Various Traditions # 2 by
Yair
Davidiy
THE
ISRAELITE INVADERS OF IRELAND:
Fomorians and Nemedians
The Immigrating Tribes to Ireland according to Tradition, came in waves. Irish
records speak of the Fomorians, Nemedians, Dana, and Milesian Hiberii.
The
Fomorians
Among the first settlers of Ireland were the Fomorians. One
version says that they were Scandinavians but most accounts claim that they
arrived from North Africa. There was always a connection between Ireland,
North Africa, and the Middle East. This is reflected in linguistic factors.
The goddess of the Fomorians was Domnu and their leader was
Balar.
[Domnu is the name of a demon known from the folklore of Israel and the Middle East.
Balar
is recognized as another form of the name "Baal".]
The Fomorians were sea-orientated, dominated by females, and piratical.
Bres and his son Elatha were Fomorians.
Tory Island of the coast of Donegal in Northwest Ireland was a Fomorian base.
Later Irish literature speaks of the Fomorians in a negative fashion and
associates
them with the Irish landworking class.
The Tuatha De Danann (Tribe of Dana) defeated the Fomorians and intermarried
with them.
Nemedians:
The Fir Bolg
-Belgae
After the Fomorians and Dana arrived the Nemedians. The name NEMED means
sanctified or separated and is synonymous with the Hebrew "Peresh" which name
was given to the son of Gilead from the
Tribe of Menasseh (1-Chronicles 7:16). The Nemedians were said to be descendants
of Sru, Sera, and Isru. "Sera-(li)" is how the Assyrians rendered the name Israel
in at least one inscription. These names and "ISRU" especially are all forms of
the name ISRAEL.
The Nemedians split into three groups:
1. Britan who went to Britain:
2. Semion who fathered the Fir Bolg; and
3. Bethac who left Ireland and fathered the Tribe of Dana who later returned.
According to some versions Semion had never been in Ireland only
his descendants were. The name Semion equates the Hebrew Simeon son of
Israel. Ptolemy recalled the Tribe of Semoni on the southeast coast of
Britain. They adjoined the Iceni (Ikeni) whose name may be understood to be
a Phoenician (or North Israelite) form of the appellation Jachin son of
Simeon (Genesis 46;10). The Welsh in their own and in Irish Literature were
referred to as Semoni.
The Fir Bolg (descendants of Semion) in turn divided into three:
1. THE FIR
BOLG
PROPER:
"Fir" means men and Bolg derived from the Hebrew Bela(g)h
son of
Benjamin (Genesis 46;21). Bela(g)h was also a family head in the Tribe of
Reuben (1-Chronicles 5;8).
The Fir Bolg are identified by researchers with the Belgae who in
the 100s BCE sent colonists from their base in North Gaul into southern
Britain where they were reported by Ptolemy.
T.F. O' Rahilly idenfitied the Belgae in Ireland with the Erain (Iverni in the southwest), Ulaid (Ulster), and other groups.
The Belgae gave their name to Belgium.
Aspects of Belgae culture in Gaul reveal Phoenician traits.
The Gesta Treverorum (Deeds of the Treveri, an ongoing chronicle began in the 1100s CE) says the Belgae descended from Trebeta son of Ninus King of Assyria.
"Ninus" in folklore is often taken to represent the Assyrians at the time they exiled the Ten Tribes of Israel.
Within the Land of Israel the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half
Menasseh at an early stage had formerly expanded their territories up to
and perhaps even beyond the Euphrates River. Sections of other Israelite
tribes, including Benjamin, were also to be found in the Israelite areas
between the Jordan and Euphrates Rivers. Ptolemy in his map of "Arabia"
records the existence of Israelite clan and territorial names in areas
adjoining the Euphrates. Amongst these names are BALAGEA and BELGINAEA
WHICH APPELLATIONS RELATE TO THE BELGAE DESCENDANTS OF BELA(g)H FROM
BENJAMIN (GENESIS 46:21) and/or REUBEN OF ISRAEL (1-Chronicles 5:8).
2.
GALIOIN:
The Galioin were another section of the Fir
Bolg and their name
is considered as cognate to that of the Gaels and Galli (Gauls).
These names in Hebrew connote both "Exile" ("Goli", "Gali") and Galilee.
3. THE FIR
DOMNU:
The people of Domnu are somehow also connected with the Fomorians who
were sometimes referred to as "gods of Domnu". Domnu was the Fomorian goddess.
According to Ptolemy, the Dumnonii were to be found in Devon, Cornwall, and
Scotland
and in those areas ethnic names recall DAN.
We may assume that the Fomorians, Dana, and Nemedians all contained elements of
Dan.
Other Israelite Tribal contingents were also present including Simeon and
Reuben.
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