Black Athena

Black Athena. The Afro-Asiatic roots of Greek antiquity ( engl. Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization ) is a three-volume work by Martin Bernal from the years 1987, 1991 and 2006, It turns to the controversial hypothesis that the culture of ancient Greece from. the cultures of the Phoenicians and Egyptians derived. Thus, the origin of Western civilization would be in Asia and Africa, and not as previously thought in Europe.

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Martin Bernal (1937-2013) actual field was not classical antiquity, since he was a professor of Chinese Studies at Cambridge University and at Cornell University until he was emeritus in 2001. His research focus was on the development of the Chinese language. In the Black Athena he tried to demonstrate cultural influences on the level of language, while he rejects archaeological evidence and historical reports to a certain degree.

According to Bernal, there are two main theories on the origin of Greek civilization: the "Aryan Model " and the " Phoenician " model. According to the Aryan Model Greece was colonized by the northwest, so the immigrants came from central Europe. This model divides Bernal in two versions, the "strong " and " weak" version. The strong version says that Greece was uninhabited before the immigration by the Aryans, the weak version assumes that there was an indigenous population.

Bernal, the Aryan model back due to lack of evidence. He quotes Greek historian, to prove that the contemporaries of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were of the opinion that the Phoenicians colonized Greece. Based on this, he hypothesizes that the immigrants from the north met a Phoenician colony with which they intermarried. In addition, he tries to prove that the Egyptians and Phoenicians were mainly African and non- Mediterranean origin.

With the Aryans here are meant the early Indo-Europeans. The term " Arya " is occupied only in the Indo -Iranian self-designation of the area as; further use is based on no longer accepted etymological interpretations and is therefore now avoided among professionals. Also outdated is the opinion of the origins of the Indo-Europeans were to be found in Central Europe; they are further east is now suspected. For Greek ethnogenesis: Nowadays the most common assumption is that there was an indigenous population on the Balkan peninsula, and traces vorindogermanischer substrate languages ​​in ancient Greece to continue. The Minoan culture is nowadays mostly as vorindogermanisch, the Early Cycladic and Early Helladic culture and Cyprus before the Late Bronze Age are also largely considered vorindogermanisch. The prevailing opinion is that the Greeks ( whose language gradually under the influence of the native substrate languages ​​Greek developed ) are well developed in the course of the 2nd millennium BC as a result of mixing of a native population layer with Indo-European immigrants, and only then Phoenician influences were effective.

Expenditure

• Black Athena. The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization Rutgers University Press ( 1987) ISBN 0-8135-1277-8 )
• Black Athena. Afro - Asiatic Roots of Classical Civilization. The Fabrication of Ancient Greece, 1785-1985 Vol 1 ( Paperback) Vintage; New Ed edition ( November 21, 1991 ) ISBN 978-0099887805
• Black Athena. Afro - Asiatic Roots of Classical Civilization. The Fabrication of Ancient Greece, 1785-1985 Vol 1 ( Paperback) Free Association Books (29 Nov. 2004) ISBN 978-0946960569

• Black Athena. Afro - Asiatic Roots of Classical Civilization. The Archaeological and Documentary Evidence Vol 2 ( Paperback) Publisher: Free Association Books ( January 1, 1991 ) ISBN 978-1853430541
• Black Athena. The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization Vol 2 ( Hardcover) Rutgers University Press (Jul 1991) ISBN 978-0813515847

• Black Athena. The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization, Volume III: The Linguistic Evidence Vol 3 (Hardcover) Rutgers University Press ( November 25, 2006 ) ISBN 978-0813536552
• Black Athena. The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization, Volume III: The Linguistic Evidence Free Association Books ( February 1, 2006 ) ISBN 978-1853437991

• Black Athena. The Afro-Asiatic roots of Greek antiquity. How classical Greece was "invented". Publisher List, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-471-77170-0