Why is vin Diesal staring in a Hannibal Barca movie? The world knows he was of african descent?

Question

I just don't understand why our society has such a difficult time believing that one of history's greatest generals was of African descent.

Answer 1

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Africa is a name the Romans made up for the southern coast of the Mediterranean sea which was settled primarily by Phoenicians (a Semitic people), like Carthage was, or by Greeks. All these people are Caucasians, as are the Arabs (who are also Semites) who form the majority there to this day. The only black Africans known to the Roman world at the time were from Nubia and Ethiopia, kingdoms far south of Egypt in Eastern Africa. The idea of African being synonymous with black (Negroid) dates from 15th-century (AD) European exploration and the slave trade.

By the way, since according to Vin Diesel, he is part black and grew up in a black project in NYC, in this movie there will be a part-black guy (Diesel) playing a white guy (Hannibal). Now doesn't that make you feel better?

Answer 2

He was Carthaginian, as was his father. Carthage was northern Africa, wasn't it? And his mother was Iberian. So he probably would not have had the same appearance as sub-Saharan Africans, if that's what you're trying to say.

Answer 3

Hannibal wasn't a Negro...if that is what you mean.
Why are you so dedicated to this Afrocentric myth?

Carthage became largely White during the reign of Alexander the Great.
On silver coins from about 220 BC (contemporary with Hannibal's lifetime), you can clearly see that he doesn't exhibit Negro features.

Source(s):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannibal

Answer 4

from the way the ancient carthaginian coins look and given geographical location he most likely had a bronze/white look rather then a black complextion