This course introduces students to the main areas of the influence of the classical world upon African culture and society (and vice-versa). After an introduction outlining the major areas of classical influence on the African subcontinent, including South Africa, the course first section of the course (weeks 1&emdash;5) focuses on the various approaches of scholars on the issues of classical influence in Africa and the different scholarly arguments regarding the influence of African civilization upon classical culture and learning. The second section (weeks 4&emdash;8) covers Greek and Roman representations of Africa. The third part of the course (weeks 8&emdash;9) deals with the influence of ancient drama upon South African drama, specifically the works of Athol Fugard. The fourth section (weeks 10&emdash;11) focuses on the drama and poetry of West Africa that have been inspired by classical sources. The final section (week 12) examines the significant influence of classical antiquity upon public and private architecture in South Africa.

An important focus of the course is the study of scholarly and literary works that have reshaped the classical influences in forging a post-colonial identity. The approaches throughout are analytical and comparative and involve the study of themes from Greek and Roman sources that have been used by modern scholars and writers in Africa. The specific scholarly and literary works to be covered will depend upon the time available and approaches of the individual lecturers, but some of the possible works to be read and discussed are listed below in the Bibliography. Much of the material will be contained in lectures, but students will be expected to read material and to prepare material for class and tutorial sessions. Class discussion and attendance is an important part of this course and these will form a component of the class mark.

Prof. W. J. Dominik (Weeks 1&emdash;5) (WJD) MTB 108D / 260-1306

Dr J. L. Hilton (Weeks 4&emdash;8) (JLH) MTB 108F / 260-1308

Ms S. Masters (Weeks 8-9, 12) (SM) MTB 108G / 260-1309

Professor E. A. Mackay (Weeks 9&emdash;10) (EAM) MTB 108C / 260-2315

Mrs A. Gosling (Weeks 10&emdash;11, 13) (AG) MTB 108C / 260-2314

Tuesday, pd 5 11.25&emdash;12.10 L146

Wednesday, pd 3 9.35&emdash;10.20 L146

Thursday, pd 2 8.40&emdash;9.25 L146

Friday, pd 1 7.45&emdash;8.30 L146

Second Year and Third-Year Language Option

Class Mark (40%)

Tutorial assignments 90%

Class participation and attendance 10%

(Class record will be kept of attendance and participation.)

E-E Exams (60%)

Three one-hour exams

Third-Year Research Option

Class mark (33,3%)

Tutorial assignments 90%

Class participation and attendance 10%

(Class record will be kept of attendance and participation.)

E-E Exams (33,3%)

Three one-hour exams

Research Presentation (33,3%)

5 000-word essay

Class 1: Tuesday, 10th August, pd 5

Introduction; the reception of the classical tradition in Africa

 

 

Class 2: Wednesday, 11th August, pd 3

The reception of the classical tradition in South Africa

Class 1: Thursday, 12th August, pd 2

Was Socrates black?

Class 2: Friday, 13th August, pd 1

Were the natives of ancient North Africa black? Were the Egyptians black? Was Egypt African?

 

Class 3: Tuesday, 17th August, pd 5

Was Cleopatra black?

Class 4: Wednesday, 18th August, pd 3

What did Herodotus know about Egyptian origins? What did later Greek writers supply about the Greek debt to Egypt?

 

Class 5: Thursday, 19th August, pd 2

Did the ancient Egyptians colonise Greece? Did the Greeks believe that they were descended from the Egyptians and the Phoenicians?

 

Class 6: Friday, 20th August, pd 1

Did Plato study in Egypt? Did Greeks study in Egypt?

 

Class 7: Tuesday, 24th August, pd 5

Did the Greeks steal philosophy from the Egyptians? Is there any historical evidence for a stolen legacy?

 

 

Class 8: Wednesday, 25th August, pd 3

Did the ancient Egyptians greatly influence the early Greeks in the other areas such as language, religion, science and mathematics?

 

 

Class 9: Thursday, 26th August, pd 2

Why did the Greeks think Egyptians celebrated Mysteries? How did the idea of an Egyptian mystery system come to be preserved?

 

 

Class 10: Friday, 27th August, pd 1

Are the scholarly methods of Afrocentrists credible?

Class 11: Tuesday, 31st August, pd 5

Have scholars obscured the African roots of classical civilisation for reasons of racism or anti-Semitism?

 

 

 

Class 12: Wednesday, 1st September, pd 3

Conclusion. Is there a diversity of truths?

Class 13: Tuesday, 7th September, pd 5

Examination-equivalent Test 1.

 

 

 

Outline of Weeks 5&emdash;8 (JLH):

Greek and Roman Representations of Africa

 

 

Class 1: Thursday, 2nd September, pd 2

 

Introduction: Defining the Parameters.

 

 

Class 2: Friday, 3rd September, pd 1

 

Knowledge of Africa: Azania.

 

 

Class 3: Wednesday, 8th September, pd 3

 

Knowledge of Africa: Culural Influences.

 

 

Class 4: Thursday, 9th September, pd 2

 

Knowledge of Africa: An Early African Writer.

 

 

Class 5: Friday, 10th September, pd 1

 

Ideology of Ethiopia: Homer and Herodotus.

 

 

Class 6: Tuesday, 14th September, pd 5

 

Greek and Roman Knowledge of Africa.

 

 

Class 7: Wednesday, 15th September, pd 3

 

Ideology of Ethiopia: Ethiopians in Greek Myth.

 

 

Class 8: Thursday, 16th September, pd 2

 

Ideology of Ethiopia: Axum and Meroë.

 

 

Class 9: Friday, 17th September, pd 1

 

Ideology of Ethiopia: The Reception of the Ethiopian Story.

 

 

Class 10: Tuesday, 21st September, pd 5

 

The Ideology of Ethiopia.

 

 

Class 11: Wednesday, 22nd September, pd 3

 

Summary/Conclusions.

 

 

Class 12: Tuesday, 28th September, pd 5

 

Examination-equivalent Test 2.

 

 

 

 

Outline of Weeks 8&emdash;10 (SM/EAM):

South African Drama

 

Classes 1&emdash;3: Wednesday, 29th September, pd 3&endash;Friday, 1st October, pd 1

 

Fugard’s Antigone

 

 

Classes 4&emdash;5: Tuesday, 5th October, pd 5&endash;Wednesday, 6th October, pd 3

 

Fugard’s The Island

 

 

Classes 6&emdash;8: Thursday, 7th October, pd 2&endash;Tuesday, 12th October, pd 5

 

Jason and Medea

 

 

 

 

Outline of Weeks 10&emdash;11 (AG):

West African Drama

 

Classes 1&emdash;7: Wednesday, 13th October, pd 3&endash;Friday, 22nd October, pd 1

 

Wole Soyinka’s The Bacchae of Euripides and Euripides’ Bacchae

 

 

 

 

Outline of Week 12 (SM):

South African Architecture

 

Classes 1&emdash;4: Tuesday, 25th October, pd 5&endash;Friday, 29th October, pd 1

 

South African Architecture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outline of Week 12 (EAM, SM, AG)

Exam-Equivalent Test 3

 

Class 1: Tuesday, 2nd November, pd 5

 

Examination-equivalent Test 3.

 

 

 

The Reception of the Classical Tradition in Africa

Dominik, W. J., ‘Afrika’, in Der Neue Pauly. Enzyklopädie der Antike, Band 13: Rezeptions- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte der Antike: Teilgebeit Länderartikel, ed. V. Riedel (Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler 1999). (English version.)

________, ‘Süd Afrika’, in Der Neue Pauly. Enzyklopädie der Antike, Band 15: Rezeptions- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte der Antike: Teilgebeit Länderartikel, ed. V. Riedel (Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler 2000). Germany. (English version.)

Black Athena

Alexander (from the Romance) in the Sundiata epic (article), History Today (some years ago).

Begley, S. et al., ‘African Dreams’, Newsweek (23 September 1991) 42&emdash;48.

ben-Jochannan, Yosef, Africa: Mother of Western Civilization (Baltimore 1988).

________, African Origins of the Major ‘Western Religions’ (Baltimore 1970).

Bernal, M., Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization 1: The Fabrication of Ancient Greece 1785&emdash;1985 (New Brunswick 1987).

________, Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization 2: The Archaeological and Documentary Evidence (New Brunswick 1991).

________, Cadmean Letters: The Transmission of the Alphabet to the Aegean and Further West Before 1400 bce (Winona Lake 1990).

________, ‘Questioning the History of Western Civilization’, The Chronicle of Higher Education (27 May 1992) B3&emdash;4. Letter to the editor.

________, Review of M. Lefkowitz, Not Out of Africa (New York 1996), Bryn Mawr Classical Review (1996) 96.4.5.

________, Reply to M. Lefkowitz’s Response to Bernal’s Review of M. Lefkowitz, Not Out of Africa (New York 1996), HarperCollins Discussion List (3 May 1996).

Boynton, R. S., ‘The Bernaliad: A Scholar-Warrior’s Long Journey to Ithaca’, Lingua Franca (November 1996) 43&emdash;50.

Burstein, S. M., ‘The Challenge of Black Athena: An Interim Assessment’, Ancient History Bulletin 8.1 (1994) 11&emdash;17.

________, ‘A Contested History: Egypt, Greece and Afrocentrism’, Laetaberis 12 (1996&emdash;98) 33&emdash;49.

________, ‘The Debate Over Black Athena’, Scholia 5 (1996) 3&emdash;16.

Diop, B., ‘Ways of Seeing, Ways of Saying’ (unpublished lecture).

________, ‘Plato and Egypt’ (unpublished lecture).

Diop, C. A. (ed. and tr. M. Cook), The African Origin of Civilization: Myth Or Reality (Chicago 1974).

________ (tr. Y.-L. M. Ngemi), Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic Anthropology (New York 1991).

HarperCollins Discussion List. Various letters on M. Lefkowitz, Not Out of Africa (New York 1996).

Jackson, J. G., Introduction to African Civilization (New York 1990).

James, G. M., Stolen Legacy (Trenton 1992).

Lambert, M., Review of M. Lefkowitz, Not Out of Africa (New York 1996), Scholia Reviews 6 (1997) 2.

Lefkowitz, M., ‘Afrocentrism Poses a Threat to the Rationalist Tradition’, The Chronicle of Higher Education (6 May 1992) A52.

________, ‘The Origins of Greek Civilization: The Afrocentric Theory’ (San Diego 1997).

________, Not Out of Africa: How Afrocentrism Became an Excuse to Teach Myth as History (New York 1996).

________, ‘Not Out of Africa: The Origins of Greece and the Illusions of Afrocentrists’, The New Republic (10 February 1992) 29&emdash;36. Review of Bernal (1987, 1991), Diop (1974), James (1992), ben-Jochanan (1988) and Jackson (1990).

________, Review of Bernal’s Reply to M. Lefkowitz, Not Out of Africa (New York 1996), Bryn Mawr Classical Review (1996) 94.6.19.

Lefkowitz, M. R. and Rogers, G. M., Black Athena Revisited (Chapel Hill 1996).

Levine, Molly M., ‘The Marginalization of Martin Bernal’, Classical Philology 93.4 (1998) 345&emdash;363.

‘Letters to the Editor’, The Chronicle of Higher Education (10 June 1992).

Mazrui, A. A., Ancient Greece in African Political Thought: An Inaugural Lecture Delivered on 25th August 1966 at Makerere University College (Nairobi 1967).

‘Opinions: "Africans in Antiquity" Course Addresses "The Illusions of Eurocentrism"’, The Wellesley News (5 May 1992). Letters to the editor.

Peradotto, J. and Myerowitz, M. (eds), ‘The Challenge of Black Athena’, Arethusa special issue (1989). (photocopy)

Rogers, J. H., World’s Great Men of Color (London 1972).

Ross, A. and Lea, A. (eds), Were the Achievements of Ancient Greece Borrowed from Africa? (Washington D.C. 1997).

Sertima, I. van, Black Women in Antiquity (New Brunswick 1984).

Sienkewicz, T. J., ‘Critics Challenge Bernal’s Assumptions in Black Athena Revisited Broadsides’, The American Classical League Newsletter (Winter 1998) 25.

Snowden Jr, F. M., Before Color Prejudice: The Ancient View of Blacks (Cambridge, Mass. 1983).

________, ‘Bernal’s "Blacks" and the Afrocentrists’, in Lefkowitz, M. R. and Rogers, G. M., Black Athena Revisited (Chapel Hill 1996) 112&emdash;128.

________, ‘Bernal’s "Blacks", Herodotus, and Other Classical Evidence’, in Peradotto, J. and Myerowitz, M. (eds), The Challenge of ‘Black Athena’, Arethusa Special Issue (Fall 1989) 83&emdash;95.

________, Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience (Cambridge, Mass. 1970).

Thompson, L. A., Romans and Blacks (London 1989).

________, ‘Roman Perceptions of Blacks’, Scholia 2 (1993) 17&emdash;30.

Tritle, L. A., Review of M. Lefkowitz, Not Out of Africa (New York 1996), Bryn Mawr Classical Review (1996) 96.5.7.

Whitehorne, J., Cleopatras (London 1994).

Wilkinson, T. A. H., Review of M. R. Lefkowitz and G. M. Rogers (eds), ‘Black Athena Revisited’ (Chapel Hill 1996), Scholia Reviews 5 (1996) 29.

Williams, C. The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of Race from 4500 B.C. to 2000 A.D. Chicago.

 

 

Greek and Roman Representations of Africa

 

Apuleius, Metamorphoses.

Cary, M. and Warmington, E. H., The Ancienti Explorers (London 1929) 110&emdash;131, 268&emdash;270.

Hilton, J. L., ‘Peoples of Azania’, Scholia 2 (1993) 3&emdash;16.

Hugo, A. M., ‘The Cape Vernacular’, UCT Inaugural Lecture 2 (1970) 1&emdash;28.

Niane, D. T., Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali (Harlow 1965).

Philipson, D., Ethiopia (London 1995).

Romm, J. S., The Edtes of the Earth in Ancient Thought (Princeton 1992) 32&emdash;41, 49&emdash;60.

Selden, D. L., ‘Aithiopika and Ethiopianism’, in R. L. Hunter (ed.), Studies in Heliodorus (Cambridge 1998) 182&emdash;217.

Snowden, F., Blacks in Antiquity (Cambridge, Mass. 1970) 144&emdash;155.

Tatum, J., ‘An African Socrates’, in J. Tatum, Apuleius and the Golden Ass (Ithaca 1979) 105&emdash;134.

 

 

South African Drama (English)

 

Euripides, Medea.

Foster, D. D., ‘The Blood Knot and The Island as Anti-Tragedy’, in S. Gray (ed.), Athol Fugard (Johannesburg 1982) 202&emdash;217.

Fugard, A., Dimetos and Two Early Plays (Oxford 1977). Includes Dimetos; cf. Phylarchus, Parthenius.

Fugard, A., Notebooks (Johannesburg 1983).

Fugard, A., The Township Plays (Oxford 1993). Includes The Island; cf. Sophocles’ Antigone.

Gray, S. (ed.), Athol Fugard (Johannesburg 1982).

Gray, S., Athol Fugard: My Children! My Africa! and Selected Shorter Plays (Witwatersrand 1990). Includes Fugard’s Orestes; cf. Aeschylus, Euripides.

Mackay, E. A., ‘Antigone and Orestes in the Works of Athol Fugard’, Theoria 74 (October 1989) 31&emdash;43.

McDonald, M., ‘Black Dionysus: Greek Tragedy from Africa’, unpublished conference paper.

________, ‘Fugard’s The Island and Sophocles’ Antigone Within the Parameters of South African Protest Literature’, in D. Bevan, Literature and Revolution (Amsterdam 1989) 145&emdash;162.

Sophocles, Antigone.

Vandenbroucke, R., Truths the Hand Can Touch: The Theatre of Athol Fugard (Craighall 1986).

Video. Jason and Medea (Cape Town).

Wertheim, A., ‘The Prison as Theatre and the Theatre as Prison: Athol Fugard’s The Island, in J. Redmond (ed.), The Theatrical Space (Cambridge 1987) 229&emdash;237.

Whitaker, R., ‘Dimoetes to Dimetos: The Evolution of a Myth’, English Studies in Africa 24.1 (1981) 45&emdash;60.

 

 

West African Drama and Poetry (English)

 

Adedeji, J. ‘Y., ‘Wole Soyinka and the Growth of Drama’, in A. S. Gérard, European-Language Writing in Sub-Saharan Africa 2 (Budapest 1986) 716&emdash;739.

Adelugba, D., ‘Drama’, in A. S. Gérard, European-Language Writing in Sub-Saharan Africa 2 (Budapest 1986) 770&emdash;798.

Armstrong, R. P., ‘Tragedy&endash;Greek and Yoruba: A Cross-Cultural Perspective’, Research in African Literature 7 (1976) 23&emdash;43.

Beier, U., Introduction to African Literature: An Anthology of Critical Writing (London 1979).

Bishop, N., ‘A Nigerian Version of a Greek Classic: Soyinka’s Transformation of the Bacchae’, Research in African Literatures 14.1 (1983) 68&emdash;80.

Bonneau, D., ‘Africa and Ancient Greece: Euripides, Soyinka and their Bacchants’, in A. S. Gérard, European-Language Writing in Sub-Saharan Africa 2 (Budapest 1986) 1191&emdash;1200.

Braithwaite, K., Odale’s Choice (London 1967). Cf. Sophocles, Antigone.

Clark, J. P., Three Plays (London 1964). Includes Song of a Goat. Cassandra-type figure; Greek structural devices.

Conradie, P. J., ‘"The Gods are Not to Blame"&endash;Ola Rotimi’s Version of the Oedipus Myth’, Akroterion 39 (1994) 27-36.

________, ‘Syncretism in Wole Soyinka’s Play "The Bacchae of Euripides"’, South African Theatre Journal 4.1 (May 1990) 61&emdash;74.

________, ‘Theories of Greek, Modern and African Tragedy’, Epistula Zimbabweana 29 (1995) 6&emdash;15.

Euripides, Alcestis.

Euripides, Bacchae.

Fagunwa, D. O., Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmale (1938). Akara-Ogun Ulysses figure.

Graham-White, A., ‘Drama’, in A. S. Gérard, European-Language Writing in Sub-Saharan Africa 2 (Budapest 1986) 810&emdash;820.

Ladipo, D., Oba Ko So (Ibadan 1966). Cf. Sophocles, Oedipus Rex.

Lefevere, A., ‘Changing the Code: Soyinka’s Ironic Aetiology’, in A. S. Gérard, European-Language Writing in Sub-Saharan Africa 2 (Budapest 1986) 1201&emdash;1210.

Layiwola, D., ‘The Radical Alternative and the Dilemma of the Intellectual Dramatist in Nigeria’, Ufahamu 19.1 (1991) 64&emdash;79.

Litto, F. M. (ed.), Plays from Black Africa (New York 1968). Includes Edufa; cf. Euripides’ Alcestis.

Maritz, J., ‘Some Thoughts on the Classical Allusions in the Work of M. B. Zimunya’, Akroterion 41 (1996) 151&emdash;160.

McDonald, M., ‘Black Dionysus: Greek Tragedy from Africa’, unpublished conference paper.

Nigerian ‘chapbooks’. Cf. Ovid’s Ars Amatoria.

Ogunba, O., ‘Modern Drama in West Africa’, in C. Heywood (ed.), Perspectives on African Literature (London 1971) 81&emdash;105.

Osofisan, F., Tegonni: An African Antigone. Cf. Sophocles, Antigone.

Roscoe, A. A., Mother is Gold: A Study in West African Literature (Cambridge 1971).

Rotimi, O., The Gods Are Not to Blame (Oxford 1971). Cf. Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex.

Sophocles, Antigone.

Sophocles, Oedipus Rex.

Soyinka, W., Collected Plays 1 (Oxford 1973). Includes The Bacchae of Euripides; cf. Euripides, Bacchae.

________, Collected Plays 2 (Oxford 1974). Includes Kongi’s Harvest. Structural devices reminiscent of Greek tragedy.

________, Idanre and Other Poems (1967). Ogun embarks on archetypal journey into a Hades-like abyss.

________, Myth, Literature and the African World (Cambridge 1990).

________, A Shuttle in the Crypt (London 1972). Archetype of Ulysses.

Wright, D., Wole Soyinka Revisited (New York 1993).

 

 

South African Architecture

 

Claassen, Jo-Marie, ‘Functional and Symbolic Use of Domes and Arches in Some Examples of South African Religious Architecture’, South African Journal of Cultural and Art History 1.2 (1987) 110&emdash;120.

Fransen, H., Classicism, Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassicism at the Cape. An Investigation into Stylistic Modes in the Architecture and Applied Arts at the Cape of Good Hope: 1652&emdash;1820 (Diss. Natal, Pietermaritzburg 1987).

Grieg, D., A Guide to Architecture in South Africa (Cape Town 1971).

Lewcock, R., Early Nineteenth Century Architecture in South Africa. A Study of the Interaction of Two Cultures: 1795&emdash;1837 (Cape Town 1963).

 

 

William J. Dominik

Durban: Department of Classics 1999

AFRICA AND THE CLASSICAL TRADITION (SECOND SEMESTER 1999)
Week No.	(T., pd 5) 11.25&emdash;12.10 Tutorial (L146)	(W., pd 3) 9.35&emdash;10.20 Lecture (L146)	(Th., pd 2) 8.40&emdash;9.25 Lecture (L146)	(F., pd 1) 7.45&emdash;8.30 Lecture (L146)
1	10/8 Introduction; The Reception of the Classical Tradition in Africa (WJD)	11/8 The Reception of the Classical Tradition in South Africa (WJD)	12/8 Black Athena (WJD)	13/8 Black Athena (WJD)
2	17/8 Tutorial 1 (WJD)	18/8 Black Athena (WJD)	19/8 Black Athena (WJD)	20/8 Black Athena (WJD)
3	24/8 Tutorial 2 (WJD)	25/8 Black Athena (WJD)	26/8 Black Athena (WJD)	27/8 Black Athena (WJD)
4	31/8 Tutorial 3 (WJD)	1/9 Black Athena (WJD)	2/9 Greek and Roman Representations of Africa (JLH)	3/9 Greek and Roman Representations of Africa (JLH)
5	7/9 E-E TEST 1 (WJD)	8/9 Greek and Roman Representations of Africa (JLH)	9/9 Greek and Roman Representations of Africa (JLH)	10/9 Greek and Roman Representations of Africa (JLH)
6	14/9 Tutorial 4 (JLH)	15/9 Greek and Roman Representations of Africa (JLH)	16/9 Greek and Roman Representations of Africa (JLH)	17/9 Greek and Roman Representations of Africa (JLH)
7	21/9 Tutorial 5 (JLH)	22/9 Greek and Roman Representations of Africa (JLH)	23/9 MID-TERM BREAK	24/9 MID-TERM BREAK
8	28/9 E-E TEST 2 (JLH)	29/9 South African Drama (SM)	30/9 South African Drama (SM)	1/10 South African Drama (SM)
9	5/10 Tutorial 6 (SM)	6/10 South African Drama (SM)	7/10 West African Drama and Poetry (EAM)	8/10 West African Drama and Poetry (EAM)
10	12/10 Tutorial 7 (EAM)	13/10 West African Drama and Poetry (AG)	14/10 West African Drama and Poetry (AG)	15/10 West African Drama and Poetry (AG)
11	19/10 Tutorial 8 (AG)	20/10 West African Drama and Poetry (AG)	21/10 West African Drama and Poetry (AG)	22/10 West African Drama and Poetry (AG)
12	26/10 Tutorial 9 (SM)	27/10 South African Architecture (SM)	28/10 South African Architecture (SM)	29/10 South African Architecture (SM)
13	2/11 E-E TEST 3 (SM)

WJD 15; JLH 12; SM10; AG 7; EAM 3