Customer Reviews

Stolen Legacy: Greek Philosophy is Stolen Egyptian Philosophy

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(30)

 

 

Hotep, I first read this book when I was 11 or 12 and I really liked it then. Unfortunately, this book is hideously flawed with regard to accuracy. As I grew older and increased my personal knowledge of Kemet/Egypt the inadequacy of this work became ridiculously obvious. James' representations of Kemetic thought are completely erroneous. That being said, I do not side with James' other critics on this page. I appreciate what he attempted to do for African people and I understand the brutality of the environment in which he operated. I honor him as an Ancestor. At the same time I am not pleased when I see people (particularly Black people) using this inaccurate work in their attempts to combat the well armed and well entrenched Eurocentrists and Neo-Eurocentrists. Neo-Eurocentrists and Eurocentrists find this book incredibly useful to their cause. Stolen Legacy is used to dismiss a diverse Afrocentric movement as a bunch of dreamers, demagouges, and ill prepared romantics. Another note: I found it very amusing how certain contributors to this page confidently stated or implied that "the Egyptians are not Black" or that "Egypt had no connection to Sub-Saharan Africa." (smile) Very cute, however one might actually want to study Kemetic religion, history, language, and culture before opening their mouths to make such inane statements. This is particularly the case with regard to Egyptian history, language, religion, and culture. The "Blackness" of this African people is not really an issue for me (I'm sure Kemet was not absolutely homogeneous)but it annoys me when silly people confidently assert that these AFRICANS were not Black. Another note: Kemet/Egypt is not the only great African civilization. Those who truly want to study Africa, live as Africans, and or assist in her ressurection cannot allow themselves to be confined to to a single branch of the African family. One more VERY IMPORTANT thing. Black/African people, particularly those who call themselves "Afrocentrists" need to stop focusing so much upon our relationship to Greece and other European civilizations. 1. We need to study Africa and our people in our own right and through our own eyes. "Proof" of our contribution or relationship with a European Civilization should not be viewed as a way of legitimizing or increasing the status of a given African Civilization. 2. Greece and European Civilizations can stand in their own right. Eurocentrists and Neo-Eurocentrists do not usually view themselves as such. They view themselves as "orthodox", "careful", "OBJECTIVE", and "SCHOLARLY" (whether they are or not). The fact is they are the established camp and they hold a greater following upon the masses. We must put works such as "Stolen Legacy" to rest and make sure that in our pursuits we are commited to accuracy and truth. This is the only path towards victory. The multitude of African Civilizations are interesting, wonderful, and legitimate without any fantasy and romanticism added to them. Di en ek ankh udja soneb (may there be given to you life, prosperity, and health)

I think there is little doubt among Egyptologists and students of Ancient Greek thought that Egypt heavily influenced the Ancient Greek paradigm and may have influenced the conception of certain Greek deities, particularly Athena. The Immortal Principle, for example, very well may have originated in Akhenaten's attempt at monotheism before the Greek dark ages. However, the argument is very poorly constructed and largely unsubstantiated. There are very clear divergences in Egyptian and Greek thought, as well as many progressions in Greek Philosophy which can not possibly be attributed to Egypt except by the most dillusional and tenuous thinkers.

People who are interested in truly scholarly work on the afro-asiatic roots of Greek thought should check out The Black Athena and Isis in the Ancient World. Although both have been questioned, especially The Black Athena, they are certainly more substantiated than this book, in which the authors prance around like elephants in a china closet trying to interpret history to suit their own liking. Cool for the lightweights, but if you want the real I suggest you turn to the aforementioned titles.

Any book that can render this kind of reaction by intellectuals and regular folk alike should be on everyone's reading list. Even in today's polemical culture of complaint, where people hide bad art and cheap sensational ideas behind political/ideological fads or automatic public reactions to their support or refutation, one must look at the thought provoking questions that this book arises- and the near automatic emotions that go with them. I read this book several years ago in college. Though I didn't particularly like the preachy style, it successfully started me on an intellectual journey through a plethora of authors of the past two centuries and a spiritual awakening. This book, I am reminded, has such power, because it raises more uncomfortable questions than it answers. In the spirit of such work, the raison detre of all scholarship, I'd like to ask all others past, present and future who have or plan to review this book: have you read inki_snkm@yahoo.com's review of this yet? Were you aware of the facts he brings to light and refers to- more importantly, the intellectual paradigms he used to formulate his opinions, as those are (linguistics specifically)part and parcel of the methods, principles and practices of all Western scholars? Why do you think all architecture schools across all of Western civilization through the centuries to today begin their students' studies with the Pyramids? Have you seen the pyramids of the Sudan and Nubia, some predating those of Giza, recently unearthed by German archaeological teams? And what do you think our Founding Fathers (Washington, Jefferson, et al) would have thought of such a work (and think of the back of the dollar bill before you answer)?

This book is utter nonsense. Its writer doesn't know the slightest thing about Greece or Egypt. For example he says that the existence of a god-sun called Aten (and sometimes Atum) in Egyptian mythology is proof that Egyptians established the theory of atoms!!! In fact, the Egyptian Aten sun-god was replaced by the sun-god Amon-Re long, very long before Democritus presented the atom theory, which has no relation whatsoever to Egyptian mythology. Atom is a Greek word, coming from the Greek "a" prefix (=non/no) and the Greek word "tomo" (=incision) (which the neutral for "tomi", btw). Thus, atom= the (smallest existing) particle that cannot be further intersected, exactly what the atom theory maintained. Of course, this book is a flood of inconsistencies, fabrications, lies and hatred propaganda. It has been mentioned a thousand times before, but I feel obligated to mention myself that Alexandria's library was built many years *after* Aristoteles' death, and yet the writer proclaims Aristotelean philosophy is the result of Aristoteles going to Alexandria's library and copying its books!!! In fact Alexandria's library was itself Greek, founded by the Greek Macedonian leader of Egypt, Ptolemy the 1st, as any historian scientist/researcher will verify. Here is what the Grolier Encyclopedia mentions about it: "The greatest large Greek library was established (3d century BC) by Ptolemy I in the museum at Alexandria, Egypt. Scholars there copied, revised, collated and edited works of the classical Greek writers. Their copies of ancient works became the standard editions on which other ancient copyists and libraries depended and, ultimately, the basis of most of the manuscripts in European libraries. The library flourished for several centuries and held about 500,000 papyrus scrolls." Also, don't be misinformed by any illiterate parrot trying to convince people that any library comparable to Alexandria has ever existed in Egypt before said achievement. It is a lie. The fact is that no other libraries senior to that of Alexandria have been found in Egypt and neither have there been speculations about any. Also, keep in mind that the first people to develop Western philosophy and philosophical thinking were Greek (at about the same time with the Asiatic Indian tradition and earlier than the Chinese). There is no Egyptian philosophy at this timeframe (neither, of course, earlier than this timeframe) we are speaking of, and this is not said with any intention to belittle the Egyptians' important advances in other sectors of human activity. It is simply a fact, that we have manuscripts of Egyptian religious beliefs, for example, or manuscripts reporting the restoration works on pyramids, or the pharaohs' succession, but there are absoutely *no* Egyptian manuscripts on philosophy, and there is no mention of such texts by anyone, contemporary or ancient. Of course these scientifically proven facts mean nothing for this writer, because this work clearly serves political agenda more than everything else. Its sole purpose is to maintain (and pertain to) the afrocentrist political/racial bigotry. What else could be the purpose of someone who goes so far as to say that the Athenean Acropolis, the Parthenon, is <snigger> a copy of Egyptian architecture(!). Anyone who knows the slightest thing about Egyptian architecture, Egyptology, or general archaeology is aware that there is no connection between Greek and Egyptian architecture. Ask yourselves: do Egyptians have anything similar to the Parthenon? Since they don't, how can this writer accuse Greeks of copying the Parthenon (!!!) from Egyptians? It's simple: he is based on pure malice, as well as racial prejudices and bigotry. Which is also the reason moronic (not to mention paranoid) afrocentrists say that Egyptians helped Greeks win the Persian wars. So say the bigots. But how could Egyptians help Greeks win the Persian wars? Not a single Egyptian archer fought on the Persian wars on a side other than that of the Persians. Why is it so, the ignoramus illiterate will ask. EGYPTIANS WERE UNDER PERSIAN RULE when Leonida's Spartans heroically defended Thermopylae, or when the Greeks defeated Persians for the first time at the Marathon battle, and later, at Plateus battle, or when the Greeks burned the Persian fleet at the sea fight in Salamis!!! And they remained under Persian rule through the whole period of the Greeks' prevalence over the world's superpower (the Persians, that is, ruling Egyptians from 525Bc to 404 bc, and from 341 to 331 bc, when Alexander the Great, the Macedonian leader of Greece entered Egypt and was accepted as equal to Gods, and then pronounced pharaoh by the Egyptians). Read the book, if you must, and decide for yourselves. I, for once, am reluctant to believe that the unprecedented bigotry in this book represents any more than a insignificantly small fraction of non-thinking, feeble minded illiterates. And if you should decide to learn the scientific community's view on this subject, read any of professor Lefkowitz's work, or any other historian's views, for that matter of fact.

As for those reviewers that criticize all others as being "ignorant or racist" because they disagree with neo-nazist pseudo-history, I would suggest them get some facts and evidence on their beliefs next time they post, here or anywhere. Saying rage is proof of racism is both ignorant and mala fide, but however illogical the argument may be, it could serve as proof to James' racism, since there is nothing more than hatred and rage on this book. But, exactly like Holocaust deniers, rabid nationalists, and George James, these reviewers do nothing else than to insult anyone disagreeing with this book and its author, even though all these people have given Evidence and Facts to Prove the historical truth.

THE GLOBAL AFRICAN COMMUNITY

H I S T O R Y N O T E S


By RUNOKO RASHIDI

DEDICATED TO DR. PETER DAWSON AND DR. ALFRED M. LIGON

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following information will be of interest to all who appreciate the work of George G. M. James. As we all know, very little is published about Professor James. The following information came to me via the Internet. I have decided to republish it here because it has some precious information about Prof. James.
This information is quite appropriate to describe the book that i first reprinted in 1989 - long after the death of Mr. James. But since i was the first publisher to 'mass' produce, and satisfy the great demand for the book, it is the only one in print that also has a photograph of the Author. [...]
"The term Greek philosophy, to begin with, is a
misnomer, for there is no such philosophy in
existence."

Dr. George Granville Monah James was born in
Georgetown, Guyana, South America. He was the son of
Reverend Linch B. and Margaret E. James. George G.M.
James earned Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Theology
and Master of Arts degrees from Durham University in
England and was a candidate there for the D. Litt
degree. He conducted research at London University
and did postgraduate work at Columbia University where
he read for his Ph.D. Dr. James earned a teaching
certificate in the State of New York to teach
mathematics, Latin and Greek. James later served as
Professor of Logic and Greek at Livingston College in
Salisbury, North Carolina for two years, and
eventually taught at the University of Arkansas, Pine
Bluff.

Dr. James was the author of the widely circulated
Stolen Legacy: The Greeks Were Not the Authors of
Greek Philosophy, But the People of North Africa,
Commonly Called the Egyptians--a controversial text
originally published in 1954 and reprinted a number of
times since. Professor William Leo Hansberry reviewed
Stolen Legacy in the Journal of Negro Education in
1955, and noted that:

"In Stolen Legacy an author with a passion for justice
and truth champions a startling thesis with which most
of the little volume's readers--Hellenophiles in
particular--will no doubt strongly disagree. In this
work Professor James dares to contend and labor to
prove, among others, that 'the Greeks were not the
authors of Greek philosophy', that 'so-called Greek
philosophy' was based in the main upon ideas and
concepts which were borrowed without
acknowledgement--indeed 'stolen'--by a few wayward and
dishonest Greeks from the ancient Egyptians."

Stolen Legacy was written during Dr. James' tenure at
the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. As of
today, there is not even a copy of the book in the
University library. There is no statue or bust of Dr.
James on the campus. There is no plaque of Dr. James
adorning the campus walls. There is not even a
certificate to note Dr. James' existence or that he
even lived. This is at an historically Black college!


Dr. James's tragic death, under mysterious
circumstances, reputedly, came shortly after Stolen
Legacy's publication. To date, no significant
biography of James has been presented.

SOURCES:
Stolen Legacy, by George G.M. James
Nile Valley Contributions To Civilization, by Anthony
Browder

For anyone who desires to know the true extent to which the Afrikan continent and its diverse and adroit people have influenced the modern world then this book is an absolute must read. It portrays in detail and with painstaking facts and clarity how the knowledge which presumably belonged to the world was "stolen" from Afrika and dispersed throughout other foreign lands and claimed as their own. From philosopy to mathematics this work is an astounding, true, and accurate account of how the legacy of Mother Afrika was stolen and claimed by many cultures who we incorrectly credit to this day with creating and inventing. A must have for anyone seeking true knowledge an accurate accounts of the history of religion, philosophy, medicine, and education, and who really is responsible for bringing these treasure to all of mankind!

"The wisdom of the Egyptians was a proverb with the Greeks, who felt themselves children beside this ancient race." Plato, Timaeus, 22B, Quoted from Will Durant, the Story of civilization: I



Egyptian Civilization:
"Historians of philosophy have been wont to begin their story with the Greeks. It may be that we are all mistaken; for among the most ancient fragments left to us by the Egyptians are writings that belong under the rubric of moral philosophy. The Egyptians were the light of the ancient world. They produced many early medical instruments, designed the world's first step pyramid, and laid the empirical groundwork for scientific reasoning. Akhenaton, ..., is cited as "the Father of Monotheism." Eugene Holley Jr.
Gerald Massey's work; 'Book of the Beginnings,' is an essential reading for seekers of a balanced understanding of human origins, religious thought and belief, and the role of Egyptian civilization in world history. Massey, born in England in 1828, was a radical Egyptologist, who maintained that Africa was the source for "the greatest civilization in the world." According to Massey, all evidence cries aloud its proclamation that Africa was the birthplace of the non-articulate and Egypt the mouthpiece of articulate man.

Egyptian Moral Heritage:
Herodotus, has demonstrated that Greece borrowed from Egypt all the elements of her civilization, and that Egypt was the cradle of civilization. "Egypt is the mother of all (the civilized) world," says the popular proverb, to which responded the Late Nobel laureate, Naguib Mahfouz, "Egyptian civilization was beyond any doubt a great culture that encompassed the entire ancient world. The fact that we may have come to know it once more through the mediation of Western explorers and scientists does not make it any less ours. How could it be? It is the heritage of all humanity."
Morally, Ancient Egypt was far ahead of 18th century Europe, as testified by Diodoros (Hellene historian, 1st cent. BC) who specified that Solon had adopted an Egyptian law according to which everybody had to declare the source of their income. In I.79.3 Diodoros specified yet another Solonic law supposed to derive from Egypt, his famous 'Seisachtheia,' "shaking off of debts" according to which a man could not be imprisoned or enslaved for debt. Whether or not Diodoros' claims are correct, has been treated seriously in the 20th century.

Egypt: Greece Alma Matter?
'But now that we have examined these matters, we must enumerate what Greeks, who have won fame for their wisdom and learning, visited in ancient times, in order to become acquainted with its customs and learning. For the priests of Egypt recount from the records of their sacred books that they were visited in early times by Orpheus, Musaeus, Melampus, and Daedalus, also by the poet Homer and Lycurgus of Sparta, later by Solon of Athens and the philosopher Plato, and that there also came Pythagoras of Samos and the mathematician Eudoxus, {note 1} as well as Democritus of Abdera and Oenopides {note 2} of Chios. As evidence for the visits of all these men they point in some cases to their statues and in others to places or buildings {note 3} which bear their names, and they offer proofs from the branch of learning which each one of these men pursued, arguing that all the things for which they were admired among the Greeks were transferred from Egypt. (DIODORUS OF SICILY, C.H. Oldfather, translator, Harvard University Press (Loeb), Cambridge Ma. 1968.)

M. Bernal wrote, "Her (Lefkowitz) general truth is that Greece did not derive any significant part of its civilization from Egypt. In this, she not only flies in the face of Greek and Roman tradition but even goes further than most of her classicist colleagues. For instance, she is extremely doubtful that Plato ever went to Egypt because, she maintains, references to the visit only appear in the late Hellenistic period (1st century BC). However, according to recent scholarship on the issue, the tradition of the journey goes back to Speusippos, Plato's nephew and his successor as head of the Academy." Bernal Review; Not Out of Africa

Stolen Legacy:
"The term Greek philosophy, to begin with, is a misnomer, for there is no such philosophy in existence." is such a harsh statement for Dr. James to start his introduction, and very bold for a book written in 1954 Arkansas. The compatibility of Greek philosophy with Egyptian Wisdom is in intense debate for the last two decades. If Lefkowitz rogues' gallery targeted above all George James (as Bernal stated), it is because they are both polarizing figures, was the reason I acquired the book recently, and attempted to review it.
Over on athena-discuss, Scott A. Simmons wrote, "I would readily grant "tribute" as opposed to "theft", if the "wholesale appropriation" were acknowledged by those whose names now attract credit that is not theirs. If they (Archimedes, Aristotle, Thales, etc.) took from the Egyptians without acknowledging it, then by definition, plagiarism is committed."
Professor William Hansberry reviewed Stolen Legacy in the Journal of Negro Education in 1955, and noted that: "In Stolen Legacy an author with a passion for justice and truth champions a startling thesis with which most of the little volume's readers, Helleno-philes in particular, will no doubt strongly disagree. In this work Professor James dares to contend and labor to prove, among others, that 'the Greeks were not the authors of Greek philosophy', that 'so-called Greek philosophy' was based in the main upon ideas and concepts which were borrowed without acknowledgement, indeed 'stolen,' by a few wayward and dishonest Greeks from the ancient Egyptians."

Dr. George G. M. James:
"Mary Lefkowitz dislikes the whole gamut. ...However, her principal objection is to the 20th century group that ... some refer to as "Nilocentric," ... I too am included in her attacks but her rogues' gallery consists of ..., and above all George G. M. James." Martin Bernal

Dr. George Granville James, son of Reverend Linch James, earned BA, and MA degrees from Durham University in England. He conducted research at London University and did postgraduate work at Columbia University where he read for his Ph.D. James later served as Professor of Logic and Greek at Livingston College in Salisbury, NC, and eventually taught at the University of Arkansas.

George James should be commended for his brave and enlightening work. Stolen Legacy challenges us to reconsider many of the theories and ideologies that have been impressed upon us through the American education system. We are constantly told that the ancient Greeks were the originators of philosophy, science, and many mathematical theories, but we aren't given an adequate explanation of how they developed these ideas. In fact, James offers a completely different explanation for the origins of philosophy. He claims that what has been passed of as Greek philosophy, is actually stolen Egypt philosophy and was passed down through the Egyptian Mystery System. Little has been told about the Egyptian Mystery System, but James tries to explain the basics of this system and how it spread throughout the Mediteranean world. While I do think the book could have been written more clearly, it still offers new information and challenges the norm.

Regardless of whether or not you believe the many facts that James offers, we must still acknowledge the many questions that he has posed. For instance, is it possible for Aristotle to have written over 1,000 books on so many different topics? He points out that all of our present scholars focus on one, maybe two topics, while Aristotle is heralded for being an expert in practically every branch of science. Another interesting thing that is pointed out in the book is that fact that very little is known of the scholars that we give so much credence to. Of course, some of this is obviously due to lack of records, but even the people who claim to be experts on these scholars, tend to radically disagree on their lives and works. James is also able to draw many clear comparisons between ancient greek philosophers and information that the Egyptians had for thousands of years prior. Again, even if you disagree with the author's findings, this book encourages us to question the authorities that we adhere to. Without questioning the norm, we can never grow or expand as a society.

An anonymous reviewer who calls himself "A reader" asked the question, "If Egyptians were black, why aren't they black now?" The answer is, much of Egypt's modern population IS black (Malcom X noted that the people of Egypt were blacker than he). Those Egyptians who are not black are the product of Roman and Arab invasions centuries ago that resulted in intermarriages. The modern Islamic Egyptian culture was imported by light-skinned Arabs. Many historians agree that even until the time of Arabian invasion, the vast majority of egyptians were black(negroid). I hope that this was helpful.

The main idea of this book is that the ancient Greeks were thieves: they invented nothing--not science, not philosophy, not anything--but stole all of it from the Africans, that is, the Egyptians, thus beginning the anti-black racism that kept black people down for thousands of years. There is just one problem: it isn't true, as anybody with any knowledge of the ancient world knows.

To start with, the book is full of factual mistakes. First of all, the ancient Egyptians weren't blacks. (Ancient Egypt was racially mixed, and in any case skin color meant about as much as eye color.) The "Egyptian mystery system" James describes in the book was actually invented in the 18th century by French mystics; it is related to Plato not because Plato stole it from the Egyptians, but because the 18th-century French relied on Plato. Aristotle and Plato never visited Egypt, let alone the library of Alexandria, which didn't actually exist until they were both long dead.

Quite apart from all these factual mistakes, the main thesis of the book is ludicrous: it is one thing to say the greeks were influenced by the egyptians (obviously true, and as any scholar of history knows, this was never deined), or even that the greeks never invented anything and merely plagarized the egyptians (not true, but at least logically possible.) But James says that the egpytian legacy was literally STOLEN. That is, not only did the greek plagiarize them, but that miracolously, this plagiarism caused the egyptians to instantly forget all of the plagiarized material and not make any new records of it!

How on earth was this supposed to happen? If you teach someboy something, or even if he copies an idea you've got, or even if he steals the book where the idea is written, as James claims Aristotle did, do you instantly forget it yourself and can no longer recreated it? Even if the Greeks copied everything from the Egyptians, would that make the egyptians somehow forget their own original teachings? Of course not! The very idea is silly.

This book is, in sum, simply fiction: a ludicrous thesis "supported" by numerous historically inaccurate claims.