Examines the claims of Professor Martin Bernal who questions the assumption of the “Europeaness” of our civilization placing instead the “black” Egyptians and Phoenicians at the center of the West’s origins.
Black Athena examines Cornell Professor Martin Bernal’s iconoclastic study of the African origins of Greek civilization and the explosive academic debate it provoked.
This film offers a balanced, scholarly introduction to the disputes surrounding multiculturalism, “political correctness” and Afrocentric curricula sweeping college campuses today.
In his book Black Athena, Prof. Bernal convincingly indicts 19th-century scholars for constructing a racist “cult of Greece” based upon a purely Aryan origin for Western culture. He accuses these classicists of suppressing the numerous connections between African and Near Eastern cultures and early Greek myth and art.
Leading classical scholars, on the other hand, contend that Bernal, like the 19th-century classicists he attacks, uses evidence selectively, uncritically and ahistorically to support his own Afrocentric agenda.
They argue that cultural diffusion alone can’t account for the distinctive achievements of the Greeks during the Classical Period. Black Athena can help students begin to distinguish between sound scholarship and cultural bias – whether inherited from the past or imposed by the present.
Unfortunately it’s not just Berne; All hose that claimed former Yugoslavians living in ancient Paeonia “Macedonians” are now also participating in promoting crackpot history. (and thats no small number). Just another sign of decline of western civilization.
The african origin of ancient greece?? What a BS!!! Then why is africa so undeveloped and poor and just a crap??? He ties great ancient greece to a bare foot, grass eating bunch of witch doctors like africa??? Lol………I think it is all a crackpot!!! Ancient greeks knew themselves the best and I do take that they are the origin for the west lol…..europeanness of the civilization and aryan in basis lol……Why does everything have to be african today??? Out of africa, african origin of greece??? What a load of crap!!!!!!
Adding black + history is an equation for disaster, tread these comments lightly and don’t take half the comments seriously without doing your own research, a lot biased opinions in the comments section.
Yes, I completely agree!! Adding black plus history is really a disaster!!!
Exactly!!! A lot of them are crap and you do not even need research for that!!! They are biased and stupid and one person even with the name fuck greece lol…….fuck him!!!!!
People need to be more open minded. The West is known for shaping history in accordance to its benefits. Everyone is familiar with the Greek “truth”, however it should be kept in mind that Greeks are very good when it comes to convincing others that they are the founders of Western society. They’ve fabricated so many things, have oppressed so many people and have gotten away with it, and they claim to be the “cradle of democracy.” Anyone who is truly interested in Greece and their fabrication of many situations throughout history should look into unbiased sources and look at the destinies of many people who have suffered under the hands of Greeks. The Macedonians are proof of Greek lies. Many Greeks get defensive over the Macedonian dispute and are quick to claim that Macedonia is Greek, however if anyone were to genuinely look into the issue, they would see that Macedonians faced mass exodus, murder and oppression in the Aegean right after Greece gained this land during the fall of the Ottoman Empire. While they say they “liberated” it, that is far from true. What they did was begin the process of assimilation by changing Macedonian people’s names, changing the writing on grave stones from Macedonian to Greek, deporting those who did not resort to calling themselves Greek and so on. The Albanians, Roma and Turkish people have also been victimized by Greeks, however no one bothers to question their treatment because Greeks have played their politics so that they appear “superior” to the other Balkan nations. There have been DNA tests from Swiss institutions that have showed how modern day Greeks have connection to sub-Saharan peoples. For anyone that is interested in the truth, they will find it. Don’t be quick to debunk this professor’s theory. Give it a chance. History has always been written by those who are more powerful and victorious. That does not mean that their version is the truth.
You are spreading your propaganda.
For those interested, Sarah is from FYROM, a country that claims they are Macedonian descendants of Alexander the Great.
This country was invented around 1950, in Post-WW2 Soviet Times as a Soviet Puppet . . They claim they are Macedonian even though the Maceodnians ceased to exist in 148 BC . . almost 2,220 years before these people came out of nowwhere.
Now to get started on your ridicilous claims
1. There was no Mass Exodus of Macedonians in ottoman times . . BECAUSE THERE HAS BEEN NO SUCH THING AS MACEDONIANS SINCE 148 BC!!
Around 350 BC, Alexander the Great and his Greek army conquered the Eastern World up to India. . after Alexander the Great’s Death and for the Next 250 years was the peak of Greek Civilization . . this time from Alexanders death to 148 BC is known as the “Hellenic Age”. Hellenic is the Greek word for Greece.
The Macedonians were the dominant Greek Society, beating out Athens and Sparta and the Macedonian Monarchy was the Center of the Greek world during this time.
In 148 BC, Macedonia fell to the Romans after the Fourth Roman War between Greece and Rome.
Since then the Greek people of Macedonia, Athens, Sparta, Thebes, Cretes etc assimilated into a common Greek culture.
By the time Rome Fell in 400 AD .. no Greek person saw themselves as Macedonian, or Athenian or Spartan .. there was simply a Greek culture/Society of integrated Cities and Culture.
The Greeks then went to rule Byzantine Empire for next 1,100 Years.
And then in 1950 . . FYROM apeared out of nowhere . . and claimed they were Macedonian.
Now to 2nd point about “DNA” Tests . .
The reason I knew Sarah was a FYROM’ian is because of her claim that Greeks were “Sub-Saharan” African . . which is insane if you only spend 1 minute on Google images comparing photos between Greeks and Sub-Sarharan AFricans.
The Reason FYROM people say this is because a FYROM “Scientists” published a Report saying that Greeks and Japanese people were Sub-Saharan African(yes serious, Japanese too)
This DNA study is actually famous in Genetic Community as being the Worst ever study in DNA Research . . and is used in University Text-books on how to improperly do a DNA Test(they used only 1 genetic market)
In REAL DNA Studies . . these FYROM people have been found to be 99.99% same DNA as Bulgarians.
FYROM people also speak a Bulgarian Dialect . . they can actually have a normal conversation with a Bulgarian with no issues(they get mad if you tell them this, be careful)
They will soon be wiped out off the face of the Earth . . enjoy your fake country while it lasts Sarah
Yes, I am with you there completely!!! Fuck Sarah!!! Greeks and Japanese were sub-saharan africans??? Lol……what a crap!!!! Hahhhhaaaa!!!! Japanese too lol……..Today’s macedonia is bulgaria and i listened to their two language, almost the same lol…..
The word Greece had no meaning or was never used till 1913. The island states were called Ahaja, Turkey, Toska, Morea, Corinth, Rumelia (Byzanitne), Magna Graecia (Greater Asia) and before that city states etc. Stop the BS, the question should be!! Are the Greeks:…. Egyptian, Albanian,(Arvanite) Turk, Vlach, Pomak, Gipsy,or mixture from all of the above,!!!For every normal person a mirror would be sufficient proof of it’s self, of course unless it’s made by the fake nation of ”Greece”, in that case the shits look like a chocolates.LOL
Does not magna graecia means greater greece and not asia?? Lol….By the way, the greek word for greece is hellenis!!!
Greece and Turkey are different concepts, greece was called that?? I do not buy that!!!! You are the one spreading BS!!!!
You conveniently leave out the MILLIONS of Romans spoke Greek as their first language (unlike say the millions of Romans that spoke German in the other Roman empire… the Holy Roman Empire),
You also leave out the part that you former Yugoslavians used to self-identify as BULGARIANS. .
This is so much political propaganda. Bernal, like Sitchen with his “translation” of ancient Sumerian tablets, put this together simply to write a contoversial book and make money. No basis in facts. The ancient egyptians were Hamitic. Not Black, not White. Probably the descendants of the people we see who were hunters and gatherers in the millenia-old rock paintings in the Sahara. Ancient Egyptian, having been translated and researched is a Hamitic language (Wikipedia).There were Nubian (Black) queens of Egypt and Pharoahs of mixed Nubian and Hamitic blood from time to time as this was the norm for the era. Princesses were exchanged from royal houses to cement treaties.
The insistence of those 19th century ‘experts’ who were touting the superiority of the “White” race by using the Greeks as an example are equally ridiculous. The ancient Allenes who settled Greece had been split off from the majority of the Indo-European Linguistic group for generations before they arrived in Allenika (Greece, in three waves) and are only distantly related (like the Latins) to the Celts, Nordics, Franks and all the later (white) settlers of Europe.
Bronze Age Greek language and culture contain no vestiges of outside influence. If Athena had been adopted from the Egyptians or Africa at all it would have proudly been told “why” in their mythology. One needs to listen to them. They speak for themselves. They know best about themselves.
As far as Sitchen is concerned: There are less than 100 academics who can read cuneiform writing, Hittite, Babylonian, Sumerian, a spcialiazation in any of these languages takes many years and are only granted by MAJOR Universities, Reed, Cambridge, Columbia, Uxbridge College; and he never includes (in his books) his credentials. There are only twelve people recognized by the anthropological community who can read Ancient Sumerian, and he is not one of them. I’m sorry, but if you have bought his books, or ‘Black Athena’ you have been hoodwinked by a charlatan making MONEY.
You are lying, I studied ancient Sumerian, Hittite, babylonian and Akkadian at the School of Oriental and Afican studies in London and can say with absolute certainty there’re thousands of academics who can read these texts. Most are in fact German. A moron like yourself however, probably hasn’t ever read any text other than an English one.
Furthermore, the ancient world was centered on Egypt, where the Mesopotamians and much, much later Greeks, Jews and then Romans used the ideas that had been developing in the region and Ethiopia for centuries. The great library at Alexandria which was destroyed by fire reputedly held many of these earlier texts and several of the classical greek scholars (Aristotle, etc) either visited the library personally or used secondary texts from people who had.Aristotle was by the way as far as history knows a Black man. A further note on race, Egypt was clearly (from all archaeological evidence) a multicultural land where very dark, and not so dark lived in equality. Race is a very recent concept, which is why the Roman emperor Septimus severus, who was black is never spoken of. What was important in the ancient world was your land, not your colour. This is why none of these societies ever mention skin colour, or appearence when referring to eachother, they use style of clothing, a cultural marker as their point of difference. In reference to the man above who thinks the Egyptians were Arabs; 1) Egyptian art depicts it’s people in red, yellow and black, and they always have very African features (big lips, wide eyes), (2) When the Arabs invaded north Africa who were they displacing and colonising if the land was already peopled by arabs? The Muslim conquest is the reason the people of Northern Africa look different!!!
Why would the ancient greeks not proudly remember their heritage? Do the Jews proudly recall how the vast majority of their legends are derived entirely from ancient mesopotamian legends with the names changed. Do the Christians proudly confess to the blending of Judaism with Zoroastrianism? Do the Muslims talk about how the inscription on al aqsa mosque links to the fact that they considered themselves in the early days as a sect of Christianity?
Bernal may not be totally correct, that would make him inhumanly perfect, but he does point to an inconvenient truth, that as with life, science and culture came out of Africa.
Aristotle was a black man?? What a BS!!!! I do take that ancient greece was the cradle for the west and as for their skin color, I dunno!!! But probably white to light!!!! Why does everything ancient have to come out of africa??? I do not believe out of africa myth an inch!!!!
I forgot to mention this guy here does a spectacular job explaining things better than I did
zeus10.webs.com
FUCK YOU
This documentary was poorly made but Martin Bernals book is pretty good and I suggest people should read it as well as “Stolen Legacy” by George GM James. Bernal is partially right the history and culture and the legacy the world gives the Greeks is false and a fabrication by the Germans in 1600 and 1800s strongly supported by the English and other scholars in the 20th century. The Wrong people are being given credit for the great achievements of the people to what history refers to “Ancient Greeks.” First of all Modern Greeks share nothing with the ancient people who lived and flourished in what is today known as greece. Modern greeks are a mixture of Albanian, Turk, and Vlac Slavs who share nor blood or culture with the ancient Greeks. Modern Greek language is a mixture of Hebrew, Armenian and Attic Greek. Secondly Bernal confuses two civilizations and takes them to be one. All historians agree that at some point Greece was Invaded by the Egyptians the ones history calls “Hellens” who were African Egyptians and conquered the Islands of Greece and then spread. These people were the Danaan of Egypt. Story goes Danaan and his brother Egyptos had 50 daughters and 50 sons. Egyptos 50 Sons were to marry Danaan’s 50 daughters so Danaan to escape Egyptos fled with his daughters. Eventually Egyptos caught up with him and on the wedding night All 50 daughters except for 1 killed their husbands. It is from this marriage that the first Hellen Kings of Greece were born.
Now Bernal Makes the mistake of saying that Hellens were the only inhabitants of the Balkans of that time and Hellens were the ones who build and did the great studies of Ancient Greece.
Im sure everybody knows the Greeks but above greece theres a small country called Albania. Its people and language and culture are the Oldest in Europe. The are the descendants of the Illyrians and the ancient Pelasgians and the most ancient race in Europe the Kindred Aryans. At one time the Pelasgians inhabited the Balkan Peninsula. And it is these people the “Pelasgians” who history wrongly calls “Ancient Greeks.” Pelasgian is the oldest language spoken in Europe Older than Germanic, Latin or Greek and it only survives in the Albanian language today. Almost all the greek gods, from Zeus to Athena to Apollo were Pelasgian Gods. And all the great achievements, from Architecture, to astronomy, to mathematics, to philosophy everything the world gives the greeks credit for were Pelasgain aie/Illyrian/Albanian. and I guarantee it 95% of the world population hasnt even heard who the Albanians are yet everyone knows the Gayreks. This is really something history and legacy of a whole civilization erased and manipulated by a few Nazis haaa fucked up!
And yes . your typical Albanian Ultra Nationalist Fool
Albanians are TURKS . . this is why you converted to Islam you fools .. to breed with Turks and become powerful during Ottoman times.
There have been many DNA studies done on Greeks by Western Scientists . . one Scientists from Italy stated that the Continuity from Ancient Greece to Modern Greece is “Striking”
Look at Modern Greeks like Mike zambidis, Tina Fey, Zach Galafanakis, John Stamos, Pete Sampras, Vangelis, Maria Menounos, etc . . they all have Classical Greek features.
Albanians look like Slavic Turks because they are . . in Ottoman Times it was illegal for a Turk to assimilate into Greek Culture because a Turk could not mix with a non-muslim.
Turks and Albanians became very close When Albania betrayed their ancestors and converted to Islam.
IN Modern Greece, one of the Worst Curse words you can use is Albanian or Turk to someone else . .
Also the Greek word for Idiot/Stupid is Vlacha . . Greeks have considered Albanians/Turks/Vlachs/Slavics as “Sub-Humans” since Ancient Times . . . the Greeks invented Racism with the word “Barbarian” who was anyone non-Greek.
Now go back to dreaming about your “Great Albania” you crazy Albanian Nationalists . . your Country is a Joke and soon Greece is going to Holocaust you motherfuckers.
Cant wait to Gas you motherfuckers 🙂
Where’s your evidence for your claims?. So the modern Greeks according to you are a mixture of mediterranean peoples, and yet the modern Albanians are directly descended from the original inhabitants of their land? That’s laughable. Albania has been conquered and reconquered over and over again. Who isn’t mixed? We’re all from Africa you buffoon. Your username, and your reference to Greeks as ‘Gayreks’ clearly shows your hatred for a beautiful people, and a gorgeous nation. Who is going to take your words seriously when you are so obviously filled with bitterness for unknown reasons.
first of all ancient Egyptians ( just as modern ones) are Semitics, they are physically Caucasian, and not sub-Saharan black Africans… secondly Greeks were influenced by Phoenicians Babylonians Luwians and so on,,,
Yes there were a few sub Saharan Africans in Greece as slaves (around 2% of all slaves) but still i don’t think they had anything to do with the overall history of Greece
and guess what? they also spoke (And still speak a Semitic language ,,, (modern day Syria/Lebanon/Iraq) so what ? they are black too ?
be proud of what you really are and don’t try to create your own history ! Black Americans (because black Africans don’t really care about this because they are proud of who they are) should be proud of their history !
there are no surviving texts in philosophy.mathematics.science from egypt. The first Egyptians were semetic not black. Bernal’s academic background was China- not thd classical world.
is this a joke?
The biblical view of civilization places eden next to the euphrates river near Ethiopia.Egypt is in Africa.The Greeks took Egypt from the African Nubians.This is documented geography,theology and history.From this,we can draw the conclusion that African civilization was present before Greek in the form of Egyptian civil enineering of the pyramids,religious system and monarchy.Of course Egypt influenced the Greeks,as it did the romans and the nubians.Maths existed in Egypt within and outside the geometrical structures of the pyramids,the structures themselves are the evidence.My understanding is that pythagiris and calculius developed egyptian sciences and named them.This Bernal guy has took brave stance as a a challenger to the classic white establishment and a risk in writing his book.I havnt read it,but i intend to.Im grateful for the contribution to a true world view.
The biblical view of civilization places eden next to the euphrates river near Ethiopia.Egypt is in Africa.The Greeks took Egypt from the African Nubians.This is documented geography,theology and history.From this,we can draw the conclusion that African civilization was present before Greek in the form of Egyptian civil enineering of the pyramids,religious system and monarchy.Of course Egypt influenced the Greeks,as it did the romans and the nubians.Maths existed in Egypt within and outside the geometrical structures of the pyramids,the structures themselves are the evidence.My understanding is that pythagiris and calculius developed egyptian sciences and named them.This Bernal guy has took brave stance as a a challenger to the classic white establishment and a risk in writing his book.I havnt read it,but i intend to.Im grateful for the contribution to a true world view.
pretty sure the euphrates river is not near ethiopia smart guy. and from this we can draw the conclusion that you have no idea what your talking about
ya but the egyptian were not really africans they were from the middle east they just came there. look at there art they are not black! are you saying they were just like the one african nation to grow grate while the rest were still in tribes?
Martin Bernal’s book, Black Athena is amazing but this documentary is horrible. Though it seems to be sympathetic to Bernal, with friends like this who needs enemies.
Fucking Gay Greeks!
I just wasted time…