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Various Traditions #17 by Yair Davidiy adapted from: "Lost Israelite Identity. The Israelite Origin of Celtic Races" (1996). THE CHRONICLES OF ERI Celtic Histories should be considered as rationalized synthetic compendiums of several traditions. They appear to be genuine traditions that have passed through a process of rationalization, i.e. the authors took available traditions and put them together in a framework that was consider to be historical at the time. These Histories we have quoted from are rationalized synthetic compendiums of several traditions that contain genuine skeleton of historical fact. There is some truth in these Histories and we have been able to discern this truth especially where it concerns proof of Israelite origins. An example of genuine Historical tradition mixed with literary additions and imaginations is found in the Chronicles of Eri. 'The Chronicles of Eri, being the history of the Gaal Sciot Iber, or the Irish People, translated from the Phoenician dialect of the Scythian language', by Roger O' Connor were published in London in two volumes in 1822. It is not certain what sources this work is based upon but internal evidence indicates that it derived from similar ancient traditions as do other works of Irish Tradition. The very title says that it is 'translated from the Phoenician dialect of the Scythian language.' There is no 'Phoenician dialect of the Scythian language' but the language of the Lost Ten Tribes before they were exiled was a Hebrew dialect similar to the Phoenician language. They also sojourned in Scythia. When the Israelites were exiled they moved westward by two major pathways: (1) Sea-Way: One pathway was connected to the Phoenicians who transported captive Israelites overseas to Spain and from Spain they later moved to Ireland and Britain. (2) Scythian Overland: The other pathway was connected to the Scythians who from the Middle East moved through Russia and Germany to the British Isles. The exiled Israelites from the Lost Ten Tribes were either Scythians or they joined up with the Scythians and traveled with them. They moved with them and identified with them. 'The Chronicles of Eri' identifies the Scythians as a people who used the Phoenician dialect and since the Phoenician dialect really was a dialect of Hebrew 'The Chronicles' may be suggesting that they spoke a dialect of Hebrew. 'The Chronicles of Eri' DO NOT identify the Celts with the Hebrews BUT if one takes 'The Chronicles of Eri' seriously then one could draw the conclusion that the ancient Irish Celts were either Hebrews or related to them. 'The Chronicles of Eri' mention facts that in recent times have been confirmed by archaeology but were not known in 1822 when the Chronicles were first published. The Chronicle says that the Gaali had been in Armenia, and the Caucasus. They were traders and metallurgists, and archers. They were oppressed by the Assyrians and fled via Hamath in northern Syria. Hamath adjoined 'Daphne of Antiochia' which in effect was a suburb of Hamath. Hamath in Northern Syria or rather 'Daphne of Antiochia' was considered by the Talmud as one of three regions through which the Lost Ten Tribes were taken into exile. The Chronicles tells how the Gaali sailed to Spain which was then ruled by the Phoenicians who in turn were directed from (Assyrian-controlled?) Hamath. [This is the same as what we have been saying in our researches based on different sources.] In Spain the Galli moved from the southern area of Tartessos to Galatia in the northwest. They shook off Phoenician control. Together with the Phoenicians from their base in Spain they had established mining operations in Cornwall, in Britain. Some of them moved to Aquitaine in Gaul. Due to war and famine, those of the Galli who were in Spanish Galatia emigrated to Ireland. Though not Phoenicians they worshiped God under the form of baal, received instruction in Phoenician ways, bore Hebrew-sounding names and they had Israelite-values such as an aversion to images and other characteristics. The Chronicles connect up with a verse in Isaiah: 'They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD. They shall cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore, glorify the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea ' (Isaiah 24:14-15). 'CRY ALOUD FROM THE SEA': In Hebrew the word 'from the sea' ('me-yam') also means 'from the west'. The major sea was to the West. The Aramaic Translation and Commentators say it means the exiles who will be in the West in the Last Days. Then it goes on to speak of the isles of the Sea meaning Britain. [Isaiah 24:15] WHEREFORE GLORIFY YE THE LORD IN THE FIRES, EVEN THE NAME OF THE LORD GOD O ISRAEL IN THE ISLES OF THE SEA. The verse speak of Israel being in the West, being in the Isles of the Sea and also being in Isles in which fires can be seen in the Isles of the Sea, through which God should be worshipped. According to "The Chronicles of Eri" the Gaali of Sciot (the people he is speaking of) had the custom of lighting beacon fires on the coasts. 'All the headlands and promontories belonging to the Gaal of Sciot on the northwest coast of Spain were called in the Phoenician language Breoccean, that is, The Land of Flaming Fires, because of the blaze that was kept up and could be seen at a great distance out to sea. The same custom was observed on the coast of Cornwall and Devonshire after the Gaal of Sciot joined with the Phoenicians in their mining operations there, and that land was called Breotan, Breo meaning Flaming Fire ' [cf. 'BIAR ' = burn in Hebrew]. We thus find that the people known as the Gaaal of Sciot, the people whom the Chronicles claim were the ancestors of the Irish and Scots, that this people had the custom of lighting fires that could be seen out to sea. They practiced this custom when they were in northwest Spain and later on the southwest coast of Britain when they set up mining operations in that area. We find elsewhere that this practice was known throughout Britain. A Polish Linguist named Piotr Gasiorowski reports that the ancient British were in the custom of lighting fires on the hilltops that could be seen out to sea: Piotr Gasiorowski: # I think the tradition of erecting hilltop cairns and mounds as orientation marks, and of using beacon fires for long-distance communication was very strong in Celtic (also Roman) Britain; the landscape of much of the country is as suitable for this purpose as could be. One trace of that is the occurrence of the Brythonic element tan- 'fire' (Welsh tan) in hill names (there are many Tan Hills in England). -- not only in ancient times but all through history down to the invention of the telegraph. For example, a network of beacons set up on hilltops was used in England in 1588 to signal the approach of the Spanish Armada, and once it was spotted off the Scillies [islands southwest of Cornwall in southwest Britain] the news reached the English commanders in no time at all. # We thus find confirmation of the report in the Chronicles of Eri. We also see that England was known as a place on which beacons, flames, were lit on the hilltops that could be seen out to sea and we have Isaiah identifying the exiled of Israel with fires that could be seen from the sea and were in the Isles of the Sea and Britain was known for this custom in Celtic Times and later. We are renewing our study of the Chronicles of Eri and may have more to say on the subject at a later date. |
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