Front cover image for Black Athena : the Afroasiatic roots of classical civilization

Black Athena : the Afroasiatic roots of classical civilization

Synopsis: Could Greek philosophy be rooted in Egyptian thought? Is it possible that the Pythagorean theory was conceived on the shores of the Nile and the Euphrates rather than in ancient Greece? Could it be that Western civilization was born on the so-called Dark Continent? For almost two centuries, Western scholars have given little credence to the possibility of such scenarios. In Black Athena, an audacious three-volume series that strikes at the heart of today's most heated culture wars, Martin Bernal challenges Eurocentric attitudes by calling into question two of the longest-established explanations for the origins of classical civilization. The Aryan Model, which is current today, claims that Greek culture arose as the result of the conquest from the north by Indo-European speakers, or "Aryans," of the native "pre-Hellenes." The Ancient Model, which was maintained in Classical Greece, held that the native population of Greece had initially been civilized by Egyptian and Phoenician colonists and that additional Near Eastern culture had been introduced to Greece by Greeks studying in Egypt and Southwest Asia. Moving beyond these prevailing models, Bernal proposes a Revised Ancient Model, which suggests that classical civilization in fact had deep roots in Afroasiatic cultures
Print Book, English, 1987-2006
Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, N.J., 1987-2006
Books
3 volumes : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.
9780813512761, 9780813512778, 9780813515830, 9780813515847, 9780813536552, 9781853437991, 081351276X, 0813512778, 0813515831, 081351584X, 0813536553, 1853437999
16081700
Volume I: Fabrication Of Ancient Greece, 1785-1985
Preface and acknowledgments
Transcription and phonetics
Maps and charts
Chronological table
Introduction
Background
Proposed historical outline
Black Athena, Volume 1: Summary of the argument
Greece European or Levantine? the Egyptian and West Semitic components of Greek civilization / Summary of Volume 2
Solving the riddle of the Sphinx and other studies in Egypto-Greek mythology / Summary of Volume 3
1: Ancient Model In Antiquity
Pelasgians
Ionians
Colonization
Colonizations in Greek tragedy
Herodotos
Thucydides
Isokrates and Plato
Aristotle
Theories of colonization and later borrowing in the Hellenistic world
Plutarch's attack on Herodotos
Triumph of Egyptian religion
Alexander son of Ammon
2: Egyptian Wisdom And Greek Transmission From The Dark Ages To The Renaissance
Murder of Hypatia
Collapse of Egypto-Pagan religion
Christianity, stars and fish
Relics of Egyptian religion: Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism and Gnosticism
Hermeticism-Greek, Iranian, Chaldaean or Egyptian?
Hermeticism and Neo-Platonism under early Christianity, Judaism and Islam
Hermeticism in Byzantium and Christian Western Europe
Egypt in the Renaissance
Copernicus and Hermeticism
Hermeticism and Egypt in the 16th century
3: Triumph Of Egypt In The 17th And 18th Centuries
Hermeticism in the 17th century
Rosicrucianism: Ancient Egypt in Protestant countries
Ancient Egypt in the 18th century
18th century: China and the Physiocrats
18th century: England, Egypt and the Freemasons
France, Egypt and 'progress': the quarrel between Ancients and moderns
Mythology as allegory for Egyptian science
Expedition to Egypt
4: Hostilities To Egypt In The 18th Century
Christian reaction
Triangle: Christianity and Greece against Egypt
Alliance between Greece and Christianity
Progress against Egypt
Europe as the 'progressive' continent
Progress
Racism
Romanticism
Ossian and Homer
Romantic Hellenism
Winckelmann and Neo-Hellenism in Germany
Gottingen
5: Romantic Linguistics: The Rise Of India And The Fall Of Egypt, 1740-1880
Birth of Indo-European
Love affair with Sanskrit
Schlegelian romantic linguistics
Oriental renaissance
Fall of China
Racism in the early 19th century
What colour were the ancient Egyptians?
National renaissance of modern Egypt
Dupuis, Jomard and Champollion
Egyptian monotheism or Egyptian polytheism
Popular perceptions of Ancient Egypt in the 19th and 20th centuries
Elliot Smith and 'diffusionism'
Jomard and the mystery of the Pyramids
6: Hellenomania, 1: The Fall Of The Ancient Model, 1790-1830
Friedrich August Wolf and Wilhelm von Humboldt
Humboldt's educational reforms
Philhellenes
Dirty Greeks and the Dorians
Transitional figures, 1: Hegel and Marx
Transitional figures, 2: Heeren
Transitional figures, 3: Barthold Niebuhr
Petit-Radel and the first attack on the ancient model
Karl Otfried Muller and the overthrow of the ancient model
7: Hellenomania, 2: Transmission Of The New Scholarship To England And The Rise Of The Aryan Model, 1830-60
German model and educational reform in England
George Grote
Aryans and Hellenes
8: Rise And Fall Of The Phoenicians, 1830-85
Phoenicians and anti-Semitism
What race were the Semites?
Linguistic and geographical inferiorities of the Semites
Arnolds
Phoenicians and English, 1: the English view
Phoenicians and English, 2: the French view
Salammbo
Moloch
Phoenicians in Greece: 1820-80
Gobineau's image of Greece
Schliemann and the discovery of the 'Mycenaeans'
Babylon
9: Final Solution of the Phoenician Problem, 1885-1945
The Greek renaissance
Salomon Reinach
Julius Beloch
Victor Berard
Akhenaton and the Egyptian renaissance
Arthur Evans and the 'Minoans'
Peak of anti-Semitism, 1920-39
20th-century Aryanism
Taming the alphabet: the final assault on the Phoenicians
10: Post-War Situation: The Return To The Broad Aryan Model, 1945-85
Post-war situation
Developments in classics, 1945-65
Model of autochthonous origin
East Mediterranean contacts
Mythology
Language
Ugarit
Scholarship and the rise of Israel
Cyrus Gordon
Astour and Hellenosemitica
Astour's successor?-J C Billigmeier
Attempt at compromise: Ruth Edwards
Return of the Iron Age Phoenicians
Naveh and the transmission of the alphabet
Return of the Egyptians?
Revised ancient model
Conclusion
Appendix: Were the Philistines Greek?
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index. Volume II: Archaeological And Documentary Evidence
Preface and acknowledgements
Transcription and phonetics
Chronological tables
Introduction
Intrinsic reasons for preferring the revised ancient model to the Aryan one
Some theoretical considerations
Summary of the argument
1: Crete Before The Palaces, 7000-2100 BC
Diffusionist and isolationist debate
Crete before the 21st century BC
Cretan religion in the early Bronze age
Conclusion
2: Egypt's Influence On Boiotan And The Peloponnese In The 3rd Millennium, 1: The Cultic, Mythical And Legendary Evidence
Semele and Alkmene
Athena and Athens in Boiotia: the cults of Athena Itonia and Athena Alalkomena
Neit, the controller of water
Battles between Neit and Seth, Athena and Poseidon
Poseidon / Seth
Neit / Athena and Nephthys / Erinys
Herakles
Conclusion
3: Egypt's Influence On Boiotia And The Peloponnese In The 3rd millennium, II: The Archaeological Evidence
Spartan archaeological : the tomb of Alkmene
Tomb of Amphion and Zethos
Draining of the Kopais
Granaries
Irrigation and settlement in the Argolid
Drainage and irrigation in Arkadia
Parallels between Boiotian and Arkadian place names
Social and political structures in early Helladic Greece
Other archaeological traces of old kingdom Egypt in the Aegean
End of early bronze age 'high' civilization
Conclusion
4: Old Palace Period In Crete And The Egyptian Middle Kingdom, 2100 to 1730 BC
Early Minoan III-the Prepalatial period
Lead and spirals
Cretan palaces
Cretan writing systems
Cultic symbols in Early Palatial Crete
Possible Anatolian origins of the bull cult
Thunder and sex: Min, Pan and Bwaza
Min and Minos
Case against Egyptian influence
Mont and Rhadamanthys
Survival of the bull cult-Cretan conservatism
Conclusion
5: Sesostris, I: The Archaeological And Documentary Evidence For The Greek Accounts Of His Conquest
Discovery of the Mit Rahina inscription
Significance of the inscription as evidence for an Egyptian empire in Asia during the middle kingdom
Senwosre and Sesostris
Real and the fantastic in the Sesostris stories
Middle kingdom Egypt's military capability
Background
Archaeological evidence for the campaigns
Was Sesostris the destroyer?
Sesostris in Thrace and Scythia?
Sesostris in Colchis?
Evidence for Sesostris 'conquests' from the Mit Rahina inscription
Conclusion
6: Sesostris, II: The Cultic, Mythical And Legendary Evidence
Egyptian tradition
Traditions of the Levant and Anatolia
Thrace and Scythia
Colchis: and Egyptian colony?
Mesopotamia and Iran
Greek and legends of Memnon and his conquests on Anatolia
Case for an Egyptian conquest of Troy c1900 BC
Sesostris / Senwosre and Amenemhe's conquests: a summary of the evidence
7: Thera Eruption: From The Aegean To China
Controversy over dating
Eruption re-dated
Implications of the re-dating
Thera and Kalliste
Volcanic allusions in the Exodus story
Membliaros and the pall of darkness
Myth of Atlantis
Hekla eruption in Iceland
China: the historiographical impact
World-wide impact of the Thera eruption
Conclusion
8: Hyksos
Chronology of the 13th Dynasty: chaos in Egypt
Chronology of the 15th Dynasty: the beginnings of Hyksos rule
Hyksos capital at Tell el Daba'a
400-year stela and the Temple of Seth
Chronological summary
Who were the Hyksos?
Different views on the origin and the arrival of the Hyksos
Hyksos as a multinational corporation
Horses and chariots: Hurrians and Aryans
Hurrians and Hyksos
Hyksos material culture
Hyksos and the biblical captivity or sojourn in Egypt
Conclusion
9: Crete, Thera And The Birth Of Mycenaean Culture In The 18th And 17th Centuries BC: A Hyksos Invasion?
Cretan new palaces
Weapons of Crete in MMIII
Flying gallop, the sphinx and the griffin
Was there a Hyksos invastion of Crete c1730 BC?
Hyksos in Thera?
Origins of Mycenaean civilization
Aryanist model of invasion
Between Aryand and ancient: Frank Stubbings
Conclusion: Revision of the ancient model
10: Egyptian, Mesopotamian And Levantine Contacts With The Aegean: The Documentary Evidence
Egyptian place names referring to the Aegan
Etymology of Danaan
Documentary evidence for Egyptian relations with the Aegean in the late Bronze age
Accuracy and hybridism in Egyptian inscriptions and tomb paintings
Why did Cretan princes bring tribute to Egypt?
Dating the Mycenaean domination of Crete
Crete and Mycenaean missions to Egypt
Statue base of Amenophis III
Contacts between Egypt and the Aegean in the late 18th and 19th Dynasties
Summary of the evidence from Egyptian documents and paintings
Mesopotamian and Ugaritic documents
Aegean documents
Conclusion
11: Egyptian And Levantine Contacts With The Aegean, 1550-1250 BC: The Archaeological Evidence
Late Mycenaean Greece
Relative isolation of the Aegean 1550-1470BC
Egyptian expansion from c1520 to 1420
Pelops and the Achaians: evidence from Anatolia
Pelops 'the crown prince?
Achaians and the Danaans
Archaeological traces of the Achaians
Mycenaeans and Hittities
Ugarit and Cyprus
Mycenaean expansion and conquests of Tuthmosis III
Merchants of the Mediterranean in the late Bronze age?
Kas shipwreck: the sailors
Egyptian Thebes and Mycenae, 1420-1370 BC
Foundation deposit plaques
Vocabulary of trade
Decline of Egyptian influence on the Aegean 1370-1200 BC
Phi and Psi figurines and smiting gods
Canaanite jars
Ivory
Conclusion
12: Heroic End To The Heroic Age: The Fall Of Thebes, Troy and Mycenae 1250-1150 BC
Cylinder seals
Boiotian Thebes and the Phoenician's arrival
Ancient chronographies
Kadmos and the alphabet
Kadmos and Danaos: Hyksos rulers
Problems in the writing of liner B
Treasure of the Kadmeion
Kassite connection
Destruction of Thebes
Brief survey of Trojan history
Date of the Trojan war
Thebes and Troy
Collapse of Mycenaean civilization
Conclusion
Maps and charts
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index. Volume III: Linguistic evidence
Preface and acknowledgements
Transcription and phonetics
Maps and charts
Introduction
Previous volumes and their reception
Classics has been misunderstood
Anathema from a GOM
Outline of volume 3
1: Historical Linguistics And The Image Of Ancient Greek
Nineteenth-century romantic linguistics: the tree and the family
Saussure and the twentieth-century epigones of nineteenth-century Indo-European studies
Ramification or interlacing
2: Nostratic And Euroasiatic Hyper- And Super-Families
Nostratic and Eurasiatic
Archaeological evidence for the origin of Nostratic and Eurosiatic
Gordon Childe and Colin Renfrew
Language and genetics
Conclusion
3: Afroasiatic, Egyptian And Semitic
Origins of African languages and the development of agriculture in Africa
Origins and spread of Afroasiatic
Conclusion
4: Origins Of Indo-Hittite And Indo-European And Their Contacts With Other Languages
Origins and diffusion of Indo-Hittite and Indo-European
Loans from other languages into PIH
Development of and Indo-European gender system based on sex
Conclusion
5: Greek Language In The Mediterranean Context: Part, Phonology
Greek: result of a linguistic shift or of language contact?
Elements of the Greek linguistic amalgam
Phonologies of Indo-Hittite and Indo-European
Phonological developments from PIE to Greek
Conclusion
6: Greek Language In The Mediterranean Context: Part 2, Morphological And Syntactical Developments
Morphology
Syntax
Summary of syntactical changes
Conclusion
7: Greek Language In The Mediterranean Context: Part 3, Lexicon
Introduction
Study of lexical borrowings
Ancient Greeks' sense of lexical borrowing
Loans from Afroasiatic into Greek and into Albanian or Armenian
Conclusion
8: Phonetic Developments In Egyptian, West Semitic And Greek Over The Last Three Millennia BCE, as Reflected In Lexical Borrowings
Introduction
Semitic
Egyptian
Conclusion
9: Greek Borrowings From Egyptian Prefixes, Including The Definite Articles
Introduction
Greek borrowing from Egyptian definite article prefixes
Egyptian word pr "house, temple, palace"
R- "entry" or local prefix"
(R)dit, "casual prefix"
Greek borrowings from Egyptian verbs beginning with di(t)
Conclusion
10: Major Egyptian Terms In Greek: Part 1
1: Ntr/K3
2: 'nh
3: M(w)dw
4: Sb3
5: Dr, R-dr, drw
6: Mwr, M3't, Moipa, Meipouai and Mm3't, Ma
7: Hpr
Conclusion
11: Major Egyptian Terms In Greek: Part 2
nfr(w)/ms
nfr/ms
Conclusion
12: Sixteen Minor Roots
Introduction
Conclusion
13: Semitic Sibilants
Introduction
Loans of sibilants from Canaanite into Greek
Laterial fricatives
Sheltered /s /sC /s /before consonants
Conclusion
14: More Semitic Loans Into Greek
Introduction
Conclusion
15: Some Egyptian And Semiic Semantic Clusters In Greek
Nature and agriculture
Cooking
Medicine
Conclusion
16: Semantic Clusters: Warfare, Hunting, And Shipping
Weapons, warfare and hunting
Shipping
17: Semantic Clusters: Society, Politics, Law And Abstraction
Introduction
Society
Politics
Law and order
Abstraction
18: Religious Terminology
Structures
Personnel
Cult objects
Rituals
Sacrifices
Incense, flowers, scents
Aura
Mysteries
Conclusion
19: Divine Names: Gods, Mythical Creatures, Heroes
Introduction: Gods
hpr, "become" Hprr, Apollo, Asklepios, Python and Delphi
Apollo the "Aryan"
Was Apollo a sun god before the fifht century?
Twins, Apollo and Artemis
Other olympians
Zeus Nsw
Other gods
Herodots' non-Egyptian divine names
Demigods
Mythical creatures
Some heroes
Conclusion
20: Geographical Features And Place-Name
Introduction
Natural features
City names
Conclusion
21: Sparta
Introduction
Sparta: *sper and Sp3t
Anubis, Hermes and Sparta
Late borrowings and Lykurgos
Lakonian terminology Egyptian?
Sparta and death
Spartans and Jews
22: Athena And Athens
Introduction
Summary of the chapter
Armor and equipment
Athena and her victims
Athens as a colony from Sias?
Summary of the cultic evidence
Etymology of names
Ht ntr (nt) Nt Athena(ia)
Conclusion
Conclusion
Notes
Glossary
Greek words and names with proposed Afroasiatic etymologies
Letter correspondences
Bibliography
Index