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Kõnon and Pla to. The mo del ac know led ged the Gre ek cul tu ral in deb ted ness
to ne ig hbo u ring An ci ent Egyptian and Pho e ni cian ci vi li za ti ons and held the
Gre ek ac hi e ve ments in fi elds as di ver se as astro nomy, law, myth, me di ci ne,
mat he ma tics, phi lo sophy, re li gion and sci en ce to be the re sult of clo se cul tural
con tacts with a su per i or Egyptian ci vi li za tion. Im por tantly, in the pe riod
un der con si de ra tion – i.e. 1820–40 – no ar cha e o lo gi cal or lin gu i stic evi den ce
be ca me ava i la ble for Clas si cists to ne ces si ta te a chan ge in mo del from the
An ci ent to the Aryan. Con se qu ently, the re a sons for the la ter mo del’s ac ceptan
ce, as Mar tin Ber nal con tends, ha ve to be so ught in the cul tu ral mi li eu
of the age which was do mi na ted by Ro man ti cism, ra cism and Pro gress and
the ari stoc ra ci es’ fe ar of re vo lu ti ons. The mi li eu, in ad di tion to ne ces si ta ting
a shift in Aegean hi sto ri o graphy – the new mo del ini ti ally de nied Egyptian
in flu en ces on Gre e ce; but the post-1880 pe riod of he ig hte ned an ti-Se mi tism
wit nes sed the po stu la tion of an Ex tre me Aryan Mo del denying Pho e ni cian
(an ci ent pe o ple of West Se mi tic ori gin) in flu en ces as well – fun da men tally
de ter mi ned the way post-Hum boldt Prus sian Al ter tum wis sen schaft ‘sci en ce
of An ti qu ity’ was to evol ve. The aca de mic sta tu re of Al ter tum wis sen schaft
and its En glish co un ter part, Clas sics, se cu red for an ori gin-ob ses sed Euro pe
its ab so lu te, autoc htho no us and pu re – i.e. Aryan – cul tu ral po int of ori gin
in An ci ent Gre e ce. This re tro jec ti ve fi xing on Gre e ce and the de nial of ex ternal
and ex tra-Euro pean ori gi nary in flu en ces on Gre ek – and by con se qu en ce,
Euro pean – cul tu re we re fol lo wed by an exi ling of the rest of the world from
the pa le of ci vi li za tion. For the West’s eli tes ci vi li za tion ma de them “super
i or” and the su per i o rity – en dor sed by sec ti ons of the aca de mia – was
in stru men tal in gar ne ring po li ti cal and mo ral sup port for Euro pean im pe rial
ac ti vi ti es in Asia, Afri ca and the Ame ri cas. Do me sti cally, sub se qu ent to Classics’
ca no ni zing of the West as “uni que and su per i or,” the po li ti cal eli te’s
per cep tion of a gro wing re vo lu ti o nary thre at cre a ted the need for a me ans
to en su re the mass ad he ren ce to “ti me less we stern va lu es” such as or der,
hi e rarchy and con ti nu ity. In the En glish con text, with the iden ti fi ca tion of
a na ti o nal li te rary ca non – to sup port the in sti tu ti o na li za tion of En glish Lite
ra tu re which the go vern ment-ap po in ted New bolt Com mit tee re com men ded
as the ideal me ans to sa fe gu ard the En glish na ti o nal fa bric and avert a prole
ta rian re vo lu tion – the con cre te me ans for en su ring the ad he ren ce was in
pla ce. The En glish ca non drew its ci vi li za ti o nal con text and pre sti ge from an
ove rar ching body of c. 2500 years of Euro pean wri tings and in that con tex tua
li zing a We stern Ca non for the En glish-spe a king world be gan to ta ke sha pe.
The pre sent pa per, whi le in si sting on the so cial em bed ded ness of know led ge,
go es one step furt her, and lo oks at what con se qu en ces fol low for the West
and its Ca non sub se qu ent to the ex po su re of (1) the mu tu ally su sta i ning and
va li da ting re la ti on ship bet we en Clas sics, the West, and the Ca non and (2) the
con di ti ons of pos si bi li ti es and con se qu en ces of that re la ti on ship.
KEY WORDS: We stern Ca non, Clas sics, En glish Li te ra tu re, Mar tin Ber nal, Black
At he na.
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