Artisans of the ancient Mediterranean era were faithful in depicting all manner of beings in their work from both real life and mythological story. Whether created out of their imagination or depicted accurately from actual experience, these images portray most of what people now know about this period of history. This paper will describe and discuss an image that includes a subject who is obviously of African descent.
The image is a detail taken from a Thracian tomb painting at Kazanlak in Bulgaria. The tomb in question is estimated to have been erected at the end of the 4th century BCE. It is a beehive tomb for a former Thracian King and was discovered in 1944 (Boardman 1993 357;www.bulgariatravel.org). The painting on the tomb depicts a scene with men and horses on one side and a couple eating together and being waited upon by servants on the other, with figures riding chariots inset into the smaller circle. The detail being used for this paper is of the couple dining together and being waited upon by servants. There seem to be at least three ethnicities represented. The servant on the left appears to be of North European descent, the servant to the right appears to be of Latin or Greek descent, as is the woman who is seated, while the man who is seated appears to be of African descent. The artist depicted this figure as dark skinned with tightly curled hair. According to both Beardsley (11) and Snowden (1948 32) these two characteristics are the most commonly used conventions to demonstrate that a character is of African descent. In addition, this figure appears to be in control of the action taking place in the picture as he is sitting at a table laden with food and seems to be in the act of entertaining his female guest. He is holding the woman's hand and is in the act of offering her some refreshment. Also, since this painting was found on the tomb of a Thracian King, it could be surmised that the person depicted ...