The Migrations of the 12 Tribes of Israel to Europe

 The following text refers to the video “The Migrations of the 12 Tribes of Israel to Europe” and presents the reader historical, biblical and archaeological sources about the migration journeys of the people of Israel to Europe.

God’s Everlasting Covenant with the People of Israel 

In the 19th century BC, Yahweh made an everlasting, unconditional covenant with Abram/Abraham:

Genesis 17:1-7 KJV: “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.”

The blessing continued to Abraham’s son Isaac:

Genesis 17:19 KJV: “And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.”

Finally, the blessing was passed on to Isaac’s son Jacob and his descendants:

Genesis 28:3-4 KJV: “And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee”

The people of Israel are the descendants of the 12 tribes or sons of Jacob, who was unnamed to Israel by God YHWH. As prophesied for Jacob’s descendants, the 12 tribes of Jacob/Israel became “a multitude of peoples” in the course of history and spread out to all directions:

Genesis 28:14 KJV: “And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south”

Isaiah 27:6 KJV: “He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.”

To which peoples or nations the 12 tribes of Israel grew up over time is described in detail in the following chapters.

1. The Beginning in Egypt {0:00 – 0:26}

In the 17th century BC, the still young people of Israel settled in the land of Canaan. Due to a famine, they migrated to Egypt, where Jacob’s son Joseph had already become a significant and influential man. Their progenitor Jacob/Israel was still alive at that time and already had grandchildren and the first great-grandchildren. The Pharaoh of the time gave them good pasture land in the land of Goshen on the Nile Delta:

Genesis 47:5-6 KJV: “And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee: The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.”

Portions from the tribes of Dan and Judah left Egypt before the enslavement of the Israelites and before the later exodus from Egypt to the promised land of Canaan.

2. The Danaans (Greeks) {0:26 – 0:35}

Greece was first settled by the Ionians. The Ionian Greeks were descended from Japheth’s son Javan. Thus, the Ionians were called “Yavana” in Sanskrit by the ancient Indians. In English Bible translations, the Hebrew word “Javan” is usually translated as “Greeks” or “Greece”. After the Ionians, Greece was invaded by another wave of immigrants, the Danaans. The Danaans (also called Achaeans by Homer) built the city of Mycenae and established the so-called “Mycenaean

Civilization” in Greece and Crete, while the Ionians stayed mainly in the environs of Athens. The classical ancient historians mentioned that the Danaans (Δαναοί Danaoi) came from Egypt. This happened exactly at the time when the 12 tribes of Israel were still living freely in the land of Goshen in Egypt. It is no coincidence that this people contains the name of the progenitor Dan. The Greek historian Didorus Siculus quoted in the 1st century BC the historian Hecataeus of Abdera in the 40th book of his Library of History. He reported on a part of the Israelites who, under the two leaders Danaus and Cadmus, left Egypt already before the Exodus and emigrated to Greece:

Didorus Siculus – Library of History, Book 40, Chapter 3.2-3: “Therefore the native inhabitants concluded that, unless all the foreigners were driven out, they would never be free from their miseries. All the foreigners were forthwith expelled, and the most valiant and noble among them, under some notable leaders, were brought to Greece and other places, as some relate; the most famous of their leaders were Danaus and Cadmus. But the majority of the people descended into a country not far from Egypt, which is now called Judaea … The leader of this colony was one Moses, a very wise and valiant man.”

Hekataios of Abdera acted around 300 BC and was a contemporary of Alexander the Great. He lived for a time in the ancient Egyptian metropolis of Alexandria, where he documented the Egyptian view of the history of the people of Israel. Since all of Hecataeus’ works are now preserved only in fragments, this quotation is a special relic of historiography that attests migration movements of the people of Israel even before the Exodus. Danaus sailed with his followers from Egypt to Argos:

Didorus Siculus – Library of History, Book 1, Chapter 28.2: “They say also that those who set forth with Danaus, likewise from Egypt, settled what is practically the oldest city in Greece, Argos”

Danaus was either the progenitor Dan himself or a descendant of Dan. However, the Danaans were only a part of the entire tribe of Dan. The other part remained in Egypt and emigrated with Moses to the land of Canaan, where they later inhabited a small area on the Mediterranean coast.

3. The Dardanians and Trojans {0:28 – 0:35}

Besides the tribe of Dan, there were members of another tribe who left Egypt before the Exodus. Judah’s son Zerah had 5 sons:

1 Chronicles 2:6 KJV: “And the sons of Zerah; Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara: five of them in all.”

In 1 Kings 4:31, four of Zerah’s sons are mentioned again, where they are compared to the wisdom of King Solomon:

1 Kings 4:30-31 KJV: “And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about.”

The name Dar(d)a in 1 Chronicles is a transcription error. Since the 1st Book of Kings is older than the 1st Book of Chronicles, the three letters “דרד “were probably mistakenly interpreted as “דר “during the transcription. In the New Living Translation (NLT), New Iternational Version (NIV) and the Latin Vulgate Bible, therefore, the name Darda is also used in this place.

1 Chronicles 2:6: דרע Dara

1 Kings 4:31 דרדע Darda

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, 1 Kings 4:31

„In that passage we find (with a slight modification of the last) the four names of this verse all mentioned as sons of Zerah, the son of Judah. These would therefore be greatgrandsons of Jacob. The difference between the name Darda דרדע and Dara דרע) of 1 Chronicles 2:6) may be due only to a slip of the transcriber. But no tradition has survived which tells of the special wisdom of this family, nor can we connect the name Mahol, as the father of some of them at least is here called, with Zerah. But the occurrence of the four names together in one family inclines to the opinion that these men were the men spoken of here. Their fame, even if not at first great, may have grown so during the time between Judah and Solomon.”

Darda and Chalcol are called “the sons of Machol” here, although their biological father was Zerah. It is obvious that Machol is not a personal name, but has a certain meaning, because the Hebrew word “Machol” also means “dance”: Pulpit Commentary, 1 Kings 4:31

„Chalcol and Darda are here distinctly said to be “the sons of Mahol,” though here again it has been observed that Mahol (חולָ מ (means pipe or dance, and the “sons of Mahol,” consequently, may merely be a synonym, agreeably to Eastern idiom (Ecclesiastes 12:4, with which cf. 2 Samuel 19:35), for “musicians.” We may therefore allow that the four names may be those of sons (i.e., descendants) of Zerah.”

Judah’s grandson Darda or Dardanus became the progenitor of the Trojans. He and his followers sailed from Egypt via the island of Samothrace to the western coast of Anatolia and settled the land which became known in antiquity as the “Troad”:

Didorus Siculus – Library of History, Book 5, Chapter 48.3: “Dardanus, who was a man who entertained great designs and was the first to make his way across to Asia in a make-shift boat, founded at the outset a city called Dardanus, organized the kingdom which lay about the city which was called Troy at a later time, and called the peoples Dardanians after himself. They say also that he ruled over many nations throughout Asia and that the Dardani who dwell beyond Thrace [Dardania] were colonists sent forth by him.”

Darda’s grandson Tros later gave the people the name Trojans:

Didorus Siculus – Library of History, Book 4, Chapter 75.1-3: “when Dardanus succeeded to the throne he called the people of the land Dardanians after his own name, and founding a city on the shore of the sea he called it also Dardanus after himself. To him a son Erichthonius was born, who far excelled in good fortune and in wealth. … To Erichthonius was born a son Tros, who called the people of the land Trojans, after his own name.”

In analogy to the Danaans of the tribe of Dan, not all the descendants of Judah’s son Zerah left the land of Goshen in Egypt. Some of the Zerahites (especially the descendants of Zerah’s first son Zimri/Zabdi) remained in Egypt. His descendants emigrated to the land of Canaan with Moses later on. Thus, the descendants of Zimri/Zabdi continue to be mentioned in the Book of Joshua when the Israelites were in the land of Canaan:

Joshua 7:1 KJV: “But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of 

Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel.”

The name Zimri in 1 Chronicles is another misspelling:

1 Chronicles 2:6 זמרי Zimri

Joshua 7:1 זבדי Zabdi

The descendants of Darda and Chalcol, on the other hand, are not mentioned anymore in the entire Old Testament. They had found a new home on the western coast of Anatolia and were no longer present during the exodus from Egypt to the land of Canaan. The Dardanians or Trojans had a glorious history before them (See “6. The Kings of Kings” and “7. The Fall of Troy and Origin of the Romans and Illyrians”). Even today, the strait on the northwestern coast of Turkey is called “Dardanelles”.

4. The Exodus {0:36 – 0:43}

While parts of the tribes of Dan and Judah (Zerah line) had already left Egypt, the majority of the Israelites remained in the land of Goshen and became very numerous over time. A later Pharaoh who knew nothing of Joseph took this as a threat and began to enslave the Israelites.

Exodus 1:7-14 KJV: “And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.”

After the 10 plagues, the Pharaoh let the people of Israel go to the promised land of Canaan around the year 1450 BC. After 40 years of wandering in the desert, the Israelites reached the land of Canaan. Under the leadership of Joshua, they defeated the Canaanite peoples and took possession of the land. Each tribe (except the Levites) was given its own territory, whereby Joseph’s territory was divided between his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.

5. The Phoenicians and the Sea Peoples {0:50 – 1:07} {1:37 – 1:50} {2:33 – 3:08}

The Phoenicians were a large and powerful seafaring nation in ancient times. Starting in the Levant, they established numerous coastal settlements in the Mediterranean between the 14th and 3rd century BC and dominated maritime trade during this period. Modern historians consider the Phoenicians to be a people independent of the Israelites, often associated with the Canaanites. But this view is both biblically and historically wrong. The Book of Joshua details the territorial distributions of the tribes of Israel. The northernmost territory on the Mediterranean coast was taken by the tribe of Asher:

Joshua 19:24-31 KJV: „And the fifth lot came out for the tribe of the children of Asher according to their families. And their border was Helkath, and Hali, and Beten, and Achshaph, And Alammelech, and Amad, and Misheal; and reacheth to Carmel westward, and to Shihorlibnath; And turneth toward the sunrising to Bethdagon, and reacheth to Zebulun, and to the valley of Jiphthahel toward the north side of Bethemek, and Neiel, and goeth out to Cabul on the left hand, And Hebron, and Rehob, and Hammon, and Kanah, even unto great Zidon; And then the coast turneth to Ramah, and to the strong city Tyre; and the coast turneth to Hosah; and the outgoings thereof are at the sea from the coast to Achzib: Ummah also, and Aphek, and Rehob: twenty and two cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Asher according to their families, these cities with their villages.”

According to the Book of Joshua, the territory of the tribe of Asher included the cities of Sidon and Tyre. Sidon and Tyre were the oldest and most important cities of the ancient Phoenicians. Starting from these two cities, they established over time many coastal settlements throughout the Mediterranean and far beyond. The Septuagint (Greek Old Testament, ~250 BC), however, assigns the city of Tyre to the tribe of Naphtali:

Joshua 19:35-39 Brenton’s Septuagint: “And the walled cities of the Tyrians, Tyre, and Omathadaketh, and Kenereth, and Armaith, and Arael, and Asor, and Cades, and Assari, and the well of Asor; and Keroe, and Megalaarim, and Bætthame, and Thessamys. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Nephthali.”

When Moses blessed the 12 tribes of Israel in Deuteronomy 33, he prophesied that the tribe of Naphtali would take possession of the west and south:

Deuteronomy 33:23 KJV: “And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the LORD: possess thou the west and the south.”

Since the territory of the tribe of Naphtali was located in the very north of Israel, this prophecy can only refer to later land possessions that were located west and south of Israel (North Africa and Spain). Therefore, it can be assumed that the city of Tyre was in possession of the tribe of Naphtali, while the city of Sidon belonged to the tribe of Asher. Around the year 1300 BC, the Israelites defeated the Canaanites under the judge and prophetess Deborah. In the Song of Deborah, it says:

Judges 5:17 KJV: „and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches.”

So the tribes of Dan and Asher were not present at the battle against the Canaanites. They were on their ships during the war and stayed at their harbors or seaports. About 100 years after the seizure of the land of Canaan, the tribes of Dan and Asher had established new seaports. Among the most important early settlements were Kition in Cyprus, Miletus on the west coast of Anatolia, and the city of Thebes in Greece. These Israelite seafarers from Sidon and Tyre were called Phoenicians by the Greeks. Important exports of the Phoenicians included wood, purple, and dyed textiles. Dyeing cloth with the help of purple snails was a typical Phoenician craft. The name Phoenician is derived from the Greek term φοίνιξ (phoínix), which means “purple.”

The city of Thebes in Greece was founded by the Phoenician Cadmus:

Didorus Siculus – Library of History, Book 5, Chapter 49.2: “After this Cadmus, they say, in accordance with the oracle he had received, founded Thebes in Boeotia.”

The Greek historian Herodotus from the 5th century BC wrote about Cadmus:

Herodotus – Histories, Book 5, Chapter 58.1: “These Phoenicians who came with Cadmus and of whom the Gephyraeans were a part brought with them to Hellas, among many other kinds of learning, the alphabet, which had been unknown before this, I think, to the Greeks. As time went on the sound and the form of the letters were changed.”

Cadmus brought the Phoenician (Hebrew) alphabet to Greece and taught the Greeks its characters. Based on this alphabet, the Greek alphabet was created, from which over time our current Latin alphabet developed.

While the tribe of Asher first established its ports on the southern coast of Anatolia and Greece, the tribe of Dan sailed from the coastal city of Joppa (Jaffa) westward to Sardinia. In the 13th and 12th centuries, Egyptian sources mention various seafaring peoples in the eastern Mediterranean region, who are now commonly referred to by the name “Sea Peoples.” Around the year 1300 BC, Egyptian sources mentioned a sea people called Shardana (also Sherden), who were connected with both the Levant and Sardinia. The Hebrew term „shâʼar“ (שאר (means “remnant”, Shardana can thus be translated as “remnant of Dan”.

{1:37 – 1:50}

The Phoenicians established further settlements in North Africa and Spain from the 12th century BC. The first Phoenician settlement in North Africa “Leptis Magna” was already established around 1200 BC. Around the year 1100 B.C. the settlement Gades (today Cádiz) at the south coast of Spain followed.

{2:33 – 3:08}

Later, the Phoenicians also explored and developed areas on the Atlantic coast of Spain, as well as England and Ireland. In England, especially in Cornwall, tin was mined by the Phoenicians.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol 21, 1985, p. 424: “The Phoenicians are believed to have played an important part in spreading the early bronze culture by their trade in tin, which their ships brought to the eastern Mediterranean from Great Britain and Spain at least as early as 1100 BC”

In the 9th century BC, Carthage was founded by Phoenicians from Tyre, which became their new capital. Until their decline due to the Punic wars in the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC, the Phoenicians established further settlements throughout the Mediterranean, especially on the Balearic Islands, Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica.

Carthaginian (Phoenician) general Hannibal

6. The King of Kings {0:54 – 1:19}

The tribe of Judah was given an eternal scepter by God. In Genesis 49, the tribe is prophesied to have dominion and kingship over all other nations/tribes:

Genesis 49:10 KJV: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”

While the descendants of Judah’s son Perez became the kings of Israel in the land of Canaan (King David, King Solomon, …), the descendants of Judah’s son Zerah became the kings in Anatolia and Europe. As mentioned in chapter 3, the Dardanians subjugated the peoples of Anatolia:

Didorus Siculus – Library of History, Book 5, Chapter 48.3: “Dardanus, who was a man who entertained great designs and was the first to make his way across to Asia in a make-shift boat, founded at the outset a city called Dardanus, organized the kingdom which lay about the city which was called Troy at a later time, and called the peoples Dardanians after himself. They say also that he ruled over many nations throughout Asia [Anatolia]”

The predominantly Phoenician areas of Lycia, and Caria (and others) were also subjugated and came under the rule of Trojan kings and princes:

Strabo – Geography, Book 12, Chapter 8.7: “the Trojans, having waxed so strong from a small beginning that they became kings of kings”

Strabo – Geography, Book 13, Chapter 1.7: “Now as for Homer’s statements, those who have studied the subject more carefully conjecture from them that the whole of this coast became subject to the Trojans, and, though divided into nine dynasties, was under the sway of Priam at the time of the Trojan War.”

The Milesians (inhabitants of Miletus) were also under Trojan rule (See “11. The Immigration of the Milesians to Ireland”): 

Strabo – Geography, Book 13, Chapter 1.52: “and then Milesians settled with them as fellow-citizens; and they began to live under a democracy. But the heirs of the royal family none the less continued to be called kings and retained certain prerogatives.”

7. The Fall of Troy and Origin of the Romans and Illyrians {1:18 – 1:34}

According to Eratosthenes of Cyrene, the Trojan War between the Danaans or Achaians and the Trojans ended in 1184 BC. After the Danaans destroyed and burned down Troy, the Trojans under the two leaders Aeneas and Antenor fled to distant lands. Aeneas and his followers took the sea route to the Italian peninsula, while Antenor went overland to the west to the region of Illyria.

Homer – Illiad, Book 20, Line 300-308: “Nay, come, let us head him forth from out of death, lest the son of Cronos be anywise wroth, if so be Achilles slay him; for it is ordained unto him to escape, that the race of Dardanus perish not without seed and be seen no more—of Dardanus whom the son of Cronos loved above all the children born to him from mortal women, … and now verily shall the mighty Aeneas be king among the Trojans, and his sons’ sons that shall be born in days to come.”

The wanderings of Aeneas are described in detail by Virgil in Aeneid. After 3 years his journey ended in Italy, where his son Ascanius founded the city of Alba Longa:

Didorus Siculus – Library of History, Book 7, Chapter 5.2-3: “For three years elapsed after the taking of Troy before Aeneas received the kingship over the Latins; this kingship he held for three years, and then he disappeared from among men and received immortal honours. His son Ascanius succeeded him on the throne and founded Alba Longa, as it is now called”

Aeneas’ descendant Romulus founded the city of Rome in this area about 400 years later (753 BC) Paul, as a Pharisee and scribe, was familiar with ancient historiography. He confirmed in the Letter to the Romans that the Romans were descended from the Israelites:

Romans 4:1 KJV: “What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?”

Romans 9:10 KJV: “And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac”

Since the Romans were descended from Israelites who left Egypt before the Exodus (Dardans), they were not under the Law of Moses:

Romans 4:16-17 KJV: “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations [“ethnos” = „nations/peoples“ in the NT, not Gentiles])”

Therefore, Paul also referred to the Romans as wild olive branches. They lived apart from the tribe for a long time and were grafted back into the tribe through the death of Christ (Romans 11). Antenor migrated with his followers overland to Illyria. He was also joined by the Veneti (Heneti) from Paphlagonia (northern Anatolian region on the Black Sea), who led them to the northern Adriatic.

Strabo – Geography, Book 13, Chapter 1.53: “Antenor and his children safely escaped to Thrace with the survivors of the Heneti, and from there got across to the Adriatic Heneticê, as it is called, whereas Aeneias collected a host of followers and set sail with his father Anchises and his son Ascanius.“

Pliny the Elder states that according to Cato the Veneti were also of Trojan stock:

Pliny the Elder – Natural History, Book 3, Chapter 23: “Cato informs us that the Veneti are descendants of the Trojans”

According to Strabo, the Dardanians north of Greece were also classified as Illyrian peoples:

Strabo – Geography, Book 7, Chapter 5.12: “and on that of two Illyrian peoples — the Autariatae, and the Dardanians.”

Paul writes in Romans 15 that he preached the gospel from Jerusalem to Illyria. He considered the Illyrians thus also as lost sheep of the house of Israel:

Romans 15:17-19 KJV: “I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.”

8. The Dorians (Lacedaemonians/Spartans) {1:11 – 1:18} {1:50 – 1:53}

Another glorious Greek people besides the Ionians and Danaans were the Dorians. The Dorians were first mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey:

Homer – Odyssey, Book 19, Line 172-177: “There is a land called Crete, in the midst of the wine-dark sea, a fair, rich land, begirt with water, and therein are many men, past counting, and ninety cities. They have not all the same speech, but their tongues are mixed. There dwell Achaeans, there great-hearted native Cretans, there Cydonians, and Dorians of waving plumes, and goodly Pelasgians.”

Homer describes in the Odyssey the peoples as they existed from his point of view in the 12th century BC. He mentions the Dorians only on the island of Crete and not on the Greek mainland. During the Dorian migration (~1000 BC), the Dorians invaded the Peloponnese and expelled the resident Danaans. They destroyed the city of Mycenae and founded the city of Corinth, among others. The southern area of the Peloponnese was called Laconia in ancient times, which is why the Dorians were also called “Lacedaemonians” or also “Spartans” after their capital Sparta. Although many historians mention that the Dorians came to Crete from the north of Greece, according to Homer it was the other way around. But how did the Dorians come to the island of Crete? They called themselves Dorians because they came from the coastal city of Dor in Israel. The city of Dor belonged to the tribe of Manasseh. In the 1st Book of Maccabees the kinship of Dorians and Israelites is confirmed. In the 3rd century BC, there was an exchange of letters between the Spartan (Dorian) king Arëus and the Judean high priest Onias I:

1 Maccabees 12:19-23 KJV: “And this is the copy of the letters which Oniares sent. Areus king of the Lacedemonians to Onias the high priest, greeting: It is found in writing, that the Lacedemonians and Jews [Judeans] are brethren, and that they are of the stock of Abraham: Now therefore, since this is come to our knowledge, ye shall do well to write unto us of your prosperity. We do write back again to you, that your cattle and goods are our’s, and our’s are your’s We do command therefore our ambassadors to make report unto you on this wise.”

Jonathan Apphus replied to the Spartans (Dorians) in the 2nd century BC and confirmed the brotherly alliance:

1 Maccabees 12:5-8 KJV: “And this is the copy of the letters which Jonathan wrote to the Lacedemonians: Jonathan the high priest, and the elders of the nation, and the priests, and the other of the Jews [Judeans], unto the Lacedemonians their brethren send greeting: There were letters sent in times past unto Onias the high priest from Darius, who reigned then among you, to signify that ye are our brethren, as the copy here underwritten doth specify. At which time Onias entreated the ambassador that was sent honourably, and received the letters, wherein declaration was made of the league and friendship.”

Paul also confirms to the Corinthians (Dorians) in his first letter to them that their common Israelite ancestors had passed through the (red) sea and were baptized unto Moses. Since the Dorians descended from the tribe of Manasseh, their common ancestors had passed through the (red) sea and were baptized unto Moses.

1 Corinthians 10:1-4 KJV: “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.”

9. The Tuatha Dé Danann {1:53 – 2:11}

In the book “Lebor Gabála Érenn” (“The Book of Invasions”) several waves of immigration to Ireland are described. The leaders of the first three waves of immigration were called Cessair, Partholon and Nemed. After that came a people called Firbolg. All these peoples were probably descended from Noah’s third son Japheth. As the next wave of immigration the Túatha Dé Danann are mentioned.

Geoffrey Keating – The History of Ireland, Section 7: “The second chief, namely, Iobáth, son of Beothach, goes into the regions of the north of Europe; and some antiquaries say that it is to ‘Boetia’ he went: it is from him the Tuatha Dé Danann have descended.”

The Old Irish word “Tuath” means “people, tribe, nation” (Dictionary of the Irish Language, Compact Edition, Royal Irish Academy, 1990, p. 612). “Túatha Dé Danann” can be translated as “Tribe of Dana” or “Tribe of Dan.” Boeotia was a region of the Danes in Greece. The Túatha Dé Danann were therefore Danaans from Greece who migrated to Ireland via Spain. It is quite possible that these Danaans had fled from the invading Dorians around 1000 B.C.

The Tuatha Dé Danann as depicted in John Duncan’s “Riders of the Sidhe” (1911)

10. The Kingdom of Israel and the Divided Kingdoms {2:12 – 2:25}

Under King David and Solomon, the nation of Israel prospered. The Israelites expanded their territory from the Euphrates to Egypt, as was prophesied for Abraham’s descendants:

Genesis 15:18 KJV: “In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates”

Under King Solomon, the Israelites subjugated the Canaanites as far north as the city of Hamath. In the south, the kingdom reached as far as Egypt:

Flavius Josephus – Antiquities of the Jews, Book 8, Chapter 6.3: “But king Solomon subdued to himself the remnant of the Canaanites that had not before submitted to him; those I mean that dwelt in Mount Lebanon, and as far as the city Hamath; and ordered them to pay tribute. He also chose out of them every year such as were to serve him in the meanest offices, and to do his domestic works, and to follow husbandry.”

1 Kings 8:65 KJV: “And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt”

Around 930 BC, the division of the empire took place. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin formed the Southern Kingdom of Judah and the remaining tribes formed the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The northern and southern kingdoms were separate kingdoms with their own monarchies from that point on. However, there were Israelites from other tribes who joined the Southern Kingdom of Judah:

2 Chronicles 15:9 KJV: “And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.”

In the Bible, the inhabitants of the southern kingdom are also called the “House of Judah” and the inhabitants of the northern kingdom the “House of Israel”.

11. The Migration of the Milesians to Ireland {2:40 – 2:53}

According to the book “Lebor Gabála Érenn” (“The Book of Invasions”), Ireland was settled by the Milesians after the Tuatha Dé Danann (the tribe of Dan). The Milesians came from Miletus in Anatolia. They came to Ireland with their royal family of Trojan descent. The Miletian kings established the first royal houses of Ireland and Scotland.

12. Magna Graecia and Macedonia {3:12 – 3:21}

Magna Graecia (Latin for “Greater Greece”) refers to the regions in ancient southern Italy, often including Sicily, that were colonized by Greek settlers beginning in the 8th century BC. North of Greece, a kingdom called Macedonia formed over time. The Macedonian kings, who included Alexander the Great, were Greeks from Argos (Danaans):

Herodotus – Histories, Book 5, Chapter 22.1-2: “Now that these descendants of [the Macedonian King] Perdiccas are Greeks, as they themselves say, I myself chance to know and will prove it in the later part of my history. Furthermore, the Hellenodicae [official] who manage the contest at Olympia determined that it is so, for when Alexander chose to contend and entered the lists for that purpose, the Greeks who were to run against him wanted to bar him from the race, saying that the contest should be for Greeks and not for foreigners. Alexander, however, proving himself to be an Argive, was judged to be a Greek.”

While the Macedonian kings were descended from Danaans, the population was predominantly of Doric descent. However, the population of Macedonia was also considered “barbarian” by the Greeks. From this it can be concluded that, especially in the northern part of Macedonia, parts of Thracians and other “barbarian” peoples were also represented.

Herodotus – Histories, Book 1, Chapter 56.3: “driven from this Histiaean country by the Cadmeans, it settled about Pindus in the territory called Macedonian; from there again it migrated to Dryopia, and at last came from Dryopia into the Peloponnese, where it took the name of Dorian.”

The Oxford Classical Dictionary Ed. 1st 1948, p. 633, Macedonia: “While these Macedonians were probably of Dorian blood, the tribes of Upper Macedonia appear to have been composed of Greek, Illyrian, and Thracian elements.”

Paul was instructed by the Holy Spirit to go to Macedonia and preach the gospel. So the Macedonians also belonged to the lost tribes of the house of Israel:

Acts 16:9-10 KJV: “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.”

King Philip II of Macedon Alexander the Great

13. The Assyrian Deportation {3:26 – 3:34}

The Israelites turned away from their God over time. They practiced idolatry and no longer kept his commandments:

2 Kings 18:11-12 KJV: “And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes: Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them.”

Around the year 740 BC, the Assyrians began to attack the Northern Kingdom of Israel and gradually deport the Israelites to Assyria. The first wave of deportation occurred in 740 BC under the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pilneser. He first carried away the Reubenites, the Gadites and half the tribe of Manasseh captive:

1 Chronicles 5:26 KJV: “And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day.”

In 722 BC, Assyrian King Salmanassar deported the rest of the Israelites of the Northern Kingdom and also settled them along the Gosan River and in the cities of the Medes:

2 Kings 17:3-6 KJV: “Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents. And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.”

2 Kings 17:18 KJV: “Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.”

In addition to the Israelites of the entire Northern Kingdom, Israelites from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who lived in the Southern Kingdom, were later also deported to Assyria. As the prophet Isaiah foretold, only the city of Jerusalem was to be preserved during the attacks and deportations:

Isaiah 37:33-35 KJV: “Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD. For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.”

The other cities and villages in the land of Judah were likewise taken by the Assyrians and their inhabitants deported to Assyria. On the Taylor Prism, the Assyrian king Sanherib (about 700 BC) documented his campaign against King Hezekiah and the territory of Judah.

2 Kings 18:13 KJV: “Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.”

Taylor Prism, Column 3, 18-28, British Museum: “As for Hezekiah the Judahite, who did not submit to my yoke: forty-six of his strong, walled cities, as well as the small towns in their area, which were without number, by levelling with battering-rams and by bringing up seige-engines, and by attacking and storming on foot, by mines, tunnels, and breeches, I besieged and took them. 200,150 people, great and small, male and female, horses, mules, asses, camels, cattle and sheep without number, I brought away from them and counted as spoil. (Hezekiah) himself, like a caged bird I shut up in Jerusalem, his royal city.”

Taylor Prism, exhibited in the British Museum

Only a small part of the Israelites from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi who lived in and around Jerusalem were spared by the Assyrians and not deported to Assyria. This remnant of Israelites fell into Babylonian captivity about a hundred years later (587 BC). After 70 years in Babylonian exile, the Persian king Cyrus defeated the Babylonians and allowed the Israelites to return to their land. A portion of about 40,000 Israelites then returned to Judea and Galilee. These returned Israelites were then called Judeans, after the tribe of Judah that returned first:

Flavius Josephus – Antiquities of the Jews, Book 11, Chapter 5.7: “the Jews/Judeans [Greek Ἰουδαῖος Latin Ioudaios] prepared for the work: that is the name they are called by from the day that they came up from Babylon, which is taken from the tribe of Judah, which came first to these places, and thence both they and the country gained that appellation.”

However, the majority of the Israelites (over a million) were deported to Assyria in the 8th century BC, from where they continued their migratory journeys towards Europe, as the following chapters will demonstrate. From the 2nd century BC onward, foreign peoples (Edomites and Canaanites) in Judea were forced to observe the Judean (Mosaic) law and rituals. These forcibly converted Edomites and Canaanites assimilated over time among the true Israelites in Judea and were also called Judeans:

Flavius Josephus – Antiquities of the Jews, Book 13, Chapter 9.1: “Hyrcanus [High priest John Hyrcanus I] took also Dora and Marissa, cities of Idumea, and subdued all the Idumeans; and permitted them to stay in that country, if they would circumcise their genitals, and make use of the laws of the Judeans; and they were so desirous of living in the country of their forefathers, that they submitted to the use of circumcision, and of the rest of the Judean ways of living; at which time therefore this befell them, that they were hereafter no other than Judeans.”

When the Bible mentions the people of Israel, it refers to the entire nation of Israel (All 12 tribes), regardless of their geographical location. It does not refer only to the small part of the Israelites who later returned from Babylon, and certainly not to the present inhabitants of a country that coincidentally was named “Israel” in 1948.

Revelation 2:9: “I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Judeans, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan”

Further information in this regard: The BIGGEST Identity Theft in History

14. Bit Khumri – The House of Omri {3:34 – 3:36}

The Assyrian campaigns and subsequent deportations of the Israelites to Assyria has been documented on Assyrian stone tablets in addition to the Bible. On these stone tablets the same story is told from the Assyrian perspective:

James B. Pritchard – Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 1950, p. 283-284 “[the towns . . .]nite, Gal’za, Abilakka which are adjacent to Bit Hu-um-ri-a [and the] wide (land of) [Naphta]li, in its entire extent, I united with Assyria.… Bit Humria . . . all its inhabitants (and) their possessions I led to Assyria. They overthrew their kmg Pekah (Pa-qa-ha) and I placed Hoshea as king over them.”

2 Kings 15:29 KJV: “In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah [Assyrian Abilakka], and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead [Assyrian Gal’za], and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.”

The Assyrian inscriptions show, the Assyrians called the deported Israelites “Bit Humria” or “Bit Khumri”, which means “The House of Omri”. King Omri was king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel from 876 to 869 BC. The Babylonians in turn called the Khumri later “Gimirri”.

Dr. Anne Kristensen – Who were the Cimmerians, and where did they come from?, p. 120 “The Assyrian word which may be transliterated Khumri, Ghumri, or Humri, expressed the same idea, and stood in the same degree of relation to its Hebraic etymon ‘Omri as did the Babylonian word Gimiri, or Gimirra. When historians have failed to find the exiled Israelites in the sources of the time, Boraker maintains, it is due to the circumstance that the Assyrians did not call them “Israel”, but designated them as “Bit-Humri” or the like. “At the time of Esarhaddon… ghomri was written Gimirrai (Cimmerians)”

On the inscriptions of the Behistun rock in today’s Iran the Achaemenid king Darius I had engraved the images of the kings in front of bound prisoners around the year 520 B.C. In addition, Darius had placed a trilingual tablet, in the languages Old Persian, Elamian and Babylonian, where among other things the areas, which stood under his rule, were engraved.

The Babylonian word “Gimirri” (Assyrian “Khumri” = deported Israelites) is translated into Old Persian with “Saka” (Saken). From the Greek historian Herodotus, we know that the Persians called all Scythians “Sacae” (Saka):

Herodotus – Histories, Book 7, Chapter 64.2: “These were Amyrgian Scythians, but were called Sacae; that is the Persian name for all Scythians.”

Using the inscriptions of the Behistun Rock, the deported Israelites can be assigned to other people’s names known in historiography. The following figure shows the course of the various common names that the deported Israelites received during their journey to Europe. The historical connections of different names are described in detail in the following chapters. Inscriptions of the Behistun rock of the Achaemenid King Darius I., Behistun Iran

15. The Cimmerians {3:37 – 3:47}

The Greeks called the Gimirri “Kimmérioi” (Κιμμέριοι), in English “Cimmerians”. They still left Assyria in the 7th century BC and crossed Anatolia, south of the Black Sea, where they conquered the Lydian city of Sardis among others. Subsequently, they settled on the western coast of the Black Sea. A part of the Cimmerians moved later under the name Cimbri further north into today’s Germany:

Didorus Siculus – Library of History, Book 5, Chapter 32.4: “And since the valour of these peoples and their savage ways have been famed abroad, some men say that it was they who in ancient times overran all Asia and were called Cimmerians, time having slightly corrupted the word into the name of Cimbrians [Cimbri], as they are now called.”

Strabo – Geography, Book 7, Chapter 2.2: “Poseidonius is right in censuring the historians for these assertions, and his conjecture is not a bad one, that the Cimbri, being a piratical and wandering folk, made an expedition even as far as the region of Lake Maeotis, and that also the “Cimmerian” Bosporus was named after them, being equivalent to “Cimbrian,” the Greeks naming the Cimbri “Cimmerii”.”

The Cimbri belonged to the first Germanic tribes, even before the Romans called them Germans. The Romans called them “Cimbri Teutonique” (Cimbri and Teutons) around the year 100 BC.

16. The Saka (Sacae), Scythians and Parthians {3:43 – 4:04}

While a part of the deported Israelites under the new name Cimmerians went south of the Black Sea directly to Europe, the other part (especially the part settling in the cities of the Medes) went first over the Caucasus Mountains and around the Caspian Sea. As already described in chapter 14 “Bit Khumri – The House of Omri” this part of the deported Israelites was called “Saka” (Sacae) by the Persians and “Skúthēs” (Scythians) by the Greeks. The Scythians were a mobile people who always carried their belongings with them. The Greek historian Herodotus described the way of life of the Scythians in the 5th century B.C. as follows:

Herodotus – Histories, Book 4, Chapter 46.2-3: “I do not praise the Scythians in all respects, but in this, the most important: that they have contrived that no one who attacks them can escape, and no one can catch them if they do not want to be found. For when men have no established cities or forts, but are all nomads and mounted archers, not living by tilling the soil but by raising cattle and carrying their dwellings on wagons, how can they not be invincible and unapproachable?”

As the prophet Hosea of the northern kingdom of Israel prophesied several decades earlier, after the Israelites were deported from their land of Israel, they lived again in tents and on wagons, as at the time of the 40-year wandering in the desert:

Hosea 12:9 KJV: “And I that am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast.”

Paul also considered the Scythians to be Israelites, by listing them with other Israelite peoples (Greeks and Judeans) and referring to them as equal to each other:

Colossians 3:11 KJV: “Where there is neither Greek nor Jew [Judean], circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.”

The covenant with Jacob’s descendants is unconditional and is for all of Jacob’s descendants, so there is no difference between the Greeks, Judeans and Scythians. They were all Israelites and the promise is to all the people or seed (Genesis 28:3-4). In the apocryphal second book of Esdras (2 Esdras) the migration journey of the deported Israelites is described in more detail:

2 Esdras 13:40-45 KJV: “Those are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Osea the king, whom Salmanasar the king of Assyria led away captive, and he carried them over the waters, and so came they into another land.But they took this counsel among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a further country, where never mankind dwelt,That they might there keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land. And they entered into Euphrates by the narrow places of the river. For the most High then shewed signs for them, and held still the flood, till they were passed over. For through that country there was a great way to go, namely, of a year and a half: and the same region is called Arsareth.”

Arsareth or “Ar Sareth” (Hebrew) means mountain or mountain range Sareth. West of the Black Sea in today’s Ukraine there is a mountain range from which the river Siret rises. This area was taken after the Assyrian deportation first by Cimmerians and later by the Scythians. The following Scythian golden art objects show the typical “barbarian” (European) appearance of the Scythians. It should not be surprising that they were the direct ancestors of the later Germanic tribes in Europe (See Chapter 18 “The Germans”)

One branch of the Scythians or Sacae formed the Parthians. While most of the Scythians moved northwest to Europe, another part stayed for a long time southeast of the Caspian Sea and later migrated back to Mesopotamia. This part of the Scythians went down in history as the Parthians. The early Parthians were descended from the Parni (or Aparni), who were themselves part of the Scythian Dahae. The Parni succeeded in driving the Seleucids out of the satrapy of Parthia. When they migrated to the satrapy of Parthia, they adopted the name Parthians derived from it. Between 250 BC and 238 BC, the Parthians, under their leader Arsakes I, conquered part of the Persian territories of the Seleucid Empire, thus indirectly linking up with the Achaemenid Empire. The Parthian Empire later extended to large parts of Mesopotamia, with a population composed of several peoples, such as the Persians, Medes, and other Mesopotamian peoples.

Strabo mentions the Scythian people Dahae, including the Parni southeast of the Caspian Sea:

Strabo – Geography, Book 11, Chapter 8.2: “On the left and opposite these people are situated the Scythian or nomadic tribes, which cover the whole of the northern side. Now the greater part of the Scythians, beginning at the Caspian Sea, are called Däae [Dahae], but those who are situated more to the east than these are named Massagetae and Sacae, whereas all the rest given the general name of Scythians, though each people is given a separate name of its own. They all for the most part nomads. But the best known of the nomads are those who took away Bactriana from the Greeks, I mean the Asii, Pasiani, Tochari, and Sacarauli, who originally came from the country on the other side of the Iaxartes River that adjoins that of the Sacae and the Sogdiani and was occupied by the Sacae. And as for the Däae [Dahae], some of them are called Aparni [Parni], some Xanthii, and some Pissuri. Now of these the Aparni [Parni] are situated closest to Hyrcania and the part of the sea that borders on it, but the remainder extend even as far as the country that stretches parallel to Aria.”

The area southeast of the Caspian Sea was known in ancient times as Hyrcania. The Judean high priest John Hyrcanus I from the 2nd century BC had the epithet Hyrcanus because his ancestors came from Hyrcania. This shows, there was an exchange between deported Israelites north of the Euphrates and Judeans in Judea for many centuries after the Assyrian deportation. Strabo mentions a people in Persia called Magi:

Strabo – Geography, Book 15, Chapter 3.1: “The tribes which inhabit the country are the Pateischoreis, as they are called, and the Achaemenidae and the Magi. Now the Magi follow with zeal a kind of august life, whereas the Cyrtii and the Mardi are brigands and others are farmers.”

Matthew 2:1 KJV: “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men [μάγος Magi] from the east to Jerusalem”

The so-called wise men (Magi) from the East were Judean priests from Persia, which belonged to the Parthian Empire around the year 0. These magi or Judean priests were familiar with prophecies concerning the Messiah, which were lost over time and no longer exist today. After observing a certain prophesied constellation of stars at the birth of Christ, they traveled to Judea to present and worship their newborn Messiah. The wise men or magi from the East were all white, of course, as they were correctly depicted in medieval art.

Flavius Josephus reported as late as the first century about the deported Israelite tribes forming an immense multitude and living beyond the Euphrates River:

Flavius Josephus – Antiquities of the Jews, Book 11, Chapter 5.2: “wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now [90 AD], and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers.”

Flavius Josephus could only mean the Scythians and Parthians, who lived beyond the Euphrates in the first century and were not subject to the Romans at that time.

Parthian soldier from the 2nd century BC

The Wise Men (Magi) from the East,

Hortus Deliciarum, 1185

17. The Gauls, Celts and Galatians {3:50 – 4:01}

The Romans called them Celtae or Galli, hence the name Gauls, which was used especially for the Celts in French territory. The Greeks used the name Galátai or Keltoi. For the Romans, the Galatai or Gauls were a completely new and foreign people, which shows that they migrated to Europe suddenly and unexpectedly (~500 BC) and were not a people already resident:

Titus Livius – History of Rome, Book 5, Chapter 17: “The Gauls, a strange and unknown race, had recently overrun the greatest part of Etruria, and they were not on terms of either assured peace or open war with them.”

Didorus Siculus links the Cimmerians directly to the Gauls or Celts:

Didorus Siculus – Library of History, Book 5, Chapter 32.1-5: “And now it will be useful to draw a distinction which is unknown to many: The peoples who dwell in the interior above Massalia, those on the slopes of the Alps, and those on this side the Pyrenees mountains are called Celts, whereas the peoples who are established above this land of Celtica in the parts which stretch to the north, both along the ocean and along the Hercynian Mountain, and all the peoples who come after these, as far as Scythia, are known as Gauls; the Romans, however, include all these nations together under a single name, calling them one and all Gauls.

And since the valour of these peoples and their savage ways have been famed abroad, some men say that it was they who in ancient times overran all Asia and were called Cimmerians, time having slightly corrupted the word into the name of Cimbrians [Cimbri], as they are now called. For it has been their ambition from old to plunder, invading for this purpose the lands of others, and to regard all men with contempt. For they are the people who captured Rome, who plundered the sanctuary at Delphi, who levied tribute upon a large part of Europe and no small part of Asia, and settled themselves upon the lands of the peoples they had subdued in war, being called in time Greco-Gauls, because they became mixed with the Greeks, and who, as their last accomplishment, have destroyed many large Roman armies.”

A Part of the Galatai or Celts sailed to England or Britain, where they became known as Britons. The Welsh still call themselves Cymri, a name obviously derived directly from Khumri. 

Another part of the Gauls or Celts moved south to the Iberian Peninsula, where they mixed with the already resident Iberians (Phoenicians) and became known as Celtiberians:

Didorus Siculus – Library of History, Book 5, Chapter 33.1: “Now that we have spoken at sufficient length about the Celts we shall turn our history to the Celtiberians who are their neighbours. In ancient times these two peoples, namely, the Iberians and the Celts, kept warring among themselves over the land, but when later they arranged their differences and settled upon the land altogether, and when they went further and agreed to intermarriage with each other, because of such intermixture the two peoples received the appellation given above. And since it was two powerful nations that united and the land of theirs was fertile, it came to pass that the Celtiberians advanced far in fame and were subdued by the Romans with difficulty and only after they had faced them in battle over a long period.”

Paul reports in the letter to the Romans that he wanted travel to Spain:

Romans 15:28 KJV: “When therefore I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain.”

But he could not make this journey to Spain to the Celtiberians, because he was already killed in Rome before. The Scots are also classified among the Celtic peoples. However, they came from Scythia by sea through the Mediterranean via Spain to Ireland and what is now Scotland. In the Declaration of Arbroath 1320 (Declaration of Independence to the Pope), they documented their journey:

Declaration of Arbroath, 1320: “Most Holy Father and Lord, we know from the deeds of the ancients and we read from books — because among the other great nations of course, our nation of Scots has been described in many publications — that crossing from Greater Scythia, via the Tyrhennian Sea and the Pillars of Hercules, and living in Spain among the fiercest tribes for many years, it could be conquered by no one anywhere, no matter how barbarous the tribes. Afterwards, coming from there, one thousand two hundred years from the Israelite people’s crossing of the Red Sea [~1450 – 1200 = ~250 BC], to its home in the west, which it now holds.”

Finally, another part of the Galatai or Celts moved in the 3rd century BC east to Anatolia, where they became known as Galatians. Paul dedicated an entire letter to the Galatians in Anatolia, confirming that the they belonged also to the people of Israel.

18. The Germans {4:04 – 4:21}

The Greek historian Herodotus described the way of life of the Scythians in the 5th century B.C. as follows: 

Herodotus – Histories, Book 4, Chapter 46.2-3: “I do not praise the Scythians in all respects, but in this, the most important: that they have contrived that no one who attacks them can escape, and no one can catch them if they do not want to be found. For when men have no established cities or forts, but are all nomads and mounted archers, not living by tilling the soil but by raising cattle and carrying their dwellings on wagons, how can they not be invincible and unapproachable?”

Interestingly, the Greek geographer Strabo describes the Germanic peoples in the first century in a very similar way:

Strabo – Geography, Book 7, Chapter 1.3: “It is a common characteristic of all the peoples in this part of the world that they migrate with ease, because of the meagerness of their livelihood and because they do not till the soil or even store up food, but live in small huts that are merely temporary structures; and they live for the most part off their flocks, as the Nomads do, so that, in imitation of the Nomads, they load their household belongings on their wagons and with their beasts turn whithersoever they think best.”

The Germanic tribes not only had a similar lifestyle to the Scythians, they were their direct descendants. The Scythians were pushed westward into Europe by the Sarmatians over time. The Roman scholar Pliny the Elder wrote already in the 1st century that the name Scythians were no longer used for the Sarmatians and Germanic tribes after the Romans gave the name “Germani” to the Scythians in Europe in the 1st century BC.

Pliny the Elder – Natural History, Book 4, Chapter 25: “The name “Scythian” has extended, in every direction, even to the Sarmatæ and the Germans; but this ancient appellation is now only given to those who dwell beyond those nations, and live unknown to nearly all the rest of the world.”

Strabo – Geography, Book 7, Chapter 1.2: “Now the parts beyond the Rhenus, immediately after the country of the Celti, slope towards the east and are occupied by the Germans, who, though they vary slightly from the Celtic stock in that they are wilder, taller, and have yellower hair, are in all other respects similar, for in build, habits, and modes of life they are such as I have said the Celti are. And I also think that it was for this reason that the Romans assigned to them the name “Germani,” as though they wished to indicate thereby that they were “genuine” Galatae, for in the language of the Romans “germani” means “genuine.””

The term Scythia later included the area from the Black Sea to the North Sea coast. That is exactly the area in which the Germanic tribes settled:

Strabo – Geography, Book 7, Chapter 1.1: “the parts that are beyond the Rhenus and Celtica are to the north of the Ister [Danube]; these are the territories of the Galatic and the Germanic tribes, extending as far as the Bastarnians and the Tyregetans and the River Borysthenes [Dnjepr]”

As late as the 8th century, the Anglo-Saxon Benedictine monk Bede used the term “Scythia” to describe the North German mainland, from where the Picts once sailed to the North English coast:

Bede – Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book 1, Chapter 1: “When they, beginning at the South, had made themselves Masters of the greatest Part of the Island, it hapned, that the Nation of the Picts coming into the Ocean from Scythia, as is reported in a few tall Ships, the Wind driving them about beyond all the Borders of Britain”

The Welsh monk Nennius also refers to the area of the North Sea coast as Scythia in the 9th century when he reports on the migration of the Anglo-Saxons from Germany:

Nennius – The History of the Britons (Historia Brittonum), Chapter 37: “Vortigern assenting to this proposal, messengers were despatched to Scythia, where selecting a number of warlike troops, they returned with sixteen vessels, bringing with them the beautiful daughter of Hengist.”

The Roman geographer Strabo describes the similar way of life of the Celts or Gauls and the Germanic tribes, which points to the earlier kinship of the two ethnic groups:

Strabo – Geography, Book 4, Chapter 4.2: “The whole race which is now called both “Gallic” and “Galatic” is war-mad, and both high-spirited and quick for battle, although otherwise simple and not ill-mannered. … At the present time they are all at peace, since they have been enslaved and are living in accordance with the commands of the Romans who captured them, but it is from the early times that I am taking this account of them, and also from the customs that hold fast to this day among the Germans. For these peoples are not only similar in respect to their nature and their governments, but they are also kinsmen to one another; and, further, they live in country that has a common boundary, since it is divided by the River Rhenus, and the most of its regions are similar (though Germany is more to the north)”

However, while the Gauls or Celts were conquered by the Romans and became part of the Roman Empire, the Germanic peoples were always able to defend their independence. The Romans forced the Latin language on the French and Spanish, which is why the French and Spanish languages of today belong to the group of Romance languages. The Germanic languages such as German and English were

not subject to much Roman influence, which makes them even more closely related to the ancient Hebrew language. Thus, the Germanic languages have certain characteristics such as sound shifting, which otherwise exist only in Hebrew. Moreover, there is much lexical correspondence between the Germanic languages and Hebrew.

See: Terry Marvin Blodgett – Phonological similarities in Germanic and Hebrew, University of Utah, 1981).

Germanic farmstead around the year 0

19. The Time of Christ and the Problem with the “Gentiles” {4:10}

As prophesied for the descendants of Jacob/Israel, the 12 tribes of Israel became many nations in the course of history, which scattered in all directions. In the New Testament, the populations of these nations are also referred to as “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:6; 15:24), since they had completely lost their identity over time. To these nations, or lost sheep of Israel, were the apostles and especially Paul sent in the first century to preach the Gospel to them. In most English translations of the Bible, the Greek word “ethnos (ἔθνος)” or “ethnie” in plural is translated as “Gentiles” or “heathens”. But the correct translation of ethnos is “nations” or “peoples”.

Thayer’s Greek Lexicon – ἔθνος

This mistranslation or misinterpretation and further wrong assumptions made of the original Early Christianity over time a religion (belief construct). But the so-called Christianity is not a belief construct for everyone, but the renewal of a covenant. The covenant of God with the physical descendants of the 12 sons of Jacob/Israel. Both the Old and the New Testament are basically about one and the same people – the people of Israel (descendants of Jacob/Israel). Already at the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew it is clearly stated for whom Christ came and for whom he gave his life:

Matthew 1:21 KJV: “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”

Matthew 2:5-6 KJV: “for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel [Micah 5:1].”

The apostles and especially Paul knew that the Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, Galatians (Celts), Colossians, Macedonians and Scythians (Germanic tribes) were the lost tribes of Israel. They were familiar with the historical writings of that time, which unfortunately are available to us today only in fragments and are largely ignored by modern historians and theologians. The idea of a spiritual Israel arose because the early church fathers and scholars did not understand to whom the letters of the apostles were addressed. They interpreted the Greek word “ethnos” as Gentiles, in the sense of infidel, unknowing peoples who worshipped false gods. According to modern historians and theologians, the deported Israelite were absorbed into other peoples over time and thus disappeared from history forever. According to the modern Christian narrative, Jesus Christ died for all peoples of the earth and everyone who believes in him is saved. This view is fundamentally opposed by Christ’s statement: ” I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel ” (Matthew 15:24).

Matthew 15:24 KJV: “But he [Jesus] answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

The view that the deported Israelites were absorbed into other nations over time and that Jesus Christ came for all people is also in contradiction with the words of the apostles. In Acts 15, the apostles and first Judean Christians in Jerusalem discuss and deliberate on the issue of what laws and rituals the Christians of the nations should observe:

Acts 15:13-17 KJV: “And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles [Nations], to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles [Nations], upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things [Amos 9:11-12]”

King David was king over all 12 tribes of Israel in his time. The tabernacle of David is thus a symbol for all 12 tribes of Israel. This statement of James shows that with the word “ethnos” (wrongly translated as “Gentiles”) not all non-Judean peoples are meant, but clearly the nations or the lost tribes/sheep of the house of Israel. James knew exactly to whom he was addressing his letter – to “the twelve tribes that are scattered abroad”:

James 1:1 KJV: “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.”

Likewise, Peter addressed his first letter to the scattered 12 tribes of Israel in Anatolia:

1 Peter 1:1 KJV: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers [sojourners] scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia”

The Greek word “παρεπίδημος (parepidēmos)” used by Peter here means “sojourner”. He addressed his letter to the scattered Israelites who lived as sojourners in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. Paul wrote his letters to the first congregations of the lost tribes of Israel in Europe and Anatolia. He traveled in Anatolia and Europe only to the places where the lost sheep/tribes of Israel lived in dispersion (with the exception of Athens and Iconium).

When Paul came back to Jerusalem from his missionary journeys through Anatolia and Greece, he spoke to King Agrippa:

Acts 26:6-7 KJV: “And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come”

Paul speaks here in the present tense about the 12 tribes of Israel, which is another testimony to the existence of the lost tribes of Israel in the 1st century.

The view that the deported Israelites were absorbed by other peoples over time is also in direct contradiction with historical evidence. The Levitical priest and historian Flavius Josephus wrote toward the end of the first century (800 years after the Assyrian deportation), that the deported tribes of Israel lived beyond the Euphrates and formed an immense multitude:

Flavius Josephus – Antiquities of the Jews, Book 11, Chapter 5.2: “wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now [90 AD], and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers.”

Flavius Josephus can only mean the Parthians and the Scythian/Germanic tribes, who lived beyond the Euphrates at that time and were not subject to the Romans.

As the Prophets predicted, Yahweh God preserves his people (The 12 tribes of Israel) to the end of the world:

Amos 9:9 KJV: “For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth”

Jeremiah 31:35-36 KJV: “Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.”

20. The Migration Period and First Kingdoms of Europe {4:21 – 4:57}

In a narrower sense, the so-called Völkerwanderung (migration of peoples) refers to the migration of mainly Germanic tribes in Central and Southern Europe in the period from the invasion of Europe by the Huns around 375 to the invasion of Italy by the Lombards in 568. From the 3rd century onwards, the Goths had already migrated to Europe from the East. The Goths probably belonged to the Massagetae (Scythians), who settled east of the Caspian Sea for a long time and came to Europe relatively late. The Goths passed through Anatolia, Greece, Illyria, Italy, and much of Spain, where the Ostrogothic and Visigothic kingdoms later emerged.

The Huns were only partially Mongols. A part of the Huns had a similar origin as the Goths and were Massagetae or Scythians:

Procopius – History of the Wars, Book 1, Chapter 3.1-5: “At a later time the Persian King Perozes became involved in a war concerning boundaries with the nation of the Ephthalitae Huns, who are called White Huns, gathered an imposing army, and marched against them. The Ephthalitae are of the stock of the Huns in fact as well as in name; however they do not mingle with any of the Huns known to us, for they occupy a land neither adjoining nor even very near to them; but their territory lies immediately to the north of Persia …They are the only ones among the Huns who have white bodies and countenances which are not ugly. It is also true that their manner of living is unlike that of their kinsmen, nor do they live a savage life as they do; but they are ruled by one king, and since they possess a lawful constitution, they observe right and justice in their dealings with one another and with their neighbours, in no degree less than the Romans and the Persians.”

The Slavs can be linked, at least in part, with the Sarmatians, who pushed the Scythians further and further into Europe, where they subsequently settled north of the Black Sea. Pliny the Elder mentions the Sarmatians in the 1st century and relates them to the Medes (descendants of Japheth’s son Madai):

Pliny the Elder – Natural History, Book 6, Chapter 7: “After passing Cimmerium, the coast is inhabited by the Mæotici, the Vali, the Serbi, the Arrechi, the Zingi, and the Psessi. We then come to the river Tanais, which discharges itself into the sea by two mouths, and the banks of which are inhabited by the Sarmatæ, the descendants of the Medi, it is said, a people divided into numerous tribes.”

In the 6th century these Sarmatian peoples were called Slavs by Byzantine (Eastern Roman) historians. When they finally gained importance after the defeat of the Huns in Eastern Europe, they spread all over Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Due to the common settled areas of the Scythians and Sarmatians and later migrations in Europe, it is however questionable to what extent today’s peoples can be separated into purely Scythian and purely Sarmatian peoples.

After the Romans left Britain, the Germanic tribes of Angles and Saxons came to the island and established the first Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, such as Wessex (West Saxon), Sussex (South Saxon) and Essex (East Saxon). In the 7th century, a man named Mohammed came to power in Arabia by founding a new religion (faith construct). His Arab followers invaded first the entire Middle East, and then North Africa, Spain and southern Italy. In the 15th century, the Ottomans (Turks) overthrew the Byzantine Empire and Islamized much of the population. This process led to the partial Arabization of southern Spain and southern Italy and the partial Turkification of Greece and the Balkans. See: The pre-Islamic World and the Destruction of Classical Civilization

From the 16th century, many Europeans emigrated to North and South America, South Africa and Australia. Thus, the Israelites were distributed worldwide on all continents. “He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.” (Isaiah 27:6 KJV)

The Economist – Real politics, at last?, Oct 28th 2004

“Arsene Heitz, who designed it [the European flag] in 1955, recently told Lourdes magazine that his inspiration had been the reference in the Book of Revelation, the New Testament’s final section, to “a woman clothed with the sun…and a crown of twelve stars on her head.””