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Old 07-15-2002, 02:27 PM
OnePlus69Is70 OnePlus69Is70 is offline
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I'd also like some documentation, since you're wrong on at least two points. Some of your statements are, frankly, pseudo-anthropological nonsense, though I can easily imagine where you acquired them. Reading your note gave me the same sort of horror an astronomer must feel on meeting an astrologist.

First, as someone whose spent many years studying ancient languages and civilizations, I can say that Greek letters were definitely not "stolen" from any African peoples. The Greek alphabet is an adaptation of the Phoenician alphabet (the Phoenicians were the ancient people of Lebanon), from which the Hebrew alphabet was also derived. The Phoenician alphabet was developed from the Egyptian hierogylphic system of the Middle Kingdom, which either developed from or co-developed with (depending on which theory you believe) the cuneiform writing of Sumeria. The Egyptians were not Africans- they were Semites, the same linguistic/cultural group that produced modern Jews, Arabs, and Berbers. Their language is not related to any Bantu or non-Bantu language.

I don't know of any writing forms from the ancient sub-Saharan Africans, although I believe one developed in the Sagel region of the Western Sahara, I'd have to look it up. Cultural transmission is not theft- I won't even bother debating that, it's such a silly idea. And if we assume that it is, then the Greeks "stole" their alphabet from the ancestors of modern Arabs, who had busied themselves "stealing" it from each other for a couple millenia.

I also object to your statement that members of Greek fraternities had sex with each other. First, the idea that ancient Greek men were promisicuous homosexuals- and that that fact is either humourous or disgusting- is evidence of a lingering homophobia in our culture. The ancient Greeks did engage in homosexual relations, on about the same level modern Americans do, and were more tolerant of it. It was perfectly acceptable to them for two male best friends to have sex. Another persistent idea is that they had sex with young boys. They did have sex with what we would consider young boys- 12 and 13 year olds. But in the ancient world, it was not uncommon for a 13 year old to be married or at least betrothed- ancient adulthood began at 13, so in their view, this was sex between consenting adults. They were just as horrified at sex with 'children' as we are- they just defined the term differently.

Second, fraternities as they existed in ancient Greece were not fraternities as they exist in modern America. They were groups of men usually gathered around a charismatic leader for a common goal, usually learning- like the Academy in Athens. Their members probably did have sex with each other, but that was normal for their culture, as I've said.

Third, American fraternities were founded as literary societies, modeled on the salons of Enlightenment France. Many did not originally have Greek letter names. Greek letter names originally came from the habit of adopting mottos in Greek or Latin, and then using the first letters of the words of the motto as a name. This was part of a general fashion in early America to imitate the Greek and Roman civilizations. The word fraternity did not in English originally mean brotherhood- it meant something closer to our modern word comradery, which is why women's groups as well as men's were called fraternities.

I am sorry to go on at such length, but what you've said is ignorant nonsense of the sort that cannot be allowed to go unanswered. You are being fed theories that have been discredited many times by reputable researchers.
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