by E. Roymond Capt M.A. A.I.A., F.S.A. SCOT.
ISRAEL MIGRATES
THE CIMMERIAN MIGRATIONS
All historical accounts agree that the Cimmerians were in
the southern areas west of the Black Sea before the Scythians. It
was the Scythians, pushed by the Sarmations, that caused the
Cimmerians to move westward as "Celts" and "Gauls." (the latter
name being given to them by the Romans). It is recorded that a
small section of the Cimmerians merged with a portion of the
Scythians, the progeny of this blend being termed
"Celto-Scythiae" by modern historians.
One branch of the Cimmerians migrated from the Black Sea
region in a north-western direction to the "Low Countries" (now
Belgium, Holland and North-West Germany) to the "German Ocean"
and occupied the tract of land known as "Cimbric Chersonesus,"
now called "Jutland." The Romans called these people "Cimri,"
being an abreviation for Cimmerians. Plutarch in his "Life of
Marius" says "they were called at first Cimmerians and then, not
inappropriately, Cimbri." Poseidonius, (130? - 50 B.C.) the Stoic
philosopher, also records the Cimbri dwelling originally on the
shores of the Black Sea where they had been known to the Greeks
as "Cimmerians."
After entering Europe, the greater part of the Cimmerians
moved up the Danube, through Hungary and Austria, into southern
Germany and France where they became known to the Greeks as
"Celts," though the Romans called them "Gauls." (Diodorus)
Between the seventh and sixth centuries B.C., martial groups
of Celtic tribes had settled in Bohemia and Bavaria. They buried
their warriors accompanied with their iron swords, although
examples of bronze ones have been found of the same period. Their
greater chieftains were entombed in wood-built chambers under
great mounds. (Tumulus)
Material from these tombs has been given the name "Hallstatt
Culture," so-called from the place of that name in the
Salzkammergut area of upper Austria. It was there, in the
nineteenth century A.D., that a very rich cemetery was excavated.
It yielded iron weapons, quantities of fine bronze vessels,
bronze harnesses for horses, and decorated pottery of Greek and
Etruscan workmanship. Often, the pottery vessels were filled with
joints of pork and beef.
Modern archaeology has identified such settlements as
"Celtic" and existing some centuries before the Cimmerians
migrated from Asia Minor. This has caused somewhat of an
archeological problem.
However, the problem is solved when one understands that
these earlier settlers in Western Europe and the British Isles
were, in fact, the vanguard of the Cimmerian Celts. It would be
more appropriate to refer to them as "Proto-Celts."(These earlier
migrations were covered in previous chapters.)
Excavations of houses of the Hallstatt period revealed that
some were huts of the crudest kind, but that others compare well
with the houses of prosperous farmers of today. An example of the
best type of house is one excavated at Newhausel, Czechoslovakia.
The group of buildings on this estate covers an area of about
ninety by ninetyfive feet and consists of several attached houses
for living and farm purposes. The roofs were covered with thatch,
and the framework of the buildings were constructed of carefully
jointed timbers. The earthen floors were covered with sand. The
long halls, stables and barns leave little doubt that this
establishment was the property of some wealthy farmer.
The acquisition of iron, knowledge of which may have come up
though the Balkans, undoubtedly made these people the most
powerful north of the Alps, allowing them to become overlords of
the earlier immigrants. The iron ax enabled them to clear the
forest lands. The iron plow, drawn by oxen, broke virgin soil,
giving a surplus of grain and vegetables that spurred the growth
of population and sent them wandering in quest of fresh fields
and pastures.
The imported goods found in the Hallstatt tombs were the
result of export trade in salt which was mined, and extracted
from springs, at the head of the Salzkammergut valley. The value
of salt in the contemporary world may be gauged by the wealth of
exotic objects received in trade. Gold ornaments, and cups of
native manufacture, bear witness to an accumulation of wealth
among their chieftains which they had not previously enjoyed.
From the opening of the fourth century B.C., when the Celtic
tribes invaded northern Italy, these people come closer within
the range of written history so that archaeological evidence can
be filled out through the observations of Greek and Latin
writers. The Roman historian Sallust, in recording the series of
defeats of the Romans at the hands of the Cimbri, stated they
were "Gauls." Other Roman historians repeatedly spoke of the
Cimbri as a "Celtic tribe." Seemingly, modern historians have
been unable to accept the clear and consistent historical
witnesses to the effect that the Cimbri in Jutland and the Celts
and Gauls in France have a common ancestry in the Cimmerians who
had once been known to the Greeks on both sides of the Black Sea.
Tacitus and Pliny, supported by modern archaeological
research, state that all the tribes dwelling along the North Sea
Coast from Holland to Denmark were a single ethnic group which
they called "Ingaevones." From this we may conclude that the
historical Frisians, Chauci and Cimbri (mentioned by early
historians) were of one stock; not only of Cimmerian but
originally of Israelitish origin. Archaeology indicates that
these people first arrived on the shores of the North Sea about
300-250 B.C.
Among the first settlers were the "Terp-dwellers" who
migrated westward from northern Germany. They found lush meadows
of salt-loving grasses which were attractive to herdsmen. To
protect their homes and cattle against flooding at high tides,
these people built artificial mounds of turf sod which are called
"terpen." The height of most of these ancient mounds had been
raised over the centuries by successive generations of farmers,
until some stood as much as twenty feet above sea-level.
Excavations on a number of Terp-sites reveal that both
houses and stables were under one roof, the stalls being arranged
along both sides of a central aisle. One of these farmsteads was
found to be 23 and 1/2 feet wide and 79 feet long with stalls for
housing as many as fifty-two cows. The oldest phase of this
"Terpen-culture" extended from 300 to 50 B.C., after which a
change in the style of pottery indicated the arrival of new
immigrants from the east. It is possible the new arrival were
Anglo-Saxons. (Scythians)
By the end of the third century B.C., the Celts, or "Gauls"
as the Romans called them, filled the whole of Central Europe and
North Italy, from the Apennines to Brittany. It is about this
period that they first came under the scrutiny of the historians,
for so greatly had the Celtic tribes increased in number, that
their migrations to more extensive lands caused a general
commotion. They crossed the Alps and Apennines, and overran
Central and Southern Italy. It was they who overthrew and
destroyed the Etruscan power, a state exceeding that of Rome both
in civilization and extent.
The Gauls attacked the Romans in consequent of the latter
refusing justice in the case of a Gaulish chief (who aided the
Etruscans) being slain by a Roman. Rome was sacked and burned (in
390 B.C.) by the Gaulish leader Brennus or "Bran." Rome continued
to be harassed by the Gauls for almost 200 years. Previous to the
battle of Sentinum, the Gauls had never fought a Roman army
without conquering them. (Arnold's History of Rome, vol. p.521)
Milan, Brixen, and Verona were founded by Gauls, while
another stream of the Celtic race poured over the great Central
European plain.
A little later, about 280 B.C., vast hordes of Gauls from
Central Europe invaded the western portion of Asia Minor, the
whole of which for many years they ravaged at leisure. They
permanently maintained themselves in Phrygia, and gave their name
to the northern portion, which became known as "Galatia." This is
the region mentioned in Acts 16:6. Most Bible scholars fail to
recognize, in reading the Epistle to the Galatians that it was
written to a race of the Celts. (Cimmerian Israelites) They
formed the "second" influx into Asia Minor. Thus, as Professor
Rawlinson remarks, "these two great invasions into Asia Minor
proceeded from the same identical race," (App. Bk. iv) in the
first instance called "Cimmerians," in the second, "Gauls."
In the century before Caesar, the Gauls again attacked the
Romans, joining forces with their kinsmen, the Teutons from the
north. In five battles they defeated five Roman consuls. For many
years they ravaged all the country from the Rhine to the
Pyrenees. Then they spread into Spain, where they were repulsed
by a mingled branch of their own stock, the Iberians. They were
finally defeated by the Roman Marius (102 B.C.) at Aix and Milan.
From 200,000 to 300,000 were destroyed in these battles. After
this slaughter, Rome triumphantly held sway until the third
century of our era, when Europe was again overrun by the
so-called barbarians, Goths and Huns, for some 300 years.
As the Celts and Gauls expanded into the remote parts of
Europe and into Britain and Ireland, they created individual
rural communities. These groups were bound to each other in a
close system of family relationships and social obligations to
serve and protect one another, the whole bound together by ritual
and magical sanctions. One notable example of Celtic ritualistic
culture is found in the votive deposits excavated at La Tene, at
the northeastern end of the Lake of Neuchatel, north of the Alps.
During the nineteenth century the lowering of the lake level
revealed timber posts and a great quantity of iron weapons, but
relatively few other objects. It is now considered that this was
a votive deposit on a large scale. Subsequent discoveries of
other such tombs yielding ritual offerings bear out the testimony
of Classical writers who ascribe this kind of practice to the
Celts.
The votive deposit at la Tene was made in the second century
B.C., however, the term "La Tene Culture" has been applied to
similiar deposits found to be of earlier periods. (going back to
about 500 B.C.). From chieftains' tombs, mainly in the
vicinity of Koblenz, have been found some of the earliest and
finest examples of metal work, gold and bronze, in the La Tene
style. Drinking vessels, helmets, and chariot fittings were among
the principle fields for this new artistry in brass, while gold
was rendered into neck ornaments, the torc, and bracelets. It is
by means of such art craft that the Celtic tribes are traced into
Britain and Ireland.
The houses of the La Tene period had much the same
construction as those of today. Wood was the primary building
material and in the better houses iron clamps were used to bind
the wooden posts to the stone foundations. The style of
architecture differed from place to place. The method of heating
the houses had improved from the Hallstatt period which utilized
small hearth fires. The La Tene people had primitive fireplaces
with chimneys. Stoves of clay with oaken frames walled in with
bricks on a clay foundation to heat the rooms. At Grossgartach,
Wurttemberg, Germany, diggers found an excellent example of fine
farm buildings, consisting of several small rectangular and round
wattle-and-daub houses for living and farm purposes.
In Caesar's time, France, or "Gallia" as it was called, was
divided into three large tribes; the "Belgae," "the Gauls," and
the "Acquitanae." Of these the Gallic tribes were the most
extensive and indigenous. By their name, the whole country was
known to the Greeks and Romans - the word "Galli" or "Gaul" being
the Latinized form of the native term "Gael." The Belgae were in
the north-east of France, the Gauls occupied the central portion,
and the Acquitanae were between the Garonne (or the Loire) and
the Pyrenees and are supposed to have come from the Iberian stock
of Spain.
The name "Iberes" (the Gaelic name for Hebrews) was carried
by Celtic peoples from Spain to Ireland. They named their new
island home, "Hibernai," a name that still exists. However, the
name "Scotia" is, by ancient historians, applied to Ireland more
often than any other name. Orosius, a third century geographer,
used the term "Hibernia, the nation of the Scoti." The ancient
poets and seanachies (historians) of Ireland claim the name
"Scotia" was derived from "Scota," queen-mother of the Milesians.
(Story of the Irish Race, MacManus pg.192) Undoubtedly this was
Scota, the daughter of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah. Scota
married a Milesian prince in Egypt and their son, Eochaidh
(Heremon or Eremon) married Tea Tephi and founded a dynasty in
Ireland. (See Jacob's Pillar - Capt).
About 300 years before the Christian Era, "Scots" (Celts)
from Ireland, under Fergus I, invaded the western side of North
Britain. They were expelled in A.D. 203 by the Picts with their
allies the Britains. However, in 403 A.D., under Fergus II, the
Scots took possession of Argyle and the Hebrides. For the next
four centuries, fierce and relentless war was carried on between
the two nations.
By A.D.848 the Scots gained complete control, exterminating
vast numbers of the Picts and setting up their own king, Kenneth
MacAlpin, on the throne of Scotland.
During this time, it appears the general term "Celt"
comprised the Cimmerii or Cymry; the Gael or Gauls; the Belgae
and several minor tribes, all being the primitive inhabitants of
Gaul, Belgium, the British Isles and probably parts of Spain and
Portugal. Descendants of these people now inhabit Scotland,
Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, France, and to a
lesser degree, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. Perhaps the closest
living representatives of the ancient Celts are those who
retreated to the fastness of Wales. To this day, they cling to
their ancient language and traditions with patient tenacity.
The Celts never seemed to have been wholly domesticated. The
agricultural and pastoral life never completely supplanted their
inclination for hunting and warfare, which was the basis for a
Celtic aristocracy. Their farms on the uplands of France and
Germany and the downs of southern England seldom comprised more
than 20 acres in all. Usually their dwellings were primitive
thatched houses of timber, twigs and clay. Later, sometime in the
second century B.C., defensible clusters of dwellings began to be
grouped together in southern France and in central Europe.
The Celts relied for static defense on hilltop forts, the
remains of which are found scattered throughout western Europe.
Some of these were improvised earthworks. Others were elaborate
fortifications of stone, which provided a refuge for their
families and animals. While the defenses provided adequate
protection against marauders, they could not resist Roman siege
catapults.
In his "Commentaries of the Gallic War," Julius Caesar
describes how easy it was to capture them.
The Celtic lands of Ireland and Wales were never subdued by
Roman arms. Eventually, allied with the Church of Rome, Celtic
Ireland formed the base for one of its most secure and loyal
strong holds. Throughout the Saxon and subsequent Danish and
Norse invasions (during the 500 years after the Roman exodus) a
substantial proportion of the Celts stayed on their lands to
mingle their blood and folkways with those of their new masters.
When the last invader of England, the Normans, crossed the
channel from France (A.D.1066) they found a native people who
were strongly tinged with Celtic stock and traditions.
Although it is widely taught that no trace of an original
Celtic written language exists, there is evidence that the early
Proto-Celts, who landed in Ireland by sea, in addition to
speaking Hebrew had a written language - Ogham. Several hundred
Ogham inscriptions have been found in Britain and Ireland. The
majority of these alphabetic inscriptions were found on stones in
southwest Ireland (Kerry and Cork). One early example of Ogham
script is found on a panel in the Memorial Chapel of the Place
Manor Church in Cornwall and is dated not later than the end of
the first century A.D.
Deciphering of Ogham (grooved writing) was made possible by
ancient Irish manuscripts, the most notable one being the "Book
of Ballymore" believed to have been assembled about eight hundred
years ago. It is a collection of miscellaneous manuscripts, the
last being known as the "Ogham Tract." It deals with about
seventy varieties of ancient Celtic script, called collectively
by the name "Ogham." It is suggested, by some scholars, that this
name is derived from an ancient Greek word "ogme," meaning
"groove."
Ogham writing, as set out in the Ogham Tract, is an alphabet
comprising fifteen consonants and five vowels, together with a
few other signs representing double letters such as the sound
"ng," and diphthongs. It has inumerable permutations (changes in
arrangement of position) similar to shorthand. The letters are
constructed from single parallel strokes or notches placed in
sets of one to five, in positions above, across, or below a guide
line. Often the guide line is the edge of an upright stone.
Following are examples of early Ogham script in Ireland and
Cornwall, England.
(Capt's book is full of photos and diagrams and drawings - not
produced to save space - Keith Hunt)
Irish Ogham appears only in inscriptions believed to
postdate the time of Christ. Ogham script found in Iberia (Spain)
and in America have fewer consonants and omits the vowels and
appear to date from around 800 B.C. and upwards.
By means of reviewing Ogham inscriptions, it can be seen the
Celts visited or settled in parts of the United States about the
same time Celts started moving into Ireland from Iberia. (Spain
and Portugal) They came by way of the Canary Islands, sailing the
trade winds, as Columbus also was to do long afterward. They were
not venturing into the unknown. During the preceeding thousand
years, ancient Hebrew-Phoenicians, Libyan and Egyptian mariners
had visited and in some instances established small colonies.
This is evident by the hundreds of lapidary (stone) inscriptions
found in several languages (i.e., Phoenician, Iberian-Punic,
Libyan and Egyptian hieroglyphs) antedating the Celtic Ogham
inscriptions.
Descendants of these visitors are found among some of the
eastern and central Indian tribes, several of which employ
dialects in part from ancient Phoenician and North African
nations.
"The Celts seem first to have settled near the mouths of rivers
of New England, as at North Salem on a branch of the Merrimac
River - in southern New Hampshire. At some time, they ascended
the Connecticut River, sailing as far north as Quechee, Vermont,
where a western branch of the river joins the main stream through
a precipitous gorge. Attracted doubtless by the seclusion of the
uplands beyond the gorge, the Celts turned westward and colonized
the hanging valleys of the Green Mountains. 'Quechee,'
incidentally, perpetuates the ancient Gaulish pronunciation of
the Celtic word 'Quithe,' meaning chasm or pit, and the river
that flows through the gorge, the Ottauquechee, similarly is an
Amerindian rendering of the Celtic name meaning
'Water-of-the-Chasm.'" (America B.C. - Barry Fell 1976).
The Celtic Ogham inscriptions are usually found on huge
stone boulders left upon the land by the retreating glaciers at
the end of the last ice age. Publicity concerning ancient
inscriptions (in the 1970s) resulted in searches for additional
inscriptions by archaeologists and history buffs. The result was
the discovery, in the last decade, of hundreds of new
inscriptions from localities often thousands of miles apart and
in a context that precludes any possibility of fraud. These new
discoveries, together with Runic (Germanic-Scythian writings)
inscriptions, have altered our thinking that America was unknown
to the Old World before the Celts, Vikings and other Norsemen.
The Celtic language still exists. Today, four Celtic
dialects are spoken in Britain: Welsh, Gaelic, Erse or Irish, and
Manx. Welsh is used in Wales for religious services and is the
official language for all documents of the Welsh Nationalist
Party. Gaelic lingers on in the western Highland and islands of
Scotland. Erse or Irish is the official government language and
Manx is spoken in the tiny Isle of Man in the Irish Sea. In
Brittany (France) the Breton language (a mixture of Old Welsh and
Old Cornish) brought to France from the southwest of England in
the fifth century A.D., is still widely spoken.
The Las Lunnas Decalogue inscription (New Mexico) is an
example of early Hebrew script resembling Phoenician writing
(cir. 1000 B.C.) under Greek influence. The inscription, on the
face of a large stone, consists of nine lines, reading from right
to left. It is a summary of the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20:
2-17. An English translation reads:
"I am Yahweh your God that brought you out of the lands of
Egypt.
1. You shall not have any other gods besides me.
2. You shall not make for yourself any graven image.
3. You shall not take the name of Yahweh in vain.
4. Remember the day of the Sabbath, to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be
long on the land which Yahweh your God is giving to you.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not testify against your neighbor as a false
witness.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor
anything of your neighbor's."
We note the name YAHWEY for God appears three times in the
inscription, and in line two both YAHWEY and ELOHIM (Gods)
appear. A comparison of the archaic Tetragrammaton revealed in
column 10 of the 100 B.C. Habbakuk Commentary from Qumran Cave I
with the Las Lunnas inscription vouches for the authenticity and
age of the latter.
..................
To be continued
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