Black Athena and the Phoenicians

Abstract

Bernal's stated scholarly purpose is to open up new areas of research. He implicitly asks archaeologists to question whether what has been assigned as Greek is in fact Greek. This may indeed open up new areas in Near Eastern archaeology, as illustrated by the case of Al Mina. Bernal's basic thesis is that the Aryan model of Greek development had anti-Semetic underpinnings which denied the Phoneticians any role. However, other factors which Bernal ignores also contributed to the scholarly demise of the Phoneticians: (1) 'Hyphenization' such as the one Bernal himself uses, 'Egypto-Phonetician'; (2) the 'Bibliocentric' nature of much Near Eastern archaeology and the related lack of excavated material through which the role of the Phoneticians could be assessed; (3) religious anti-Phoenicianism. Finally, observations are made about the political implications of the book.