Date:  Tue Sep 17, 2002  2:49 am
 
 

We now have some copies of "Lost Israelite Identity. The Hebrew Ancestry
of Celtic Races" by Yair Davidy available. They may be obtained from us for
$30 each.
Our friend Mr. Gooitzen van der Laan in Holland also has copies of Lost
Israelite Identity.
He may be contacted at: gvanderlaannld@n...
"Lost Israelite Identity" contains direct new evidence that in my opinion
is very strong
and is based on original research of the utmost importance.
The following article may be of interest. Even those who have already read
the book should appreciate
the following summarised reminder.
 

Adapted from "Lost Israelite Identity" chapters eleven and twelve.

Israelites Moved to the British Isles via Spain

Certain Biblical verses indicate that a portion of the Israelite Hebrew
exiles were destined to be taken overseas and re-settled elsewhere. These
verses should be considered within their textual context, compared with
each other, and related one to another, and further viewed in the light of
extraneous non-Biblical information.
The Prophet Isaiah foresaw that in the Last Days,

"The LORD shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant
of his people, that shall be left from Ashur, and from Mitsrayim, from
Patros, and from Cush, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the Isles
of the Sea:" (Isaiah 11;11).

The said places were those to which the Ten Tribed Exiled Hebrews were
taken immediately after their exile or which they somehow gravitated
towards shortly afterwards and from there move on.. They are not in every
case those places which they are now found in and from which they will
directly return. In other words those who were in the above places in the
Last Days will return from wherever they will be at the time. At all
events, "Isles of the Sea" referred here primarily to the Isles of Britain
as explained elsewhere. Getting to the "Isles of the Sea" implies travel by
boat.
In ancient times there existed ships far larger and far more capable of
transporting many people over long distances than those boats that were
built in later periods. At one stage Carthaginians (descendants of the
Phoenicians) are recorded to have transported 30,000 men and women in 60
ships on a colonising venture beyond the Pillars of Hercules, apparently to
West Africa1. This was in 500-480 b.c.e. and shows that at that time
large-scale migration and colonisation by sea was practised. Previously, in
the era 1100-800 b.c.e. the Phoenicians had had a practical trade monopoly
over the sea trade routes in the Mediterranean area and beyond it2. The
Phoenicians established settlements in North Africa, in Sardinia, Corsica,
and Sicily and also had had trading emporiums in Spain and Britain. "The
Phoenicians planted many colonies throughout Libya [i.e. Africa] and not a
few as well in western parts of Europe" (Diodorus of Sicily 16;20). In
some cases under the term "Phoenician" must be included a portion of the
Israelite Tribes.

The Phoenicians (implied Avienus) had established colonies in Britain.
Their monopoly on British tin made them rich and powerful; tin and copper
were essential in the production of bronze which was the basic metal
employed by most ancient peoples.
Another verse in the Book of Isaiah associated with the Ten Tribes' exile
says,

"At the first the lighter affliction was visited upon the land of Zebulon
and the land of Nephtali and (BUT) the latter one was made heavier by way
of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations" (Isaiah 9;10).

This verse is ambiguous and may be interpreted in several different
(though not necessarily contradictory) ways. Nevertheless according to its
plain sense the verse may be understood as associating one stage of the
exile with the sea.

Similarly the Prophet Amos spoke of the Israelite exile many years before
it occurred,

"Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountains of Samaria,
which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, saying to their husbands,
bring and let us drink...the days shall come upon you, that he will take
you away in TsINOT [i.e."large boats" in Hebrew] and your remnant in SIROT
DUGAH [i.e. "Fishing boats" in Hebrew] And your breached remnant will be
taken away one woman for each other and they shall be cast out into the
mountain of Mannae" (Amos 4;1 3).
The verse in the Hebrew may therefore be understood as saying that one
part of the exiles would be taken away in large and small sailing vessels
and another part would be exiled to Mannae in which area the previous
section showed exiled Israelite "Cimmerians" to have indeed appeared.
The expressions "Isles of the Sea", "Way of the Sea", "large boats",
"fishing-boats", in connection with the exile of Northern Israel is
consistent with transportation by sea which was logistically possible at
that time and had been effected in other cases by Phoenician seafarers.
Israelites seem to have always participated in Phoenician seafaring ventures.
Additional verses prove that the exiled Israelites were destined to be
found in the "Isles of the Sea" which were associated with "Tarshish" in
the Atlantic Ocean. Other passages show that from Phoenician Tyre
settlement was to be made in Tarshish. Both the Israelites and Phoenicians
had had a long standing connection with Tarshish.

Chapter 28 of Ezekiel condemns the king of Tyre who apparently had
pretended to be some kind of deity. Sidon is also condemned. Both Tyre and
Sidon will be punished for offences committed against Israel. The exiles of
Israel will be ingathered. The oppressors of Israel round about her will be
chastised. Tyre and Sidon were the two major Phoenician cities and they, as
agents of Assyria, must have been instrumental in the forcible
re-settlement of Israelites in Spain and the west.
The Prophet Hosea spoke of Ephraim together with Phoenician Tyre as if
their fates were entwined, and as if part of Ephraim was settled in Tyre,
and both suffered from the Assyrian conquest*6:

"Ephraim, as I saw Tyre, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall
bring forth his children to the murderer " (Hosea 9;13).
"Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up...
"My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and
they shall be wanderers among the nations (Hosea 9;16 17).
In Amos (ch.1.), it is prophesied that the sea-faring Philistines
(Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gaza, Ekron) and Phoenicians (Tyre) will be punished for
betraying an entire exile into the hand of Edom who accompanied Assyria.
Both the Phillistines and Phoenicians were sea-farers. Tyre is upbraided
for not remembering the Covenant of brotherhood which once existed between
itself and Israel..

"...For three transgressions of Tyre ...I will not turn away the
punishment thereof: because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom,
and remembered not the covenant of brothers" (Amos 1;9).
 

Esarhaddon (681-669) boasted of controlling Yadnana (i.e. "Isle of the
Dananu", meaning Cyprus), Yaman (Yavan meaning Greece), and Tarsis (meaning
Tarsis of the Atlantic) in Spain16. Assyrian references explicitly mention
Tarsis as the westernmost extremity of Phoenician colonisation17. According
to Avienus and various sources the Phoenicians had colonies in Britain18
and this fact together with other indications suggests that the concept of
"Tarshish" as well as intending someplace on the southwest or west coast of
Spain also encompassed the British Isles and one understanding of the name
"Tarshish" itself is "sea" or "ocean" and therefore places or isles in the
ocean. In some Talmudic accounts Tarshish is taken to refer to the Sea
encompassing one third of the world10. The Aramaic translation of
Yehonathan translates "Tarshish" as "sea"11. Rashi (the major Talmudic
Commentator) says that (the sea) Tarshish is called the Sea of Africa
meaning the Atlantic*12.
In one of the Psalms, it says "The kings of Tarshish and of the isles
shall bring presents" (Psalm 72;10): The Aramaic Targum translates this
expression to say, "The Kings of Tarsis and of the Isles in the Oceanic Sea
shall bring offerings" and by Oceanic Sea (i.e."Yam Okyanus") it is
generally understood that the Atlantic Ocean is intended13.

"Tarshish" is referred to in connection with the Messianic era and with
the return of the exiled tribes of Israel:

"Who are these that fly as a cloud and as a dove to their windows? Surely
the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy
sons from afar, their silver and gold with them, unto the name of the LORD
thy God to the Holy One of Israel because he hath glorified thee" (Isaiah
60;8 9).

The above verse speaks of the exiled of Israel returning to the land of
Israel by air (i.e. in aeroplanes) and by ship. The "Ships of Tarshish"
means those plying the Atlantic Ocean ("Yam Okeanus") and it therefore
follows that Tarshish was someplace on the Atlantic coast.

A full scale Phoenician involvement IN THE WEST came in the late 700s
just after the northern Israelites were exiled.

ISRAELITE PRESENCE IN SPAIN

The word "HEBREW" (originally used exclusively for Israelites) comes
from the root "Aber" or "Iber". The appellation "IBERI" was later given to
natives of North Africa who entered Spain as a result of Carthaginian
policy. The name "Iberi" incorrectly applied to the North African newcomers
apparently by Greeks who transposed an already existing ethnic definition
of another people known to them by that name in the Spanish area..
The term "Iberi" means "HEBREW". This name or variations of it (e.g.
Ebero) in Spain derived originally from the people driven out by the
Carthaginians and North Africans. The original "Iberi" (or Hiberi) had from
Spain passed into Gaul and the British Isles and the root "Eber" (or "Iber"
or "Heber") is frequently found in the "Celtic" nomenclature of those
areas. The overwhelming majority of places bearing the name IBER and its
cognates are Celtic and the claim that everywhere the name is found was due
to Celtic presence at some time or other is well defensible..

4. Justin (44;3) said that,
"The Gallaecians..... took possession of those parts where New Carthage
now stands and passing from thence to Gallaecia.."*24
New Carthage was on the southeast coast of Spain. -Gallaecia was on the
northwest. Justin is recording a tradition of migration from the southeast
of Spain to Gallaecia in the northwest. "Gallaecia" was named after the
Galatae who settled in Gaul and the British Isles and according to Irish
and Scottish mythology arrived via Spain. They called themselves "Hiberi"
or "Iberi" and are so named on Ptolemy's Map of Britain. The appellation
"Galatia" (whence is derived "Gallacea") was also rendered as Galadi25
which is the same as Galaad or Gilead the major clan amongst the Tribe of
Menasseh and an important entity in its own right. "GALATIA" is also the
name given to the Celtic area of Northern Gaul often associated with the
Belgae.

It was believed that the original inhabitants of Tartessos had been called
DORIANS. The Dorians in Classical literature were a branch of the Greeks
but in this case the intention is to people coming from the major port of
DOR (on the coast of Israel) and its surrounding area in the territory of
Menasseh. Ammianus Marcellinus (15;19) said that the Tartessians were
Dorians who followed after the Gauls an ancient Hercules and inhabited
those places beside the Ocean. Bochartus using Greek and Latin sources
demonstrates that the Dorians led by Hercules who migrated to Gades and
Tartessus were descendants of a legendary "Dorus and Phoenicius" i.e. of
Dorians and Phoenicians27. He traces them to DOR in Israel and says that
originally they were identified as Galicians (i.e. Galatians). The upshot
of these records is that the original Dorians of Tartessus, the first
settlers of Baetica, and the Galatians were all essentially one and the
same people and that amongst them were members of the Tribe of Menasseh.
"Dor and her towns" had been part of the region inherited by the Tribe of
Menasseh whose original Canaanite inhabitants at first could not be driven
out but were put to tribute (Joshua 17;11-12 Judges 1;27-28). Later the
area was considered Israelite. "All the region of Dor" became one of the 12
administrative districts into which the Land of Israel was divided by King
Solomon and it was governed by Abinadab who "had Taphah the daughter of
Solomon to wife" (1-Kings 4;11). After the Assyrians conquered the northern
kingdom of Israel and exiled all of its inhabitants they divided the land
into about seven provinces one of which was named "Dor". This shows that
"DOR" had once been the appellation of an important area in the former Land
of Israel. Additional proof that the Dorians (of Tarshish) were actually
Israelites from the province of DOR belonging to the Tribe of Menasseh is
found in the Geography of Ptolemy. Ptolemy records the "MENESTHEI
PORTUS"*28, i.e. the PORT OF THE TRIBE OF MENASSEH in the region of the
Turdulorum just to the east of GADES*29 off the southwest coast of Spain!
The Turdulorum are considered to represent remnants of the people of
Tartessos and Later Classical authors IDENTIFIED Gades with Tartessus and
there certainly was some degree of historical and geographical overlap
between the two!. Thus the "Port of the Tribe of Menasseh" is linked with
Tartessus and with the Dorians who were also of Menasseh and arrived with
"Phoenicians" at least some of whom were also Israelite. It is pertinent to
recall that in the territory of Tartessos before it was completely
possessed and colonised by Phoenicians and Israelites there had previously
most likely been an Israelite base. The Israelites may have claimed some
degree of suzerainity over the region. The port of Gibraltar is within the
area most consistently connected with Tartessos and therefore was Israelite
before Spain existed. It may not be a coincidence that to this day
Gibraltar remains British!

In southern Spain the remains of a wall and monumental stone buildings
dating from the 700s b.c.e. (i.e. shortly after the exile) to 600s b.c.e.
have been found. The constructions were built of dressed stone (ashlar) in
a particular style whose closest parallels are to be found in the Israelite
buildings at Samaria and at Ramat Rachel (near Jerusalem) of Judea30. The
finds were made at the site of Toscanas above the estuary of the Rio Velez
(Malaga) near Sexi on the southeast coast. The estimated population of the
settlement was 1000-1500. The place was abandoned by about 550 b.c.e.31
which date was that of Carthaginian and North African incursions.

Metal produced in Baetica (in southeast Spain) was called "Samarian metal"
(Pliny N.H.) after Samaria in Israel32. There was also a port named
"Samarium" in Galatia of northwest Spain. The Samar (Somne) River in north
Gaul and neighbouring city of Samarobriva (Amiens) and the Sambre River
just to their north in Belgium were also named after Samaria in Israel33.

The region of Baetica had once been populated by the Mastieni or Massieni
and these names are known forms of the Israelite "Menasseh"!

The Scottish Declaration of Independence (1320 c.e.), according to the
original Latin, declared that:

"We know, Most Holy Father and Lord, and from the chronicles and
books of the ancients gather, that among other illustrious nations,
ours, to wit the nation of the Scots, has been distinguished by many
honours; which passing from the greater Scythia through the
Mediterranean Sea and Pillars of Hercules, and sojourning in Spain
among the most savage tribes through a long course of time, could
nowhere be subjugated by any people however barbarous; and coming
thence one thousand two hundred years after the outgoing of the
people of Israel, they, by many victories and infinite toil, acquired
for themselves the possessions in the west which they now hold. . . .
In their kingdom one hundred and thirteen kings of their own royal
stock, no stranger intervening, have reigned."
 

IRISH AND SCOTTISH TRADITIONS STATED THAT THEIR ANCESTORS (OR AT LEAST A
GOOD PART OF THEM) CAME FROM SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE EAST VIA SPAIN TO THE
BRITISH ISLES!

Roberts, in "The Brut or The Chronicles of the Kings of Briton": (Date
unknown but claimed to be "one of the oldest histories in the English
language" quoted by Raymond F. McNair, 1963:

"He Bartholome the chief of the 30 ships had his name from a river of
Spain called Eirinnal, on the banks of which they had lived. This chief
related to the king the whole of their adventures, from the time they had
arrived from Israel (Palestine) their original country, and the manner and
circumstances in which their ancestors dwelt in a retired part of
Spain, near Eirnia, from whence the Spaniards drove them to sea to seek
another abode"61.
 

Note that it is stated expressly above that they came originally from
"Israel (Palestine) their original country". Irish and Scottish traditions
recorded waves of invaders two of the most important were the Dana and the
Goidels (Gaels) or Milesians. The Sons of Dana who also migrated to Ireland
and Britain are in another account traced to Lebanon. Nearly every legend
concerning the Gaels ("Milesians") says that their ancestors had been in
Egypt at the time of the Exodus and somehow or other had been linked in the
eyes of the Egyptians with the Children of Israel. After leaving Egypt (the
legends say) the Hiberi (also known as "Gaels", "Goidhels", and
"Milesians") had sojourned in Spain and after being driven into the
northwest of that country had sailed for Ireland.

Biblical passages, archaeological findings, Roman records, Irish legends,
Scottish and British traditions, and place-names all show that a section of
the exiled northern Israelites had been taken in Phoenician ships to
southern Spain. From the south of Spain they had moved to the northwest
into France and British isles.

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