Black Athena revisited
By: edited by Mary R. Lefkowitz & Guy MacLean Rogers.
Contributors: Lefkowitz, Mary R., 1935-; Rogers, Guy MacLean.
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Chapel Hill
Language: eng
Number of pages: 522
Subjects: Greece -- Civilization -- Egyptian influences; Greece -- Civilization -- Phoenician influences; Greece -- Civilization -- To 146 B.C
Description: In this collection of twenty essays, leading scholars in a broad range of disciplines confront the claims made by Martin Bernal in Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization. In that work, Bernal proposed a radical reinterpretation of the roots of classical civilization, contending that ancient Greek culture derived from Egypt and Phoenicia and that European scholars have been biased against the notion of Egyptian and Phoenician influence on Western civilization.

The contributors to this volume argue that Bernal's claims are exaggerated and in many cases unjustified.

Topics covered include race and physical anthropology; the question of an Egyptian invasion of Greece; the origins of Greek language, philosophy, and science; and racism and anti-Semitism in classical scholarship. In the conclusion to the volume, the editors propose an entirely new scholarly framework for understanding the relationship between the cultures of the ancient Near East and Greece and the origins of Western civilization.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 455-504) and index.