Read book "Origin of Our Western Heritage" Chapter 6 The Westward Movement
Chapter Six
The Westward Movement
Modern scholars have not appreciated the scope of travel and colonization in the ancient world. Archaeologists, for generations, have held the belief that only navigation techniques introduced into Europe during the fifteenth century made it possible for Europeans to cross the Atlantic (Fell, 1976, 17). Sir Flinders Petrie uncovered gold works in Gaza that were made in Ireland. Trade between Palestine and the British Isles had been established as early as 1600 BC. (Bible Research Handbook, serial 49c). Shortly after the Flood, or before 2000 BC, something of the riches of Western Europe was known. The early cultures there were motivated by the search for certain forms of material wealth. It appears Western Europe was exploited for its riches for at least 1,000 years. But early colonies in Spain were abandoned due to the intrusion of a bronze-using people from central Europe (MacKenzie, 99, 102, 106).
Chapter two of this work demonstrated that the Phœncians were well-known seafarers and traders. The term Phœnician applied to a confederation made up of the Israelite tribes of Dan, Asher, probably Zebulun, as well as Phœnicans proper, and other Canaanites (Hannay, 21). Both Solomon and Hiram of Tyre maintained eastern and western navies (1 Kings 10:11, 22, 2 Chron. 8:18; 9:10, 21). Extensive Canaanite settlements were maintained in North Africa, southwest Europe, and along the coasts and islands of the Mediterranean (Hannay, 24). The Byzantine historian, Procopius of Caesarea, said that in his day there was at Tigisis (Tangiers) two columns of white stone with the following inscription: "We are they who fled before the face of Joshua, the robber, the son of Nun" (Bible Research Handbook, serial 9). Spanish and British colonies carried on regular trade in tin and lead with the ships of Tarshish. Ancient writers held that Tarshish was located at the mouth of the Guadalquivir in Andalusia. The Bible indicates that extensive mining and trading in gold was extant in early times. Solomon received 12,066 talents of gold annually (2 Chron. 9:13). An ancient inscription, found in Spain, commemorated an official of King Solomon by the name of Adoniram, sent to collect tribute (Hannay, 26–27). What is interesting is that the Phœnician historian, Sanchoniathon, who is believed to have lived before the Trojan War, recorded that the ancestor of the Phoenicians was Kronos, that is Saturn, whom the Phoenicians called Israel. Kronos (Israel) had a son named Ieoud, that is Judah (Bible Research Handbook, serial 41a). This statement makes sense when we realize that the tribes of Dan, Asher, and Zebulun were an integral part of the Phœnician league.
No language was more widely known and spoken throughout antiquity than Phœnician, with the exception of Greek and Latin. The decline of the Phœnician language corresponded to the rise of Aramaic, which appeared in the eighth century BC and coincides with the deportation of the Beth-Sak or Khumri by the Assyrians (Hannay, 6). The oldest colony in Spain—Gades (Cadiz)—is regarded to have been founded in 1100 BC, and likely reached its zenith during the reign of Solomon; Carthage was founded in 813 BC, when the golden age of Phœnicia had passed. The golden age of Phœnicia disintegrated and collapsed with the disappearance of the Beth-Sak. During the time of Solomon and Hiram the Hebrews achieved their highest and most brilliant expression. The Phœnician confederacy with the Beth-Sak was made up of explorers, mariners, colonists, miners, and merchants (Hannay, 45–46, 20, 28–34).
British ores were shipped to Spain and Carthage, but after the Greek mariner Pytheas visited Britain, an overland route to Marseilles was established. Mining shifted to Cornwall after surface supplies ran out elsewhere. The Celts had an exclusive monopoly on trade with Britain, having acquired shipbuilding skills and navigation from the east. The mounting evidence is that many years before Rome was built, Britain had inherited a high degree of metalworking and technical skills from ancient civilizations. Celtic culture was veined with Aegean and Asiatic influences, and a gold coinage system was established before the Roman occupation (MacKenzie, 223). The indication of ancient travel is seen by the fact that coins from Carthage have been found in Kansas, Connecticut, Arkansas, and Alabama. These coins came by routes known by Plutarch, the Greek biographer and essayist, and served as currency for distant colonies or gifts to hospitable Indian chiefs (Fell, 1983, 3).
By the middle of the second millennium BC, settlements had begun in Scotland. They were located in the Hebrides, Orkneys, Shetland Islands, and the North Sea areas of Inverness. Within the first quarter of the second century BC, immigrants from between the Elbe and Rhine rivers were establishing themselves in eastern England and Scotland (Wainwright, 54–55). Jews deported out of Judea by Nebuchadnezzar had established themselves north of the Caucasus, and in Spain. Hellenized communities, along with synagogues, were found in the Balkans and along the shores of the Black Sea (Bible Research Handbook, serial 58b). The fact is: The achievements of the Bronze Age people have been greatly underrated. Ancient shipwrights made sound vessels, which were sailed across the ocean. Nordic seamen employed northern routes to America, while Mediterranean mariners were traveling routes that were later used by Columbus. A long warm period during the middle of the Bronze Age made the northern route to America quite comfortable, but later when the climate cooled, the northern route became ice-bound and traveling became too dangerous. Not until about AD 700 did the weather improve sufficiently for the Vikings to employ the northern route. During the cold period the routes were closed and forgotten until Columbus awakened interest again. During the Bronze Age Europeans were literate and educated. Teutonic and Celtic inscriptions attest to that fact in alphabets which have survived to this day. However, Latin replaced them as a result of Roman dominance (Fell, 1982, 288–289, 11).
The first people to arrive in Britain spoke Hebrew, a fact demonstrated by ancient Hebrew inscriptions found in many places in Britain and Ireland. Adam Rutherford shows that from a book by Jacob Tomlin, entitled, "A Comparative Vocabulary of Forty-Eight Languages, Comprising One Hundred and Forty-Six Common English Words, with Their Cognates in Other Languages Showing Their Affinities with the English and Hebrew," the early literature of Britain was largely a modified Hebrew. The Welsh language, even today, closely resembles Hebrew. According to Rutherford, it is difficult to adduce a single article or form of construction in Hebrew grammar, but that the same can be found in Welsh. Many whole sentences of the two languages have exactly the same words. Rutherford notes that Dr. Davies, the author of a Welsh grammar book, says almost every page of the Welsh translation of the Bible is replete with Hebraisms in the time, sense, and spirit of the original. The Welsh is so close to Hebrew that the same syntax might serve both (Rutherford, 40). Historians place the arrival of the Hebrews in Ireland prior to the Exodus (ibid, 32–33, fn).
Food shortages and overpopulation are the main reasons people migrate. Large-scale migrations take place when a large area becomes arid. It is true that social, political, or religious factors have led to migrations, but the main reason is geographical conditions. The evidence now shows that various regions of the earth have undergone slow climatic changes. A profound effect on both the history of Asia and Europe occurred when central Asia became very dry (Haddon, 1–5). Central Asia has not always been what it is today. At one time it was inhabited largely by a virile white race—the Saghs and Persians—progenitors of the enlightened and progressive nations of Europe (Hannay, 428–429). The protracted drought in central Asia was the principal cause of the destruction of the Roman Empire. One nomadic horde after another hurled itself against the sedentary regions of the west (Weyl and Possony, 65). A number of loan words from the southeast are found in northern European languages. These words came by way of a trade route through the Dnieper to the Black Sea (Taylor, 143). The Danube basin itself had been the center of industry and art for the Celtic Iron Age culture. There is an association between Nordic skulls and Iron Age artifacts, as grave diggings show (Baker, 248). So now it is widely accepted that extensive migrations from Asia into Europe took place between the seventh century BC and AD 400 (Bible Research Handbook, serial 70a).
With the exception of a few languages such as Finnic, Basque, Magyar, and Turkish, it is now accepted that all the languages of Europe are derived from a common source (Ripley, 477). The German linguist, Franz Bopp, proved the existence of a group of languages called Indo-European because they included most of the languages of Europe, India, and central and western Asia. The similarities in vocabulary and form are astonishing. Take for example the English word father, the German Vater, French père, Spanish padre, Latin pater, Greek patēr, Old Irish athir, Gothic fadar, Sanskrit pitar, and Tocharian pacar (an extinct central Asian language). The older the language, the closer is the agreement. Regardless of how they differ today, related or cognate languages come from a common source. The original home of the Indo-Europeans is believed to have been between south Russia and central Europe (Marek, 77). Every geographer will probably agree that the home of the Indo-Europeans was on both slopes of the Caucasus (Peshel, 507). The fact is: Whatever the location, the present people of western Europe owe their language and much of their culture to groups who migrated from central Asia. Ancient sources note that the Indo-European language originated with the Nordics (Speiser, 10).
The prevalent view has been that central Asia was the home of Mongoloid peoples, but skeletal remains show that the people who originally lived in this area belonged to the white race (McGovern, 28). Nordics became a populous nation in central Asia, especially in western Turkestan (Kephart, 167). Turkestan is the region between Iran and Siberia, now divided between Russia, China, and Afghanistan. In Scandinavia archaic objects came from southeastern Europe, along the northern coast of the Black Sea, from the middle and lower Danube, and from Corinthia in Greece (Olson, 61). Asia was the chief location for the main development and differentiation of man, not Europe (Grant, 11). An explosive expansion of what is called the Kurgan culture (a burial-mound culture) took place from the Ukraine into the Caucasus, Asia Minor, the Balkans, and central and northern Europe. It is not difficult to understand why such names as Cimmerii, Cymrian, Cimbri, and Cymry, as well as Danaan, Danube, Danzig, and Denmark, have been found across Europe, Wales, and Ireland, all originating from the Ukraine and Aegean regions. These were all the names of the ancient invaders from southwestern Asia (Kephart, 371). Professor Linus Brunner, noted similarities between Europe and the east when, in 1981, he stated that the newly discovered Rhætic language of ancient Switzerland contained a Semitic vocabulary (Fell, 1982, 290). Another example is that of the Milesian Scots. The penalty for willful murder and contract violations compared to that of the ancient Hebrews is quite marked (Kephart, 388). According to L. A. Waddell, about 50 percent of the most common English words are discovered to be Sumerian (Waddell, 1983, xi).
The Scandinavian Sagas tell us that all the sayings in the tongue of the Northmen began when men from central Asia settled in the north (du Chaillu, 20). While it is thought that the ancient Scandinavian alphabet, called the runes or futhork, is of Latin origin, the evidence is that it was used far to the northeast of Rome where Roman influence did not reach. More than likely the runes are a corruption of an old Greek alphabet used along the northwest coast of the Black Sea (Bradley, 18). The date for the runes can be placed as early as the second or third centuries AD. From examples of Etruscan, Greek, and early Roman scripts, it is not difficult to see that the earlier runes resemble archaic Greek and Etruscan rather than Latin (du Chaillu, 154–155, 188–189). Hannay is even more specific. He says the futhorks used by the various tribes of Europe are traceable to the early Hebrew alphabet used by the Saghs (Hannay, 306).
The Assyrians were noted for resettling denuded territories with peoples who were regarded as loyal or unable to revolt. Exiled peoples mentioned in the apocryphal book of Judith as the "sons of Chelod" were likely settled in much of the territory north of Assyria. During the reign of Sargon II, numerous rebellions took place that worked to the advantage of the Beth-Sak, enabling them to establish independence north of the Araxes River (Hannay, 266–267, 108). This set the stage for what was to come. Both Armenian and Georgian historians record that after the destruction of the first Temple, Nebuchadnezzar transported numbers of Jewish captives not only to Babylon, but also to Armenia and the Caucasus. By the end of the fourth century BC, some Armenian cities had large Jewish populations (McBirnie, 34). An interesting tombstone found in Russia had this inscription in the precaptivity script: "May his rest be in Eden at the time of the Salvation of Israel—in the year 702 of the years of our exile" (Rutherford, 9). Beddoe points out that Jews coming from Babylonia and Persia were in Russia by the first century AD, and that as they moved northward the type represented among them is derived from the various peoples with whom they mingled—Assyrian, Armenian, Iranian, and Caucasian (Beddoe, 134). There is some truth to the belief that a large portion of the Jews living in Poland came by a direct route from the east. The theory that a migration into the north directly from Palestine and north of the Black and Caspian seas is certainly valid, judging from the racial types (Ripley, 377). Even a doubter like David Baron admits that there is not the slightest doubt that many of the settlements of the Dispersion during the time of Christ were people who never returned from both the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. He adds that these people were not only Jews, but descendants of the 12 tribes scattered abroad (Baron, 32). In a letter dated November 8, 1918, Chief Rabbi J. H. Hertz, responding to a letter by a Captain Merton Smith, said that the ten tribes had been absorbed among the nations of the world, and that the modern Jews are comprised only of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and a certain number of the Levites (Bible Research Handbook, serial 7).
The Assyrian equivalent for Omri was Khumri, also rendered Ghumri or Humri. The kingdom of Israel was called the Bit-Khumri, possibly because the seat of power for the northern kingdom was located in Samaria. Sir Henry Rawlinson points out that the Jehu on the Assyrian inscriptions was not the Jehu who was the son of Omri. But since Omri was regarded as the founder of the kingdom of Samaria, the country was called the Beth-Omri (Hannay, 53). What is the origin, however, of such names as Celts, Galatai, and Gauls? Hannay believes these names came from the territories that had been populated by peoples deported by the Assyrians. Many of these people initiated a successful revolt against the Assyrians, enabling the Bit-Khumri to escape beyond the Araxes River. As the Bit-Khumri moved westward, they expelled the Gimirra from "Cimmerian Land" and settled in a place called Arsareth (Hannay, 124–125, 173). The apocryphal book of 2 Esdras 13:39–45, describes an emigration from Media by the captive Israelites to a place called Arsareth, a journey of a year and a half. Arsareth is placed at the western edge of the Ukraine, and northeast Rumania. Hannay describes the route that was taken. He lists several reasons the Sak-Geloths (Bit-Khumri) abandoned Asia for Europe: (1) Reports that a mass of barbarians from the east were heading west; (2) the threat of the rising power of Babylon; (3) trade contacts with the west with promising opportunities; and (4) news of a treacherous massacre of Sakian troops by the so-called friendly Medes (Hannay, 338).
From about 705 BC, the Saghs (Sakai) began to colonize central Asia from their territory north of the Araxes, called Sakland or Sakesani. Various names they used were the Parthi of Ansik, Bactrians, Sakai, Æglai, Sogdians, and Yu-chi. Around 600 BC they gained power over western Asia, which they maintained for about 20 years. During this time they expelled the Gimirra (Cimmerians) from the western Ukraine. Between 598 and 544 BC they became known as the Skolotoi—the Greek rendering for Sak-Geloths. Their country was called Skuthia. The Persian name for these Saghs was Sakai (Hannay, 259). The area of Bactria, now known as modern Turkestan, was occupied by the Nordic Sacæ, who were closely related to the Massagetæ—a name that later surfaces in Europe. Like the ancient Persians, these people were blond and long-headed. The Chinese called them "the green-eyed devils," and by the Tatar name of Wu-suns, or the tall ones (Grant, 223, 225). By the time of Alexander the Great, some of the Sakai were located on the confines of India. Ancient Bactria remained a Nordic country long after the time of Alexander, and did not receive the name Turkestan until the seventh century AD. The evidence is accumulating that central Asia contained a large Nordic population in the centuries preceding the Christina era (Fasken, 32).
The "s-k" sound found Sacæ, Saka, etc., has been around for a considerable period of time. The Hebrew pronunciation for Isaac is given as "Yis-khawk," in the Bible Research Handbook, which states it is possible the "sakah" sound came from "Yis-khawk" (serial 55a). Hannay says that the name Sak is derived from the Hebrew Isaac (p. 301), though this view is disdained in some circles in spite of the fact that a number of writers agree with him. J. C. Gawler, for example, says the word Sakai is translatable as "Isaacites." Herodotus, the Greek historian, said the Persians called the Scythians Sakai. Other writers refer to the Sakai as Sakans, Saccassani, Saccassuni, and Saxones. Gawler mentions a work by a man named Wilson, who said inscriptions from Nineveh mention a rebellious people by the Esakska, who called themselves "Beth Isaac" in their own country. He also mentions that Strabo, the Greek geographer, said that Saccasena was a district in Armenia and that the Sakai had gained possession of a more fertile area in Armenia and called it after their own name (Gawler, 6). Ptolemy referred to the Sacæ as Saxones, and the historian Albinus said the Saxons were descended from the ancient Sacæ from Asia (Rutherford, 11). The idea that the Sacæ were descended from barbarous Mongolian peoples is now generally discarded (Bible Research Handbook, serial 55a).
Sak-Geloths (Saghs) colonized toward the east, so the only Saghs with whom the Persians came into contact were the Skuthai (Scythians). While the bulk of the Saghs migrated west, the eastern branch remained in the area for some time. (Hannay, 387–388). The colonization began around 705 BC where, in the north and east, they were known as the "People of Asha." Their sacred books were known as the Edd-ha and survived in Scandinavia as the Edda (ibid, 331). In the ancient Hindu sagas, the gods and heroes were always "the Blonde." The Hindu Vedas (sacred writings) show traces of a winter solstice festival, which is certainly seen in northern Europe. These writings also speak of intrusive tribes who are described as "tall," "white," "blonde," and "fair-nosed," while the original people in the area are described as "small," "black," and without a nose or "noseless." The Hindu word for caste means "color," and the Brahmins who have kept themselves racially pure are fair-skinned, and blond or ruddy like Europeans (Günther, 134–135, 140). In China the Saghs acquired the name Yu-chi or Yuti. They appear pink and white of complexion as Tatar bowmen. The Chinese expelled them from China, and one group that migrated west dispossessed the Sak, that is the Sakas. In Europe the Yu-chi turn up as Yota. They had been living in Sogdiana, which corresponds to the modern area of Uzbek. The Han Annals relate that the "Sok" spread themselves over a large area and established a succession of states (Hannay, 400–404, 422, 427). The Sacæ were the Nordic people who traveled farthest to the east (Günther, 132).
Alexander the Great fought against the Ambri and Sigambri in India, and was successful in defeating them. Authorities were so taken aback when the same names later appeared in Europe, they believed there had been some mistake. Another tribe—the Silei—was attacked by Alexander on the river Jaxartes, located in the present area of Kazakhstan in central Asia. They appear later in Europe as the Salli, and the Sicambri are found with them. Herodotus stated that the Persians gave the name Skuthai to the Sakai. When Darius attacked the Scythians in Europe, he did so with the excuse that the Skolotoi, who lived in Asia, had ravaged it.
Keep in mind the name Scythian was applied to all nomadic wanderers, the word Skolotoi being the Greek word for Sak-Geloth or Sagh. While often regarded as barbarians, the real barbarians who came out of the northeast went under the general name Tatars, but more specifically were Mongols, Turks, and others from the same general location. The fact is: Ancient Europeans were not barbarians. They spoke in dialects of the Indo-European tongue and could write. The languages they used were as comprehensible as the principal tongues of modern Europe (Fell, 1982, 289). The Greeks held the view that people who did not dwell in cities were barbarian (N. Davies, 82). The Greeks referred to all people who inhabited the steppes of southern Russia and northern Turkestan as Scythians (McGovern, 35–36). What is significant is that Herodotus identified the Sacæ with the Scyths (Minns, 71), which means they were included in the general appellation. Herodotus also said that the Persians called all the Scythians Sacæ (Fasken, 28). But this designation is reasonably early, since many tribes were later included in the general name. The Scythians of whom Herodotus wrote called themselves Skolotoi and were regarded as Scythians only by their neighbors. They were intruders who had come from an independent Tatary (Latham, 209). Tatary is an indefinite historical region in Asia and Europe extending from the Sea of Japan to the Dneiper River. There is no evidence the Skolotoi were ever ejected from Europe or extinguished as a people. What is known is that the names of peoples in portions of Europe did change, and the history of the populations in Europe from the fourth century BC to the fifth century AD is in the main a history of the Scyths (ibid, 209, 212).
The Scythians called themselves Skolotoi, some of the better-known variants being Skuthes, Skuthai, Saca, and Sacæ. The meaning of the appellation Scythian varies according to the time period in which it was used. It was first applied to the peoples living between the Carpathian Mountains and the Caspian Sea, but later to almost all peoples living east of that area. Thus, both European and Asiatic peoples received the name. Some were Nordic and long-headed, others Mongoloid and round-headed (Bible Research Handbook, serial 55c). Even to Herodotus the name Scythian had no racial meaning, as he appears to have regarded it as a political designation. Other classical authors regarded it as geographical. To most Greeks, a Scythian was a northern barbarian from the east of Europe, and the Galates (Gauls) barbarians from the west. So, Greek usage throws little light upon the original people to whom it was applied. Some authors applied it to 50 nations, many who were strangers to it (E. Davies, 133). According to Sir Henry Rawlinson, "From the mere term Scyth, therefore, we cannot conclude anything as to the ethnic character of a people" (quoted by Hannay, 300).
During the time of Herodotus (484–425 BC), Scythia proper was described as the land between the Don and Danube Rivers, though some were people living there were not regarded as Scythians (Gawler, 4). East of the Araxes River was where they first gained notice as a state progressively rising to power. Diodorus Siculus said the Scythians at first possessed a narrow region of the Araxes but gradually became numerous and powerful. The Sacæ, Massagetæ, and Arimaspioi (usually regarded as Huns) were some of their offshoots. The Scythians eventually moved westward and invaded the land of the Cimmerians (Turner, 96–98). According to the Greeks, the earliest inhabitants of southern Russia were the Cimmerians; in the Assyrian records they are called Gimirri. After leaving Turkestan, the Scythians pursued the Cimmerians as far as the northen shores of the Black Sea. They were then attacked by Cyaxares, but defeated him. The Scythians ravaged and ruled western Asia for the next 28, years and were the probable cause of the fall of the Assyrian empire (Kephart, 328). Scythians who later became known as Goths used a language that connected Hebrew and Old English (Rutherford, 41).
Josephus said the Greeks designated Scythia by the name of Magogia (Ant., bk. I, 6). This obviously refers to the territory that once belonged to the descendants of Magog. (The reader may recall that the children of Shem drove the children of Japheth into the corners and recesses of the earth.) Geoffrey Keating's idea that the Scythians were from the race of Magog is just as misleading. The appellation "Scythian" was applied to at least 50 nations, and the descendants of Magog could have been included in the term, though not limited to it. Eusebius of Caesarea said that from the Flood to the building of the Tower of Babel, Scythism prevailed on the earth. Since Scythian meant "nomad," or "wanderer," this was the type of civilization prior to the time of Nimrod. He was the one that gathered the people into cities. Even Keating admits that the term "Scythian" cannot have a precise meaning as indicative of any peculiar race or breed of human beings (Keating, 105, 150, 151 fn). Hippocrates was the one who originated the idea that the Scythians were Mongols. He was trying to prove the influence of environment upon races, and there is a question of whether or not he twisted the facts to fit his theory. He supposed that Scythia had a cold climate the entire year. He believed cold made one reddish-brown in color, the color white people become when being in the open. This color, however, is not any kind of yellow comparable to the Mongols. Tatars, for example, who lived in the same general area as the Mongols are far from reddish. Kublai Khan had a white complexion, and most of the people associated with him had blue eyes and red hair. The Chinese, themselves, described five tribes of the Hiung-nu (Huns) as fair (Minns, 45).
Minns tells us that ornaments found in Scythian tombs are very similar to the beast-style dagger associated with the early middle ages. Also, grave findings contained a dagger and sheath of Assyrian style (Minns, 167, 171). The general movement of the tribes at this time was from south to north. Many customs among the Finns are similar to Scythian customs (ibid, 106). For example, still found in the Finnish language are words such as "Soma-land," "Sma-land," "Some," "Soami," "Suima," "Suoma," which mean "a lake," or "marshy land." These words are found in the ancient Scythian language. The Finns still calls themselves Suomi, though other nations call them Finns, Wends, or Winds (Olson, 53–54). We are told the Scythians did not domesticate swine because of a religious or social taboo. A well-known style used by women in medieval times was the tall conical headdress with a trailing veil. This style goes right back to the Scythians (Minns, 62). Both George Rawlinson and his brother Sir Henry believed that the Scythians were related to the people of northern Europe (Bible Research Handbook, serial 70b). Scythians and Gother populated Nordic settlements (Olson, 64). Early Scythian tombs contain long-headed skulls, though the later ones have many broad-headed ones. The logical explanation is that as the Sarmatians (Slavs) moved north they used Scythian tombs (Minns, 47, 42).
Because of the arid climate and Chinese expansion, the Russian steppes became the desired location for the dispossessed people of central Asia. After the Scythians had located there, a Sarmatian intrusion occurred. As the Scythians were pushed westward, they divided into two branches—the northern and southern branches. The larger of the two migrated toward the northwest. Strabo, the Greek geographer, who lived shortly before the Christian era, wrote that the Scythians lived in the regions toward the north and the ocean, that is, on the Baltic or North Sea, north of the Sarmatians. Pliny, the Roman scholar, mentions islands in the "Northern Ocean" off the coast of Scythia (Capt, 167–170).
One school of anthropologists holds the view that the present races of Europe are descendants of the original races of the New Stone Age, who have lived in the area since the beginning of time. A number of scholars disagree and hold the view that the present people of northwestern Europe are the descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel. What is interesting, though, is that Greek historians were at a loss to explain the origin and sudden appearance of a race they called the Skolotoi or Skuthai (Olson, 67). Around 600–598 BC the Sak-Geloths (Saghs) moved into southeastern Europe, settling near the present Rumania. The seat of their power was at Arsareth. The Romans called them Scuthia or Scuthæ. These Saghs remained in the area of Keiv until AD 220. At that time they divided into two streams—the European and the Germanic. The European Scythians carried such names as Asen, Asir, Asgard, and Asaland. The Germanic Scythians became known as the Saxons, Ængli, Frisii, and Yota (Hannay, 301, 261). In India, the warrior caste at some point of time changed its religion (Olson, 109). These Saghs, who came into the India, adopted the doctrine of Asha—that is, the doctrine of "righteousness" or "purity" and became known as the "People of Asha," their country collectively called Asia (Hannay, 196). Eventually they were forced to migrate toward the north and northwest. Various groups of them settled in different areas, but one group—the Asa—moved along the northern coast of the Black Sea and eventually settled in Scandinavia (ibid, 109). These were the people who established Asgard. During the time of Augustus Caesar until AD 220, Scythian life was centered around Asgard and its environs. Knowledge of the Scythians is based on what was known about their outlying districts and southern boundaries only. As a result, modern historians have confused the Skolotoi with the Asen and Tatars (Hannay, 449, 346).
When Asgard flourished Odin ruled as the chief of the Asen. He had great possessions in his former homeland—Turkestan—that had been the home of the Saghs for many centuries. Odin was later deified by the descendants of his pagan subjects and became a god. A Roman threat in AD 210, forced the Asen to abandon Asaland, and they moved to Scandinavia. According to Hannay, eight of the tribes of Israel were present at the time of their captivity and these were the ones who reunited with the European Scyths in Asaland under the name Asen. (Hannay may be correct when he points out that the bulk of the maritime tribes had already departed from the land of Israel prior to the Assyrian onslaught.) When Odin arrived in Scandinavia, he was forced to make a compact with the Gota due to their strength. Sweden was the Scandinavian country where the Asir settled among the Gota; there they eventually became known as the Northmen. Later Odin invaded Norway and drove out the Donsk (Danai or northern Danites). These dispossessed Danites settled in Denmark and became known as the Danes. In the Vetus Chronicon Holsatiæ, the Danes and Jutes, who united with these Donsk, are said to be the descendants of the Israelite tribe of Dan. The impelling force that eventually drove the Goths out of Scandinavia was the arrival of more Saghs from Airyan (Hannay's name for central Asia). The Goths then began their southward march toward the Danube and the Roman frontier (Hannay, 452, 457, 459–464, 184, 454).
The Romans had become increasingly intolerant toward the region of the Black Sea, and this tension precipitated the migration to the north by the Scythians. One of the tribes that migrated during this time was the Neuri, who were of Scythian stock, and had traveled a year and a half to reach Arsareth. They are of particular interest because their year began in March, and their Sabbath was on Saturday. The languages of the old Finns, Lapps, and Estonians agree with the Hebrew to a large extent. In the 1700s some believed the Finns and Lapps to be remnants of the tribes carried away by Shalmaneser. One work, for example, demonstrated that 200 words in the Lappish language resembled Hebrew. Also, many Finn villages bear the same names as various places in Persia (Olson, 63–64). In the north, the Asen merged with the Frisii, Saxones, Ængli, and Yota to become known as the Northmen. These Asen magnified the Saxon name and gave rise to the Saxon pirates so feared by the Roman colonies. They settled throughout the Baltic and Jutland. This merging of tribes with the Asen eventually led to the loss of nominal distinctions for all of them. They permanently settled in England (Hannay, 262, 445). The Romans called the Anglo-Saxons, who came to England, Germans. They had come from the region of the Elbe and from the southern end of Jutland. When the Saxons called for reinforcements during their conquest of England, "messengers were sent to Scythia" (Capt, 173, 175).
Ptolemy (second century AD) was the first to mention the Saxons. He said they were a people who lived on the north side of the Elbe River. At this time they were not significant, and at least six other tribes lived in the same general area. It can be inferred that they descended from the Sakai (Sacæ), an important branch of the Scythian nation. Strabo (63 BC–AD 24) placed them east of the Caspian Sea, and they made many incursions into the land of the Cimmerians, seizing important sections of land. The name Sakasian is derived from them, and Ptolemy says the name Saxones is derived from Sakai. Also, around the Black Sea there was a people called the Saxoi (Turner, 101).
A general movement from the southeast into Europe had been occurring off and on for centuries (Kephart, 115–116). This included the Phrygians to Troy and Asia Minor, the Hellenes to Greece, the Romans to Italy, and the Celts to France and Spain. All countries where the Indo-European tongue was spoken had a Nordic ruling class (Günther, 122–123). The languages now prevailing in Europe show that there were three distinct and successive waves of peoples who entered Europe from Asia. The oldest ones are found in the west. The first was the Cimmerians, followed by the Scythians, and finally the Sarmatians (Slavs). These three stocks make up the source of the native populations in Europe today. Celtic, Gothic, and Slavonic languages represent the Cimmerians; the Celtic source includes Welsh, Gaelic, Irish, Cornish, Armoric (Brittany), and Manx; the Scythian by Anglo-Saxon, Franco-German, Middle Gothic, Old Icelandic, Modern German, Swabian, Swiss, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Orkneyan, English, and Lowland Scotch; the Slavonic by modern Slavonic as it appears in Russia and Poland. One reason it was believed that the Scythians were Mongoloid is because Herodotus said there was a European and also an Asiatic Scythia beyond the Caspian Sea (Turner, 25–26, 93).
The nations that overthrew the Roman Empire came from central Asia. This mass of people included the Goths, Suevi (Germanic tribes), Vandals, Burgundians, and Angles and Saxons. The main reason they swept into Europe seems to be their fear of the Huns. Whatever the reason, what is known is that their migration into Europe coincided with the appearance of the Huns. The west Goths, for example, came into the boundaries of the Roman Empire after suffering a devastating defeat by the Huns (McGovern, 12). Other factors contributed to this intrusion, such as the westward sweep of the Parthians, and the rush of Saghs and others toward the west. Medes, Parthians, most of the dominant Persians, and other trans-Tigris peoples also flooded into Europe (Hannay, 261). Both Pliny and Herotodus were aware that the region of the Caucasus held enormous numbers of people, as the Caucasus pass was the only break between the Black and Caspian seas (Ripley, 438). The Chinese describe wholesale population changes that took place between 275 BC and AD 150 (Minns, 110). The tradition of the fair-haired, blue-eyed Nordics, known by the Chinese as the Wu-sun or Usun, was that their early homeland was in Sogdiana (the present Uzbekistan and Bukhara) and vicinity (Kephart, 230).
Like a domino effect, as Sarmatian pressure forced the Scythians toward the west, the Cimmerians were forced into the more remote regions of Europe where they became known as the Celts and Gauls (Capt, 141). Homer mentioned the Cimmerians of Europe in The Odyssey. Posidonius, the Greek historian, applied the name to all the hordes of people coming out of northern Europe (Schütte, 1:11). Arrian, Diodorus, and Plutarch all regarded the Keltoi to be Cimmerians, and classical authors located them in the western regions of Europe (Turner, 420–421). When pressed by the Saghs, the Cimmerians divided into two groups—one group into Western Europe by way of the Danube basin, the other into Asia Minor (Hannay, 349). The western Cimmerians were identified with "the first race of the Kymry," and came into Britain from "the country of the summer, where Constantinople now is." They occupied northern France under the name Belgæ and invaded the British Isles as the Brythons. Only by the legions of Caesar were they checked in their conquest of Gaul. Their Teutonic successors included the Goths, Vandals, Burgundians, Helvetians, Alemanni, Saxons, Franks, Lombards, Danes, and Northmen—all Nordics from the Teutonic group of peoples (Grant, 157, 131). All of them claimed to have descended from Odin (Kephart, 454). Plutarch said these people were first called Cimmerians, and later not inappropriately Cimbri. The Greeks gave them the name Celt, the Romans the name Gauls (Capt, 141). The Skolotoi absorbed large numbers of them, and only a residue remained in Asia Minor during the time of the Apostle Paul (Hannay, 352). Shortly before 578 BC, the Celts first appeared in Europe (Hannay, 281) and by the end of the third century BC, they had filled the whole of central Europe and northern Italy (Capt, 145). So, they were in Europe some time before the arrival of the Cimmerians (ibid, 142–143).
Germanic stock should be included in the general term "Cimmerian." The name, like Scythian, appears to have been applied to all the peoples occupying or moving into Europe during this time. Anthropologists designated the tall, blond people of northern France and Belgium as Gauls, but the broad-headed people of middle and southwestern France as Celts. Caesar, however, insisted that the Celts and Gauls were the same (Ripley, 127). Numerous historians and early writers held that the Cimbri and Cimmerii (English Cimmerian and Greek Kimmeri ) were the same people. A work entitled, Literature of the Kymry, identified the Kimmerioi of Homer with the ancient Cimbri of Germany as the same race. Also, archaeologists agree that the Cimmerii and Gimiri are the same people (Rutherford, 24). ( Keep in mind, Sir Henry Rawlinson identified the Gimiri or Cimmerians with the Sacae on the Behistun Stone and said they were Israelites.)
The Cimmerians who entered Europe adopted the Celtic language. The reason was that they were a shattered nation, fragmented, with no central leadership, and tended to cooperate with the Celts (Kephart, 374). What developed in Europe was a large number of Celtic-speaking peoples of differing ethnic origins (Hannay, 125). For some reason the Celts in France wished to consider themselves closely related to the Celts in Germany. They went to great lengths to dye their hair blond (Baker, 256–257). France consists of a number of different peoples. In the north it is primarily Germanic due to Frankish settlements made during the AD 240–496 period. The center of France consists of Celts and peoples of a Phœno-Canaanitish type. In the south it is comprised of Iberian (Spanish) types (Hannay, 134). Switzerland, the ancient land of Helvetia, now called in the German tongue Schweiz, is made up of Suevi from Swabia (Bavaria). According to tradition, the Swiss were driven out of Sweden due to a famine (Menzel, 134). One other important fact about France is that according to Justin, Alexander the Great defeated the Ambri and Sigambri on the Punjab in India. The Silei were associated with them. Many years later we find the Romans calling a people in Europe by the name of Salii—still in company with the Sicambri (Hannay, 443-444). The Sicambri are well known as German Franks (Menzel, 6).
Ayran is a racial term first used by the Arii as a tribal name in Persia. It signifies "noble stock." The Arii were a powerful branch of the Goths. The Sanskrit form is Ayra, the root word for Ayran, which applied to the Nordic conquerors of western India (Kephart, 72). Later it was applied to all Nordic types. The general consensus of opinion now is that the home of the Indo-Europeans was in southern Russia. The culture that designates them is called Kurgan—Kurgan being the Russian word for "burial mound." They made good use of bronze weapons, the horse, and the wheel in their conquest of various areas of Europe (Lehman, 88–89). The earliest appearance of Aryan-speaking Nordics was when Sanskrit was introduced into India. Their conquests were far and wide—Cimmerians pouring through the passes of the Caucasus into Media; Achæans and Phrygians conquering Greece and the Aegean coast of Asia Minor. Around 100 BC these Nordics entered Italy. Soon afterward they crossed into Gaul via the Low Countries. They spread into Britain as the Goidels. As Gauls, they conquered France and Spain (Grant, 155–156). Iron began to supplant bronze in northern Europe in the second and third centuries AD (Ripley, 510). Then, an expansion of the Nordic race took place all over Europe (Pittard, 78). These Teutons drove the Alpine peoples from the open plains into the uplands and mountains where their descendants remain to this day (Ripley, 237).
These tribes, made up a combination of such peoples as the Sacæ, were described as Nordic in appearance—fair or ruddy-haired. One tribe—the Alans—was described as "almost all tall and handsome, with hair almost yellow, and a fierce look" (Günther, 131). These people were all alike in physical type. A Swede can hardly be distinguished from a Dane, or a native of Schleswig-Holstein or Friesland (in northern Germany). They were all described as "tall, tawny-haired, fiercely blue-eyed barbarians" (Ripley, 311). Silius Italicus described the Britons as a people with golden hair. Vitruvius, apparently referring to the same people, said they had huge limbs, grey eyes, and long, straight, red hair. Tacitus mentioned the red hair and huge limbs of the Caledonians (the Scots). The Belgic Gauls are described in much the same way. Strabo said the Germans resembled the Gauls, but were taller, more yellow-haired, and more savage (Taylor, 77). These swarms of people could not have come from a small country (du Chaillu, 12, 15). About a century after the time of Ptolemy, Eutropius said that the Saxons were united with the Franks and, because of their piracy, had become formidable enemies of the Romans (Turner, 121).
Teutonic people from east of the Rhine River were pressing the Celts, but this intrusion stopped during the time of Julius Caesar and lasted until the fall of the Roman Empire (Haddon, 43). The Teutonic race is made up of two main branches—the Scandinavian and Germanic. Suhm's History traces the Teutonic peoples from the Don River, through Russia and Finland to Sweden (Olson, 68). Sweden, for example, consists of 87% long-headed and 13% broad-headed types. The broadheads are confined to Lapland. More than half the population of Sweden has people with light eyes and blond hair. Sweden today is one of the few countries in which the same racial type has existed from the beginning. It is unique for its unity of race, language, religion, and social ideals (Grant, 151). (The reader should keep in mind Grant's work was published in 1916, before the wonders of "socialism" took over in Sweden.) Scandinavia is the home of the Teutonic race in its maximum purity, made up of the same kinds of people as the Lithuanians and Finns across the Baltic (Ripley, 205–206). Another Teutonic people were the Burgundians—a tall, blond people— who settled in France. They were celebrated for their great height, a characteristic still found in some of the French today. Only a vestige of their language remains in Flemish (Ripley, 143–144, 157). Skeletal remains clearly show the Burgundians to be of Nordic stock (Pittard, 81).
During the so-called Bronze Age, Germany was a wild forest inhabited by Teutons (Fell, 1974, 392). Not much is known about the German tribes until about 100 BC, when they aggressively came against the Romans (Ripley, 229–230). Various tribes later regarded as German were originally known under separate names, but now it is impossible to distinguish them. At one time German tribes were included among the Scythians, at another time among the Sarmatians and Tatars (Menzel, 5–6). There may be a connection between the Eudusianoi on the Black Sea and the Eudusii, who migrated to southern Germany (Schütte, 2:297). The Suevi who remained in upper Germany were given the name Alemanni (Menzel, 4, 8, 13–14). But who were the Suevi? According to Hannay, they were the Asir or Scyths, who in the third century AD conquered sections of Germany. They crossed over into Scandinavia and mixed with the people of their own blood called the Yota or Gota. The Gota were not Goths. The Scandinavian settlement was called Lessor Swithiod, distinguishing it from Greater Swithiod that was located in central Asia. The name Sweden simply means "the country of the Swi (Swe, Svi) people," shortened to Swiar or Sviar. The Latin name Suiones was derived from Swiar (Hannay, 181–182). The historic Odin was followed by the Svear, called Suiones by Tacitus. They drove both the Goths and Lapps out of Scandinavia; the Goths retired to the south, the Lapps to the Arctic Circle (Rutherford, 96). The name Alemanni disappeared after the Middle Ages (Schütte, 2: 91). What needs to be realized is that the racial map of Germany completely changed during the time of the Anglo-Saxon and Norman invasions of England. By the tenth century, the populations east of the Elbe River, which Tacitus called German in his day, were totally Sarmatian (Latham, 194). The Sarmatians or Slavs now comprise the bulk of the populations of Eastern Europe (Hannay, 188–189). Even present-day Greece is basically Slavonic, having been occupied by Slavs in the eighth century AD, who learned the Greek language (Taylor, 209). Racially, the Slavic speaking peoples are broad-headed and their hair and eyes mostly light in color, though darker than the Teutons (Ripley, 345–346). It is now difficult to designate any portion of Germany as Nordic (Morant, 126–127), though northern Germany is classified with the northern peoples of Europe found from Finland to the British Isles (Pittard, 172). The Roman attempt to extend the frontier across the Rhine was only temporarily successful, but the Chatti were subdued in the region of the Weser River (Ency. Brit., 11th ed. s.v. "Germany")
The name Chatti (Khatti) is important. In 612 BC the Medes and Babylonians sacked Nineveh, and the Assyrians disappeared from history (Trump, 238). Recently, however, British archaeologists have found traces of Assyrian culture north of Iraq. These excavations prove the Assyrians did not die out. After the invasion they developed small, closed communities and began to spread out, though they were unable to gain any control due to their small numbers (Izvestia, May 3, 1987). Where did the Assyrians go? For one thing, Pliny lists the Assyrani among the tribes located in the vicinity of the Crimea (Pliny, IV, xii, 85). Ruins in Asia Minor show there was a third great power, along with the Greeks and Romans, that had existed for more than 2,000 years. Thutmos III had been forced to pay tribute to a certain people of the Hittites. The Assyrians often spoke of the "Land of Hatti" or "Khatti." After victorious battles in "Hatti Land," the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser swallowed up the land of Hatti (Marek, 26–27). The Land of Hatti included much of Asia Minor. Later Assyrians have been described as Hittites who had adopted the civilization of Babylon (Bible Research Handbook, serial 22a). During the time of the Romans, the Hatti were in Germany. The ancient language of the Hittites is so much like modern German that both a German on the north coast of Germany and a Pennsylvania Dutchman could have understood a Hittite's cry for thirst. Hittite clay tablets found at the ruins of their ancient capital were in a borrowed Assyrian script (Marek, 93–94). Among other places, the people of Hatti are the principal inhabitants of modern Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Kassel, and Hesse-Homburg. As noted in the above paragraph, a people called the Catti or Chatti were subdued by the Roman general, Druses (Hannay, 221–225). We know them better as the Hessians who were British mercenaries during the American Revolution. After the war many of them remained in America and were absorbed into the culture.
A fearful struggle took place between the Germans and Romans, which lasted nearly 500 years. This struggle extended along the shores of the Black Sea, and up the course of the Danube and Rhine rivers as far as the Baltic Sea. The Germans were first checked and forced to turn east, but fierce nations continued to pour in from the north. Opposition against these peoples was of no avail as Goths, Alani, Vandals, Burgundians, Longobardi, Alemanni, Franks, Angli, and Saxons spread like a deluge over the Roman Empire (Menzel, 62, 10–11). The church father Jerome said the whole country between the Alps and Pyrenees, and between the Rhine and the ocean, had been laid waste by hordes of Quadi, Vandals, Sarmatians, Alans, Gepids, Herules, Saxons, Burgundians, Alemanni, even Pannonians, and that Assur (the Bible name for Assyria) was joined with them (Jerome, vol. VI, letter cxxiii). What is truly remarkable is that in 162 BC, the Roman Empire was simultaneously attacked on the Rhine and Danube by the Germans, and in Asia by the Parthians (Menzel, 105). The wandering period for these tribes is set between 120 BC and AD 600, although the last Nordic wave was the Normans, which lasted until AD 1100 (Günther, 203).
We have encountered the name "Parthia." Who were the Parthians? They were a Scythian group that moved southward out of Turkestan around 247 BC, and took control of the Persian plateau. Classical authors say they were a branch of the Dahæ, a branch of the Massagetæ. They took the name Parthian from the name of the province they had conquered (McGovern, 7–8, 67–68). We have already seen the Massagetæ were closely related to the Sacæ. The Parthians were subject to the Persians during the reign of Darius. The people who came into contact with them regarded them as Scyths, and said their name meant "exiles." Diodorus, the Sicilian historian, wrote that the Parthians passed from the dominion of the Assyrians to the Medes, and from the Medes to the Persians (Rawlinson, 1887b, 16, 19, 26). The original people who lived in the territory they conquered were known as Parthians, but were not the same as the Imperial Parthians, who were Sakian and bore the name Parni or Aparni. These Parni imposed themselves upon the original people and became the dominant race (Hannay, 394, 414). These Parthians were the descendants of conquering nomads (Minns, 61). Armenia was annexed by them and renamed Sakesani, which was Sakland (Hannay, 423). That they were Saghs should be obvious. Their language was a strange mixture of Scythian and Median. Often Semitic words were compounded in ways that were not Semitic or had Persian terminals. This is what we would expect if they were northern Israelites. Josephus said the Parthians were so familiar with Hebrew that he had a large number of readers among them. He also stated that after the decline of the Greeks, Parthian coins had Semitic legends and some of them read from right to left, the common Hebrew practice (quoted by Hannay, 397–398).
At the time Parthia was second only to Rome, the exodus from Asia to Europe took place. This movement involved the principal white races that had been living between central Asia and Europe. They poured through the Caucasus, settling both in central and northern Europe, and included both the long-headed and broad-headed types. This included numerous Jews who had never returned to Palestine. In 112 BC, Pærisades, king of the Bosphorus in the Crimea, called on the king of Pontus to help him stop the nomadic incursions pouring past his kingdom from east to west. About this general time period the Saghs in central Asia are not mentioned again, while at the same time vast numbers of people were pouring into Europe. They were admitted into the community of the Skolotoi and acquired the name Asir, their capital at Asgard. When Herodotus visited Scythia in 450 BC, he did not hear such names as Asir and Asgard. We can assume that when the Saghs escaped Assyrian domination, these names were still unknown (Hannay, 430–433). That the Parthians crossed over into Russia is demonstrated by the fact that several groups of people in southern Russia were called Parthians (Latham, 216).
The racial make-up of the Huns has been difficult to understand. They were a combination of many different types of people that in AD 391, the European Goths were joined with them. The name Hun was given to at least four different peoples whose identity is not known for certain. One of the tribes associated with them was the Nephthalite Huns, also called White Huns. The Modern Universal History, volume 13, page 206, states that some critics believe the Nephthalite Huns were descended from the Israelite tribe of Naphthali taken captive by Tiglath-Pileser and carried to the frontiers of Persia. Archaeology, according to Olson, confirms their migration into Scandinavia. The Saga of Olof Tryggvason relates the changes that took place in the north as a result of the influx from "the eastern parts of the world." This view is important when we see the Danish historian, Grammaticus Saxo referring to Asgard as "Bysantium." Many tribes were closely associated with the Huns including the Gepidæ, Alans, Lombards, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals, and Rugians (Olson, 103, 109, 111–113). The Byzantine historian, Procopius, said that Attila the Hun attacked the Roman Empire with a great army of Massagetæ and other Scythians—the Massagetæ they now call the Huns (Procopius, 41, 105). We already know the Massagetæ were Saghs, so if this statement is correct, the name Huns was applied to them. Many writers, however, believe the Huns were Turks due to their warlike and vigorous temper (Ency. Brit., 11th ed. s.v. "Hun").
As far as the Goths are concerned, they had previously settled on the plateau of Iran, then in northwest India, Sogdiana, and the northwest corner of China. The arid conditions of central Asia precipitated their departure from the region. Edward Gibbon said the name Goth is the Latin version of the Greek name for Scythia (Fasken, 89). Eventually, they pushed their way west until they reached the Baltic. After driving out the original people, they settled in this region (Olson, 13). Their Asiatic origin is seen in their familiarity with the Sanskrit and Persian languages. It is believed the link between Sanskrit and Gothic is found in the modern Teutonic dialects (Hannay, 181). Jordanes, the Gothic historian, identified them with the Getæ and Scythians. Keep in mind, the name Scythian referred to all the tribes that lived east of the Vistula and Danube Rivers, and north of the Black Sea (Mierow, 16). Herodotus regarded them as an offshoot of the Massagetæ. When they were finally driven out of Italy, they went north and were lost from the pages of history (Rutherford, 16–18). Gudmund Schütte says the Prussians absorbed them (Schütte, 2:22–23). The Goths were described as tall and handsome, with white skin and fair hair (Taylor, 109). The Goths are regarded to be the descendants of Gether, the son of Aram (Olson, 11), the son of Shem (Gen. 10:22–23). This would make them Semitic in race.
The movement of peoples into the British Isles was briefly mentioned in Chapter Two of this work. Early traditions and writings give us insight. Take Ireland, for example. The Encyclopaedia Britannica, eleventh edition, under the subject "Ireland," tells us that Ireland remained outside the pale of the ancient Roman world, and a state of society which was peculiarly favorable to the preservation of national folk-lore survived in the island until the sixteenth century. A number of works give us valuable information. Ptolemy listed sixteen peoples found in Ireland, several of which can be identified. The Milesians are said to have come from Scythia, after sojourning some time in Egypt. What is significant is that only in recent years have the Irish legendary origins been subjected to serious criticism, and even then the criticisms confine themselves essentially to the genealogies. There is a tradition that Hu Gadarn led a contingent of Hebrews into Britain at about 1800 BC (Williams, 27). Some believe Hu Gadarn is the Celtic name for Joshua, and if so, the date given, according to Bible chronology, is about 400 years too early. The Encyclopaedia Britannica gives a number of names of various tribes that settled in Ireland. Four centuries of Roman occupation made no permanent change in the racial stock of England. The Celts who filtered into Britain from Gaul appear to have come from the area of the Danube. The Celts and Belgæ who settled in Britain were Nordic and their skulls scarcely differ from those of the Anglo-Saxons who followed (Baker, 257).
According to the French anthropologist, Paul Broca, there were never any true Celts in Britain. The British never called themselves Celts, nor did any of the ancient writers. The true Celts, Broca says, are the people of central France who speak the Celtic language. It has already been pointed out that the real Celts of race have only a linguistic connection to the Celts of language. Broca says the true Celts of history are the Auvergnats, and what is called the Celtic speech was the original speech of the Belgic Gauls (Taylor, 110–113, 224). The fact is: The Irish are as Nordic as the English, the great bulk of them being of Danish, Norse, Anglo-Norman, and earlier pre-Teutonic elements (Grant, 59). The Irish were the ones who perpetuated the name Celt, but the Scots, known as Celts, were called Gaels. Hector Bœtius, in his History of Scotland, says the Gaels were in Egypt at the time Moses ruled the children of Israel (Keating, 152, 178 fn). The Romans were careless in attaching the names Celt, Galatai, and Gauls to all the people of western and northern Europe. Until the first century BC, the Germanic tribes were designated Celts (Hannay, 139–140).
The Cimmerii or Cymry came into Britain from the area of the Black Sea after traveling toward the northwest and through the Low Countries, then across the North Sea (Rutherford, 25). Paul B. du Chaillu gives us this interesting statement: "A careful perusal of the Eddas and Sagas will enable us, with the help of ancient Greek and Latin writers, and without any serious break in the chain of events, to make out a fairly continuous history which throws considerable light on the progenitors of the English-speaking people, their migrations northward from their old home on the shores of the Black Sea . . ." (du Chaillu, 6). Rutherford says the Cimmerians, that is the Welsh or Cymry, were descendants of the tribe of Simeon, known to the Romans as the Simeni, the Latin form for Simeonites (Rutherford, 28). The Welsh do not call themselves Welsh, but go by the name Cymry (Wainwright, 1). The pre-Christian civilization found in northern Gaul, Britain, and Ireland, came from Skolotic Cimmerians from the Ukraine after they had made contact with western Asiatic and Grecian civilizations. These Skolotic settlements in Britain began about 290 BC and continued for the next two centuries (Kephart, 375, 377).
Large numbers of Nordics entered Britain following the AD period. Let us take a look at the Massagetæ again. Herodotus traced the name back to the region of the Araxes. Migrations took them east and north of the Caspian Sea. They grew larger, and segments of them took on tribal names. Eventually the name Massagetæ fell into disuse. Two of the main branches were the Æglæ and Angæ. As they moved westward the two names merged into Englai or Anglæ. The Romans called them the Angli, but we know them as the Angles or Engles (Rutherford, 14–15). About the middle of the fifth century AD, searfaring Jutes landed in England to fight against the Scots and Britons of the north who were penetrating southward after the Roman departure. In the fight the Jutes summoned their brothers from northwest Europe to come to their aid. The Jutes themselves saw the advantage of settling in England. A general conquest of England began by the Jutes, Frisians, Saxons, and Angles from Jutland, Schleswig, Frisia and Holstein (Kephart, 450). The Danes came about AD 850, and the Norwegians a little later, settling in the northern and western coasts of Scotland. The Normans were the last of the Germanic types to enter England (Ripley, 312–317).
Roman accounts do not give much information regarding their conquest of England. Nor do they give much help as to how settlement by the Northmen took place. One thing is clear, however. There were Saxon settlements on the island during the Roman occupation. After the Romans departed, disunity set in and Britain broke up into a number of smaller states. This is what set the stage for the takeover by the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes (Hannay, 379). What is unique about Britain is that the skull type is practically uniform from one end of England to the other. The idea that conquered peoples were exterminated is simply not true. What took place was an amalgamation of various types, but all belonged to the Nordic branch of the Aryan race (Kephart, 462). In the light of what information is available on the movements of peoples from the Middle East to northwestern Europe and the British Isles, the hypothesis that the British are the representatives of the ancient Beth-Sak is hardly open to doubt (Hannay, 216).