Not out of Africa

Was Socrates black? Did Aristotle steal his ideas from the library in Alexandria? Do we owe the underlying tenets of our democratic civilization to the Africans? Hardly a week goes by when an article does not appear in a newspaper or magazine by an Afrocentrist writer making such allegations. But so far, no one has responded fully to these Afrocentrist claims or explained why these strange ideas are being circulated, and indeed taught, in American schools and universities. Not Out of Africa is the first book to refute these spurious claims. Mary Lefkowitz examines the ancient evidence and shows how it was misunderstood both in antiquity and in modern time. She explains how we know that Socrates and Cleopatra were Greeks and that Plato, Aristotle, and other Greek philosophers did not steal their ideas from Egyptian sources. Lefkowitz, a distinguished classicist, demonstrates that there has been no modern conspiracy among scholars to conceal the debt of Greece to Egypt and that some of the misconceptions arise form the ancient Greeks' own misunderstanding of Egyptian religions. Not Out of Africa explains why revisionist histories of the ancient world are being written now - and perhaps always will be. Modern Afrocentric writers are following a long-established pattern in which peoples, particularly if they regard themselves as having been deprived of a history, seem keen to acquire a glorious past. Lefkowitz explains how the notion that Greek religion and philosophy were derived from Egypt was preserved in the ritual and mythology of Freemasonry, and how extreme Afrocentrists came to allege that what they supposed to be an Egyptian legacy was not just borrowed but actually stolen by the ancient Greeks. This book will be of interest to everyone who cares about the ancient world and its traditions, and to all who believe that our civilization has preserved some of the Greeks' best traditions, such as democratic government, freedom of speech, learning, and discussion.