Black Athena: Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization; Volume III: The Linguistic Evidence

Chapter 22: Athena and Athens

540 BLACK ATHENA CHAPTER 22 ATHENA AND ATHENS The Character of Athena, both in religion and in the myths, appears, then, to be the reflex of the civilised Hellenic polity. She was, it is true, sometimes identified with foreign goddesses—Egyptian, Asiatic, Colchian, or Iberian— probably because of her maidenly or warlike nature common to them with her; but we cannot say that her worship like that of Artemis or Dionysos, was tainted with Oriental or barbaric ideas, with orgiastic excess with impure symbolism or mystery . . . The tradition of Athena remained pure and clear in spite of the Alexandrine confusion of religions. —L. R. Farnell, 1895 (p. 318) INTRODUCTION T he names Aqh'nai, Athens, and jAqhnaiva, Athena, have puzzled the curious for more than two millennia. Today orthodox scholars simply consider them to be pre-Hellenic. More imaginative or fanciful observers have proposed that the names are metatheses of Athena’s Canaanite counterpart ŒAnat or Athena’s Egyptian equivalent Nt or Ne\it (in Greek transcription).1 Athena’s identification with the latter was assumed by all ancient writers. In this chapter, I shall attempt to demonstrate that the names Athens and Athena both derive from H≥t-ntr (nt) Nt “temple or city” of the goddess Nt or Ne\it. In all my previous works, I had proposed an origin from simple H≥t Nt but criticisms from Dr. Arno Egberts, discussed below, have made me modify my position. All three forms H≥t Nt, H≥t-ntr Nt and H≥t-ntr nt Nt have been attested.2 Scholars debate whether Nt was originally Egyptian or Libyan, but the majority maintain that she was essentially Egyptian. A temple to Ne\it appears to have been founded at Sais near the beginning of [CH. 22] ATHENA AND ATHENS 541 the First Dynasty.3 Nevertheless, she was worshipped in Libya at least since the Fifth Dynasty in the middle of the Third Millennium BCE. Two thousand years later, Herodotos and other Greek writers saw her as originating in Libya.4 Her cult center in Lower Egypt was at Sais near the western edge of the Nile Delta, an area which, at least in the early dynastic periods, was influenced by Libyan culture. The Greek belief that she was Libyan dates back to at least the sixth century BCE (see below). In the following century Herodotos claimed to have seen traces of the goddess’s origins in Libya. SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER This summary is only an outline of the chapter and it omits many of the topics considered in it. The chief concern of the chapter is with some of the striking parallels between the cults of Ne\it and Athena. It begins with a discussion of the importance of armor in both, and the striking similarities between their fetishes: for instance the shield with arrows of Ne\it and the Palladion of Athena. Peisistratos’ political use of a goodlooking young woman in armor on a chariot was identical to Libyan rituals dedicated to [Athena] in Libya. The chapter moves on to the central significance of weaving and embroidery and the presentation of a sacred cloth in both cults. The next section is concerned with fiery night festivals dedicated to the goddess in both Sais and Athens. Then follows a discussion of Athena’s enmity and identification with Medusa or the Gorgon and the association of the Gorgoneion or Gorgon face with burnt children’s bones from Second Millennium Knossos. I then consider the relationships among Ne–it, Athena and the ferocious Levantine goddess ŒAnat. This leads not only to the Semitic tradition of the sacrifice of the first born—which is symbolically central to the three monotheist religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam—but also to consideration of whether or not there were human sacrifices to the three goddesses. The possibility that the legendary fiery self-sacrifice of the woman pharaoh Nitokris was a surrogate for Ne–it is considered. Similarly , the question arises whether the legend of Dido’s incineration stands for the burning of Tanit, ŒAnat or Ne–it’s west Phoenician double. Were these legends used as etiological justifications for the actual “passing of children through the fire” in Canaanite-speaking cultures? In a new section, I weigh the claims, made by Egyptian priests to Diodoros Sikeliotes, that Athens had originally been an Egyptian colony. 542 BLACK ATHENA I conclude that these have some...