Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization, Vol. 1: The Fabrication of Ancient Greece, 1785-1985

Bernal's "Black Athena," though at times loopy, beautifully exposes how cultural prejudice could for centuries blind ancient historians to what they were actually reading in the sources.

Difficult to evaluate. Not quite what I had been led to believe as far as black African influence and much about the influence of anti-Semitic ideas on Classical studies.

An excellently written book, fluent and absorbing, and absolutely persuasive to a white greek historian like me. Important not only for its data but also for its methodology

Although the influence of Egyptian and Near Eastern civilizations on ancient Greece is not controversial in either ancient or modern Greek historiography, the Afrocentric claims contained in Black Athena have been described as pseudohistory.

"2012-10-26 12:00:00"

Here's a rather lengthy review where I compare certain aspects of Bernal's work with Mary Lefkowitz's text, Not Out of Africa.

http://tinyurl.com/bdrrf

Con un título muy provocativo, al autor presenta la tesis de los orígenes afroasiaticos de la cultura griega en contraposición a la teoría comúnmente aceptada del origen indo-europeo. El autor arguye que la teoria indo-europea es el resultado de una visión eurocentrista y racista en un momento en el que Europa imponía el dominio sobre la mayor parte del mundo, ignorando y escondiendo o transformando el reconocimiento que, hasta esas fechas, había sobre la herencia afroasiática en la cultura griega.
Este es el primero de la serie de tres libros que componen la obra, los 2 siguientes no se han editado en castellano.
El libro levantó una enorme polémica académica y ha motivado la aparición de varios libros refutando las tesis show more del autor, he incluso una publicación del autor a las criticas sobre sus tesis. show less