Were the Greeks Israelites?

Were the Greeks Israelites? Why does the New Testament use the phrase "Jew and Greek" so often? Did Greek mythology come from the Bible? Were the Spartans related to Abraham? Was Samson the legendary Hercules? Were Jason and the Argonauts Danites? Was Sybil an Israelite prophetess?


In the New Testament the word "Hellen" occurs 32 times and is translated "GREEK" 26 times and "GENTILE" 6 times. It is never translated "NON-ISRAELITE." Therefore "Hellen" can refer to Israelite people.. For instance, John 7:35 says, "will He go to the DISPERSED among the gentiles ("hellen"), and teach the gentiles" ("hellen"). The word "hellen" here must mean ISRAELITE Greeks in the second instance because Christ said, "I am not sent but unto the LOST SHEEP of the house of ISRAEL" (Matt.15:24). First Corinthians 10:32 says, "Give none offense, neither to the JEWS, nor the gentiles ("hellen"), nor to the church of God." "Hellen" could mean ISRAELITE or non-Israelite here. Paul was writing a letter to the Corinthians in Greece and there were three types of people who lived there. In Romans 1:16 and 2:9-10 we find the phrase "to the JEW first, and also to the gentile" used three times. In each case it should be translated "to the JEW first, and also to the Greek" ("Hellen"). "Hellen" means ISRAELITE here.

"Jew and Greek"

In the Old Testament the subject was the "House of JUDAH" and the "House of ISRAEL." In the New Testament the subject is "JEW" and "GREEK." Why GREEK? Why not Chinese, African, or Indian? Because many of the DISPERSED ISRAELITES were living in GREECE! God commanded Amos to "Go, Prophesy unto my people ISRAEL" (Amos 7:14-15) -- not "gentiles." God commissioned Micah "to declare ... to ISRAEL his sin" (Micah 3:8). Ezekiel was told, "Son of man, I send thee to the children of ISRAEL" (Ez.2:3). Christ said, "I was not sent but unto the LOST SHEEP of the HOUSE of ISRAEL" (Matt.15:24). Christ told his disciples, "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter not; But go, rather, to the LOST SHEEP of the HOUSE of ISRAEL" (Matt.10:5-6).

When the New Testament speaks of the "ELECT" and the "fore-ordained," the Old Testament defines these terms as ISRAEL. "YOU ONLY have I known of ALL the FAMILIES of the EARTH" (Amos 3:2). "And I will bring forth a seed out of JACOB, and out of JUDAH an inheritor of My mountains: and mine ELECT shall inherit, and My servants shall dwell there" (Isa. 65:9-10). Therefore the GREEKS must have been ISRAELITES.

"Hecataeus (of Abdera, a Greek historian of early 3rd cent. BC), therefore, tells us that the Egyptians, formerly, being troubled by calamities, in order that the divine wrath might be averted, expelled all the aliens gathered together in Egypt. Of these, some under the leaders Danaus and Cadmus, migrated into Greece; others into other regions, the greater part into Syria. Their leader is said to have been Moses, a man renowned for wisdom and courage, founder and legislator of the state. Afterwards, many Mosaic institutes followed." (Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum II 385, quoted in Diodorus and translated by Max Muller). Yes, the Bible associates Dan with Greece. "Dan also and Javan (Greece) going to and fro occupied in thy fairs; bright iron, cassia, and calamus were in thy market" (Ez. 27:19). Also "Asher continued on the seashore, and abode in his creeks" (Judges 5:1). And "Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships." (Gen. 49:13).

Dan, formerly the second largest of the twelve tribes in population (Numbers 1), does not appear in any of the geneologies of Israel given in the eartly chapters of the Book of Chronicles. Hardly any Bible mention is made of Dan after the period of the Judges. What is more likely to account for this almost complete silence than Dan's almost complete withdrawal from Israel to Britain (as Irish Danaans), stopping en route in Greece (as Danaoi), Italy and Spain, and naming many places by the way as landmarks of Israel? (Jer. 31:21)

In 1852, Dr. R.G. Latham, an ethnologist of his time and probably the only man in England to be placed alongside Max Muller, said: "Neither do I think that the eponymus of the Argive Danai was other than that of the Israelites of the tribe of Dan; only we are so used to confine ourselves to the soil of Palestine in our consideration of the history of the Israelites that we treat them as if they were adscripti gledae, and ignore the share they may have taken in the ordinary history of the world. Like the priests of a great sanctity, they are known in the holy places only -- yet the seaports between Tyre and Ascalon, of Dan, Ephraim and Asher, must have followed the history of seaports in general, and not have stood on the coast for nothing. What a light would be thrown on the origin of the name Pelop-o-nesus, and the history of the Pelop-id family, if a bona-fide nation of Pelopes, with unequivocal affinities, and contemporary annals had existed on the coast of Asia! Who would have hesitated to connect the two? Yet with the Danai and the tribe of Dan this is the case, and no one connects them." (Ethnology of Europe p.137)

Spartans Are Abraham's Kindred

In1 Maccabees 12:20-22 we read that the SPARTANS and JEWS are both ABRAHAM'S children. Josephus repeats this episode and adds an important detail: "Areus, King of the Lacedemonians, to Onias, sendeth greeting ... we have discovered that both the JEWS and the Lacedemonians (SPARTANS) are of one stock, and are derived from the kindred of ABRAHAM ... This letter is four-square; and the seal is an EAGLE, with a DRAGON in his claws"(Ant.12:4:10). That is the tribal emblem of DAN!

We know that the beautiful Greek sculptures are of CAUCASIAN human forms. GREECE was originally Japhetic, but later at the time of Plato, Aristotle and Alexander the Great it was CAUCASIAN. This is where many of the missing Israelites went. Also in Josephus' Antiquities 14:10:22 we read that the ancestors of the city of PERGAMUS were always FRIENDS to the JEWS even in the time of Abraham (see also Ant.13:5:8 & Wars 1:26:1). The "DISPERSED among the GREEKS" (John 7:35) had to be ISRAELITES. See also 2 Esdras 13:40-45. All Greeks were called "DANAANS" by Homer (Strabo 12:8:7) even though many were merely PELEG'S branch (Strabo 8:6:9) and not necessarily DANITE Israel. Herodotus 5:58 says "the Phoenicians (Israelites) who came with Cadmus ... introduced into Greece ... a great variety of arts, among the rest that of WRITING ... Now the Greeks who dwelt about those parts at that time were chiefly Ionians (Javan -- Ez. 27:19)." No wonder the names of the letters of the Greek alphabet are almost identical to the Hebrew. Aleph became Alpha, Beth became Beta, Gimel became Gamma, Daleth became Delta. Anciently the two alphabets looked almost identical (p.14, Waddell's Aryan Origin Of The Alphabet).

According to the rabbis, the ten tribes migrated beyond the River SAMBATYON that only flows six days a week (Genesis Rabba 11:5). This phenomenon is characteristic of the Bosporus due to southwest winds that cause the water to pile up about once a week. Strabo noticed this phenomenon too (Geog. 1:3:12). Thus the SAMBATYON is the YAM BITHYON (Sea of Bithynia). The ancient Hebrew letters "Y" and "S" both had a vertical stroke and three horizontal strokes. This means Israel was in GREECE.

According to Joel 3:4-8, TYRE sold part of JUDAH to GREECE in slavery. God prophesied that these GREEK JEWS would REPAY TYRE by selling their children. This actually happened when SPARTA (JEWISH) was led by Alexander the Great on his Persian expedition. He demolished old TYRE and with the rubble built a causeway to reach the island of New TYRE. Thirty thousand TYRIANS were sold as slaves to SHEBA. But the point is this prophecy required JEWS to be living in GREECE.


Trojans (Zarah Judah) Migrated To Britain


The Trojans with their King Brutus arrived in Britain about 1103 BC after they were defeated at the Seige of Troy by the Greeks. The Chronicles of Geoffrey and Nennius both confirm this. Gibbon was the first one who ridiculed their genuineness in his notes to Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. But Colonel Waddell in The Phoenician Origin of the Britons, Scots, and Anglo-Saxons, tells us that until about one hundred years ago both Geoffrey and Nennius were universally considered genuine history. Brutus called the country Britain. At Gades Spain (now Cadiz) they found four other tribes of Trojans, descendants of Dardanus, who came with them to colonize Britain. Trojans were descendants of Zarah who was a son of Judah (Gen. 46:12) and Zarah had five sons (1 Chr. 2:6). One of Zarah's sons was Dara, or as Josephus Grecianizes it, Dardanus. Dardanus was the projenitor of part of the Trojans who colonized Britain. He has left his name in the Dardanelles of Turkey. As Ezekiel 17:24 says, "I the Lord have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree". In other words, the line of Pharez Judah in Zedekiah and his slain sons ended (2 Ki. 25:7) while the line of Zarah Judah married a daughter of Zedekiah in Ireland -- as described in the Irish bards. It is a fact that the British royal family tree goes back by one of its many roots to Trojan kings.

Lost Ten Tribes

Christ "came unto his own (JEWS); and his own (JEWS) received him not" (John 1:11). Christ prophesied regarding this nation of Jews by saying "Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever. And presently the fig tree withered away" (Matt.21:19). His interpretation is, "The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof" (Matt.21:43). This is why it is so hard for Jews to believe in Yeshua the Messiah. "His CITIZENS (JEWS) hated him" but his "TEN SERVANTS" were more profitable (Luke 19:11-27). These "TEN VIRGINS" (Matt.25) or "TEN PIECES of SILVER" (Luke 15:8) or "TEN LEPERS" (Luke 17:12) all refer to the TEN LOST TRIBES.

The Kingdom of God (New Testament gospel) was given to LOST ISRAEL. Christ said, "Other sheep I have, that are not of this fold (LOST TEN TRIBES); them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice" (John 10:16). Jesus said, "I am not sent but to the LOST SHEEP of the house of ISRAEL" (Matt.15:24). Israel is "a SCATTERED SHEEP" (Jer.50:17). Christ told his disciples, "go not in the way of the gentiles, and in the cities of the Samaritans enter not, but go ye rather to the LOST SHEEP of the house of ISRAEL" (Matt.10:6). This is the other fold "because he would KEEP the OATH which he had sworn unto your fathers (because of their obedience to God)" (Deut.7:7-8). It was an UNCONDITIONAL promise to help Abraham's physical descendants (Caucasians) (Gen.12:2-3; 22:17-18).

The apostle James obeyed Christ and wrote his epistle "to the TWELVE TRIBES which are SCATTERED abroad, greetings" (James 1:1). Peter also obeyed Christ and wrote "to the strangers (SOJOURNERS) SCATTERED throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia (Minor), and Bithynia, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God" (1 Pet. 1:1-2). These are all areas of TURKEY. The RSV says "To the EXILES of the DISPERSION." Peter was the "apostle to the circumcision" (Gal.2:7). These must have therefore been areas of ISRAELITE settlements. What "dispersion?" The Assyrian captivity and deportation of ISRAEL beginning in 745 B.C. In 1 Peter 1:3 Peter tells the "strangers" of northern Turkey that "God ... according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us AGAIN." But why say "AGAIN" if they were not previously HIS PEOPLE? In 1 Peter 2:9-10, Peter applies the "kingdom of priests" and "holy nation" of Exodus 19:6 and the "Lo-ammi" and "sons of the Living God" of Hosea 1:9-10 -- which all refer to ISRAELITES -- to these "strangers" of northern Turkey. He calls them "a CHOSEN generation, a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, an HOLY NATION, a PECULIAR people" (1 Pet. 2:9). Peter quotes from Hosea who called ISRAEL "unpitied" and "not my people" (1:6,9) when he says, "Who in time past were NOT A PEOPLE ("divorced" "scattered" "lost") but are now the people of God ("found" "redeemed"); who had NOT OBTAINED MERCY but now have obtained mercy" (1 Pet. 2:10). This proves he was talking to the LOST TEN TRIBES -- not Jews or gentiles.

Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:1-2 says "BRETHREN ... ALL OUR FATHERS were under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and were all baptised unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." Paul's epistle to the ROMANS is addressed to "the CALLED of Jesus Christ" (Rom.1:6), but that same Jesus Christ had said that he "was not sent but unto the LOST SHEEP of the house of ISRAEL" (Matt.15:24). The supreme ROMAN God was called JOVE (or Jupiter). The proper pronunciation of JOVE is "YO-VEY" which is a variation of "YAHWEH." Paul, the apostle to the "uncircumcised" (Gal.2:7), visited "uncircumcised" ISRAELITES (Acts 9:15). Notice that Paul wrote to the uncircumcised Romans,"Abraham OUR father as pertaining to the flesh" (Rom.4:1) and "Abraham, who is the father of US all" (Rom.4:16), so these Romans were of Abraham. They were not Africans or Chinese. In Acts 13:46 he said to the Jews, "It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the gentiles" (nations of ISRAELITES). Paul wrote the book of HEBREWS to HEBREWS. He spoke to his audience in the HEBREW language in Acts 21:40. Paul was the apostle to the gentiles (nations of ISRAEL) who were pagan or "uncircumcised" in religion and had completed his mission (Acts 9:15) to them thoroughly by the time of his death (2 Tim.4:7) and had visited all of them. They must have been the LOST TEN TRIBES of ISRAEL. He never went to China, India or Africa. He only went to Greece, Illyrica (Balkans), Tarshish (Spain), Rome, and Asia Minor (Turkey) according to the Bible -- where SCATTERED Israelites lived. From Babylon, Daniel wrote, "to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all ISRAEL that are near, and that are FAR OFF, through ALL THE COUNTRIES whither thou hast driven them" (Dan.9:7). Jeremiah 30:11 mentions "ALL NATIONS to which I have scattered thee." The Austrian Chronicle, a middle-ages documentary, says the first people to settle in Austria were ABRAHAM'S descendants. Paul wrote Romans 9-11, which is the section concerning salvation of "gentiles," not to gentiles, but to ISRAELITES. This becomes plain in Romans 9:25 where Paul quotes Hosea 1:10 which refers to the "House of ISRAEL," not gentiles. Paul says there is no difference between JEW and GREEK in Romans 10:12 so this verse also indicates he is talking about TWO ISRAELITE PEOPLES. Finally, the OLIVE TREE Paul mentions in these chapters is a symbol of the House of ISRAEL and the House of JUDAH (Jer.11:16-17) -- not "heathen" nations . A WILD OLIVE TREE is still an OLIVE TREE (Rom. 11:17). It's just "UNCIRCUMCISED." The Greek of Romans 11:25, translated "the fulness of the Gentiles" is the exact equivalent of the words of Jacob in Genesis 48:19 Iin which Ephraim should become and is becoming a "multitude of nations."

The Dorians

Greek traditions tell us that "the chiefs of the DORIANS are really genuine Egyptians" (Her. 6:53).They were Manasseh from"DOR and her towns" (Joshua 17:11). Cecrops came from Egypt and founded ATHENS; "Certain of the rulers of ATHENS were originally Egyptians" (DiodorusSiculus1:28:6). Danaus came from Egypt to ARGOS and Darda (KJV margin of 1 Chr.2:6), called Dardanus by Josephus, was the Egyptian founder of TROY (and the Kingdom of Priam) on the southern shore of the strait called "DARDANELLES." Cadmus came from Egypt and founded THEBES in Boeotia and also migrated to THESSALY (Strabo 9:2:3). Cadmus was the great grandson of Chalcol (1 Ki.4:31; 1 Ch.3:6), brother of Darda, who was the great great grandson of Judah. The Milesian royal family came from Crete to MILETUS. CRETE was Jewish (Tacitus' History 5:2) and gave their laws to SPARTA (Her.1:65). Agenor and Phoenix also led colonies from Phoenicia to Greece

We read concerning the battle of Marathon and the Council of War: "TEN were the generals who were annually elected at Athens, one for each of the local TRIBES into which the Athenians were divided. Each general led the men of his own TRIBE, and each was vested with equal military authority" (LOST TEN TRIBES). At the battle of Marathon, in the Persian army, were the SACAE: "In the center of the Persian army, where the native Persians and the SACAE fought, they succeeded in breaking through the weakened part of the Athenian phalanx ... Aristides and Themistocles renewed the fight with their reorganized troops, and the full force of the Greeks was brought into close action with the Persian and SACAEAN divisions of the enemy." We see here that the SACAE, or Saxons, came from Asia to aid the Persians to overthrow the Greeks, their own brethren,, and nearly succeeded. After the battle of Marathon: "TEN columns were erected on the spot, one for each of the Athenian TRIBES, and on the monumental column of each TRIBE were graven the names of those of its members whose glory it was to have fallen in the great battle of liberation." Of the battle of Thermopylae, B.C. 480, we read: "Of those in ships from Asia, amounting to 1,207, originally the whole number of the several nations was 241,400 men, allowing 200 to each ship; and on these ships thirty Persians, Medes and SACAE served as MARINES, in addition to the native crews of each." If ten SAXONS were on each ship, there must have been 12,000 able SAXON sailors. Xenophen, on retreating with his Ten Thousand, used the HOLLOW SQUARE, which his ancestors, Israelites, had used from the days of Moses during the 40 years in the wilderness when three tribes marched on the east, three on the west, three on the north, and three on the south. This is the origin of the BRITISH SQUARE. Xenophon says, "And on the next day the Greeks formed in a HOLLOW SQUARE, the baggage in the center, and began their retreat. When Xenophon led his Ten Thousand through SCYTHIA, they were well treated, as if the SCYTHIANS knew them. We read in Great Events that "in the Persian ranks at the battle of Arbela there were DAAN cavalry, who were grouped with the Bactrian SIKHS (another name for Sachs or Sacae) ... Darius had in his ranks those called SACIANS and SACESINAE with whom were associated a host of SCYTHIAN cavalry." The Persian king put the DAAN, SACAE and SCYTHS all together because they were all one people and spoke one language and had kinship bonds. We read that at Arbela, Alexander arranged his army to be able to form "into a HOLLOW SQUARE." At Arbela, Alexander's archer's were called "Brinson's MACEDONIAN Archers." (Fighting Dan's).

Was Samson the Legendary Hercules?

Was SAMSON the legendary Hercules? "Heraclim" means " traders" in Hebrew"and the Heraclidae descended from Hercules and a female slave, JARDANUS" (Her. Clio, sec. 7). DAN'S adventure to the source of the JORDAN is the subject of Judges 18, and these DANITES came from the home of SAMSON, Zorah and Eshtaol (verse 2 and 13:1-25). The "DANOI" of Egypt sailed to Greece and settled in a region called ARGOS and it is interesting that Hercules came fromARGOS himself.The story of SAMSON will account for the TWO PILLARS set up in the Temple of Hercules if they commemorate his collapse of the Philistine Temple. Herodotus describes the Tyrian Hercules (Her. 2:44) in terms which resemble the DANITE SAMSON. 1. Hercules escaped from the clutches of a symbolic woman called "Pleasure" just as SAMSON got himself involved with the HARLOTS of Canaan and did finally overcome. 2. One of the 12 labors Hercules was ordered to perform by the Oracle of Delphi was to slay a lion with his bare hands. In Judges 13:6, we read that Samson TORE a LION in TWO. 3. Another labor of Hercules involved his live capture of a wild animal, which he brought home and threw at the feet of Eurystheus. In Judges 15:4, SAMSON CAPTURED wild animals also (FOXES).4. Hercules being apprehended by the Egyptians, was led in procession as a sacrifice to Jupiter; and the PHILISTINES proclaimed a FEAST to offer a great SACRIFICE to Dagon, their god, and to rejoice because SAMSON was delivered into their hands. 5. While Hercules stood at the altar he remained quiet for a season, and so did SAMSON when his STRENGTH DEPARTED from him. 6. But in a short time Hercules returned to his strength and slew all the Egyptians. SAMSON collapsed the temple KILLING Philistines. Concerning the ritual used in the worship of the Tyrian Hercules, there are a number of parallels with LEVITICAL LAW and the SAMSON of scripture. 1. For instance, the total DISUSE of IMAGES, 2. the PROHIBITION of SWINE in sacrifice, 3. the HABIT of the priest, the embroidered stole, etc., the NAKED FEET, and the strict CHASTITY exacted from him, 4. the FIRE EVER BURNING on the altar 5. the EXCLUSION of WOMEN from the Temple, and 6. the SHAVEN HEAD of the priest. Don't these practices remind us of the treachery of DELILAH and the loss of SAMSON'S HAIR? Appian, Arrian and Diodorus Siculus acknowledge these to have been PHOENICIAN rites, and different from any observed among the Greeks.

Were Jason and the Argonauts Danites?

The last of the Danai came into Greece about the very time of the oppression of Jabin, King of Canaan, when we are told (Judges 5:17) that Dan remained in his ships and Asher in his seaports about 1285 B.C. Dan's trading with Greece is recorded in Ezekiel 27:19. Euripides and Strabo tell us that "DANAUS, having arrived in ARGOS (Greece), made a law that those who had borne the name Pelasgoitae (throughout Greece) should be called DANAI" (Strabo 5:2:4; cp. Judges 18:25-29). "Homer calls the whole of Greece ARGOS (from Heb. "ragos" to move ), for he calls all ARGIVES, as he calls them DANAI and Achaei" (Strabo 8:6:5). Gladstone classifies the Greeks as DANAOI (soldiers), ARGAOI (engaged in tillage) and Achaioi (aristocracy). ARGOS, the first city of the DANAI, stood with two others, Mycene and Tiryns. Tiryns comes from Tyre, just as the DANASTER (Dneister) is sometimes called the Tyras (Her. 4:51; Strabo 7:1:1), and the people there are called Tyritae. Turin Italy also. It seems reasonable that DANITES of ISRAEL and Canaanites of Tyre had such close relations that the names of Tyre and DAN were used indiscriminately. Those who went forth from ARGOS and subdued other parts of Greece are spoken of as Heraclidae, or the descendants of Hercules. ARGOZ is Hebrew for a portable CHEST (merchant ship in commerce and trade). The seige of Troy was about 100 years after SAMSON'S time. From the Heraclidae came the Lacedaemonians whose capital was Sparta. Thus Agamemnon, who was the chosen commander-in-chief of all the Greeks proceeding to the Siege of Troy, was King of ARGOS and Mycene, and his brother Menelaus was king of Sparta, the capital of Lacedaemon. Herodotus 4:147 calls Theras, regent of Lacedaemon, a CADMAEAN and PHOENICIAN meaning Egyptian and Phoenician. The only way to be both was to be an ISRAELITE. The Phoenicians always claimed to have come from the RED SEA. DAN overflowed into PHOENICIA from the mountain sources of ISRAEL'S river (Nahr el ed-DAN, then lower down Yar-DAN). The glory of Tyre and Sidon and their "Phoenician colonizing enterprise," is due to the presence of DAN. The name "MACEDONIANS" means "Fighting DANS." The Argonautic expedition was carried out by DAN into the Black Sea when they went in search of the "Golden Fleece." These Heraclidae (Heb. "traders" of DAN) founded the colony of COLCHIS on the eastern shore of the Black Sea. They sailed through the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, and then into the northern riverways where they arrived in the Baltic and met their brothers the DANS of DENMARK. They also visited Briton and JASON and his ARGONAUTS visited Ireland about 1293 B.C.and then sailed south through the Pillars of Hercules (Strait of Gibraltar) on their way home to Greece. According to Diodorus of Sicily 4:56:3, the Argonauts sailed up the Tanais, transported their ship to a river flowing northward into the sea, and then sailed home via Cadiz. A voyage up the Dnieper (Borysthenes), across to the Vistula would be the more likely route. At Tara in eastern Ireland is DOWD'S town, which is Daod's, or DAVID'S town as the Hebrew shows. The word Tara, TARAH or TORAH is Hebrew meaning "LAW." Dozens of Druid colleges in Britain and Wales taught the old Hebrew religion. "CAER" is Hebrew for "FORT" and many towns had this prefix: Caer Wyn, Caer Caint, Caer Lud, Caer Llyr, Caer Don, etc.

Ezekiel 27:19 says, "Dan also and Javan (Greece) going to and fro occupied in the fairs" of Tyre. In other words, colonizing the shores of the Mediterranean by Phoenicians and Greeks. The original Ionian confederation on the Asiatic side of the Aegean numbered TWELVE CITIES, founded according to chronologists 140 years after the Trojan War. Further north, on the same coast, there was an early confederation of AEOLIANS -- here also were TWELVE CITIES -- the date of their origin being stated as a considerable number of years earlier, but still after the Trojan War. "It seems to me," says Herodotus, "that the number TWELVE was chosen by the Ionians, and that they were unwilling to exceed this number, because, when they dwelt in Peloponnese, there also they had TWELVE DIVISIONS. So too, in my time there are TWELVE DIVISIONS of the Achaeans, who drove out the Ionians" (Her. 1:145).

Was Sibyl An Israelite Prophetess?


Cume, the most important city of the AEOLIC confederation, was the traditional home of the SIBYLLINE "oracles," which many have supposed to have been of HEBREW origin. The name of the SIBYL in Hebrew (Shibul, "an EAR of CORN," plur. Shibboleth or Sibboleth) "points probably," thinks a writer on freemasonry, "to the idea of Virgo presiding over the harvest; while Egypt was her original home, whence she passed through the cities of the Grecian isles to the shores of Italy" (Fellows' Mysteries of Freemasonry p.87). Judges 12:6 says Ephraimites had trouble pronouncing the aspirate "h" in SHIBBOLETH. In Britain today you still hear, "Don't be so oggish with your horanges." The SIBYLLINE books of early Roman History had a Hebrew origin (Ethnic Inspiration by J. T. Goodsir). PYTHAGORAS, from whom much of the later philosophy was derived, is said to have acknowledged as his teacher the prophet EZEKIEL (Stanley's Life of Pythagoras; Ezekiel is Nazartus).


"I Am That I Am" (Ex. 3:14)


From the passage in Exodus 3:14 it is probable that Plato borrowed the name of God for his Greek nation when he asserts that the word "Be It" is solely applicable to the eternal nature of God. And from him it also probably came about that "Thou Art" was all that was written on the door of the Delphic Temple. Upon which Plutarch remarks that this Word is solely applicable to God since that which truly "IS" must be everlasting. Therefore Numenius, the Pythagorean philosopher, asserted that if he was to give a name to the great Being, he would call it "Being" -- not becoming or perishing (see Eusebius Praep. Ev. 11:9-11 and 15:17). "For what else is Plato than Moses speaking Attic Greek?" -- Numenius

Greek Mythology And The Bible

The worship of gods and goddesses of pagan nations and cultures was actually mere ancestor worship. Greek mythology is a good example. Herodotus says that "almost all the names of the gods came into Greece from Egypt" (2:50). Cicero says "The gods of the popular religions were all but deceased mortals advanced from earth to heaven" (Tusculan Questions). Diodorus of Sicily writes, "Egypt is the country where mythology places the origin of the gods" (1:9:6) and "The Greeks appropriate to themselves the most renowned of both Egyptian heroes and gods, and so also the colonies sent out by them" (1:23:24).

The Phoenician historian Sanchoniathon, who is reputed to have lived before the Trojan War, causes his geneologies to ascend to KRONOS (Saturn), whom he says "the Phoenicians call ISRAEL" (Cory's Ancient Fragments, 1876, pp.21-22). But why was Jacob (Israel) called Saturn or Kronos? Because Saturn is a Latin word derived from a root meaning "to FLEE into HIDING ". The Greek term was Kronos. Jacob became famous for FLEEING or HIDING from his enemies. Jacob's mother warned him of his brother Esau's wrath: "Now, therefore, my son, hearken to my voice; and arise, FLEE thou to Laban my brother in Haran" (Genesis 27:43). "And it was told Laban ... that Jacob was FLED" -- this time back to Palestine (Gen. 31:22). Sanchoniathan recites further that Kronos had a son IEOUD (Judah). ZEUS the father of Darda (1 Chr. 2:6) must be Zarah. Lucian de Dea Syra 2:992 mentions "DEUCALION the Scythian, in whose time happened the great flood." DEUCALION was the son of PROMETHIUS (Apollon. 3;1086). PROMETHIUS was the king of the Scythians. (Schol. Apollon. Argo.2:1252). The TITANS, or family of the gods, were of Scythia and forefathers of the Greeks. Tubal-Cain, the metal-smith, became VULCAN, the god of the forge (Gen. 4:22). Naamah, his sister, became NEMESIS (Gen. 4:22) the goddess of retribution and revenge. Jubal, "the father of all such as handle the harp and organ" (Gen. 4:21) became APOLLO, the god of music. Japheth, son of Noah (Gen. 6:10) became JAPETUS, one of the Titans; or JUPITER, father and king of the gods. Ham, the son of Noah (Gen. 6:10) became Jupiter HAMMON, the god of the Libyans. In Egyptian mythology, Ham's son Phut (Gen. 10:6) became PTAH, god of craftsmen and architects. Mizraim's son called Naphtuhim (Gen. 10:13) became NEPTUNE, god of the sea. Nimrod became MARDUK. Asshur became THOR, the hammer-wielding god associated with thunder storms. Javan is JANUS the ancestor of the Greeks. Raamah, son of Cush (Gen. 10:7) became the Hindu god RAMA.Other ancient figures were also worshipped: Noah is SATURN; also DEUCALION and PYRRHA built a wooden "chest" to save them. The flood is sent to destroy evil mortals. The chest floats aground on a mountain top and the survivors offer sacrifice. The Greek TITAN is Satan; Gardens of the HESPERIDES are Seraphim in Eden; Cherubim became GRIFFINS who are part man, part lion, part eagle and part ox; the story of IPHIGENIA is stolen from Jephthah and his daughter; ORPHEUS is Abraham, "the man of Urfa." When he goes to the infernal regions to recover EURYDICE, it reminds us of Lot and his lost wife. Samson is HERCULES who slew a lion with his bare hands. A king was ordered by the Oracle at Delphi to slay his son PHRIXOS but a ram came along and saved him. This is the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac. ACHILLES could only die by having his heel wounded (Gen.3:15).

Next Lesson: Ancient Jewish Marriage Customs | Back to Home | Email Us