Black Athena

Running Head: BLACK ATHENA

Black Athena: Summary of the Video Tape Black Athena vr 0758 Black by Professor Martin Bernal

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Summary of the Video Tape Black Athena vr 0758 Black by Professor Martin Bernal

            Black Athena is an exceptional videography that entails a inspirational format that combines the correct mix of interviews together with the shots of ancient remains in modern Egypt and Greece. The video tape Black Athena generally attempts to find out the roots of classical civilization. Some of the questions that Bernal poses in the Black Athena are: “Does Classical Civilization has its roots in northern Europe spread to the Greek through Indo-European invaders, with only minor influences from Phoenicians and Africans? Or does its basing streaming from ancient Greece have its basis in The Near East and Egypt, with minor influences from the North?” (Bernal, 1993)

In the video tape, Bernel believes that ancient Greek Civilization draws its origin from Africa and the Near East. His stand is generated a great debate entailing archaeologist, linguistics, multiculturalists, Egyptologists, Afrocentrists, historians, among other scholars. A number of classicists criticize insurmountable Bernel conclusions whereas others get considerable merit in his within his various arguments.  Afrocentrists, such as City College of New York’s Dr. Leonard Jeffries, strongly believe that Bernal’s book is an attestation of what they been contesting all along (Lenz, 1993).

According to Lenz (1883) Bernal’s ambition in the video tape is so radical that most of its content eludes proof. The spirit of his case, etymology, is a disreputably slippery field. He suggests many Semitic or Egyptian roots for Greek words, entailing core concepts like hybris (pride) and psyche (soul). Bernal offers some outstanding examples. Some obscure and some interesting elements of Greek myths and names are elucidated. Nevertheless, the fits, as Bernal sincerely confesses, are normally loose ones, found on grab bag of origins that sound or look similar. Even though this is possibly compelling, there is a lot of support on weak cases and no genuine method.

Much of the archaeology is, similar, tremendously bold but difficult to swallow. Bernal, in the Black Athena desires to interlace a multifaceted web of cultural borrowings and populations within the Aegean Bronze Age. These kinds of concerns have for a long time been the matter of archeology; the idea of “Pax Aegyptiaca” is no up-to-the-minute. However, Bernal correctly revives many instance of that have been played down or ignored from a Hellenocentric viewpoint (Lenz, 1993). This is vital. “How many universities even offer courses about Egypt and Near East? How frequently do we hear Egyptian art unjustly criticized by being compared with Greek? Nevertheless, Bernal’s frank reconstructions go beyond warranted. Actually, he discards a model of multiculturalism supportive of a scenario of extensive Egyptian domination and colonization. For instance, reorganizing myth-history, he claims, “Egyptian settlement of Bronze settlement of Bronze Age Crete and Greece c. 1730 B.C.E” (Bernal, 1993).

Lenz (1993) asserts that the video tape points out racism as being deep rooted in much of this debate concerning Classical Civilization.  Bernel notes that the “ancient model” witnessed 1000 prior to the Greek “Golden Age” demonstrates that he Greeks got conquered and colonized within the second millennium B.C by Phoenicians and Egyptians, of Semitic origin. This theory had influence up to the late 18^th century before being replaced by Aryan Model, explains Bernal. The new theory claimed that classical Greek civilization was extensively   shaped by Indo-European invaders originating from the north. This hypothesis, which continues as the overriding one, came up from the Romantic Movement, was promoted on the basis of geographic determinism. Additionally, its basis was mainly racism and a necessity to justify the African peoples’ enslavement.

Bernal provides quite a number of evidence in support of the fact that classical civilization has its roots in Africa and the Near East. However most of the experts on the either sides of the controversy are from British institutions of higher learning, a fact that could be negative for the highly diverse American audience.

Reference

Bernal, M.  (1993). Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwM6HyM6dBQ

Lenz, J. (1993). Review of Black Athena, Vol. II. Free Inquiry 13 (4): 54-5.