 | |
| Author | Martin Bernal |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Ancient Greece |
| Publisher | Rutgers University Press |
Publication date | 1987 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | |
| ISBN | 978-0-8135-1277-8 |
Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization, published in 1987 (vol. 1), 1991 (vol. 2), and 2006 (vol. 3), is a pseudoarchaeological trilogy by Martin Bernal[1][2][3] proposing an alternative hypothesis on the origins of ancient Greece and classical civilisation. Bernal's thesis discusses the perception of ancient Greece in relation to Greece's North African and West Asian neighbours, especially the ancient Egyptians and Phoenicians who, he believes, colonized ancient Greece producing the bulk of Classical civilization. Bernal proposed that a change in the Western perception of Greece in the 18th century lead to the denial of any significant Egyptian and Phoenician influence on ancient Greek civilization.
Black Athena has been heavily criticised and rejected by academics. They often highlight the fact that there is no archaeological or historical evidence for ancient Egyptian colonization of mainland Greece or the Aegean Islands.[4][5] Academic reviews of Bernal's work overwhelmingly reject his heavy reliance on ancient Greek mythology, speculative assertions, and handling of archaeological, linguistic, and historical data.
- ^ Fagan & Durrani 2020, p. "Far more insidious are pseudoarchaeologies that masquerade as serious "alternative" histories. Some years ago, linguist Martin Bernal (1987) published... According to Egyptologists and others with detailed knowledge [...] the entire Black Athena hypothesis is seriously flawed on methodological and historical grounds".
- ^ Riggs 2014, p. 162 "...even as archaeology, Egyptology, and classical scholarship rejected much of Bernal's evidence and, implicitly or explicitly, his central thesis".
- ^ Lefkowitz 2006, p. 182 "The Black Athena controversy [...] Pseudoarchaeology plays a central role in this strange cultural debate"; Stiebing & Helft 2023, p. "Most of Bernal's claims have been refuted by historians, classicists, and archaeologists"
- ^ Shaw 2021, p. 87 "both Egyptologists and Classical scholars have pointed out many flaws in his archaeological and linguistsic arguments and data, including, for instance, lack of evidence for his hypothesized Egyptian colonization of the Greek islands".
- ^ Danver 2010, p. 97 "This is a clear indicator that Egyptian communities were absent from the Greek oecumene and, thus, there was no basis for Egyptian colonial rule. The claim made by Bernal [...] lacks any archaeological evidence".