BRITISH-ISRAEL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 4620, 10 March 1936, Page 4

BRITISH-ISRAEL.

EXPOSITORY COLUMN. BY D.S.M. No. 48. MIGRATIONS OP VARIOUS NONISRAELITE RACES. If it bo true, as we contend, that the Israelites of the ancient Kingdom of Israel, not only those who left their homeland as colonists and fugitives, but also those who were taken captive by the Assyrians, eventually found their way to the British Isles, then it should be equally possible to trace the origin of various other European races which came from the East. This Hannay does in his “European and Other Race Origins,” and we propose briefly to set forth ’ his findings. This we do because, whereas among orthodox historians and ethnologists there is a variety of conflicting opinions, Hannay has struck but on new lines. His conclusions are sometimes a little startling, but his argument is so well reasoned, giving due weight to the causes of orthodox differences of opinion, that his .thesis is worthy of consideration. He does not claim to prove. He points out possibilities and strong probabilities. MISRAYIM, MASSAGETAE, GOTHS.

Perhaps the most surprising chapter is that which traces the origin and fate of the Massagetae, who are mentioned by Herodotus as living east of the Caspian Sea. These were the people, who, under Queen Tomyris defeated and slew .Cyrus the Great. Conventional opinion divided the word into Massa-Getae, but Hannay divides it into Mas-Sagetae, the Wanderers of Mas, or Masr. He points out that the land of the Nile became called Egypt only about the period of the Assyrian invasions, and that the ancient name was Masr, and that the ancient inhabitants were Misrayim. Certain prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel foretold the captivity of the Misrayim (translated Egyptians) by Nebuchadnezzar. He claims that these prophecies were literally fulfilled and that Nebuchadnezzar did, about 560 8.C., transport to Babylon the bulk of the Misrayim.

During the reign of Nabonidus, a few years later, when the priestly class in Babylon were intriguing with Cyrus the Persian, the MasGaluthas (Captives of Mas) took the other side, thereby incurring the enmity of Cyrus. During those troubled times, they took the opportunity to escape from Babylon, and “made their debut in Airyn and Turan as Mas-Galutha: roaming about the whole country, and settling down from time to time in any region where they could find sustenance . . . long subsequently, when into the name Sagetae had been imported the idea of “nomads,” they became known to the Greeks as the ancient Mas-Sagetae, or Wanderers

of Mas.” That is, he says that they Avere not knoAvn as Massagetae until long after they had left Asia. Hannay believes that the Massagetae Avere indentical Avith the Getae Avho inhabited the valley of the Danube, and Avere subjugated by Darius Hystaspes about B.C. 509. Subsequently, about B.C. 350, they began to leave the Danube, and by B.C. 100 Avere present at the mouth of the Vistula on the Baltic coast, as Guttones, or Goths. “About A.D. 220, the entire Gothic race, as is well-knoivn, Avere suddenly and violently expelled from their Baltic settlements and precipitated southward upon the Danubian province of Rome. . . . Eventually they divided into two great bodies —the Ostro-Goths and the Vis-Goths . . . the former . . .

migrated to Italy, and, after effecting its conquest, permanently settled doAvn there and lost their name: and how the Visi-Goths v alsp became eventually absorbed into the general mass of humanity in Europe need not be described.”

It may be noted that certain British Israel writers claim that the Massagetae, Getae, and Goths Avere Israelites. Hannay disagrees Avith this. He draAVs a sharp distinction betAveen the Goths and the Gotar (pronounced Yotar) Avho were Israelites, and some of Avhom migrated to Britain.

ISHuMAELITEiS AMD PRUSSIANS Although it is commonly supposed that the Arabs are descended from Ishmael, Hannay quotes Palgrave, who shows that the inhabitants of Arabia claim to be descended from Joktan. Ishmael was the son of Abraham, who was descended, not from Joktan, but from Joktan’s brother Peleg. (Genesis 10 :25, and chapter 11.) The Ishmaelites originally occupied Arabia Petraea as Nabathens (Nabaioth, the eldest son of Ishmael), and traded, through the port of Smyrna in Asia Minor with the city of Brousa, or Prusa in Bithynia. The caravans must needs pass by Mount Teuthras, called after the Misric deity Thoth, or Teut. The Teutones were allied to the Kimbri in BJO. 113.

When later the Borussi, or Prussi, arrived in Germany, they were also known as Sharakyoun, or Saraceni. The explanation is as follows. The Nagatheans were also called Eharakyoun, or Children of the East. When in A.lD 1 . 37-41 they left Aragia Petraea, they sojourned for a time east of the Caspian Sea, and then east of the Sea of Azov, where they came in conflict with the Romans in A.D. 50, and again in A.D. 109. Ultimately they effected a junction with the Prussi, their old trading colony, and are now known as Prussians.

Hannay says that “Teutonic” is not a true synonym of “Germanic”

and can strictly be applied only to the Prussians. MEDES AND SLAVS: PERSIANS AND GERMANS. Space forbids more than the bald statement that the Northern Medes are traced to the SauroMatai (Sauro, northern and Matai, Medes) or Sarmatians, and, ultimately, Slavs. The Medes were, according to Hannay, a mixture of Allans and Turanians, and further, on reaching Europe became superimposed upon the aboriginal Broadhcixcls. As for the German race, there is great confusion of thought, beginning from the ancient historians, who lumped together in the generic name “German” all the various races which occupied the country now known as Germany. Hannay has excluded the Prussians, and as we shall see later, the Israelite elements from the list, and finds that the Germans proper are the modern representatives of the ancient Persians. Of course, there are many Germans outside Germany.