spread around the area, including into Sumer.
The Sumerian culture rose around that time (5,000 BC) from Northern Mesopotamia (they are not a Semitic people). So it's quite likely that they carried the genes for blue eyes.
In cultural references, they viewed blue eyes as a sign from the gods.
http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah82/skywizard11/blueeyessumer1_zpsbu6nod3n.jpg
The blue eyes were symbolic. The eyes were colored blue to exhibit the subjects' awe and humanity, especially in the reference to the Sumerian's deities. Additionally, as trade with the Indus Valley civilization was well established by the rise of advanced culture(s) in ancient Mesopotamia, lapis lazuli (which was used to color the eyes blue), was used for such purposes, particularly because it was one of the main expensive sources of bright colors for sculptures at the time, and was employed to represent wealth/status.
Blue eyes weren't common or didn't even exist as a phenotype in ancient Mesopotamia, which is evident in their direct descendants, the Marsh Arabs of Mesopotamia, as well as in the general populace of what is now Iraq. The Sumerians claimed to originate from what is now Bahrain, and claimed kinship with the population the Dilmun peoples from that same island, and anthropological and archaeogenetic evidence points towards the gene pool of the inhabitants of area and surrounding regions to have remained relatively stable since the dawn of civilization.
The Sumerians referred to themselves as sang-gigga (black-headed), There has not been any mention of their eye or skin color. Sumerian art shows them with yellowish skin. In ancient Sumer there were several different ethnic groups; Akkadians, Sumerians, Gutians, and there probably were people visiting from other cultures like the Indus Valley also.
The Sumerians themselves were genetic relatives of Tibetans and could be expected to resemble them in most respects.
Blue eyes may have been a trait of the Akkadians, since blue eyes occur in other Semitic groups. The Gutians may have had blue eyes, too, but they had a low social status until the waning days of Sumer, when they took over the empire. In India there is a dominant gene for dark blue eyes, it is rare, but the deity Shiva is described as having such eyes.
So, the Sumerians may have been imitating either Akkadian, Gutian or Indian art which portrayed blue-eyed people.
Source: https://www.quora.com/Why-do-certain-ancient-Sumerian-sculptures-have-blue-eyes-when-Sumerians-referred-to-themselves-as-black-headed-dark-skinned-and-dark-eyed
http://www.picgifs.com/graphics/p/peace/graphics-peace-740037.gifpeace...
The Nazis added Swastikas to some of the Sumerians' artifacts. Was this an example of that brand of historical revisionism? Or did the Sumerians simply use lapis lazuli for the eyes to add character to them, just like they did with most of their other sculptures (with black or brown eyes) that they made with enormous eyes?
Blue eyes originated as a mutation around 6,000 to 10,000 years ago, somewhere around the Black Sea. The people carrying this mutation spread around the area, including into Sumer.
The Sumerian culture rose around that time (5,000 BC) from Northern Mesopotamia (they are not a Semitic people). So it's quite likely that they carried the genes for blue eyes.
In cultural references, they viewed blue eyes as a sign from the gods.
http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah82/skywizard11/blueeyessumer1_zpsbu6nod3n.jpg
The blue eyes were symbolic. The eyes were colored blue to exhibit the subjects' awe and humanity, especially in the reference to the Sumerian's deities. Additionally, as trade with the Indus Valley civilization was well established by the rise of advanced culture(s) in ancient Mesopotamia, lapis lazuli (which was used to color the eyes blue), was used for such purposes, particularly because it was one of the main expensive sources of bright colors for sculptures at the time, and was employed to represent wealth/status.
Blue eyes weren't common or didn't even exist as a phenotype in ancient Mesopotamia, which is evident in their direct descendants, the Marsh Arabs of Mesopotamia, as well as in the general populace of what is now Iraq. The Sumerians claimed to originate from what is now Bahrain, and claimed kinship with the population the Dilmun peoples from that same island, and anthropological and archaeogenetic evidence points towards the gene pool of the inhabitants of area and surrounding regions to have remained relatively stable since the dawn of civilization.
The Sumerians referred to themselves as sang-gigga (black-headed), There has not been any mention of their eye or skin color. Sumerian art shows them with yellowish skin. In ancient Sumer there were several different ethnic groups; Akkadians, Sumerians, Gutians, and there probably were people visiting from other cultures like the Indus Valley also.
The Sumerians themselves were genetic relatives of Tibetans and could be expected to resemble them in most respects.
Blue eyes may have been a trait of the Akkadians, since blue eyes occur in other Semitic groups. The Gutians may have had blue eyes, too, but they had a low social status until the waning days of Sumer, when they took over the empire. In India there is a dominant gene for dark blue eyes, it is rare, but the deity Shiva is described as having such eyes.
So, the Sumerians may have been imitating either Akkadian, Gutian or Indian art which portrayed blue-eyed people.
Source: https://www.quora.com/Why-do-certain-ancient-Sumerian-sculptures-have-blue-eyes-when-Sumerians-referred-to-themselves-as-black-headed-dark-skinned-and-dark-eyed
http://www.picgifs.com/graphics/p/peace/graphics-peace-740037.gifpeace...