But the Classical Greeks, Bernal argues, knew nothing of this "Aryan model." They did not see their institutions as original, but as derived from the East and from Egypt in particular. The popular view is that Greek civilization was the result of the conquest of a sophisticated but weak native population by vigorous Indo-European speakers-Aryans-from the North. But these Afroasiatic influences have been systematically ignored, denied or suppressed since the eighteenth century-chiefly for racist reasons. Classical civilization, he argues, has deep roots in Afroasiatic cultures. Winner of the 1990 American Book Award What is classical about Classical civilization? In one of the most audacious works of scholarship ever written, Martin Bernal challenges the foundation of our thinking about this question.
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