Since the release of the new book, “Amarigna & Tigrigna Qal Hieroglyphs for Beginners” (ancientgebts.org), Ethiopian and Eritrean adults have been familiarizing themselves with the controversial subject of the book. Now their children will have the opportunity to be exposed to it, too, in the classroom.
With the introduction of a companion teacher’s guide to the book, for primary and secondary education, now Eritrean, Ethiopian, and other school children in classrooms around the world will have the opportunity to learn about and examine Tigrigna and Amarigna as the founding languages of ancient Gebts. They will also for the first time be exposed to ancient Amara and Akele-Gezai, as not only the founders of ancient Gebts and writing, but also the providers of civilization to the world, which has long been attributed to ancient Gebts.
“With 30 million to 60 million Tigrigna and Amarigna speakers around the world, including those in Eritrea and Ethiopia,” says Legesse Allyn, author and publisher of the book and classroom teacher’s guide, “school-age children of Eritrean and Ethiopian parents will have a chance to see and experience their own languages in a new and exciting way – as the founding languages of ancient Gebts.”
Not only that, but for those school children who attend school outside of Eritrea and Ethiopia, especially in Western nations, their classmates will be introduced to their languages possibly for the first time in an official classroom setting. Together, Habesha and non-Habesha school children will learn about the languages of ancient Gebts as thriving, living languages as both the first written languages in the world and as the official founding languages of ancient Gebts 5100 years ago.”
The companion teacher’s guide includes a guide to synthesizing the content of “Amaringa & Tigrigna Qal Hieroglyphs for Beginners” with Bloom’s Taxonomy, which is essential for classroom learning. It also features a set of classroom exercises and the first available pronunciation guide matching the hieroglyphs to the pronunciation sounds of Tigrigna and Amarigna.
Not only that, but the pronunciation guide portion of the teacher’s guide utilizes fidel characters for the first time to teach hieroglyphic pronunciation, reading, and writing – fidel being a direct descendent of ancient Gebts hieroglyphs. The pronunciation guide is much different from what one might be accustomed to seeing in typical alphabet charts in schools and market places, where the complete alphabet is dispersed throughout a single chart.
Even if one does not agree with Legesse Allyn’s research, allowing school children to learn and benefit from current day research, in real time, that defines the origin of the very written words you are reading in this article, is invaluable to both the school children themselves and the broader global community. Never before has the fairly recent development of writing been so specifically explained as to why and how after an estimated 100,000 years modern human existence. If ancient Amara and Akele-Gezai had not developed writing for the administration of ancient Gebts, when might it have been invented?
(For more information visit ancientgebts.org)
23 thoughts on “Schools to teach Amarigna, Tigrigna as Hieroglyphic languages”
what a margin. Why we don’t we say 85 million to make it easier. “With 30 million to 60 million Tigrinya and Amarigna speakers around the world”
This whole thing is just a little dressed up. It reminds me of this zealot African American professor at Harvard what he ‘documented’ on PBS about Timbuktu. He was so excited telling how those medieval scholars were conducting scientific, religious and philosophical debates at the universities5,6,7, 8 or even 9 centuries ago. Now, Thank God one of us has figured it out who started civilization. I love this!!! I am glad I have lived so long to hear this. I am loving it!!!! I know what I am going to hear next. May be 10. 20 or 25 years from now. Guess what!!!! Do you know who made the first Ship or Rocket? You guessed it right!!! We!!!!!!. I have already been told who built the first skyscraper. One ethno-centric wing-nut African American from some joint here around town. Let’s see…The first to write, build ship, skyscraper, walk, have sex, run…What an accomplishment!!! No wonder why we are remained experts in Pan-Handling!!!!
I hate ethno-centrism as much as I detest narrow-nationalism and religious fanaticism.
Does anyone know what the hell is anscient “Gebts”. Is it our Geez or if different, how different is it from Geez; and what do its written symbols look like?
Zeraf ! Zeraf ! Yetekil Afker !!!!!:
Your comment left me shaking my head…
You obviously only hate African ethnocentrism and cannot bear to believe that Ethiopians and Eritreans ever did anything worthwhile. This is why you complain after reading the article.
If the West says Newton discovered gravity or that Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity, you give a celebration party. You cheer. You have a parade. You can handle the thought of discoveries and development by the West, but not of your own people.
When your own people take credit for something important, all of a sudden it is “ethnocentrism.” Wow.
For Habesha people to be credited with anything of significance, or to have contributed anything to mankind, is completely unbearable for you. Have some pride in yourself.
For centuries, the West has written that “ancient Egypt was a colony of Ethiopia.” You can find that written almost anywhere. Why are you so shocked when we finally take credit for it and define it in real, more realistic terms?
While I don’t agree with the West that Ethiopians “colonized” ancient Egypt, since administration was freely given to the ancient Amara and Akele-Gezai freely, Ethiopia was in fact responsible for ancient Gebts and its culture. And being true, everything therefore attributed by the West to ancient Gebts belongs to Habesha people.
If the West says they “discovered” something, you celebrate. You jump for joy. But the mere thought of Habesha people being the first at something, even when supported and written about by the West for thousands of years, makes you cringe and break out in chills.
I think there is medicine for your low self-esteem.
Legesse Allyn
AncientGebts.org Press
http://www.ancientgebts.org
[email protected]
the Ethiopian history was 3000 years now become 5100 years. I wish to live longer and hear more and more fabricated story,pls enough is enough ,we live in a time of concret evidence being submitted u never proven evidence for the lie u made all the time.what next u may tell us the habesha was the first to land on the moon.
WoW! The author thinks the hyroglyphics came from Amargna and Tigrgna and yet he doesn’t say anything about ‘Geez language’, the father of the two languages.
The author’s motive looks to steer Ethiopian history away from the truth. To give an undeserved value to Amhargna speaking Ethiopians. These people emerged late: at 11nth century at the earliest.
Yet Geez was there. Had the writer claimed Geez is the first written language of humanity, his claim would have made sense.
Trust me, this book won’t get acceptance in Ethiopia ‘cos you don’t know about Geez. Nothing, zip!
The question I have is: is akele guzai a language different from tgrigna? (maybe Legesse can give me an answer?) why Akele Guzai? Why not Hamassen or Seraye? I speak and read/write fluently both amharic and tgrigna (meaning from the Hamassen/Seraye/Akele guzai area). Except for some words and pronunciations there is basically no difference between the tgrigna in the Hamasse/Seraye/Akele guzai, the whole Kebessa area in fact. Please don’t tell me the tgrigna from Akele guzai is older than the rest of Kebessa. I have a whole genealogy table that goes to the origin and the foundation of the three ethnic groups.
Have anybody found any inscription in Axum in the two languages Amharic and akele guzai? Geez is there, so how come Axum never used Amharic and akele guzai if they were the original languages
2#Zeraf ! Zeraf ! Yetekil Afker !!!!!
Thanks for your wisdom.
You helped me remember the time of shameless and really disgraceful Zeraf!zeraf! Yeteqil afker! event during the rule of Hatse Haile Sellassie when a junior secondary school boy was officially declared as the first successful invetntor of space rocket, for making a tiny hand made paper kite fly 2 meters in to the sky.
The government gave “Ethiopian rocket” column space in leading newspapers where the domestic and the international communities were shamelessely bombarded day in, day out by the news of the new Ethiopian space rocket invention just by means of witch craftsmanship, completely devoid of any remotely established scientific and technical craftsmanship.
The governemnt even built an exihbition stand in the center of the city where this small boy was brought for the daily displays as a planetary hero who invented the first Ethiopian space rocket completely unique in the whole wide world. Hmm… :)
I tell you, just like now lots of people lacking self respect felt very highly intoxicated with out drinking alcohol and completely hynotised with out being druged or taking hypnosy treaments by this new found Ethiopian miracle.
There were also those who knew about the total fakery and were even ashamed to face the daylight.
After few months the whole bubble exploded as it was found to be just a child’s home made kite there by disappearing from the news and views completely.
This so called ancient Gebt complete fakery where amharigna and tigrigna are supposedely forming the first written language of commerce on earth even without Amharas and Tigres as well as amharigna and Tigrigna not exisisting themselves is like saying that a virgin has give birth to a baby boy or a bull has given birth to a twin calf.
It sounds that the bloke is only plagiarizing, polarizing, and building the arts and crafts of cultural conquest based on insincerity which is un Ethiopian.
Such lies left me shaking my head. What a shame!
“A lie does not consist in the indirect position of words, but in the desire and intention, by false speaking, to deceive and injure your neighbour.”
Jonathan Swift quotes
abebe:
To begin, remember I am dealing with the period of the founding of ancient Gebts, 5100 years ago.
It is not Tigrigna as being different from other Tigrigna speakers. Tigrigna just happened to be the language of the Akele-Gezai then as today, not necessarily having been exclusive to them. So please don’t mistake my mention of Tigrigna as if the Akele-Gezai were the only speakers of it.
And when reading hieroglyphs, there are clear hieroglyphic distinctions between Amarigna and Tigrigna versions of the same word. You can see many of these differences in my book.
As for the why the Akele people, it is partly because the name of the “Akele” people are plainly recorded in hieroglyphs, including in the ancient “Book of the Dead”, as…
“a group of Earth-gods who are
said to be the ancestors of Ra
and the Akhabiu-gods.”
My book shows the various “Akele” hieroglyphs on page 7, which were scanned and reprinted with permission from the Dover Publications edition of “An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary” by E. A. Wallis Budge.
Of course, these are only short answers to Tigrigna and Akele in relation to the founding of ancient Gebts. All the details, and the supporting evidence from ancient and modern historians, as well as findings by archaeologists, can fill a book.
Legesse
Dear Abeba!!!
I am very pleased that you understood me very well on this subject. I am just sick and tired of it. I did not deny the fact that there was a trace of civilization during the times of the Axumites and that civilization was a civilization by the standards particularly in the surrounding area. But if we compare it to its contemporaries, it was somewhat rather rudimentary. Very elementary. I can go on and on and on on this issue. But I would not allow is these jackass ethno-centrics trying to force their inventions down my throat. China was a civilization. India was a civilization. Italy was a civilization. Greek was a civilization. Israel was a civilization. And also Axum was more or less a ‘civilization’. The difference is the others had their civilizations deep rooted in their society that even centuries of wars and disasters were not able to wipe them out of the peoples know how. If you go to Segovia, Spain you will see an aqueduct built by the Romans still standing. It was in use until the last century. One of our gentlemen above who is nameless (Anonymous) is telling me that I applaud inventors like Isaac Newton and Benjamin Franklin for their discoveries and inventions. What else can I do when we all know that their inventions have helped transform our societies for the better in USA and every where? Is he saying this because he is ignorant or another wildly blind ethno-centric. You all be the judge. That battle cry ‘3,000 years of history’ has gone stale with me and even rotten moldy. Let me tell you folks what make me very proud rather. I have lived here for more than 46 years and during those years I have seen the number of well-educated country men grown by leaps and bounds. When I see a scientist of Ethiopian heritage working for Abbot, Merck, NASA, IBM and other technology hubs, that makes me proud to a point of crying. And one day some of these bright-minded compatriots will find the atmosphere back home more comfortable and peaceful and go back and transform the society just as the Koreans, Hong Kong, Taiwanese, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Japanese did. Build bridges, highways, factories, dams, clinics, hospitals, pharmaceuticals, help our farmers become modern farmers, live in peace with your neighbors near and afar etc…Then I will have time to read such fantasies just as I enjoyed Dumbo and Shrek.
Zeraf ! Zeraf ! Yetekil Afker !!!!!:
Just because you have lost your optimism for Habesha people, doesn’t mean you can force it away from the rest of us.
Legesse
Legesse,
Forget the above commentators, who are unwilling to comprehend what you are trying to explain. They themselves are ethnocentric. You are informing us about historical facts but they don’t want to accept the truth, or they will only accept it if you would distort the facts. This is the problem of certain pretentious sectors of the Ethiopian elite who have decided to live in their own delusions. They would probably even want to deny that “Ardi” and “Lucy” were discovered in Ethiopia. These naysayers are more respectful of the history of other countries than that of their own.
We appreciate what you are doing and sincerely wish you all success in your endeavor to educate the Ethiopian people so that they become aware of their heritage.
What an amazing angry tone is that? What makes you so mad because somebody work deligently to magnify a naked fact.
You are not the only person who read the Western and Asian civilization. They wrote and you read a fraction of it. And now your are proud of having some concept of the Western and Asian civilization. Nothing wrong. But why your blood pressure rises when you here a glimpse of the wisdom of your ancestors.
You are in a state of self deception.Try to read at least one book,from cover to cover.Do not continue to live poor like this. Be healed.
You stay 46 years somewhere. It doesn’t qualify you to mis-use ‘ethno-centrism’.
You say you feel proud when you see successful professionals. Because you think it is impossible to achieve. And you make fun of the 3000 year history, because you fail to develop a reasonable perception. You fail to imagine both the past and the future.
Please try to be ashamed of thoseof your 46 years(away from your place). Real heros made a difference around their vallies. If they run away, they are fools. And they do not boast of it.
Zeraf!! Again!! Zeraf!! I am glad I awaken those such as Zefere. I did not say I am not interested in this new ‘finding’. I will enjoy it as much as those fairy tales I used to enjoy hearing during my childhood. You know what I mean? Such as ‘Once upon a time, there was……’. Do you remember? Ok…For now I will stop calling those ethno-centrics as such. They know what they are doing and who they are. Better yet I will do this for you. I will nominate you to sit in the debating room when there is such gathering between Ethiopian and Yemenis to attest once and for all where Queen of Sheba(Saba) was from – Axum or Yemen. I am telling the debate won’t be easy. It will be a raging one and I hope it won’t be too hot for you.
Legesse,
I know you are refering to a 5000+ years history and it is precisely the reason why I think there is a problem. Akele Guzai was established to the most 500 to 600 years ago. Here is how the oral history goes:
Negus Meroni had three sons
Falouk, Chalouk and Malouk
Falouk was the father of Dembezanoy, Werede-Mehret, Tekestebrhan, Shemertsem and ShemerTeb: they settled in Hamassien
Chalouk was the father of Akele, Takele and Smegiana.
The name Akele-Guzay came from Akele and the son of Takele named Guzay.
Malouk was the father of those who settled in Serae (Geshinashim, 2 Mereta)
So goes the story and believe me this is far from 5000 years ago. But I am sure you know about Chalouk, Malouk and Falouk
Abebe:
Yes, I read this story years ago.
Can I help it that Akele people are mentioned in hieroglyphs as ancestors of the ancient Tigrigna-speaking merchants?
Why is everybody attacking me for reporting the truth?
Would everybody prefer I lie about my findings?
Legesse
So how do you explain that a Tigrinya ethnic group established in around the 15th century AD would be cited 5000 years ago? Don’ t you think there would be some kind of name coincidence?
Abebe:
Sorry, but I didn’t live 5000 years ago and I didn’t write the hieroglyphs to be able to explain to you.
Maybe you should be questioning the researchers who wrote that the Akele people existed since only the 5th century.
Ever think about that?
Legesse
Legesse,
I am not trying to belittle your discovery. This is great and we need people like you. I am just trying to understand. That said, what I am talking about is about oral tradition passed from generation to generation. We have in our familly the whole generation tree up to king Meronee. I am not saying it is accuratte to the minute, but that gives you an idea of the timing; it can not be more than 1 or 200 years difference. But I can’t imagine in the Highlands of Eritrea the Akele Guzai to be there for more than 5000 years.
Abebe:
Yes, I understand your point. But what do you want me to say?
I can’t be forced to actually say that people’s cherished oral traditions are inaccurate. All I can do is state what I find about ancient Gebts, especially about the founding period 5100 years ago, which is the primary focus of my research.
That is not to say that some of my research does not spill over into today’s regions of Eritrea and Ethiopia. But that is not to cancel out anyone’s oral traditions. Any conflicts are not my fault, since I’ve only been alive for 50 years.
Yes, I have seen many things that conflict with not only people’s oral traditions, but religion and religious traditions, too. But I’m not discussing the revelations about religion, either. There’s a lot the research helps clarify, but it is not my job to disclose all this conflicting info.
My only point is to show Ethiopians and Eritreans, before anyone else, my findings. We are the first ones who need to be aware of and expand this research. Others have monopolized the reporting of our history for far too long, others who may not have our best interests in mind. We sit back and just trust them.
What we do with this information is up to us. But doing this kind of research requires an incredible amount of objectivity. There were things I had believed for years and years, some things I believed all my life, which were shattered by my research findings. But facts are facts, so what could I do? Scream at myself?
It is important that we carefully examine what has been written about our history that we so intently rely on and fiercely protect. Protecting it as if we wrote it.
We must not only carefully examine the written information we rely upon, but also the conditions and circumstances surrounding the information, as well as the writers of the information. Who were they, what was their background, where did they come from, and what conflicts of interest (if any) could have been involved in the reporting of the information?
For those in business, this is called “due diligence.” And if it is good enough for business, it should be even more important for us and our history. Our history is who we are, so we should at least know the truth about it.
Everyday brings new information to the world that has the potential of expanding and revising long-held beliefs. Being stubborn about considering new information doesn’t do anybody any good.
I’m not Akele-Gezai, so why should I lie? My grandfather was Ethiopian, so why should I have included Tigrigna when I didn’t have to? Initially, I never even recognized either Akele people nor Tigrigna in the ancient Gebts hieroglyphic inscriptions, but eventually I had to accept it.
There’s my truth, your truth, and THE truth.
I am inviting everyone, all Ethiopians and Eritreans, to help understand these findings and help put it all in perspective. But it cannot be done with a single word. I publish over 600 words in my book that I matched very specifically to Tigrigna and Amarigna for us to pick through. Attacking me on a few words here and there doesn’t help us accomplish anything.
But a single ethnic group also cannot do it. Ultimately, everyone has to be responsible to their own group and not blame others for “distorting facts” they themselves have not examined or re-examined in relation to my research findings.
My research can help many of our ethnic groups find themselves in the history of ancient Gebts. And doing so, many people who thought their history was just recently developed, might be surprised.
Akele-Gezai and Amara, while being the founders of ancient Gebts 5100 years ago, were certainly not the only people of today’s Ethiopia and Eritrea whose names are written.
So it is easier for me to respond to your questions if you have first thoroughly examined and dissected the information you are asking me about. I’m certainly not going to answer you until I have thoroughly done this myself.
But we cannot have a productive discussion unless we are both thoroughly informed about the topic to be discussed. If you are willing to objectively look at all sides of a particular topic, I am willing to do so, too. That way we can do some genuine good together.
Legesse
Legesse,
I have seen some of your discussions and the battle you endured with some of the hieroglyph experts. I have to say I do admire you and understand how deep your conviction is. I am not an expert and I don’t know if your theory will hold the water, but I have seen this kind of reactions several times to non-established theories from expert. The one I vividly remember is a thesis presented by an African graduate student to the University of Paris (the sixties in the middle of colonialism wars). When the universally accepted theory was that blacks never had any culture and were a little better than monkeys, Cheik Anta Diop, dared say that the original Egyptian people were black and they are the ones who started Egyptian civilization. Needless to say he had to revise his thesis to be accepted. Cheick Anta Diop (I think he is from Upper Volta) is now-a-days a renowned Africanist.
I whole heartedly support your work, keep up the good work,
Abebe
Abebe:
Thank you.
Legesse