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From: Yair Davidy <britam@netvision.net.il>
Subject: RED JEWS AND THE LOST TEN TRIBES
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 06:33:48 +0200

"THE RED JEWS AND THE LOST TEN TRIBES"

There was tradition that the Lost Ten Tribes had
once been in the Scythian area. Some of the following notes have been
collated from Andrew Colin Gow, "The Red Jews. Anti-Semitism in an
Apocalyptic Age 1200-1600" (NY 1995):
Josephus (Jewish Wars vii;7;4) says that Alexander the Great
used iron gates to close up mountain passes so that the Scythians would not
break
into the civilised world. Elsewhere (Antiquities 1;b;i) he identifies the
Scyths with Magog, though he also equated them with Gomer. From the 1100s
ce in Europe Gog and Magog were identified as the Lost Ten Tribes. This
was based on old traditions: Already in the 300s ce the Latin Tiburtine
Sibyl spoke of the anti-Christ being from the Tribe of Dan and of
Alexander, the Indian King who shut up Gog and Magog in the far north. A
letter to Pope Honorius in 1221 concerning the "Red Jews" refers to the
Caucasian Georgians as Indians. The whole area of Scythia including even
Georgia in the Caucasus in European Medieval writings could be referred
to as India. Usually however the term was reserved for the areas east of
the Caspian Sea as well as for the region known to us as "India" today.
Peter Comestor (ca. 1165) identified the Lost Ten Tribes with Gog and
Magog whom Alexander had locked up behind iron gates in the mountains..
The area of the Ten Tribes was referred to as Caspia.
The Ten Tribes were called "Red Jews" and were described as all
having Red Hair. Red Hair in the Middle Ages especially in Germany was
considered a negative characteristic and associated with the Jews and
with Judas. The Anti-Christ and Judas were depicted as both having red
hair and as both coming from the Tribe of Dan. The Jews also believed the
Lost Ten Tribes to be in Scythia, in the region by the Caspian Sea. This
belief was widespread and lasted up to ca 1600 ce. Gow quotes David
Kaufman (1892) : The legend of the Ten Tribes as future deliverers of
Israel was "a faith that was slumbering in the popular Jewish
consciousness all through the Middle Ages" (JQR, iv, 503-508).
In Germany the Jews were believed to be in league with the devil
and to be plotting with the "Red Jews" meaning the Ten Tribes to overthrow
Christendom.
Passau Anonymous (1330): "The Jews and many Judaising Christians
imagine that this people [i.e. The Ten Tribes] is holy; they would be glad if
they were to come, and would join their ranks immediately".

LEGENDS CONCERNING HEBREW TRIBES IN THE "CUSH" AREAS OF SCYTHIA.

"India" in Talmudic writings is rendered as "Hodu" or "Hindi" and is
equated with Cush. "CUSH" as a term was applicable to the region of
Cossai in Elam and also to the whole region east of Carmania (in Iran)
including Hara. "Beyond the Rivers of CUSH", could refer to Hara and
Sakastan and all the region east of Carmania27 including the Hindu Kush
area which is beyond the Indus just east of Hara and the Hari Rud ("River
of Hara")28 south of Bactria. The Talmud has been understood to
explicitly identify "Cush" with Sakastan which adjoined (or was part of)
Hara southeast of the Caspian Sea. The Oxus River (now called "Amu
Darya") has been identified as the Gihon River in the Bible "which
encompasses the whole land of Cush" (Genesis 2;13) meaning the land
east of the Caspian Sea. At all events, one tradition29 from this area said
that Naphtali and Zebulon lived in the Hindu Kush, another30 placed
Naphtali and Zebulon together with Dan and Asher in nearby Badakhshan. To
the direct north of Badakhshan the Jews31 of the Aral mountains claimed
descent from Naphtali but in this case, like similar ones in the region,
they probably appropriated to themselves an already existing traditon of
Naphtali having been in this area. These were Sacae-Scythian areas and
the Naphtalite Huns (from Naphtali of Israel) were later reported in this
region prior to their moving to Scandinavia. Likewise, one part of
Menasseh was reported in the Cochin Scroll. as being on the borders of
China and Tartary. Most of these traditions and others like them
correspond to the tribal situation from the Scythian period. "Cush" is
considered to be synonymous to "Hodu" or "India" which in Classical
Geography included eastern Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. Frisian
legends related that their ancestors along with those of the Saxons and
Angles had come from "Jerusalem" and had sojourned in "India". The term
"India" equates the Hebrew "Cush". From the context and other places
mentioned in the legends "India" meant somewhere in Scythia well to the
east of the Caspian Sea. From "India" the Frisians, Saxons, and Angles
migrated westward. These legends accord with archaeological findings.

DUTCH-FRISIAN LEGENDARY SOURCES CONFIRM THE ISRAELITE ORIGINS OF THE
FRISIANS, ANGLES, AND SAXONS.

The Frisians are a people now located in Northern Holland but
once spread all along the coast from Scandinavia through Holland, Belgium, and
into France. The Angles and Saxons before they, together with other
northern peoples, invaded Britain in the 450s c.e. had sojourned (at
least in part) for about 200 years in Holland especially in Frisia. Some
of the Jutes had also been in Frisia. The Byzantine historian, Procopius
(Gothic War vii;20) said that the Frisians together with the Angles and
Saxons were the invaders of Britain.
The name of the Frisians is traceable to Peres son of Gilead of
Menasseh though the actual inhabitants of Frisia and Holland today are
identifiable more with Zebulon. According to Ptolemy's Geography (ca.100
c.e. but based on material from several centuries beforehand) the area of
southern Scandinavia and northern Frisia was occupied by the
"Sabalingoi". From this area peoples moved southward into Holland. The
name "Sabalingoi" means `People- ("goi")-of-Zebulon ("Sabulin")'. In
Biblical times, Tribes such as Zebulon, Issachar, and Asher were closely
associated with Menasseh and it would seem that this linkage was repeated
after their exile in areas of their re-settlement. At all events the
identity of the Frisians must be closely linked with that of peoples who
invaded and settled the British Isles.
According to a work on Frisian legends J.P. Wiesma, (1973) and
a history of Holland published in 1601 (Jean Francoise LE PETIT, "Le Grande
Chronicle Ancienne et Moderne de Holland, Zeelande, Utrecht, Frise,
Oversyseel; et de Groenungham". Dordrecht.) it is apparent that the
method of research used by us and the results obtained are consistent
with ancient traditions of the peoples examined.
Frisian-legends related that a certain King Adel was a descendant
of Shem. King Adel in India had three sons: Friso, Bruno, and Saxo. Le Petit
says that Friso, Bruno, and Saxo lived in "India". By "India" he meant
what he would call eastern Scythia. The term "India", did not always mean
the place known today as India but rather was more synonymous with "Cush"
which term was applicable to areas east of the Caspian Sea in present-day
Central Asia (as well as to other places) and is probably the "Cush"
(i.e. "Ethiopia") mentioned in Genesis 2;13. Similarly, Le Petit located
the "India" he spoke of in the region of the Emodian Mountains which
according to Ptolemy was in the area adjoining the Caspian and Aral Seas,
in east Scythia, to the north of Afghanistan and India-proper.
In this land east of the Caspian archaeologists have found the
ruins of an extensive civilisation whose inhabitants spoke Aramaic. Some of
the
Israelite Tribes had apparently spoken Aramaic even before their exile
and the language was used as an official tongue in the Assyrian Empire
and is believed to have been the most commonly-used one. Phillip Lozinski
(1953) showed how from this region east of the Caspian came the
"Barbarian" peoples whom he believed to have been at least partly
"Semitic" and who invaded Europe beginning from around the 200s c.e. In
our present work ("The Tribes") additional proof is given showing that
the invaders must have come from that region. These invasions and
migratory movements were often connected with activities of the Huns who
themselves were a mixture of various peoples. The Huns from this vicinity
caused other nations to flee westward. N.C. Lukman (Copenhagen, 1943)
showed how in Nordic Mythology the name Adel (meaning "Noble") was often
used as a euphemism for Attila the Hun and for the Huns in general. In
the Frisian legends King Adel was the father of Friso, Bruno, and Saxo.
The Anglo-Saxon and related invasions of western Europe were
coeval with and directly resulting from the Hun invasions. Linguists have
concluded
that the Northern "Barbarians" who entered Europe had the later Germanic
aspects of their languages imposed upon them by an external force. They
had originally spoken a "non-Indo-European" language. Professor Terry
Blodgett has proven that the tongue of these invaders was dominated by
Hebrew characteristics and that Hebrew vocabulary was still traceable in
at least one third of the language spoken by them.
The legends speak of the three brothers (Friso, Bruno, and Saxo)
being descended from Shem and having been in Jerusalem at the time of its
destruction by the Babylonians:
 

"In the time of the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnessar
(586 B.C.), 3 brothers - Friso, Bruno, and Saxo with [their] wives, children,
and relatives fled out of the country, encouraged to do so by
announcements of the Prophets concerning the fall of the town".

According to this legend the Frisians, Saxons, and Brunswickian Angles
were therefore originally Israelites or Jews.
F. Koeslag points out that "In legends...events of several eras
may be concentrated around famous historical figures - as you see with
Charlemagne". The legend therefore reflects a tradition that the three
brothers were related to the Jews which is consistent with their
belonging to the Lost Ten Tribes who had been exiled from their own lands
in Israel at least 140 years before the actual fall of Jerusalem. The
legend contains the recognition that the three brothers had left the Land
of Israel (identified as "Jerusalem" or the Land of the Jews) before
Nebuchadnessar took it as the northern Israelites had indeed done. The
Lost Ten Tribes had been re-settled in Assyria and in lands ruled by
Assyria.

Numerous proofs show the Scythian-Sacae to have been Israelites
from the Lost Ten Tribes who had in part been re-settled in the Caspian Sea
region. Jewellery and artifacts from this area are the same in
stylisation as those later produced by the Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavian
Vikings, as noted by Lozinski and others. The Northern Barbarians had
traditions that they came from these areas and similar Tribal names to
their own are recorded by Ptolemy and others as having been found there.
Northwest Europe had previously been almost unpopulated before
the Suebi, Franks, Angles, Saxons, Goths, Vandals, and related peoples
suddenly entered it in large numbers. The lands they had left were east
of the Caspian Sea and had once been heavily populated but now lay almost
deserted due to extreme climatic changes and warfare. In other words:

In Area-1 a numerous and widely spread population disappeared and shortly
afterwards in Area-2 waves of new peoples arrived as if from no-where
bearing the same or similar names as those of the peoples that had been
in Area-1, using the same jewellery and appurtenances as those that had
been used in Area-1, with the same customs as Area-1, and with claims
that they had come from Area-1, and additional evidence also indicates
that they had arrived from Area-1. The logical conclusion is that the
new-arrivals in Area-2 (Northwest Europe) had indeed come from Area-1
(eastern Scythia).

The quoted legends are seen to be consistent with historical
records and archaeological research. The findings show that there once had
been a
people of probable Semitic origins in the area east of the Caspian and
this people did go westward and had been identifiable with the Scythian
Sacae of old and the Anglo-Saxons who came out of them. The Sacae had
served in the armies of Alexander the Great. Jewish and local traditions
did say that the Lost Ten Tribes had once been in formerly-"Sacae" areas.
The said peoples representing the Angles (Bruno), Frisians, and Saxons
did belong to the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. This is consistent with
their descendants having felt a physical identity with the Jews of
Jerusalem whose city was destroyed by Nebuchadnessar and with a
recollection that they had gotten out of the country beforehand.

The Khazar Capital Was Called "City of the Saxons"

The Saxons were considered to have come from the place of the
Turks and to have left part of their kin behind in the Turkish lands. These
were
identified with the Khazars. Rubruques in the 1200s mentioned a "Civitas
Saxorum" (i.e. City of the Saxons)and was referring to the Khazar
capital of Saksin. A German record says that in 1410 the Prince of
Lithuania attacked lands by the Caspian Sea, "In the place where, as it
is known, live the Red Jews" . The expression "Red Jews" is a term
employed by medieval Jews and applied to the Lost Tribes of Israel with
whom the Khazars appear to have been identified.

Another Frisian legend says that Albione and 32 sisters went from
Assyria by ship and landed in England which they called Albion. After
they landed, Brutus drove them out of the country and re-named it Britain
in his own honour. The Albioni crossed the Sea and landed in Frisia. They
later returned with the Anglo-Saxons. This legend also serves as an
indicator of Israelite origins since the exiled Israelites had indeed
been re-settled in "Assyria".
 

The Great Migrations

The Great Migrations of peoples from the east to western Europe
was caused by Climatic changes and by the Huns. The Huns would attack peoples
in east Scythia some of whom went west at an early stage towards Europe,
others stayed within Scythia only to continue westward later as fleers
from before Hun aggression or as enforced partners in the Hunish
enterprise. Some of the movements were the result of chain reactions,
people who had been displaced by the Huns would in turn displace others
..
As a result of the Hun initiatives the following changes were to
take place: The Hugo Franks, who had mainly been part of the Hugie group in
Scythia, were to conquer Gaul and settle in Holland, Belgium, and France.
The Suebi (as Allemani and others) descendants of the Sienbi (called
Suobeni and Syebi by Ptolemy) were to settle in Alsace, Switzerland, and
Suabia, and to some extent also in Holland. The Vandals who accompanied
the Goths and were associated with them were to make temporary conquests
in Gaul, Spain, and North Africa though the majority of them seem to have
accompanied the Anglian forces in the domination of North England and
southern Scotland. The Sigambri from the environs of Bactria were to join
the Franks in Europe. The Angles from Bactria (Aegloi) together with the
Saxe-Saxons (Sakae) and Jutes (Iatii) from Scythia were to be the
dominant elements in the conquest of England. The Goths warred against
Rome and established kingdoms in Italy, France, and Spain. In southern
France, especially, their presence was significant, though ultimately
only in Sweden did they remain as an historically recognisable entity.
The Alans, from north of the Caspian Sea and Caucasus, were to form
settlements in Brittany (France) and Switzerland. Other groups (such as
the Lombards) who also probably emerged from Scythia and seem to have
been Hebraic were (via Scandinavia) to make incursions of their own. The
Lombards, for instance, settled in North Italy. In short, the Israelites
became Scythian and the Scythians were to become Northwest European. The
descendants of the Northern Hebrews today must be sought for in Europe
more than anywhere else.

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