extended and hostile debate between Bernal and Lefkowitz, conducted publicly through the pages of the New York Review of Books and London Review of Books. Bernal also produced a direct response to the criticisms set out in Black Athena Revisited in a collection of essays entitled Black Athena Writes Back (2001).
SEE ALSO: Archaeology; Arians; Dorians; Egypt; Historical Method; Orientalism; Scholarship on Herodotus, 1750–1945; Scholarship on Herodotus, 1945–2018
REFERENCES (LISTED CHRONOLOGICALLY)
1 Bernal, Martin. 1987. Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization. Vol I, The Fabrication of Ancient Greece 1785–1985. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
2 Bernal, Martin. 1991. Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization. Vol. II, The Archaeological and Documentary Evidence. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
3 Hall, Edith. 1992. “When is a Myth Not a Myth? Bernal’s ‘Ancient Model’.” Arethusa 25: 181‐201. (Reprinted, with revisions, in Lefkowitz and MacLean Rogers 1996, 333–48.)
4 Lefkowitz, Mary. 1996. Not Out of Africa: How Afrocentrism Became an Excuse to Teach Myth as History. New York: BasicBooks.
5 Lefkowitz, Mary R., and Guy MacLean Rogers, eds. 1996. Black Athena Revisited. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
6 Bernal, Martin, and D. C. Moore, eds. 2001. Black Athena Writes Back: Martin Bernal Responds to His Critics. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
7 Bernal, Martin. 2006. Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization. Vol. III, The Linguistic Evidence. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
FURTHER READING
1 Orrells, Daniel, Gurminder K. Bhambra, and Tessa Roynon, eds. 2011. African Athena: New Agendas. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2 van Binsbergen, Wim M., ed. 2011. Black Athena Comes of Age. Berlin: LIT.
BLACK CLOAKS, see MELANCHLAENI
BLACK GULF AND RIVER (ὁ Μέλας κόλπος, ποταμός)
ALISON LANSKI
University of Notre Dame
Herodotus refers to the sea between the Hellespontine CHERSONESE and Cape Sarpedon (BA 51 H3; Müller II, 878–80) as the Black (Melas) Gulf (6.41.1, 7.58.3; modern Saros Körfezi), and the river at the head of the gulf as the Black River (7.58.3; modern Kavak Suyu). XERXES’ invasion force in 480 BCE drinks the Black River dry, which shows the size of the Persian army and their domination over nature. There were numerous RIVERS named Melas in antiquity.
SEE ALSO: Black River (Central Greece); Miltiades the Elder; Persian Wars; Sarpedon, Cape
BLACK RIVER (ὁ Μέλας ποταμός)
MELODY WAUKE
University of Notre Dame
River in Malis, central Greece, likely the modern Mavronero (Müller I, 343). In Herodotus’ description of the region, he explains that the SPERCHEIUS RIVER is twenty stades from the DYRAS RIVER, which is in turn twenty stades from the Black River (7.198.2). In addition, he notes that TRACHIS is only five stades away from the Black River (7.199.1). Though these RIVERS at the time of Herodotus’ writing flowed separately into the MALIAN GULF, today the Dyras and Black rivers are tributaries of the Spercheius.
SEE ALSO: Black Gulf and River; Malians; Measures
FURTHER READING
1 Béquignon, Yves. 1937. La vallée du Spercheios des origines au IVe siècle. Études d'archéologie et de topographie, 63–66. Paris: de Boccard.
BLACK SEA, see EUXINE SEA
BLAME
HELMUT G. LOEFFLER
City University of New York–Queensborough
Herodotus begins the Histories with a PROLOGUE (1.1–5) that functions both as an introduction of the general theme and of the method he uses (Immerwahr 2013, 163–66). He writes that, among other tasks, he wants to show who or what is to blame for the beginning of the conflict between Greeks and BARBARIANS. The word Herodotus uses to indicate responsibility—aitiē—has a range of meanings that include “blame,” implying also guilt (Powell 1960 s.v. αἰτίη). In most cases Herodotus uses aitiē in the context of action to which blame is assigned (Immerwahr 2013, 160). Thus CAUSATION is important in the Histories from the start. Herodotus, for example, declares (1.5.3) that he himself knows of the man who started the unjust deeds against the Greeks (CROESUS) and that he is going to identify him as part of his inquiries. Herodotus throughout the Histories not only links events with each other by emphasizing cause and effect and the assignment of blame, but also employs a large variety of motives to explain human behavior (see Froehlich 2013). Thus the inquiry into the responsibility and blame for the beginning of the conflict, and for events in general, moves the narrative along.
In this connection Herodotus frequently identifies metaphysical factors. DREAMS, ORACLES, and signs, for example, influence the outcome of events. For modern readers the supernatural in the Histories provides probably the greatest challenge, since it is difficult if not impossible for us to understand the deep influence of religion in early classical Greece (Mikalson 2003, 194). For example, Herodotus not only assigns blame to XERXES for his decision to invade Greece—the most important decision portrayed in the Histories—but also finds some responsibility in divine preordination (dreams in this case). However, in most cases responsibility and blame for decisions and their outcomes can be found in the Histories by looking at the actions of the protagonists. They are often influenced by the desire for VENGEANCE, profit, or an expansion of their power. While the supernatural usually anticipates, supports, and validates the tendencies and predilections of individuals, Herodotus generally does not assign blame to the metaphysical as the single cause for events.
SEE ALSO: Decision‐making; Historical Method; historiē; Motivation; Religion, Greek; Symbols and Signs
REFERENCES
1 Froehlich, Susanne. 2013. Handlungsmotive bei Herodot. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner.
2 Immerwahr, Henry R. 2013. “Aspects of Historical Causation in Herodotus.” In ORCS Vol. 1, 157–93. (Originally published in TAPA 87 (1956), 241–80.)
3 Mikalson, Jon D. 2003. Herodotus and Religion in the Persian Wars. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
4 Powell, J. Enoch. 1960 [1938]. A Lexicon to Herodotus. Hildesheim: Georg Olms.
FURTHER READING
1 Pagel, Karl‐August. 1927. Die Bedeutung des aitiologischen Momentes für Herodots Geschichtsschreibung. Leipzig: Noske.
