Romans
Despite its proximity to Africa and the Middle East, along with all the existing archaeological and genetic evidence, Hollywood has refused to acknowledge that ancient Rome was a melting pot. In fact, before being sacked by the invading Slavic and Germanic tribes from Northern Europe, the original inhabitants were a dark-skinned people called the Etruscans.
Even after the Nordic invasion, Blacks were not systematically restricted to the lower classes of Roman society. On the contrary, some became emperors, writers, philosophers, entertainers, generals and popes.
African-born Roman Emperor Septimius Severus began ruling the Roman Empire around 193 A.D. There were at least four other Black emperors after him. Lusius Quietus, originally born a Berber prince, was one of Rome’s greatest African generals.
Upon re-examining an ancient Roman skeleton buried in a stone sarcophagus with luxury imports including jewelry made of elephant ivory, a mirror and a blue glass perfume jar, archaeologists determined that one of the richest inhabitants of fourth century Roman York was a woman of Black African ancestry, according to a February 2010 article in The Guardian.
