Martin Bernal

Winner of the 1990 American Book AwardWhat 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 have been systematically ignored, denied or suppressed since the eighteenth century—chiefly for racist reasons.The popular view is that Greek civilization was the result of the conquest of a sophisticated but weak native population by vigorous Indo-European speakers—Aryans—from the North. But the Classical Greeks, Bernal argues, knew nothing of this “Aryan model.” They did not see their institutions as original, but as derived from the East and from Egypt in particular.In an unprecedented tour de force, Bernal links a wide range of areas and disciplines—drama, poetry, myth, theological controversy, esoteric religion, philosophy, biography, language, historical narrative, and the emergence of “modern scholarship.”

Winner of the American Book Award, 1990. This volume is the second in a projected four-part series concerned with the competition between two historical models for the origins of Greek civilization. The model current today is the Aryan Model, according to which Greek culture arose as the result of the conquest from the north by Indo-European speakers or "Aryans" of the native "pre-Hellenes." The Ancient Model, which was the model maintained in Classical Greece, held that the native population of Greece had initially been civilized by Egyptian and Phoenician colonists and that more Near Eastern culture had been introduced to Greece by Greeks studying in Egypt and Southwest Asia. In these and later volumes, Martin Bernal proposes a Revised Ancient Model. According to this, the Indo-European aspects of Greek language and culture should be recognized as fundamental and the considerable non-Indo-European elements should be seen largely as Egyptian and Levantine additions to this basis. Volume II is concerned with the archaeological and documentary evidence for contacts between Egypt and the Levant on the one hand and the Aegean on the other, during the Bronze Age from c. 3400 B.C. to c. 1100 B.C. These approaches are supplemented by information from later Greek myths, legends, religious cults, and language. The author concludes that contact between the two regions was far more extensive and influential than is generally believed. In the introduction to this volume, Bernal also responds to some reviews and criticisms of Volume I of Black Athena.

In Black Athena Writes Back Martin Bernal responds to the passionate debates set off by the 1987 publication of his 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. In Black Athena Writes Back Bernal provides additional documentation to back up his thesis, as well as offering persuasive explanations of why traditional scholarship on the subject remains inaccurate and why specific arguments lobbed against his theories are themselves faulty. Black Athena Writes Back requires no prior familiarity with either the Black Athena hypothesis or with the arguments advanced against it. It will be essential reading for those who have been following this long-running debate, as well as for those just discovering this fascinating subject.

Could Greek philosophy be rooted in Egyptian thought? Is it possible that the Pythagorean theory was conceived on the shores of the Nile and the Euphrates rather than in ancient Greece? Could it be that much of Western civilization was formed on the “Dark Continent”? For almost two centuries, Western scholars have given little credence to the possibility of such scenarios. In Black Athena, an audacious three-volume series that strikes at the heart of today’s most heated culture wars, Martin Bernal challenges Eurocentric attitudes by calling into question two of the longest-established explanations for the origins of classical civilization. To use his terms, the Aryan Model, which is current today, claims that Greek culture arose as the result of the conquest from the north by Indo-European speakers, or “Aryans,” of the native “pre-Hellenes.” The Ancient Model, which was maintained in Classical Greece, held that the native population of Greece had initially been civilized by Egyptian and Phoenician colonists and that additional Near Eastern culture had been introduced to Greece by Greeks studying in Egypt and Southwest Asia. Moving beyond these prevailing models, Bernal proposes a Revised Ancient Model, which suggests that classical civilization in fact had deep roots in Afroasiatic cultures. This long-awaited third and final volume of the series is concerned with the linguistic evidence that contradicts the Aryan Model of ancient Greece. Bernal shows how nearly 40 percent of the Greek vocabulary has been plausibly derived from two Afroasiatic languages—Ancient Egyptian and West Semitic. He also reveals how these derivations are not limited to matters of trade, but extended to the sophisticated language of politics, religion, and philosophy. This evidence, according to Bernal, greatly strengthens the hypothesis that in Greece an Indo-European–speaking population was culturally dominated by Ancient Egyptian and West Semitic speakersProvocative, passionate, and colossal in scope, this volume caps a thoughtful rewriting of history that has been stirring academic and political controversy since the publication of the first volume.

Western civilization has long sought its cultural roots in the classical civilizations of the Aegean. During the twentieth century, however, it has been made increasingly clear that it owes a great debt to the civilizations of the Fertile Crescent. In the thick of the debate as to how much classical civilizations were influenced by the Levant has been the question of the date of the transmission of the alphabet. In this monograph, Bernal takes up the question anew and marshals persuasive arguments that the date of transmission of the alphabet should be moved considerably earlier than generally has been thought, to the middle of the second millennium B.C. Growing out of his work on Black Athena , the intricate matters of alphabetic history and transmission are dealt with, both in terms of the history of the investigation of the topic and also with regard to the specific working out of his own new proposal.

Winner of the 1990 American Book AwardWhat 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 have been systematically ignored, denied or suppressed since the eighteenth century—chiefly for racist reasons.The popular view is that Greek civilization was the result of the conquest of a sophisticated but weak native population by vigorous Indo-European speakers—Aryans—from the North. But the Classical Greeks, Bernal argues, knew nothing of this “Aryan model.” They did not see their institutions as original, but as derived from the East and from Egypt in particular.In an unprecedented tour de force, Bernal links a wide range of areas and disciplines—drama, poetry, myth, theological controversy, esoteric religion, philosophy, biography, language, historical narrative, and the emergence of “modern scholarship.” This is a complete set of all three volumes, shrink-wrapped.

‘An Astonishing work, breathtakingly bold in conception and passionately written . . . salutary, exciting and in its historiographical aspects convincing.’ (G. W Bowersock, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.) ‘Demands to be taken seriously . . . Every page that Bernal writes is educating and enthralling. To agree with all his theses may be a sign of naivety, but not to have spent time in his company is a sign of nothing at all.’ (Ray, Herbert Thompson Reader in Egyptology, University of Cambridge.) Anticipation of ‘Geography of a Life’ ‘Martin Bernal himself has avowed that Black Athena owes its conception to a mid-life crisis. Now that he has overcome this set-back with obvious success, one hopes he will live long enough to follow the example set by his mother Margaret Gardiner and his grandfather Sir Alan (Gardiner), who both wrote their memoirs in their eighties. I have no doubt that Bernal’s autobiography will generate more interest among educated lay persons and less irritation among scholars than any future volume of Black Athena.’ (Arno Egberts, Professor of Egyptology, University of Leiden.)

أثينة إلهة العقل والحكمة عند الاغريق إفريقية سوداء، ولها أصول سامية أيضاً. هذا كل ما يريد أن يقوله المؤلف مارتن برنال. ويقع مشروعه في أربعة أجزاء، وبين أيدينا ترجمة الجزء الأول. إنه حقاً مشروع ضخم، لأن المؤلف يتصدى لمهمة إعادة تأريخ الحصارات القديمة، ومن ثم إعادة تشكيل العقلية الحديثة. فالمركزية الأوروبية جعلت من أوروبا منبعاً لكل إبداع فكري وفني. ومع أن الحكمة الإغريقية تقول: لا شيء يُخلق من العدم فإن الفكرة الشائعة لدى الغرب عن المعجزة الإغريقية تعني أن الإغريق عم صانعو كل شيء من لا شيء، أي لم يسبقهم أحد إلى ما توصلوا هم إليه. هم مبدعو الفنون والآداب والعلوم، وتفوقوا على أسلافهم من أصحاب الحضارات الأقدم في كل تلك المجالات.

Book by Bernal, Martin

أثينة إلهة العقل والحكمة عند الاغريق إفريقية سوداء، ولها أصول سامية أيضاً. هذا كل ما يريد أن يقوله المؤلف مارتن برنال. ويقع مشروعه في أربعة أجزاء، وبين أيدينا ترجمة الجزء الأول. إنه حقاً مشروع ضخم، لأن المؤلف يتصدى لمهمة إعادة تأريخ الحصارات القديمة، ومن ثم إعادة تشكيل العقلية الحديثة. فالمركزية الأوروبية جعلت من أوروبا منبعاً لكل إبداع فكري وفني. ومع أن الحكمة الإغريقية تقول: لا شيء يُخلق من العدم فإن الفكرة الشائعة لدى الغرب عن المعجزة الإغريقية تعني أن الإغريق عم صانعو كل شيء من لا شيء، أي لم يسبقهم أحد إلى ما توصلوا هم إليه. هم مبدعو الفنون والآداب والعلوم، وتفوقوا على أسلافهم من أصحاب الحضارات الأقدم في كل تلك المجالات.

Enrique Ortega Garrido, uno de los hombres más ricos e influyentes del mundo, muere a causa de una grave enfermedad mental. Unos años más tarde, una de las personas de su máxima confianza, que tiene en su poder unas notas manuscritas en las que el propio Enrique cuenta una desconocida etapa de su vida, se topa por casualidad con unas páginas en las que se narra una historia que parece tener alguna relación con el relato de su antiguo jefe.«Hace ya mucho tiempo, me fueron entregadas estas páginas como última voluntad y testamento de quien fuera mi mentor antes de que la enfermedad le consumiera...».«[?] rebuscando entre algunos baúles olvidados, encontré una pequeña bolsa de cuero. Dentro, aparte de algunos dibujos, fotos y objetos curiosos, encontré una serie de folios manuscritos en los que se narraba una historia que, franca-mente, me alucinó?».Una increíble historia que no te dejará indiferente, llena de sexo, enigmas y profundas reflexiones que buscan hacer que el lector sienta una diversa gama de emociones, además de adentrarlo en un viaje en el que redescubrirá un universo mucho más profundo de lo que parece.«[...] Libérate de ti mismo, de lo que crees ser. Y verás que eres más bello de lo que las palabras pueden acotar. Aprende a pensar sin palabras. Aprende a sentir sin emociones...».Ficción con mayúsculas, no describe ni personajes ni situaciones reales, aunque, en más de una ocasión, lo parecerá.