Black Athena : the Afroasiatic roots of classical civilization

Author/Creator:

Bernal, Martin

Publication/Creation:

New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, 1987-

Resource Type:

Book

More Details

Additional/Related Title Information

Full Title:

Black Athena : the Afroasiatic roots of classical civilization / Martin Bernal

Variant Titles:

Afroasiatic roots of classical civilization

Related Names

Additional Author/Creators:

Billops, Camille, former owner
Hatch, James V. (James Vernon), 1928-2020, former owner

Subjects/Genre

Subjects:

Greece--Civilization--Egyptian influences
Greece--Civilization--Phoenician influences
Greece--Civilization--To 146 B.C.

Description/Summary

Table of Contents:

v. 1. The fabrication of ancient Greece, 1785-1985 -- v. 2. The archaeological and documentary evidence -- v. 3. The linguistic evidence.
Volume 1: 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 2: 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 3: 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-Familes -- 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, Poltics, 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 -- Etymoloyg of names -- Ht ntr (nt) Nt Athena(ia) -- Conclusion -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Glossary -- Greek words and names with proposed Afroasiatic etymologies -- Letter correspondences -- Bibliography -- Index.

Summary:

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.

Language:

English

Physical Type/Description:

volumes : illustrations ; 24 cm

Local Note:

Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library copy has dust jacket; from the library of Camille Billops and James V. Hatch.

Additional Identifiers

Catalog ID (MMSID):

990027958620302486

ISBN:

081351276X (v. 1)
0813512778 (v. 1 (pbk).)
0813515831 (v. 2)
081351584X (v. 2 (pbk).)
0813536553 (v. 3)
9780813512761 (v. 1)
9780813512778 (v. 1 (pbk).)
9780813515830 (v. 2)
9780813515847 (v. 2 (pbk).)
9780813536552 (v. 3)

OCLC Number:

16081700

Barcode:

000011692931
010001198831
000011900771
000015279714
010002716067
300000038387