both as a dialect of a single Canaanite language.During this time, I was beginning to study Hebrew and I found what seemed to me a number of striking similarities between it and Greek ... Bernal came to the conclusion that ancient Greek accounts of Egyptian influence on their civilisation should be taken seriously. He had been interested in ancient Egypt since childhood, in part inspired by his grandfather Sir Alan Gardiner. Bernal's new direction was strengthened by his discovery of the work of Cyrus Gordon and Michael Astour. In due course he wrote Black Athena. Bernal also wrote the book Cadmean Letters, devoted to the origins of the Greek alphabet. He devoted his next twenty years to writing the next two volumes of Black Athena, with the second volume devoted to archaeological and documentary evidence, and the third to linguistic evidence. He also spent considerable time defending his work. He became Professor Emeritus upon his retirement in 2001. Personal life In 1961, Bernal married Judy Pace (later known as Judith Dunn). Together, they had one daughter and twin sons. They later divorced. His second wife, Leslie Miller-Bernal, and his five children survived him. Books (pamphlet) Responses (critical response) Notes References Nishikawa, Kinohi. "Martin Bernal", The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature. Ed. Hans Ostrom and J. David Macey, Jr. 5 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005. . pp 114–15. External links Martin Bernal page at Cornell University Martin Bernal short CV at Cornell University 1937 births 2013 deaths Harvard University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni American classical scholars Classical scholars of Cornell University Fellows of King's College, Cambridge English classical scholars British expatriate academics in the United States Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Scholars of ancient Greek history People educated at Dartington Hall School Afrocentrists British people of Portuguese-Jewish descent British people of Spanish-Jewish descent British people of Italian-Jewish descent American Book Award winners