Post by terroreign on Jan 8, 2011 23:01:11 GMT -5
Hey there! How you guys doin'? Good! So I stumbled upon this little interesting story that some Albanians believe, and as it dawned on me...I saw some sense in it.
After dinner, we sat with Gjon Dukgilaj, the owner, and discussed the history of the restaurant, Albania and religion. More raki and tea arrived. He broke walnuts for us to eat as we spoke. Then he showed us around the restaurant, where he has innumerable old artifacts – swords, a weaving loom, traditional Albanian costumes. It’s a bit of a museum actually and he’s a bit of an anthropologist. “You know,” he said in all seriousness, “we were the real Egyptians.”
His theory is that when the sands overtook Egypt in Pharoanic times and the land became uninhabitable, the people migrated to Albania and their descendents became the Illyrians, who once populated the Dalmatian coast. Only in Albania did the Illyrian language – and to some degree the people – survive invasions, colonization and occupations by the Greeks, Romans, Slavs and Ottomans.
So his theory is that the Albanians’ ancestors are Egyptians. His proof?
In the ancient Pharoanic language, there are words that have no translation in Albanian. Ra, for example, was the last Pharoanic king, and means “fallen” in Albanian – “It’s a purely Illyrian word”. The Albanian people near-worship the serpent, adorned by the foreheads of ancient Egyptians. Albanian women similarly wore it, routinely until the 1960s. Gjon (pronounced John) went so far as to say that the Albanian flag – commonly accepted as an eagle – is actually two serpent heads.
blog.shiftingears.net/page/2.aspx
Also interesting to note - Albanian Gypsies (who's mother tongue is Albanian) call themselves "Ashkali" or "Egyptians".
Historical connection, or mere coincidence? You figure it out.
After dinner, we sat with Gjon Dukgilaj, the owner, and discussed the history of the restaurant, Albania and religion. More raki and tea arrived. He broke walnuts for us to eat as we spoke. Then he showed us around the restaurant, where he has innumerable old artifacts – swords, a weaving loom, traditional Albanian costumes. It’s a bit of a museum actually and he’s a bit of an anthropologist. “You know,” he said in all seriousness, “we were the real Egyptians.”
His theory is that when the sands overtook Egypt in Pharoanic times and the land became uninhabitable, the people migrated to Albania and their descendents became the Illyrians, who once populated the Dalmatian coast. Only in Albania did the Illyrian language – and to some degree the people – survive invasions, colonization and occupations by the Greeks, Romans, Slavs and Ottomans.
So his theory is that the Albanians’ ancestors are Egyptians. His proof?
In the ancient Pharoanic language, there are words that have no translation in Albanian. Ra, for example, was the last Pharoanic king, and means “fallen” in Albanian – “It’s a purely Illyrian word”. The Albanian people near-worship the serpent, adorned by the foreheads of ancient Egyptians. Albanian women similarly wore it, routinely until the 1960s. Gjon (pronounced John) went so far as to say that the Albanian flag – commonly accepted as an eagle – is actually two serpent heads.
blog.shiftingears.net/page/2.aspx
Also interesting to note - Albanian Gypsies (who's mother tongue is Albanian) call themselves "Ashkali" or "Egyptians".
Historical connection, or mere coincidence? You figure it out.