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

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"What is classical about Classical civilization? In one of the most audacious works of scholarship ever written, Martin Bernal challenges the foundation of our thinking about this question. Classical civilization, he argues, has deep roots in Afroasiatic cultures. But these Afroasiatic influences ha...

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Bibliographic Details
Uniform Title:Rutgers University Press Classics.
Main Author: Bernal, Martin (Author)
Language:English
Published: New Brunswick, New Jersey : Rutgers University Press, 2020.
Edition:Reprint edition.
Series:Rutgers University Press Classics.
Subjects:
Greece > Civilization > Egyptian influences.
Greece > Civilization > Phoenician influences.
Greece > Civilization > To 146 B.C.
Civilization.
Civilization > Egyptian influences.
Civilization > Phoenician influences.
Greece.
To 146 B.C.
Physical Description:3 volumes : illustrations, maps ; 21 cm.
Format: Book
Contents:
  • Volume I: The fabrication of ancient Greece, 1785-1985
  • Introduction. Background ; Proposed historical outline ; Black Athena, volume I: a summary of the argument ; Greece European or Levantine? The Egyptian and West Semitic components of Greek civilization ; Solving the riddle of the Sphinx and other studies in Egypto-Greek mythology
  • The ancient model in antiquity. Pelasgians ; Ionians ; Colonization ; The 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 ; The triumph of Egyptian religion ; Alexander son of Ammon
  • Egyptian wisdom and Greek transmission from the Dark Ages to the Renaissance. The murder of Hypatia ; The collapse of Egypto-Pagan religion ; Christianity, stars and fish ; The 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
  • The 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 ; The 18th century: China and the Physiocrats ; The 18th century: England, Egypt and the Freemasons ; France, Egypt and 'progress': the quarrel between ancients and moderns ; Mythology as allegory for Egyptian science ; The expedition to Egypt
  • Hostilities to Egypt in the 18th century. Christian reaction ; The 'triangle': Christianity and Greece against Egypt ; The 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 ; Göttingen
  • Romantic linguistics: the rise of India and the fall of Egypt, 1740-1880. The birth of Indo-European ; The love affair with Sanskrit ; Schlegelian romantic linguistics ; The Oriental renaissance ; The fall of China ; Racism in the early 19th century ; What colour were the ancient Egyptians? ; The 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
  • Hellenomania, 1: the fall of the ancient model, 1790-1830. Friedrich August Wolf and Wilhelm von Humboldt ; Humboldt's educational reforms ; The 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
  • Hellenomania, 2: transmission of the new scholarship to England and the rise of the Aryan model, 1830-60. The German model and educational reform in England ; George Grote ; Aryans and Hellenes
  • The rise and fall of the Phoenicians, 1830-85. Phoenicians and anti-Semitism ; What race were the Semites? ; The linguistic and geographical inferiorities of the Semites ; The Arnolds ; Phoenicians and English, 1: the English view ; Phoenicians and English, 2: the French view ; Salammbô ; Moloch ; The Phoenicians in Greece: 1820-80 ; Gobineau's image of Greece ; Schliemann and the discovery of the 'Mycenaeans' ; Babylon
  • The final solution of the Phoenician problem, 1885-1945. The Greek renaissance ; Salomon Reinach ; Julius Beloch ; Victor Bérard ; Akhenaton and the Egyptian renaissance ; Arthur Evans and the 'Minoans' ; The peak of anti-Semitism, 1920-39 ; 20th-century Aryanism ; Taming the alphabet: the final assault on the Phoenicians
  • The post-war situation: the return to the broad Aryan model, 1945-85. The post-war situation ; Developments in classics, 1945-65 ; The 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 ; An attempt at compromise: Ruth Edwards ; The return of the Iron Age Phoenicians ; Naveh and the transmission of the alphabet ; The return of the Egyptians? ; The revised ancient model
  • Conclusion
  • Appendix: Were the Philistines Greek?
  • Volume II: The archaeological and documentary evidence
  • Introduction. Intrinsic reasons for preferring the revised ancient model to the Aryan one ; Some theoretical considerations ; Summary of the argument
  • Crete before the palaces, 7000-2100 BC. The 'diffusionist' and 'isolationist' debate ; Crete before the 21st century BC ; Cretan religion in the early Bronze Age ; Conclusion
  • Egypt's influence on Boiota and the Peloponnese in the third millennium, 1: the cultic, mythical and legendary evidence. Semelē and Alkmēnē ; Athena and Athens in Boiotia: the cults of Athena Itōnia and Athena Alalkomena ; Nēit, the controller of water ; The battles between Nēit and Seth, Athena and Poseidon ; Poseidon/Seth ; Nēit/Athena and Nephthys/Erinys ; Herakles ; Conclusion
  • Egypt's influence on Boiotia and the Peloponnese in the third millennium, II: the archaeological evidence. Spartan archaeology: the tomb of Alkmēnē ; The tomb of Amphion and Zēthos ; The 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 ; The end of early Bronze Age 'high' civilization ; Conclusion
  • The Old Palace period in Crete and the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, 2100 to 1730 BC. Early Minoan III - the Prepalatial period ; Lead and spirals ; The Cretan palaces ; Cretan writing systems ; Cultic symbols in Early Palatial Crete ; Possible Anatolian origins of the bull cult ; Thunder and sex: Min, Pan and Bwäzä ; Min and Minos ; The case against Egyptian influence ; Mont and Rhadamanthys ; The survival of the bull cult - Cretan conservatism ; Conclusion
  • Sesōstris, I: the archaeological and documentary evidence for the Greek accounts of his conquest. The discovery of the Mit Rahina inscription ; The significance of the inscription as evidence for an Egyptian empire in Asia during the Middle Kingdom ; Senwosre and Sesōstris ; The real and the fantastic in the Sesōstris stories ; Middle Kingdom Egypt's military capability ; The background ; Archaeological evidence for the campaigns ; Was Sesōstris the destroyer? ; Sesōstris in Thrace and Scythia? ; Sesōstris in Colchis? ; The evidence for Sesōstris' 'conquests' from the Mit Rahina inscription ; Conclusion
  • Sesōstris, II: the cultic, mythical and legendary evidence. The Egyptian tradition ; The traditions of the Levant and Anatolia ; Thrace and Scythia ; Colchis: an Egyptian colony? ; Mesopotamia and Iran ; The Greek legends of Memnōn and his conquests of Anatolia ; The case for an Egyptian conquest of Troy c. 1900 BC ; Sesōstris/Senwosre and Amenemḥ's conquests: a summary of the evidence
  • The Thera eruption: from the Aegean to China. The controversy over dating ; The eruption re-dated ; The implications of the re-dating ; Thera and Kalliste ; Volcanic allusions in the Exodus story ; Membliaros and the pall of darkness ; The myth of Atlantis ; The Hekla eruption in Iceland ; China: the historiographical impact ; The world-wide impact of the Thera eruption ; Conclusion
  • The Hyksos. The chronology of the 13th Dynasty: chaos in Egypt ; The chronology of the 15th Dynasty: the beginnings of Hyksos rule ; The Hyksos capital at Tell el Daba'a ; The 400-year stela and the Temple of Seth ; A chronological summary ; Who were the Hyksos? ; Different views on the origin and the arrival of the Hyksos ; The Hyksos as a multinational corporation ; Horses and chariots: Hurrians and Aryans ; Hurrians and Hyksos ; Hyksos material culture ; The Hyksos and the biblical captivity or sojourn in Egypt ; Conclusion
  • Crete, Thera and the birth of Mycenaean culture in the 18th and 17th centuries BC: a Hyksos invasion? The Cretan new palaces ; The weapons of Crete in MMIII ; The flying gallop, the sphinx and the griffin ; Was there a Hyksos invasion of Crete c. 1730 BC? ; The Hyksos in Thera? ; The origins of Mycenaean civilization ; The Aryanist model of invasion ; Between Aryan and ancient: Frank Stubbings ; Conclusion: Revision of the ancient model
  • Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Levantine contacts with the Aegean: the documentary evidence. Egyptian place names referring to the Aegean ; The 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 ; Cretan and Mycenaean missions to Egypt ; The statue base of Amenōphis III ; Contacts between Egypt and the Aegean in the late 18th and 19th Dynasties ; A summary of the evidence from Egyptian documents and paintings ; Mesopotamian and Ugaritic documents ; Aegean documents ; Conclusion
  • Egyptian and Levantine contacts with the Aegean, 1550-1250 BC: the archaeological evidence. Late Mycenaean Greece ; The relative isolation of the Aegean 1550-1470 BC ; Egyptian expansion from c. 1520 to 1420 ; Pelops and the Achaians: evidence from Anatolia ; Pelops 'the crown prince'? ; The Achaians and the Danaans ; Archaeological traces of the Achaians ; Mycenaeans and Hittites ; Ugarit and Cyprus ; Mycenaean expansion and conquests of Tuthmōsis III ; The merchants of the Mediterranean in the late Bronze Age? ; The Kaṣ shipwreck: the sailors ; The Egyptian Thebes and Mycenae, 1420-1370 BC ; The foundation deposit plaques ; The vocabulary of trade ; The decline of Egyptian influence on the Aegean 1370-1220 BC ; Phi and Psi figurines and smiting gods ; Canaanite jars ; Ivory ; Conclusion
  • The heroic end to the heroic age: the fall of Thebes, Troy and Mycenae 1250-1150 BC. Cylinder seals ; The Boiotian Thebes and the Phoenicians' arrival ; Ancient chronographies ; Kadmos and the alphabet ; Kadmos and Danaos: Hyksos rulers ; Problems in the writing of liner B ; The treasure of the Kadmeion ; The Kassite connection ; The destruction of Thebes ; A brief survey of Trojan history ; The date of the Trojan war ; Thebes and Troy ; The collapse of Mycenaean civilization ; Conclusion.
  • Volume III: The linguistic evidence
  • Introduction. The previous volumes and their reception ; "Classics has been misunderstood" ; Anathema from a G.O.M. ; Outline of volume 3
  • 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
  • The "Nostratic" and "Euroasiatic" hyper- and super-families. Nostratic and Euroasiatic ; Archaeological evidence for the origin of Nostratic and Euroasiatic ; Gordon Childe and Colin Renfrew ; Language and genetics ; Conclusion
  • Afroasiatic, Egyptian and Semitic. The origins of African languages and the development of agriculture in Africa ; The origins and spread of Afroasiatic ; Conclusion
  • The origins of Indo-Hittite and Indo-European and their contacts with other languages. The origins and diffusion of Indo-Hittite and Indo-European ; Loans from other languages into PIH ; Development of an Indo-European gender system based on sex ; Conclusion
  • The Greek language in the Mediterranean context: part 1, phonology. Greek: result of a linguistic shift or of language contact? ; The elements of the Greek linguistic amalgam ; The phonologies of Indo-Hittite and Indo-European ; Phonological developments from PIE to Greek ; Conclusion
  • The Greek language in the Mediterranean context: part 2, morphological and syntactical developments. Morphology ; Syntax ; Summary on syntactical changes ; Conclusion
  • The Greek language in the Mediterranean context: part 3, lexicon. Introduction ; The study of lexical borrowings ; Ancient Greeks' sense of lexical borrowing ; Loans from Afroasiatic into Greek and into Albanian or Armenian ; Conclusion
  • Phonetic developments in Egyptian, West Semitic and Greek over the last three millennia BCE, as reflected in lexical borrowings. Introduction ; Semitic ; Egyptian ; Conclusion
  • Greek borrowings from Egyptian prefixes, including the definite articles. Introduction ; Greek borrowings from Egyptian definite article prefixes ; The Egyptian word pr "house, temple, palace" ; R- "entry" or local prefix ; (R)dit, "causal prefix" ; Greek borrowings from Egyptian verbs beginning with di(t)- ; Conclusion
  • Major Egyptian terms in Greek: part 1
  • Major Egyptian terms in Greek: part 2
  • Sixteen minor roots
  • Semitic sibilants. Introduction ; Loans of sibilants from Canaanite into Greek ; Lateral fricatives ; Sheltered /s/ sC /s/ before consonants ; Conclusion
  • More Semitic loans into Greek
  • Some Egyptian and Semitic semantic clusters in Greek. Nature and agriculture ; Cooking ; Medicine ; Conclusion
  • Semantic clusters: warfare, hunting, and shipping. Weapons, warfare and hunting ; Shipping ; Conclusion
  • Semantic clusters: society, politics, law and abstraction. Introduction ; Society ; Politics ; Law and order ; Abstraction ; Conclusion
  • Religious terminology. Structures ; Personnel ; Cult objects ; Rituals ; Sacrifices ; Incense, flowers, scents ; Aura ; Mysteries ; Conclusion
  • Divine names: gods, mythical creatures, heroes. Introduction: Gods ; Hpr "become" Hprr, Apollo, Asklēpios, Python and Delphi ; Apollo the "Aryan" ; Was Apollo a sun god before the fifth century? ; Twins, Apollo and Artemis ; Other Olympians ; Zeus Nsw ; Other gods ; Herodotos' non-Egyptian divine names ; Demigods ; Mythical creatures ; Some heroes ; Conclusion
  • Geographical features and place-names. Introduction ; Natural features ; City names ; Conclusion
  • Sparta. Introduction ; Sparta: *sper and Sp3t ; Anubis, Hermes and Sparta ; "Late" borrowings and Lykurgos ; Lakonian terminology Egyptian? ; Sparta and death ; Spartans and Jews
  • Athena and Athens. Introduction ; Summary of the chapter ; Armor and equipment ; Athena and her victims ; Athens as a colony from Sais? ; Summary of the cultic evidence ; Etymology of names ; Ht ntr (nt) Nt Athena(ia) ; Conclusion.