The Three Models of History Referred to By Martin Bernal

In the reading of the Black Athena controversy the reader will encounter three models of history explained by Martin Bernal. While Bernal is not the only source of information concerning the alleged African-Semitic source of Classical Greek culture, he is the author who clearly opened the controversy up with his groundbreaking book Black Athena. He followed this up with another volume with the promise of two more volumes to come.

1. Ancient Model

The Ancient model was the one that was held by the Greeks, citizens of the Mediterranean and Egyptians in ancient times up until about 1790 according to Bernal. Essentially he contends that previous to the restructuring of history by German scholars in the late 18^th century Greeks recognized their roots in Egypt. The Ancient Model is that previous to the Institution of The Aryan Model Greeks felt that their culture had its roots in Africa. Essentially this model holds that Greece was settled about 1500 B.C.E. by Egyptians and Phoenicians. The supposition is that Greeks directly borrowed their mathematics, governmental system, language, writing, philosophy, and religion directly from African and Semitic sources. Bernal does offer one caveat however. He says that while the Greeks recognized their roots in other civilizations they also downplayed them in the interest of nationalism.

2. Aryan Model

The Aryan Model had its genesis in Protestant North Germany between 1790 and 1830. At this time the new discipline of "Altertumswissenshaft" (Science of Antiquity) was born. The model is rooted in German nationalism and feelings of repugnance concerning the French Revolution. This model holds that Greece was settled by Indo-European stock. The focus of the new model was on the Greek ideal. The Greek ideal was reflective of German nationalism. In essence the Greeks were used as an unifying force to unite the German people. According to Bernal the need to liken the German people to the Greek ideal caused the Geman intellectual community to purport a racial purity as well. The constant cultural borrowing and at times thievery of culture inherent to the Ancient Model were inconsistent with the assertions of the German intellectuals. In order to justify a German purity the Greek ideal was modified to show it an exemplar of sorts. By limiting the apparent influence of outside cultures and races the Aryan Model neatly accomplished its goal.

3. New Ancient Model

Bernal espouses this model of Greek history. He says that the racism and Anti-Semitism that characterized The Aryan Model are increasingly unacceptable. He proposes that Greek culture in general was heavily influenced by Northern African (specifically Egypt) and Phoenecian culture. He also allows for the indo-european element in the form of periodic invasions. In essence he restores the image of ancient Greece as a culture that has its roots in Egypt but also shaped many of those cultural icons in a fashion that is distinctly Greek. He sees it as a midpoint between the Greek idea of interaction but not origin in Africa, and the racial purity and anti-African tendencies of the Aryan Model. Furthermore he dates the beginnings of Classical Greek culture in the beginning of the first half of the second millennium B.C.

Summation of Black Athena Volume 1

In volume One of Black Athena Bernal introduces a systematic study of the growth of historical understanding from ancient understandings to the more modern feelings. He approaches this by outlining the growth of various approaches to historical understandings through the past seven to eight centuries approximately. He accomplishes this by first showing support for the Ancient Model in original texts by Greek philosophers such as Herotodos, Isokrates, Plato, Aristotle, and slightly to the great Athenian Thucydides. He then details the transmission of Egyptian thought and Greek culture through the dark ages of Europe and the Renaissance in the forms of Hermeticism and Rosicrucianism. He explains how Christianity and nationalism serve to form the Aryan Model. Integral to this Aryan Model is the aggrandisement of Classical Greek culture that Bernal explains in painstaking detail. Finally he tackles the modern state of affairs in Classical Greek research from his perspective.

The Implications

Bernals work has been much discussed and numerous scholars have explored his work. He has been both embraced by certain factions and rejected by others. One of the groups that embraced his theory were the Afrocentric scholars. They see his writing as a vindication of the the Egyptian Culture and by extension African culture. They have virulently defended Bernal to the point of actual heated discussion outside the rarefied atmosphere of Classics academia. One of the chief detractors to Bernal has been Mary Lefkowitz who wrote "Not Out of Africa" in response to Black Athena. She contends Bernals research is plagued with errors and omissions. Her classic example is Alexander the Great. Bernal implies that Alexander stole aspects of Egyptian culture during his time in Egypt from the library there. As Lefkowitz points out the library was not completed until thirty years later.

Sources:

Bernal, Martin. Black Athena: The Afrosiatic Roots of Classical Civilization. Rutgers University Press. New Brunswick, New Jersey. 1987.

Lefkowitz, Mary. Not Out of Africa:How Afrocentrism Became an Excuse to Teach Myth As History. New York:New Republic and Basic Books. 1996.