The Three Black Popes
By Joseph Munsterman
Changes through the Ages
Martin Bernal's three part book series titled Black Athena sets out to explain the Afroasiatic influences on Greek civilizations. He proposes that the Greek worlds had far more interaction with African civilizations than what is generally believed under the Aryan model. Needless to say, there are many people who disagree with the views and ideologies presented in those texts. Three people that are commonly forgotten about during the Roman Empire and misrepresented are the three African Popes. These Popes had a large impact on the Roman Empire, but their impact on today's society is lessened because their legacies are skewed by biased historical and artistic representations.
Victor I (189-199 AD) was said to have been the first African pope (15th overall) and served under another African, Emperor Septimus of Rome (Burrell). During his reign he disputed over many significant religious practices. One of which was the date of Easter. In Rome, Easter was always observed on Sunday, but the Asiatic churches observed Easter on the fourteenth day after the vernal equinox, regardless of the day of the week (John 53).This caused a commotion between people celebrating Easter and fasting for Lent. So, St. Victor ordered all churches to celebrate Easter on the Sunday following the fourteenth day of the vernal equinox (Holtzclaw 166). In doing so, Victor suppressed any further outrage towards the church and was able to compromise with both parties.
The second African pope is Miltiades (311-314 AD, 37th overall) who was also born in Africa (birthplace unknown). Before Miltiades was elected pope there was an outcry to banish the Bishops of Rome (Holtzclaw 113). Governor Maxentius elected Miltiades (a priest in Africa at the time) to stop this and Constantine's wife later let him stay in the Lateran Palace in Rome, becoming the first Pope to have an official residence (Holtzclaw 113). He is also known for having been granted the permission to build the Lateran Basilica (by Constantine) which would become the residency for every Pope for over one thousand years (John 60).
The final Pope was Gelasius I (492-496 AD, 49th overall) and he was born in Rome of African parents (Holtzclaw 73). One of the most influential tasks Gelasius accomplished was something that could not be comprehended during modern times: the separation of Church and State. In a letter to Emperor Anastasius he wrote, "You must know that the authority of Popes is much greater inasmuch as on the Judgment Day they will have to render to God an account for the souls of kings" (Holtzclaw 74). He was said to be one of the fairest Popes of his time. He divided the revenues of the Church into fourths; one of those fourths went to the poor. All of these Popes accomplished many noble tasks during their papacy. However, this seems to be overlooked because of their ethnic backgrounds.
All of recorded history is bias. The recorder of the history determines what is significant enough to be recorded. So, what they do not include is essentially lost from the written record, where the majority of people seem to think the factual history lies. According to C. Behan McCullagh, there are four commons ways in which historical evidence can have bias recordings. The first is the deliberate misinterpretation of evidence in which the historian leaves out one side of the data (McCullagh 40). The second is the over emphases towards one side of the data, creating in unbalanced interpretation (McCullagh 40). Thirdly, the historian falsifies factual data or factualizes false data (McCullagh 40). Finally, the historian picks and chooses data so that others are mislead towards one direction (McCullagh 40). This biased documentation of the past all happens consciously by the recorder.
The debate over skin color of these Popes has never been fully solved. The most common argument is the artistic rendering of these Popes clearly identifies them as being Caucasian. Although, interpreting skin tone literally in art is something that cannot be taken for granted. African art has been said to be more closely related to facial features than that of Greek and Roman art. Skin tones were not always represented accurately for various reasons. Generally paintings of women were painted lighter tones than men to help identify s*xes (Bard 107). This style of painting pertains to most works of art. One reason this rule may be broken is that the variation in the color of skin is to distinguish a contrast between the foreground and background (Bard 107). This can be seen in examples in which women were given darker skin tones to complement their surroundings. Thus, skin tone should not have that much weight in using ancient art as historical evidence. Although these paintings do maintain the correct physical features of the peoples involved, just not the skin tones (at least in African art).
According to the book The Popes: A Concise Biographical History, no authentic portraits of early popes exist, for the first five centuries there are no portraits or frescos in which any of the popes were present during the paintings (John 16). What can be assumed though, is that the "default race" for these paintings was white (in color and facial features). For example the painting of St. Augstine (Figure 1), who was a known black doctor, is most well recognized from the painting by Sandro Botticeli, painted almost a thousand years after his death (Holtzclaw preface). In the painting he is white, as well have been given European facial features as well as an aquiline (hooked) nose. It was the artists own bias and interpretation of St. Augstine that resulted in the painting, not actual evidence.
In the paintings of Victor I (figures 2-4) there is a varying range of skin tones and facial features. Figure 3 is a contemporary (in this case older) painting of the pope, which maintains his African features. Figures 2 and 4 are later paintings in which he has been stripped of his African features. Miltiades seems to be an exception to the rule. All three of his paintings (figures 5-7) all seem to keep his African characteristics, as well as skin tone. The artist maintains Miltiades's correct African characteristics in the medallion (figure 7), even though this medallion was made around 1650 AD (John 16). Finally, Gelasius seems to have the same fluctuation as Victor. Figure 9 is a contemporary painting (maintains African likeness), whereas figure 8 is more modern painting (changes to a European likeness). Needless to say, there is a large fluctuation in the paintings of the popes. But, the more contemporary paintings keep their true African characteristics, as opposed to the modern paintings which do not.
All of the popes were from Africa and bore Latin names, which was common at the time. The Romans and Greeks both characterized Africans by combinations of "dark or black skin, woolly or tightly coiled hair, flat or broad noses, and thick lips" (Snowden 113). So even though some of the paintings did not have all of these characteristics, they only needed one to be characterized as African. The first century Roman poet, Marcus Manilius classified all peoples of Africa from darkest to lightest (Snowden 113).White was not one of the classifications on the list. Also, southern Indians of Africa can be very dark skinned and not have flat noses or woolly hair (Snowden 114). It can be "based on the sure knowledge that the majority of the people of Roman Africa were black" (Holtzclaw preface). With all of this evidence, it is hard to argue against the fact that these popes were black Africans. This now opens the door for the history to be revised. The "reviewers need to be reviewed," for it is not safe to assume anything about history. There are no primary sources in existence and the secondary sources are tainted with a historical and racial bias. With this new knowledge, it furthers Martin Bernal's argument that Africans had much more of an influence on Greek and Roman culture then is currently believed under the Aryan model.
Works Cited
"Augustine of Hippo." Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia. 20 Nov. 2007. Wikimedia Foundation. Nov.2007 .
Bard, Kathryn A., and Frank M. Snowden. Black Athena Revisited. Ed. Mary R. Lefkowitz. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina P, 1996. 103-128.
"Best Kept Secret: Catholics Have Had 3 Black Popes." New York Beacon 14 Apr. 2000: 6. ProQuest. University of Washington. Nov. 2007 <
http://proquest.umi.com.offcampus.lib.wash... Berlinerblau, Jacques. Heresy in the University. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1999. 93-109.
Bernal, Martin. Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization. Vol. 2. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1996.
Bernal, Martin. Black Athena Writes Back. Ed. David C. Moore. Durham: Duke UP, 2001.
Burrell, Hugh. "Black Popes of the Catholic Church." Michigan Chronicle 12 July 2006, sec. B3. ProQuest. University of Washington. Nov. 2007 .
Holtzclaw, Robert F. The Saints Go Marching In. Shaker Heights: Keeble P, 1979. 73-167.
Ingram, M.L. "Blacks Have Big Role in Catholicism." Philadelphia Tribune 14 Feb. 2006, People of Faith ed., sec. K: 2.
John, Eric, ed. The Popes: A Concise Biographical History. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1964. 16-79.
Mackenzie, Jim. "Two Images of Bias." Oxford Review of Education 23 (1997): 487-502. .
McCullagh, C B. "Bias in Historical Description, Interpretation, and Explanation." History and Theory 39 (2000): 39-66. JSTOR. University of Washington. Nov. 2007 .
Scobie, Edward. African Presence in Early Europe. Ed. Ivan V. Sertima. 8th ed. New Brunswick: Transaction, 2000. 96-107.
Posted By: Dr. Okpara Nosakhere
Tuesday, May 4th 2010 at 1:15PM
You can also
click
here to view all posts by this author...
