Black Athena Writes Back

Martin Bernal Responds to His Critics

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by Martin Bernal,

Edited by David Chioni Moore

Duke University Press

Due/Published September 2001, 640 pages, paper

ISBN 0822327171

This book is Bernal's response to criticisms to his well-known 1987 book, Black Athena. Producing a shock wave of reaction from scholars, Black Athena argued that the development of Greek civilization was heavily influenced by Afroasiatic civilizations. Moreover, Bernal asserted that this knowledge had been deliberately obscured by the rampant racism of nineteenth-century Europeans who could not abide the notion that Greek society--for centuries recognized as the originating culture of Europe--had its origins in Africa and Southwest Asia.

The subsequent rancor among classicists over Bernal's theory and accusations was picked up in the popular media, and his suggestion that Greek culture had its origin in Africa was widely derided. In a report on 60 Minutes, for example, it was suggested that Bernal's hypothesis was essentially an attempt to provide blacks with self-esteem so that they would feel included in the march of progress.

Here, Bernal provides additional documentation to back up his thesis, as well as offering explanations of why traditional scholarship on the subject remains inaccurate and why specific arguments lobbed against his theories are themselves faulty.

Contents

Table of Contents

Preface
Transcriptions and Phonetics
Maps and Charts

Introduction

I. Egyptology
1. Can We We Fair? A Reply to John Baines
2. Greece is Not Nubia: A Reply to David O'Connor

II. Classics
3. Who is Qualified to Write Greek History? A Reply to Lawrence A. Tritle
4. How Did the Egyptian Way of Death Reach Greece? A Reply to Emily Vermeule
5. Just Smoke and Mirrors? A Reply to Edith Hall

III. Linguistics
6. Ausnahmslosigkeit über Alles: A Reply to Jay H. Jasanoff and Alan Nussbaum

IV. Historiography
7. Accuracy and/or Coherence? A Reply to Robert Norton, Robert Palter, and Josine Blok
8. Passion and Politics: A Reply to Guy Rogers
9. The British Utilitarians, Imperialism, and the Fall of the Ancient Model

V. Science
10. Was There a Greek Scientific Miracle? A Reply to Robert Palter
11. Animadversions on the Origins of Western Science

VI. Recent Broadening Scholarship
12. Greek Art Without Egypt, Hamlet Without the Prince: A Review of Sarah Morris's Daidalos and the Origins of Greek Art
13. One or Several Revolutions? A Review of Walter Burkert's The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age
14. There's a Mountain in the Way: A Review of Martin West's The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth
15. Phoenician Politics and Egyptian Justice in Ancient Greece

VII. A Popularizing Effort
16. All Not Quiet on the Wellesley Front: A Review of Not Out of Africa

Conclusion
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index