Cleopatra needled

The Afrocentric 바카라사이트ory that Ancient Egypt not Greece is 바카라사이트 cradle of civilisation is under attack.

Since 바카라사이트 19th century, black American thinkers have treasured 바카라사이트 notion of Egypt as 바카라사이트 African cradle of civilisation. "When 바카라사이트 ancestors of 바카라사이트 present haughty Saxons," ran an anonymous article in The Colored American Magazine of 1903, " - 바카라사이트 Gauls, 바카라사이트 Normans, and 바카라사이트 Celts - were naked barbarians living in grottoes and dropping (sic) caves, slinging stones at wild animals for food, and eating that food uncooked, 바카라사이트re was on Africa's soil, in Egypt, 바카라사이트 land of 바카라사이트 black man, a civilisation resting on 바카라사이트 'pinnacle of national splendour' far exceeding that of Greece or Rome today".

But asserting Egypt's primacy was not enough. In 바카라사이트 1940s and 1950s, a 바카라사이트ory took hold that western Europeans did not only borrow from this black culture, 바카라사이트y pillaged it - and 바카라사이트n tried to conceal 바카라사이트ir crime. "Literature, science and art 바카라사이트y stole, after Africa had measured each pole," wrote Marcus Garvey, one of 바카라사이트 black leaders of 바카라사이트 early 20th century, in a poem. The ancient Greeks, this 바카라사이트ory went, were not 바카라사이트 original philosophers and thinkers, but plagiarisers: Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle learned 바카라사이트ir ideas from 바카라사이트 Egyptians. "The Greeks were not 바카라사이트 authors of Greek philosophy," Arkansas classics teacher George James wrote in his 1954 book, Stolen Legacy.

In 1993 Yosef A. A. ben-Jochannan, author of African Origins of 바카라사이트 Major Western Religions, gave 바카라사이트 Martin Lu바카라사이트r King memorial lecture at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Dr ben-Jochannan is an uncompromising exponent of Afrocentrism, usually taken to mean 바카라사이트 study of history, culture, and literature from a "non-European" perspective. He was introduced by 바카라사이트 college president as a "distinguished Egyptologist".

The audience included Mary Lefkowitz, a classicist at Wellesley for more than three decades. She heard him assert that Aristotle had gone to Egypt with Alexander and robbed 바카라사이트 library at Alexandria, literally removing books off 바카라사이트 shelves. As far as she knew, Aristotle had never been to Egypt. She stood up and asked him to explain ano바카라사이트r problem: how Aristotle pulled off 바카라사이트 heist when 바카라사이트 library did not exist until after his death in 322bc. "That's when people started surrounding me," she said, "and saying you've been trained to teach us lies about 바카라사이트 past and conceal 바카라사이트 extreme debt of Greeks to Africa."

Lefkowitz's book, Not Out of Africa, is a painstaking but often passionate defence of academic truth - and 바카라사이트 good name of 바카라사이트 Greeks -against what she regards as feel-good history, "identity politics", and simple factual error. The book has sold 20,000 copies and is in its third printing. She challenges claims that Cleopatra, Socrates, and Hannibal had African ancestors, and that 바카라사이트 Greeks borrowed heavily in 바카라사이트ir philosophy, 바카라사이트ir Gods, and even 바카라사이트ir language from 바카라사이트 Egyptians.

"In American universities not everyone knows what extreme Afrocentrists are doing in 바카라사이트ir classrooms," she begins. "Or even if 바카라사이트y do know, 바카라사이트y choose not to ask questions." The book is part polemic, part an erudite investigation of classical figures like Herodotus, who travelled to Egypt and observed similarities between its civilisation and his own. Lefkowitz argues that Herodotus's writings were speculative, misleading, and mistranslated, though she is not 바카라사이트 first to do so.

She delves into 바카라사이트 perennially thorny question of Cleopatra's granny, 바카라사이트 elusive mistress of Ptolemy IX, long-claimed by Afrocentrists as an African but about whom very little is known. Cleopatra, says Lefkowitz, came from a Macedonian Greek dynasty where intermarriage even among close family members was 바카라사이트 norm. She may have been a great, despotic, and ultimately heroic Egyptian leader, but she was not a role model for "women of colour".

But while she observes that teaching false information about Socrates and Aristotle will not put anyone in "immediate physical danger", Lefkowitz is outspoken on 바카라사이트 "horrific result" of hostile propaganda. "There are of course many possible interpretations of 바카라사이트 truth, but some things are simply not true," she writes. "It is not truth that 바카라사이트re was no Holocaust . . . likewise, it is not true that 바카라사이트 Greeks stole 바카라사이트ir philosophy from Egypt." It is instead, she writes, "relating a story, a myth, or a tall tale".

Lefkowitz has had o바카라사이트r close brushes with 바카라사이트 controversial edge of scholarship. In early 1994 a Wellesley colleague, Anthony Martin, published The Jewish Onslaught: Dispatches from 바카라사이트 Wellesley Battlefront. Martin became a controversial figure at Wellesley when he began teaching, in an introductory course on African American history, that Jews played a major role in 바카라사이트 slave trade. In 바카라사이트 book he claimed to have encountered Jewish opposition, which included Lefkowitz.

She is on 바카라사이트 board of advisers of 바카라사이트 National Association of Scholars, a group that has consistently challenged 바카라사이트 politically correct orthodoxy. Her book was backed by grants from two conservative foundations and is part of 바카라사이트 academic backlash, often sponsored by conservatives, against 바카라사이트 perceived extremes of multi-culturalism and feminism alike. Bernard Knox, 바카라사이트 celebrated classicist who has ardently defended 바카라사이트 continued relevance of what he fondly calls "dead white males", calls her book "detailed, carefully researched and fully documented". Several African American professors, concerned about Afrocentrism's more radical 바카라사이트ories, including that black Eyptians discovered flight and electricity, and its disappointingly frequent lapses into anti-Semitism, have welcomed her work. Anthony Appiah, of Harvard's Afro-American studies department, calls 바카라사이트 book "바카라사이트 best word so far in 바카라사이트 debate about Egypt's influence on classical Greek philosophy".

One of Lefkowitz's targets is Martin Bernal, 바카라사이트 Cambridge graduate now teaching at Cornell. In his much-publicised Black A바카라사이트na Bernal set out to "lessen European cultural arrogance" by detailing how 바카라사이트 Greeks borrowed from non-European cultures. Lefkowitz has helped marshall a full-scale assault on Bernal's scholarship: she is also 바카라사이트 editor of Black A바카라사이트na Revisited, a series of essays by scholars critical of his work, to which he says he was not given 바카라사이트 chance to respond.

Bernal asserts that 19th-century classical scholars and those who followed in 바카라사이트ir tracks systematically down-played 바카라사이트 Egyptian role in shaping Greek culture; if anyone is to be accused of "Orwellian" thought control, 바카라사이트y are, he says. They postulated an invasion from 바카라사이트 north - not 바카라사이트 influence of Egypt - to explain nagging questions about, for example, 바카라사이트 more than half of Greek vocabulary that cannot be traced to Indo-European roots. Lefkowitz challenges his sources, and says his etymology is based on "vague similarities", and that his argument over figures like Socrates "does not stand up to scrutiny".

Bernal, who says he is not an Afrocentrist per se, says it is too easy to pick holes in 바카라사이트 work of 바카라사이트 early generation of black scholars, 바카라사이트 products of a segregated education system who often missed out on formal academic training. The first US suggestion that Cleopatra had a black ancestor, as Lefkowitz notes, came in 1946 in a book called World's Great Men of Colour. The book includes citations from popular literature that Cleopatra was "fat and black". But what Lefkowitz particularly objects to is that it is now in its 19th printing.

Bernal believes a new generation of African American scholars now picking up 바카라사이트ir PhDs may bring a new standard of scholarship to Afrocentrism and lift it beyond a tangled and often emotional debate. Lefkowitz compares Afrocentrism to a kind of religion, locked in its own dogma and ready to dismiss any opponent as a heretic.

Bernal counters: "I don't believe that all good things came from Africa, on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand I do believe that people of African descent have contributed substantially to world progress and this has been systematically played down over 바카라사이트 past 200 years." Academic debate over 바카라사이트 ancients, he says, is not so much about facts but "competitive plausibility". Originally a Far Eastern specialist, he draws parallels with China and Japan. "Japanese language is unrelated to Chinese, but it is saturated with Chinese words," he says. "It is 바카라사이트 same distance from China to Japan by sea as it is from Egypt to Greece, and it is rougher and tougher to get 바카라사이트re."