"Brit-Am Now"-232
April 12, 2003
Contents:
1. Brit-Am Meeting: Texas
2. Article on Scythian Art
1. Brit-Am Meeting: Texas
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 12:23:34 -0400 (EDT)
From: Judy Snyder <yahudeit@excite.com>
Subject: Brit Am meeting this Sunday at my house.
Brit Am meeting this Sunday at 3pm. I will present a study of Ezekial 37
using the study Mr.
Davidiy, our founder, wrote several months ago and my own veiws of how it
fits with Passover. Come with your own study of this prophetic study.
For more info call Metro 817 355 6097
Judy
Tehillim 122 ...when our feet stood within thy gates, O Jerusalem; O
Yerushalayim, built as a city that is strong: there the tribes used to go
up...an appointed practice for Yisra'el, to give thanks. For there are set
thrones of the house of David. Shalom, Yudy
2. Article on Scythian Art
Celtic and Scythian Art by Yair Davidiy
(adapted from "Lost Israelite Identity)
Both Scythian and Celtic Art indicate early origins in the
Israelite and Assyrian-ruled areas. The Scythian art style is Middle
Eastern. It is different from Celtic art though there are points of contact
and common elements and it is these that link both styles with the
Israelite exiles. Scythian Art had its own character though showing
Mannaean and Urartian influences. It also owes much to the art style
prevalent in Assyria71. So similar is the later Scythian Style to that of
the Neo-Assyrians that when the Scythians moved north of the Caucasus in
the 500s and 400s b.c.e. authorities assume that the concomitant movement
of their art-style must have been dependent on the Scythians transporting
Middle Eastern artisans along besides them72.
The Scythian style is considered a development or
variation of the Neo-Assyrian style which is also known as "Phoenician".
The Neo-Assyrian style is noted for its special treatment of animal
subjects and its sense of realism. The Neo-Assyrian style began in the
reign of Tiglathpileser-iii73 after most of the northern Israelites had
been exiled. The style's origin has been attributed to the arrival in the
Assyrian sphere of Phoenician, Syrian, and Israelite artisans. The name
"Phoenician 74 by which several authorities prefer to call the style is
indicative of its origin.
Ivory carvings of a specific type are considered among the
outstanding examples of the "Phoenician" style. Similar works in ivory had
previously been known from the Phoenician coastal centers, from Hamath,
from the Aramaean kingdoms of Syria, and from Samaria in northern Israel.
Usually elephant ivory was used but walrus tusk is also referred to in
inscriptions75. The nearest place walrus could have been obtained was
Scandinavia. King Ahab son of Omri of northern Israel was reported (1-Kings
22;39) to have built a house of ivory. Archaeologists have unveiled
numerous examples of Phoenician style ivory work in Samaria of northern
Israel. Some of the examples were in various stages of completion showing
that production had been local77. It is believed that Israelite Samaria had
been an exporter of ivory products. In the Assyrian city of Calah (i.e.
"Nimrud") were discovered a group of ivory carvings (taken as booty by the
Assyrians) which are considered to be probably the best specimens known of
this genre78. Some of the works in Nimrud had been signed in Hebrew by
their Israelite producers. Also in Nimrud were discovered a list of
Israelite craftsmen and bronze bowls bearing Hebrew Inscriptions80. One
researcher81 (Ephraim Stern) believed that the so called "Phoenician" (or
"Neo-Assyrian") style should be ascribed primarily to the Israelites since
the best and most numerous examples so far discovered originated in the
land of Israel prior to the Israelite exile! In Israelite Samaria evidence
has been unearthed of stone workers, sculptors, and metal workers all
utilising the same style as that exemplified on the ivory pieces82.
After 600 b.c.e. (i.e. in the 500s b.c.e.) the Scythians
appear to have reached the region beyond the Caucasus in a flood, judging
by the number of Scythian objects that began to appear in the region at
that time83. It was in this period that the Scythians in the Middle East
had been betrayed by their Median allies and were being forced northwards
by the Medes. The first examples of Scythian art were thoroughly Middle
Eastern in style84 and according to Sulimerski85 they were actually imports
from the Middle East area. Nothing like them had previously been known
north of the Caucasus Mountains. The objects found have been described as
identical to those from Phoenician artworks..
The earlier finds sometimes employed a polychrome enamel
technique. The ivories of Nimrud also utilised an enamel-like process. The
Russian historian and archaeologist M.Rostovsteff observed: "The technique
of the early Scythian finds is not different if compared with that of the
famous ivories of Nimrud"86. As mentioned above, the ivory figures of
Nimrud (Assyria)in some cases were signed in Hebrew by Israelite craftsmen!
The Scythian enamel work was centered in the Caucasus and surrounding area
and after a short while disappeared from that region.
The enamel technique of Israelite "Phoenician" origin
which disappeared from the Scythian Caucasus region was to be reported of
some centuries later in the western Celtic countries. There was a linkage
between the Phoenician Hebrew techniques of enameling (as exemplified in
ivories signed by Hebrew craftsmen in Assyria) and between the unique
enameling expertise of the Celts in Britain. The Scythian Artistic
characteristics and enameling expertise of the Anglo-Saxons who came later,
may have been influenced by the Celts or may have developed from
independent sources.
This enamel technique was unknown to the Romans and to the
rest of the Classical world. The centre of the technique was in Britain and
from Britain some knowledge of the technique spread to Gaul87.
Philostratus (200s b.c.e.) reported:
"They say that the barbarians who live in the ocean pour
these colours upon heated brass, and that they adhere, become hard as
stone, and preserve the designs that are made upon them"88.
P.Jacobstaht, considered a major authority on Celtic art,
stated: "Celtic enamel has its only analogy in the Caucasus"89. This enamel
style of the Caucasus was that of the early Scythians who were continuing
Israelite-Phoenician artisanship. The enamel expertise and style
disappeared from the Scythian area and re-appeared in Celtic Britain. In
general early Celtic art reveals strong parallels to that of the Scythians,
Egyptians, and "Phoenicians 90.
The English Connection.
More than 1000 years after the first appearance of the
Scythians the Anglo-Saxons invaded Britain. The Anglo-Saxons arrived from
Scythia and were descended from the ancient Sakai. Their arrival in Britain
was accompanied by a revival of the enamel process91. The Anglo-Saxon style
was similar to that known on the Continent yet it had its own peculiarities
and in some respects was "reminiscent to that of the early Scythian period"92 .
The above notes trace the Phoenician enamel style from
Israelites in Assyria to the Scythians of the Middle East to the Scythians
north of the Caucasus to the Celts in Britain and then to the Anglo-Saxons
who invaded Britain and became the English. The Anglo-Saxons were either
influenced by the British Celts whom they conquered; or they brought
knowledge of the original Scythian style with them; or both; or the noticed
similarities were due to one of those freaks of history which sometimes
seem to happen. The suggested connections to the extent that they even
really existed do not necessarily prove anything in themselves but they are
indicative of possible ancestral links and taken together with other
evidence along similar or differing lines add to the accumulative whole
body of evidence which is quite impressive..
Archaeologically, the evidence is consistent with the
Cimmerians and Scythians having originally been Israelites who were in
large numbers later employed in Assyrian service and were therefore
influenced especially by those Assyrian practices connected to the
military. The Scythians, Cimmerians, and Goths gave rise to the Celts and
Anglo-Saxons, and related peoples and their artistic heritage, at least,
appears to have never become completely lost.
On the whole, quite a lot of evidence links the Cimmerians
and Scyths with the exiled Israelites. Proof that the Cimmerians and Scyths
migrated to Western Europe to become the Celts and others is also
substantial. In Western Europe the Celts in their own right were to exhibit
Israelite characteristics thus indirectly re-inforcing the
Cimmerian-Israelite equation. This present section has clarified reasons
for believing that the Lost Ten Tribes became known as Cimmerians,
Scythians, and Goths and that the Cimmerians laid the basis for western
Celtic civilisation. These and related indications will be seen to be
substantiated by Celtic Mythology, Religion, Legends, Linguistics,
Nomenclature, and Archaeological finds. The Celts of the west in addition
to their Cimmerian connections also absorbed Israelite exiles who had been
transported by ship directly to Spain and the west. These Hebrew
transportees amalgamated in Spain with Cimmerian-Celts coming overland from
the Middle East. They later moved out of Spain to the north and west.
Certain aspects of this process and the whole post-exile situation are
better understood in the light of Israelite history prior to the exile as
presented in the next section.
72. Sulimerski 3 p.316, cf. van Loon p.124.
73. Porada p.12
74. Rostovsteff 3 p.25
75. Katzenstein p.244
76. Encyclopedia Americana "Walrus"
77. Katzenstein p.149 quotes Crawford & Crawford.
78. Saggs-3 p.240.
79. Encyclopedia Judaica. "Exile. Assyrian"
80. Encyclopedia Judaica. "Exile. Assyrian"
81. Shiloh in BASOR [Bulletin of American Schools of Oriental Research]
n.219 1979
82. Ephraim Stern, "A Phoenician Art Centre in Post Exilic Samaria" in
Ettinger, Gilad, and Safrai, 1983,
83. Rostovsteff 2 p.38
84. Rostovsteff 2 p.25, Sulimerski[CHI]p.173)
85. Sulimerski p.173
86. Rostovsteff 2 p.38
87. Rolleston p.30
88. Rolleston p.30
89. P.Jacobstaht p.158.
90. Jacobstaht p.22, pp.155 156
91. Wilson p.140
92. Wilson p.140
Sources:
JACOBSTAHT, P. "Early Celtic Art", Oxford, 1944.
KATZENSTEIN, H. JACOB, The History Of Tyre", Jerusalem, 1973.
PORADA, E. in Dark Ages and Nomads ed. by M.J. MELLINK, Istanbul, 1965.
ROLLESTON, T.W. "Myths And Legends Of The Celtic Race", 1911, London.
ROSTOVTZEFF-2. ROSTOVTZEFF, M. "The Animal Style in South Russia and
China , New York 1973.
SAGGS, H.W.F. The Assyrians in WISEMAN.
SAGGS, H.W.F. The Might That Was Assyria , London, 1984.
SULIMERSKI, Tadeusz. "Prehistoric Russia an Outline". London 1970.
WILSON, D.M. "The Anglo Saxons,". London 1960.
HOME
NOW INDEX