I know that “race” as we know it is a modern construct. I know that the Egyptians possibly would have resented being categorized that way. But I think we all know the real question here: If someone from modern times were to look at ancient Egypt, how would the population occur to them racially?

I’m very confused by this, and have been trying to understand for a long time as an African descended person. Their art isn’t very realistic, but very often times appears to show people who could be black. Like this painting: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/548576 The artist here seemed to feel the need to paint what looks like the servants and musicians as being much darker, while the women and children in the top left are lighter skinned. Looking at this you might think the ancient Egyptians DID care about race. But I know a german study was done recently on the genes of 151 mummies, which supposedly showed ancient egyptians were genetically closer to europeans than africans, but the study admits they were all taken from one site in middle Egypt so they may not be indicative of the whole society.

This art, as well as the genetic study makes me wonder if maybe upper class people and royalty had lighter skin?

What the hell was going on? Do we even know? Do we have any theories? If so, which ones hold water. Im really curious.