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CIMMERIANS AND SCYTHIANS

Brig.-Gen. W. H.=20 Fasken, C.B.

PREFACE

THE accompanying notes on =E2=80=9CCimmerians and Scythians=E2=80=9D = are largely the outcome=20 of the studies during this century=E2=80=94on this particular = line=E2=80=94of Mr. H. A. Marchant=20 (171 Waldegrave Road, Brighton 6), whose work, Monumental Facts versus Historical Fiction, = was=20 published by R. Banks & Son, Fleet = Street, in=20 1909.

The original summary of those studies, with some additions and notes = of my=20 own, I submitted to suitable authorities for criticism, and this paper = is the=20 result of further research, suggested by their kindly advice and help. =

I have found the article, =E2=80=9CKimmerier,=E2=80=9D by = Lehmann-Haupt, in Pauly=E2=80=99s Real-Encyclop=C3=A4die der = classischen=20 Altertumswissenschaften, Vol 21, 1921 (revised edition) = most=20 helpful. I wish to thank Mr. C. J. Gadd of the=20 British=20 Museum for arranging to get = me an=20 accurate translation, from the German, of this article (69 folio pages), = and for=20 translating the quotations from the classics therein himself. Extracts = and=20 paraphrases from this article I have marked (L.H.).

I have also made use of:

Higher Criticism and the Monuments = (Sayce).=20

Scythians and Greeks (Minns).

The Fall of=20 Nineveh = (Gadd).=20

Assyria and Babylonia = (Pinches).

Ancient Geography (Bunbury).

The Ancient History of the = Near East = (Hall).

Historians=E2=80=99 History of the World = (Vols. I, II and XXVII).

Mesopotamia (Delaporte).

Problems in=20 Biblical and Mesopotamian Ethnography (Gair).

W. H. FASKEN

CIMMERIANS AND SCYTHIANS

CIMMERIA

The name Kimmerioi is mentioned once, and once only, in the Odyssey = of Homer.=20 On this solitary mention of the name it is said that the Cimmerii (Latin = form;=20 Cimmerians, English form) were a very ancient people, numerous and well = known,=20 and could not be of Israelitish origin.

Homer lived about the ninth century B.C., but the poems were probably = not=20 written down till a later date (The=20 World=E2=80=99s Great Books, = Vol.=20 III, pp. 1871, = 1875). The Kimmerioi of = Homer were=20 located by him in a land =E2=80=9Ccovered in mist and cloud, nor does = the sun, shining,=20 look down on them with his rays, either when he mounts to the starry = heaven, nor=20 when he turns again to earth from heaven, but doleful night is spread = over=20 wretched folk=E2=80=9D (Odyssey xi. 14 ff) . To get there, = Ulysses=E2=80=94who had been sent by=20 the enchantress Circe to consult the dead in Hades=E2=80=94set out from = the Isle of=20 Circe, which was itself a long way west of Greece, in the Mediterranean = Sea. To=20 reach it they went to =E2=80=9COceanus.=E2=80=9D In the plan of = =E2=80=9CThe World according to=20 Hecatleus,=E2=80=9D in the History of Ancient Geography, by E. = H.=20 Bunbury, Oceanus was the encircling sea that ran round all known lands = and seas=20 and was outside the Mediterranean Sea, beyond the = Pillars of Hercules. The obvious inference is = that=20 Cimmeria, which was over realms and seas, and on a distant shore from = the =E2=80=9CIsle=20 of Circe=E2=80=9D=E2=80=94to which Ulysses returned by the aid of = Zephyrus (a west wind)=E2=80=94was=20 certainly not in the Black Sea.

William O=E2=80=99Connor Morris (=E2=80=9CIreland,=E2=80=9D = Cambridge Historical Series, 1896, p. 2) and Ridgeway = (=E2=80=9CEarly Days=20 of Greece,=E2=80=9D Ency. = Brit.,=20 xi Edit., = Vol. V)=20 both agree in the probability that Cimmerii, and Cimbri are one race. = This=20 certainly points to Homer=E2=80=99s Cimmeria being in N.W. Europe. This, = too, is confirmed in Dictionary of Classic = Antiquities, = by Dr. Oskar Seiffert, = translated from=20 the German by Nettleship and = Sandys,=20 1908: =E2=80=9CThe realm of Hades . . . in the Odyssey, its entrance, = and outer courts,=20 are on the western side of the river Oceanus. . . . Here is the abode of = the=20 Cimmerians, veiled in darkness and cloud, where the sun never = shines.=E2=80=9D

Duncker, in his History of Greece (Bentley, 1886, p. 193) = says: =E2=80=9COn=20 the northern shores of the Black Sea the Milesian = sailors=20 found a much more severe winter than in their own home . . . and thought = they=20 had found the end of the world, and the land of the wintry Cimmerians. . . . When, beyond the Black = Sea, a new expanse of water (the Sea of = Azov)=20 disclosed itself, the mariners thought that they had at last reached = Oceanus,=20 and the entrance to Maeotis received the name of Cimmerian = Bosphorus.=E2=80=9D=20 Especially as this seemed to be confirmed by: =E2=80=9Con the western = side of the Black=20 Sea lay, not far from the mouth of the Danube, an island, the white = limestone=20 cliffs of which shone from afar: the Greeks called it =E2=80=98The White = Island=20 (Leuke)=E2=80=99.=E2=80=9D

A similar geographical blunder led our first Atlantic navigators to = term the=20 American aboriginal an =E2=80=9CIndian,=E2=80=9D because they were under = the impression that=20 they had sailed round the world and had come upon=20 India. =

It looks as if the mythological Kimmerioi of Homer were in reality = residents=20 of the White=20 Island north-west from=20 Greece, = and=20 probably not, at that time, occupying the Crimea = in the=20 east. There is, moreover, no mention of the Cimmerians among the people = of Thrace,=20 nor in Scythia about the=20 Crimea, nor on any part of the Black=20 Sea until the seventh century B.C., when they are FOUND on = the south=20 side of that water.

Lehmann-Haupt, in his article, =E2=80=9CKimmerier=E2=80=9D (referred = to in the preface),=20 argues that =E2=80=9CHomer knew nothing actually of the Cimmerian = invasions, but only=20 knew the Cimmerians in their northern homes=E2=80=9D (=C2=A7 50). = =E2=80=9CHomer=E2=80=99s description does=20 not apply in the least to conditions in the = Crimea, but=20 has in mind the long winter nights in the north to = which the=20 long summer days correspond.=E2=80=9D In confirmation, he cites Niebuhr = (Bell.=20 Goth II, XV, p. 205), =E2=80=9Cwhere = Precopius on the=20 basis of personal communications, made by reliable authorities from = among the=20 Heruli (or Eruli), who still maintained connexion with those of their = tribe who=20 had remained in Scandinavia, gives an intimate account of forty = days=E2=80=99 light in=20 summer and forty days=E2=80=99 darkness in winter=E2=80=9D (=C2=A7 55). = Finsler=E2=80=99s Homer (1914) p. 25=20 says: =E2=80=9CIt has long been recognised that Odyssey x, lines 82-85, = refer to the=20 long summer days {NOTE: = =E2=80=9C. . . we came to=20 (line 82) Telepylus of the Laestrygonians (83) where herdsman calls to = herdsman=20 as he drives in his flock, and the other answers as he drives his forth. = There a=20 man who never slept could have (85) earned a double wage, one by herding = cattle=20 . . .=E2=80=9D (Loeb Classical Library).} . . . vice versa,=20 the account of the country of the Cimmerians which was plunged in = eternal night=20 supplies definite evidence of the long northern winter night; this = country must=20 surely be Jutland, the Cimmerian = peninsula=E2=80=9D (=C2=A7 56).=20 =E2=80=9CHomer=E2=80=99s description therefore does not fit the = Cimmerians. It may well apply,=20 however, to the home of the Cimbri. . . = .=E2=80=9D (=C2=A7 57.) When, therefore, the Cimbri penetrated = from their=20 northern homes as far as Italy and showed themselves to be a tribe of = marauding=20 nomads, this circumstance led to the regarding of the Cimmerians of the = Crimea=20 as a scattered branch of the Cimbri . . .=E2=80=9D From Strabo=20 (VII, 2, 2. C. 293) it is learned = that=20 Poseidonius also conjectured that =E2=80=9Cthe Cimmerian Bosporus was = named after them,=20 being equivalent to =E2=80=98Cimbrian,=E2=80=99 the Greeks naming the = Cimbri =E2=80=98Kimmerioi=E2=80=99 (=C2=A7=20 58).=E2=80=9D A similar view is expressed in Plutarch (Caius Marius in = the Vitae=20 Parallelae):=20 =E2=80=9COthers, however, say that the Cimmerians who were = first known to the=20 ancient Greeks were not a large part of the entire people . . . whereas = the=20 largest and most warlike part of the people dwelt at the confines of the = earth,=20 along the outer sea . . . From these regions, then, these Barbarians = sallied=20 forth against Italy, being called at first Cimmerians, and then, not=20 inappropriately, Cimbri=E2=80=9D (=C2=A7 58).

Sharon Turner, Arnold, Niebuhr, and Lappenburg = all say=20 that Cimbri and Cimmerii were identical. Lehmann-Haupt cites Bury in = The=20 Homeric and Historic Kimmerians=20 (Klio VI, 79-88), who discusses the extraordinary account = by=20 Procopius of the island of=20 Brittia, based on local = accounts,=20 which he inserted as a digression in his Gothic Wars (IV, 20). To this island = the souls of=20 the dead are rowed over by inhabitants of the mainland facing it, who = are=20 summoned to the task by nocturnal knocking at their doors. This = spirit-island is=20 clearly characteristic, judging from the details concerning its = inhabitants=20 (=E2=80=9Cand the names of these nations are Angili, Frissones, and = Brittones, the last=20 named from the island itself=E2=80=9D), Angles, Frisians and Britons. = The details,=20 however, stopped Procopius (as Bury points out) from relating them to = the=20 Britain he knew so well, and caused him to place this = =E2=80=9Cdouble=E2=80=9D of Britain=20 between that country and Thule (Scandinavia: Bury 80, 3) = (L.=20 H., =C2=A7 62).

Lehmann-Haupt concludes his long analysis (18 folio pages) of = =E2=80=9CThe Cimmerians=20 in Homer and other Myth=E2=80=9D: =E2=80=9CThus the information relating = to the Cimmerians in=20 Odyssey XI only lacks any proper connection if, with Finsler, who = himself relates it to = Jutland, one=20 places it among the connected complex of data, all of which point to the = Black Sea=E2=80=9D (=C2=A7 65).

There is, however, a considerable volume of opinion that Homeric = geography=20 reflects Ionian geographical knowledge of the colonising period in = Pontus, but=20 others regard most of the Homeric statements as reflecting an earlier = phase of=20 navigation, and as mainly referring to regions west of Greece. The = description=20 of the Ocean Stream certainly looks like an account of the tidal = currents at=20 Gibraltar, and it is quite probable that early=20 adventurers passed out into the Atlantic, and = reached a=20 cloudy and fog-infested climate.

THE SO-CALLED = INDO-EUROPEAN=20 MIGRATION

Rogers, in Babylonia = and=20 Assyria, says: =E2=80=9CIn the reign of Esarhaddon there was felt, = for the first=20 time, in all its keenness, the danger of an overflow of the land by = Indo-European=20 migrations.=E2=80=9D

After giving the Scythians=E2=80=99 own account of their traditional = history (H. IV,=20 5-7) and the Greek account (H. IV, 8-10) Herodotus continues (H. IV, 11 = and 12):=20 =E2=80=9CThere is also another different story in which I am more = inclined to put=20 faith than in any other.=E2=80=9D Not a very convincing method of = introducing a=20 statement of so-called history, not contemporary, but put together two = or three=20 centuries after the events occurred, and aptly described by Minns as = =E2=80=9Ca confused=20 account of happenings which it is almost impossible to credit.=E2=80=9D =

The story is familiar; the nomad Scythians, inhabiting=20 Asia, being hard pressed in war by the = Massagetae, fled=20 away across the Araxes (here the=20 Volga) to the Cimmerian country=20 (Crimea and South Russia). = On=20 their approach the Cimmerians got frightened. The King=E2=80=99s party = wanted to fight,=20 the people wanted to retreat. They then divided into two equal forces = and fought=20 together. =E2=80=9CAll the Royal tribe were = slain, and the=20 people buried them near the river Tyras, where their grave is still to = be seen.=20 Then the rest of the Cimmerians departed, and the Scythians, on their = coming,=20 took possession of a deserted land.=E2=80=9D

Then a strange thing happened; the Cimmerians (excluding, presumably, = the=20 Royal tribe who had all been slain) fled, not in continuation of the = line of the=20 momentum of the attack, that is from east to = west, but=20 back, west to east, along the same track by which the attack had come. = Then the=20 Cimmerians turned sharply to the right, by the coast of the = Black=20 Sea, while their pursuers, the Scythians, over-shot them and = keeping=20 the Caucasus on their right, proceeded inland and = poured=20 into Media.

Edward Meyer, Geschichte des Alterthums, from Historians=E2=80=99 = History=20 (II, p. 140), = evidently=20 sees the absurdity of all this, and says: =E2=80=9CAbout the eighth = century, the=20 Scythian Scoloti, one of the Iranian nomadic tribes, ostensibly crowded = out by=20 the Massagetae, crossed the Volga and the Don, and = drove the=20 Cimmerians out of their abode. . . . In all probability they went = over the=20 Danube into=20 Thrace,=20 being joined by Thracian tribes on the way=E2=80=9D (my italics). =

Bunbury (Ancient = Geography,=20 I, p. 208) says: =E2=80=9CIt seems impossible to believe the = story (by=20 Herodotus), thus told, or to connect it with the Cimmerian invasion of=20 Lower Asia.=E2=80=9D

Again, Niebuhr has shown that there is great intrinsic improbability = in=20 Herodotus=E2=80=99 narrative. He also thought that, they (the = Cimmerians) must have come=20 to the Thracian Bosphorus, for they must have got into Asia=20 Minor somehow, to attack=20 Lydia. =

Minns (Scythians and Greeks, 1913, p. 41) writes: = =E2=80=9CMullenhoff (D.A. III,=20 p. 19, ff.) supposes that there never were any Cimmerians at all north = of the=20 Euxine, that they are only known in Asia Minor, that their name was=20 traditionally assigned to the earthworks and settlements about the = Bosphorus,=20 just as now, earthworks in Eastern Europe are assigned to Trajan, far = beyond the=20 limits of the Roman Empire, and that they were really invaders from = Thrace or=20 the parts beyond. . . . It is hard to think that Herodotus simply = invented all=20 the story of the Cimmerians coming from the north side of the Pontus, = though,=20 even so, it is at first sight difficult to see precisely how things = happened;=20 how if the Cimmerians fled south-east, there should have been their = Kings=E2=80=99 tombs=20 on the Tyras (Dniester). . . .=E2=80=9D

That in the eighth century B.C., the Cimmerians, after losing half = their=20 total strength about the Crimea, and after being pursued by the = Scythians=20 through the Caucasus, should revive to such an extent that their = pressure on=20 Urartu=E2=80=94a strong state which had lately defeated even the = Assyrians under Sargon=20 (L.H., =C2=A7 10)=E2=80=94was sufficient to cause (according to = Lehmann-Haupt, =C2=A7 9) their=20 great King Rusas I to commit suicide, is beyond the limit of credence. = The more=20 one looks at a modern map of south-west Asia the = more=20 fantastic the Herodotus story appears, especially if one uses=E2=80=94as = the famous=20 Marquis of Salisbury advised for such studies=E2=80=94a large scale map. =

THE = ASSYRIAN=20 CAPTIVITIES

It is to be noted that accurately dated history, in these parts, = commences=20 with the =E2=80=9Climmu=E2=80=9D of 893 B.C., the = =E2=80=9Climmu=E2=80=9D being the magistrate appointed for the=20 year, and after whom the year was named. (Ancient History of the Near = East,=20 Hall, p. 445.)

The first captivity of=20 Israel = (Reuben,=20 Gad and half-tribe of Manasseh) was in 734 B.C. (cuneiform records of = Tiglath=20 Pilezar) and not in 740 B.C. (Ussher). They were brought to Halah, = Habor, Hara=20 and to the river of Gozan (Gozan was, probably, a district stretching = across=20 Upper Mesopotamia) where, before long, they must have been coming into = contact=20 with the fighting between Assyria and Urartu and her ally Minnai (Ararat = and=20 Minni of Jer. li, 27) during the years 719-714 B.C. (L.H., =C2=A7 7-9). =

The second captivity of=20 Israel = (the=20 remainder of the ten tribes) was carried out when Sargon captured=20 Samaria, after a three = years=E2=80=99 siege=20 in 722 B.C. (Assyrian=20 monuments), and 721 (Ussher). Josephus Bk. ix, ch. 14 is headed: = =E2=80=9CHow=20 Shalmanezer took Samaria by force and TRANSPLANTED THE = TEN TRIBES INTO MEDIA, and = brought the=20 nation of the Cuth=C3=A6ans into their country=E2=80=9D; also in Section = I of the same he=20 says: =E2=80=9CShalmanezer, the King of Assyria . . . besieged Samaria = three years and=20 took it by force in the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea (actually = taken by=20 Sargon after Shalmanezer=E2=80=99s death) . . . and quite demolished the = government of=20 the Israelites, and transplanted ALL = THE PEOPLE into Media and = Persia, and=20 when he had removed these people out of this their land, he transplanted = other=20 nations out of Cuthah (a place so called for there is still a river of = that name=20 in Persia) into Samaria, and into the country of the Israelites. So = the Ten=20 Tribes of Israelites were removed out=20 of Jud=C3=A6a.=E2=80=9D

It is necessary to draw special attention to this because there is = reiterated=20 argument that the removal was only partial.

From Problems in Biblical and Mesopotamian = Ethnography=20 and Geography, by G. R.=20 Gair, we get the following:

(Page 12) =E2=80=9CIn the account of the first deportation of = Israelites there is no=20 mention of Media at all. At the second and more important captivity the = cities=20 of the Medes are distinctly mentioned. Yet Media was not conquered till = about=20 715 B.C. In that year Sargon conquered the Medes as far as the=20 Elburz=20 Ranges=20 (Mt.=20 Demavend) and received the = tribute of=20 28 chieftains. Again in 713 B.C., 46 chiefs were taken.=E2=80=9D

(Page 17) Inscription of Khorsabad translated by=20 Oppert. =E2=80=9CI besieged and occupied the town of=20 Samaria and took 27,280 of = its inhabitants captive.=E2=80=9D

(Page 18) If the ruling caste of the=20 Kingdom of=20 Samaria only were deported it = seems=20 strange that the Assyrians went to such pains to repeople the land. We = read in=20 2 Kings xvii, 24: = =E2=80=9CAnd the King=20 of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cuthah and from Ava, and = from=20 Hamath, and from Sepharvaim and placed them in the cities of Samaria = instead of=20 the children of Israel,=E2=80=9D while on the columns of Khorsabad (Records of the Past,=20 translated by Dr. J. Oppert) referring to the year after the = fall of=20 Samaria we read: =E2=80=9CI marched against the tribes of Tasidi, of = Ibadidi, of=20 Marsemani, of Hayapai, of the land (of Arabia). I pulled them out of = their=20 dwelling and I placed them in the town of=20 Samaria.=E2=80=9D From this = inscription we=20 learn that seven years after the fall of=20 Samaria peoples from very = distant=20 lands were being deported to that city=E2=80=94supplementary to those = catalogued by the=20 Bible. (Page 20.) Also in connection = with the=20 second revolt of Hamath in 715 B.C., in which Arpad, Simyra,=20 Damascus, and=20 Samaria, were involved, even = if all=20 Israel = were not=20 deported at the fall of = Samaria in=20 721 B.C., the chances for the nationality surviving after this further = result=20 were very slight. (Page 19).

In an article by Mr. H. A. Marchant, =E2=80=9CThe Riddle of History = Solved=E2=80=9D in the=20 Banner of Israel, XXXIII,=20 2nd June, = 1909, we=20 read: =E2=80=9CIt must be remembered that when the Jews returned from=20 Babylon they did not accuse = any of=20 the mixed medley who opposed them of being their brethren, = Ephraim-Israel.=E2=80=9D

The reason why the = monumental inscriptions do not mention any vast number of captives is = that:

(1) Esarhaddon = (681-668=20 B.C.) wilfully defaced Tiglath-Pilezer=E2=80=99s (745-727 B.C.) = inscriptions, but such=20 as remain confirm the Bible.

(2) Shalmanezer = (727-722=20 B.C.) was too busy fighting during his short reign to write = inscriptions.

(3) The whole = Phoenician=20 mainland was in revolt, and when the promised help from=20 Egypt = did not=20 mature, they all, except = Samaria,=20 submitted to Shalmanezer, but no record of captives was kept.

Further, the Bible says (2 Kings xvii, = 18): =E2=80=9CTHERE=20 WAS NONE LEFT BUT THE TRIBE OF=20 JUDAH = ONLY.=E2=80=9D=20

It is also argued that when the Bible says (2 Kings xvii, 6 and xviii, 11) =E2=80=9Cin the cities = of the Medes,=E2=80=9D it=20 does not mean what it says.

We may therefore assume that large numbers of ten-tribed northern=20 Israel = were=20 gathering, from 734 B.C. onwards, and multiplying exceedingly, according = to=20 prophecy, about the Armenian plateau and the Zagros mountains. This is confirmed too in = Tobit=20 VII, where it appears that = certain=20 Israelites of the captivity, in=20 Nineveh, came to=20 Ecbatana. Also Diodorus (II, = ch. 3)=20 refers to two colonies=E2=80=94which he calls Scythians, but evidently = from the words=20 =E2=80=9Cdespicable for their mean original=E2=80=9D were captive = Israelites=E2=80=94one out of=20 Assyria, the other out of Media.

In Aids to the Student=20 of the Holy Bible (Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1880), = written by=20 many well known writers of that day (including the late Prof. Sayce), = map 8=20 shows that the settlement of the Israelite exiles of the second = captivity is=20 located in Media, in the very spot where the Umman-Manda=20 revolted in the days of Esarhaddon, after the Israelites had been = located there=20 for about forty years. This will be dealt with later (see p. 22 last = four=20 lines).

CAMPAIGNS AROUND=20 ASSYRIA AND IN = ASIA MINOR

From Klauber (cited by Lehmann-Haupt) we learn that Esarhaddon (who = reigned=20 681-668 B.C.) addressed an appeal to the sun-god for help, when = threatened by=20 Kashteriti (Manda) and Mamiti-Arsu (Mede), as brought to light by = Knudson=20 (Leipzig, 1893), and by Klauber twenty years later.

(L.H., =C2=A7 19): =E2=80=9CWill Kashtariti and his warriors, or the = warriors of the=20 Gimirrai (whom Lehmann-Haupt definitely equates with the Cimmerians) or = the=20 warriors of the Media, or the warriors of the Mannai, or any enemy = whatsoever,=20 succeed in their plan?=E2=80=9D The =E2=80=9Cplan=E2=80=9D is the taking = of the Assyrian city of=20 Kishassu by storm. This with = Kartam=20 and five other cities =E2=80=9Con the eastern borders of = Assyria=E2=80=9D=20 (L.H., 19) was taken, according to the Babylonian Chronicle, during the = invasion=20 of Assyria by the Cimmerians (Article in Bab. = Assyr.=20 Geschichte by G. = P. Tiele. Historians=E2=80=99 History, I, p. 423.) = This campaign took=20 place in the district of Khubushkia (between the upper Zab and the=20 Tigris. Sayce; and C. P. Tiele, Bab. Ass. = Gesch.), = circa 677 B.C. = (formerly given as 673 B.C., but = Lehmann-Haupt gives=20 weighty argument for the earlier date). On the other = hand,=20 Hall (The Ancient History of the Near East, p. 495) says that = =E2=80=9Cthe war=20 lasted for several years, ending in 672 B.C. with the reassured = inviolability of=20 the northern frontier.=E2=80=9D Esarhaddon=E2=80=99s appeal to the = sun-god at the threat of=20 =E2=80=9Crevolt=E2=80=9D {NOTE: = It should be noted=E2=80=94from=20 Higher Criticism, = Sayce, 6th=20 edit., p. 485=E2=80=94that the words = used by Kashtariti,=20 in writing to Mamiti-Arsu, were =E2=80=9CLet us revolt,=E2=80=9D showing = that the Cimmerians=20 were Assyrian subjects at the time, and were not, as has been supposed, = taking=20 part in any so-called=20 Indo-European invasion.} by the Cimmerians and their allies was due = to=20 fright, and, by giving an Assyrian Princess in marriage, he formed an alliance with Bartatua, King of the Ishguzai (Asguza, = Ashkenaz,=20 Sayce, Higher Criticism, p. 484) with whose help the = invasion was=20 finally defeated and Teushpa (Teispes, the reputed ancestor of Cyrus and = Darius)=20 was killed (L.H., =C2=A7 17).

Let us pause to consider who all these various people were:

Hall (op. cit., p. 495)=20 speaks of =E2=80=9CThe nomad tribes of the Gimirrai. These, the Gomer of the Hebrews, and the = Kimmerians of=20 the Greeks.=E2=80=9D

Sayce (op. cit., pp. 483-486)=20 speaks of =E2=80=9CThe Kingdom of Minni adjoined that of Ararat (Urartu) = on=20 the south-east. Ararat, as we have seen, was the name given by the = Assyrians and=20 Hebrews to the country called Biainas in the native inscriptions, the = capital of=20 which was at Van, while the Minni of Scripture are termed = Manna in=20 the Assyrian text, and Mana in those of Van.=E2=80=9D

(Ibid) Saparda was in=20 Bithynia = and=20 Galatia=20 (cuneiform tablet, 275 B.C., = Dr. Strassmaier). Here was the=20 land of = Sepharad in which was the captivity of=20 Jerusalem (Obadiah, verse = 20). This contradicts Hall = (op. cit.,=20 p. 483), who writes: = =E2=80=9CWe are=20 not told that they were carried into captivity, but were regarded as = spoil.=E2=80=9D=20

The true Medes (Mada)=20 of the Assyrian inscription were, according to Sayce (Historians History, = II, p. 584) =E2=80=9Cthe = Kurdish tribes=20 who lived eastward of Assyria, and whose = territory=20 extended as far as the Caspian Sea. They were for = the=20 most part Indo-European in language and Aryan in descent, {NOTE: According to modern ideas, there is = an Aryan=20 language, but not an Aryan race.} and lived like the Greeks = in small=20 states, each of which obeyed a city lord of its own.=E2=80=9D

The Umman-Manda. A general = designation=20 for nomadic northmen (umman . = .=20 horde; manda . . full, numerous). Gadd in = Fall of=20 Nineveh (p. 14,=20 footnote), says: =E2=80=9CIt is certainly = used of the=20 Cimmerians, though apparently not of the actual Scythians (Asguzai, = Isguzai).=E2=80=9D=20

After this campaign, about the Zagros mountains and the Armenian plateau, the Cimmerians under Tugdamme (the = Lygdamis of=20 Strabo), who, like Teushpa, appears as an Umman-Manda, engaged in a = further=20 series of battles in Cappadocia and Cilicia, being finally driven across = the=20 Halys (circa = 673 B.C.).=20 Then began the campaign of the Cimmerians against=20 Phrygia, which they destroyed (L.H., =C2=A7 28), = and then=20 against = Lydia=20 under Gyges (Assyrian =E2=80=9CGugu=E2=80=9D), who first made his = allegiance to Asshur-banipal,=20 and then revolted. Sardis = was taken=20 by the Cimmerians, and Gyges killed (circa 652 B.C.) = (L.H.). The Cimmerians then attacked the Greek = coast cities=20 in conjunction with their related stock, the Treres, who had come across = the=20 straits from the west, as stated by Callinus. Subsequently, the = Cimmerians were=20 driven out of Western Asia Minor by = Gyges=E2=80=99 son, Ardys,=20 and his grandson, Alyattes, and were met and defeated by the Assyrian = army of=20 Syria, = about the=20 Cilician Gates, when Tugdamme (Lygdamis) was = killed and=20 his son Sandakshatra became their leader (Hall, op. cit., p. 509). = Alyattes=20 ended his six years=E2=80=99 contest with the Cimmerians (Manda, as = shown below) by=20 giving his daughter Aryanis to Astyages, the son of Cyaxares. (See = below.)

Prior to the death of Ashur-banipal two invasions of Assyria had = taken place:=20 one under Phraortes (circa=20 634 B.C.), which was defeated, and the other under Cyaxares=20 (Uvakh-shatara)=E2=80=94who reigned 634-594 B.C., or by another = calculation 625-585=20 B.C.=E2=80=94(circa = 630 B.C.),=20 in which Nineveh was besieged, but rescued by Scythians under Madyes, = son of=20 Protothyes (the latter considered to be the same as Bartatua, King of = the=20 Ishguzai) (H. II, 102 ff.).

From Gadd, Fall of Nineveh, we learn that Nabopolassar, = Viceroy of=20 Babylon, revolted from Assyria some time between = 620 and=20 617 B.C. In the summer of 614 B.C., Cyaxares marched upon=20 Nineveh, an=20 alliance was made between Media (Manda; see below) and=20 Babylon, formally sealed by = the=20 marriage between Cyaxares=E2=80=99 daughter, Amytis, with = Nebuchadnezzar. Thereby,=20 incidentally, Astyages (Cyaxares=E2=80=99 son; see above) became = brother-in-law of=20 Nebuchadnezzar (Nabopolassar=E2=80=99s son). During = 613 B.C. there=20 was a pause in the siege when the Medes (Manda) were engaged with = Bactrian=20 Scythians (Scoloti), but these were eventually persuaded to join the=20 Manda-Babylonian alliance, and in July-August 612 B.C.=20 Nineveh fell.

MEDES=20 AND UMMAN-MANDA

Sayce (Higher=20 Criticism and = the=20 Monuments, p. = 519,=20 ff.) also deals with this question of the Medes and the Manda: = =E2=80=9CIf it is=20 startling to learn that Cyrus was in reality an Elamite Prince, it is = equally=20 startling to find that Istuvegu (Astyages) was King, not of the Medes, = but of=20 the Manda. . . . Teuspa (Teispes), the leader of the Gimirrai, is called = a Manda=20 by Esarhaddon, and an inscription of Assur-banipal, recently discovered = by Mr.=20 Strong, returns thanks to the Assyrian gods for the defeat of that = =E2=80=98limb of=20 Satan,=E2=80=99 Tuktammu, of the Manda, or Duktammu (possibly the = Lygdamis of Strabo),=20 who led the Cimmerians into Kalikia (Cilicia), from thence they = afterwards=20 marched westward and burned Sardis. At all events, we must see in him a=20 forerunner, if not a predecessor, of Istuvegu (the Astyages of the = Greeks), who=20 governed the Manda in Ekbatana. Ekbatana, the modern=20 Hamadan, called Achmetha in = the Old=20 Testament (Ezra vi, 2), the Hangmatana of the = Persian=20 inscriptions, had been built in the territory of the old=20 kingdom of=20 Ellipi. Ellipi had been = tributary to=20 Sargon, and in the time of Sennacherib we find it in alliance with=20 Elam. = After this=20 it disappears from history. The Manda had descended upon it and made it = the=20 chief city of their power. It would seem that the Manda of Ekbatana were = the=20 Scythians of classical history. As we have seen, Teuspa the Kimmerian = and his=20 people are termed =E2=80=98Manda=E2=80=99 by Esarhaddon and in the = inscriptions of Darius; the=20 Gimirra Umurgah of the Babylonian text, correspond with the Saka = Humavarka of=20 the Persian text. The Saka Humavarka are the = Amyrgian=20 Sakae of Herodotus (VII, 64) who, he = tells=20 us, were the Scythians of the Greeks. Totally distinct from the = =E2=80=98Manda=E2=80=99 were the Mada, or Medes. Their land lay to the north-east = of=20 Ekbatana, and extended as far as the shores of the Caspian=20 Sea. . . . When, in the generations that preceded Darius = Hystaspes,=20 Cyrus became the founder of the Persian Empire = the Medes=20 and the Manda were confounded one with the other. Astyages, the Suzerain = of=20 Cyrus, was transformed into a Mede, and the city of=20 Ekbatana into the capital of = a=20 Median Empire The illusion has lasted down to our own age. . . . It was = not=20 until the discovery of the monuments of Nabonidus and Cyrus that the = truth at=20 last came to light, and it was found that the history we had so long = believed=20 was founded upon a philological mistake.=E2=80=9D

It seems a pity that the late Professor Sayce did not go a step = further to=20 state definitely that it was neither the Medes, nor the Umman-Manda of = Abraham=E2=80=99s=20 time, that destroyed Assyria, but the new people Cimmerii, who had = ousted the=20 Umman-Manda from their former ruling position in Media and had become in = the=20 eyes of neighbouring countries, not in their own, Umman-Manda by = affiliation.=20

CHRONOLOGY

The question of dates is important in connection with the Herodotus = story.=20

The invasion of the Scythians (according to L.H., =C2=A7 6) must have = taken place=20 twenty-eight years before the fall of=20 Nineveh. This event is now = fixed=20 definitely at 612 B.C., so that puts the commencement of the Scythian = invasion=20 at 640 B.C., and as the Scythians were (according to the same story) = pursuing=20 the Cimmerians at the time, the Cimmerians can only just have preceded = them in=20 their flight over the Caucasus.

But, according to accurate dating by =E2=80=9CLimmu=E2=80=9D (see = page II):

1.=E2=80=94It will be seen, from page 10, that the Cimmerians had = exerted such=20 pressure on Urartu, about 715 B.C., as to be responsible (according to = L.H., =C2=A7=20 10, 11) for the suicide of Rusas I.

2.=E2=80=94The defeat and death of =E2=80=9CTeushpa, the Cimmerian, = a=20 nomad, whose country is far distant, I slew and destroyed in the = district of=20 Hubushna (Khubashna, Khubushkia) with all his troop=E2=80=9D in 677 B.C. = (See page 14.)=20

From this it is apparent that the Cimmerians were fighting hard in = Urartu and=20 on the north-east border of Assyria, thirty-seven = to=20 seventy-five years before the date about which (according to the = Herodotus=20 story) they were being pursued over the Caucasus = by the=20 Scythians.

It is also to be noted that Lehmann-Haupt states that the Gimirrai, = whom he=20 definitely equates with the Cimmerians, never appear in conjunction with = the=20 Ishguzai (Scythians), but always together with other northerners, the = Mannai,=20 Sapardai and Medians, as if allied, or at least making war in common, = with them.=20

GOMER

Another important question is this: Was Gomer of Genesis x the same = people as=20 the Cimmerians of later times? Scholars seem to think so. But is this = justified?=20 Gomer, the wife of Hosea (Hosea i), even though a wife of whoredom, is = unlikely=20 to be a descendant of Japhet, as she is intended to represent = backsliding=20 Israel=E2=80=94in the parable of the relation of Yahweh to = Israel=E2=80=94and therefore must be=20 reasonably expected to be a descendant of Shem, and not of Japhet. It is = also=20 remarkable that this Hosea-Gomer seed was placed, after the ten tribes = had been=20 taken captive by the Assyrians, in the very localities where the = Cimmerians=20 revolted.

CIMMERIA=20 AND=20 SAMARIA

The northern kingdom of=20 Israel was called=20 Samaria (Ussher 975 = B.C.=E2=80=94see 1 Kings=20 xiii, 32) long before Omri built its capital = city=20 =E2=80=9CShomeron,=E2=80=9D which the Greek Septuagint renders = =E2=80=9CSamareia.=E2=80=9D Josephus, in Bk.=20 VIII, Chap. XII, 5, says that Omri called the city Samarion and that the = Greeks=20 turned it into Samaria. The = Bible=20 says that Omri called it Shomeron (1 Kings xvi, 24=20 margin).

The fear of the Syrians caused continuous = emigration of=20 northern = Israel=20 to the Isles of the West in Benhadad=E2=80=99s time (1 Kings xv, 20), and, when =E2=80=9Cthe Lord began to cut=20 Israel = short,=E2=80=9D=20 in Hazael=E2=80=99s time (2 Kings x, 32). Further, northern Dan seems to = have=20 disappeared before the advent of the Assyrians, as narrated in 2 Kings = xv, 29. These movements were probably effected by = means of=20 the maritime trade for tin, etc., through the=20 Mediterranean to the Scilly Isles and=20 Cornwall, long before the = actual=20 captivities took place.

Rev. George Cooke, D.D., Regius Professor of Hebrew at=20 Oxford, in an article in the = Ency. Brit. 14th edition (XVII, 769) says: =E2=80=9CA vivid = description of the=20 Phoenicians=E2=80=99 trade at the time of=20 Tyre=E2=80=99s prosperity is = given by=20 Ezekiel (xxvii, 12-25). . . . Between=20 Israel = and=20 Phoenicia= the=20 relations naturally were close: the former provided certain necessaries = of life=20 and received in exchange articles of luxury and splendour (ibid. 16-18). = . . .=20 It was the trade with Tarshish, i.e. the region of Tartessus in S.W. = Spain,=20 which contributed most to the Phoenician=E2=80=99s wealth. . . . From = Gadeira (now=20 Cadiz) the Sidonian ships = ventured=20 further on the ocean and drew tin from the mines of N.W. Spain, or from = the=20 richer deposits in the Cassiterides, i.e. the=20 Tin=20 Islands, now known as the = Scillies.=E2=80=9D=20

Also from an article by H. J. E. Peake, President of the Royal=20 Anthropological Institute of Britain (ibid., Vol. II, p. 248, = =E2=80=9CArch=C3=A6ology, Trade=20 Routes=E2=80=9D): =E2=80=9CFrom Sicily there are indications of trade in = various directions . .=20 . as far as the coasts of Spain and Portugal. There is even reason for = believing=20 that from Portugal a further line of coastal trade ran to Brittany and = the=20 Channel Islands, and ultimately to Ireland and the west of Britain, as = well as=20 to the amber coast of Denmark. These gold deposits and the tin lodes of=20 Cornwall, as well as certain = copper=20 and, perhaps, gold deposits in=20 Wales = were the=20 lures that tempted the first bronze traders to these countries. Thus it = was that=20 within a very few centuries after the first use of this alloy (2200 B.C., ibid.,=20 p. 247) bronze was brought to the British Isles=E2=80=9D (ibid., p. = 252).

Further evidence of this westward movement is found in the existence = of stone=20 circles, similar to that of Stonehenge, at ports = of call=20 north and south of the Mediterranean, in=20 Spain, = in=20 Brittany, and in about two = hundred=20 places in=20 Britain. =

Also from The British Museum Guide to Early Iron Age Antiquities=20 (1925) we learn that M. Salomon Reinach thinks that the Phrygians = were here=20 (Britain)= about=20 850 B.C., even before the Phoenicians. This is supported by the evidence = of the=20 =E2=80=9CScyphus Cup,=E2=80=9D said to have been found in the Thames = between Putney and=20 Hammersmith, which has peculiarities marking it as coming from the = neighbourhood=20 of Troy between 1000 = and 700=20 B.C. (ibid., pp. 90, 91). While The British Museum Guide to the = Antiquities=20 of the Bronze Age, = 1920 (p.=20 151) indicates that the oldest route of intercourse between east and = west was=20 from Hissarlik (second city of Troy) before 2000 B.C., through Spain, = Portugal=20 and France (especially Brittany) to the British Isles and northern = Europe.

CIMMERIANS=20 AND SCYTHIANS

It is a pity that scholars=E2=80=94when giving us history from the = monuments=E2=80=94instead=20 of putting the monumental name in the text of a translation and what = they=20 think it meant in a note, frequently put =E2=80=9CScythian=E2=80=9D = or =E2=80=9CBarbarian=E2=80=9D in the=20 text of the book or in the translation of the cylinder instead of the = actual=20 name used.

In a paper of this sort there is no opportunity to give the requisite = background, in detail, for an examination of this question, but in = chapters=20 VII and VIII of my book, = Israel=E2=80=99s Racial=20 Origin and Migrations (1934), authority is given for the tradition = that the=20 early colonies of Greece and Phrygia were furnished by Israelites from=20 Egypt=E2=80=94principally by the tribe of Dan=E2=80=94but Zara Judah = cannot be excluded. This is merely to indicate the idea that at a very = early date,=20 (between 1500 and 750 B.C.) the shores of the = Aegean and=20 the Black Sea were largely populated with=20 Israel = people,=20 many of whom had probably never even been into=20 Palestine. By the time that = the=20 Cimmerian drama opens these Israelites would be known as Ionians and = Thracians.=20

It really does seem as if, in the endeavour to get rid of the Old = Testament,=20 modern critics omit to take any account of Israelites who were placed in = captivity in Assyria from 734 B.C. and onwards = and in the=20 cities of the Medes from circa 715 B.C. onwards. These ten tribes = of=20 Israel, whose fighting strength was over a million in David=E2=80=99s = time (1 Chron.=20 xxi, 5, as compared with 800,000 by 2 Sam. xxiv, 9) must in the = subsequent=20 centuries have multiplied enormously, till Josephus (xi, 5) could = describe=20 them=E2=80=94at the period after the return of the Jews (Judah, Benjamin = and Levi) from=20 the Babylonian captivity (518 B.C.)=E2=80=94as being = beyond the=20 Euphrates, where their numbers had increased almost beyond=20 credibility.

Where were they and what were they now = named? because from Ezek. xx, 39, it is obvious that the=20 Israel=20 name=E2=80=94which included =E2=80=9CEL,=E2=80=9D the name of = God=E2=80=94was to be taken away and=20 Israel = was to be=20 lost in a sea of names. Sir Henry Rawlinson says (in Ancient = Monarchies,=20 II, p. 513) that = the=20 opinion of Herodotus (IV, c. 11, 12) that the Scythians entered Asia in = pursuit=20 of the Cimmerians is childish and may be safely set aside. Is it not = possible=20 that it contains the germ of the actual course of events?

The Israelites were taken into captivity, from 734 B.C. onwards, and = placed=20 partly in Assyria and partly in Media. The = Cimmerians are=20 revealed by the monuments and made known by Rawlinson and Sayce. They = are found=20 in the very localities about Urartu (Ararat) and in the Zagros mountains = about=20 Kar-Kassi, north of Elam, where some of the ten tribes of Israel were = placed=20 during the lifetime of the captives from Samaria (seep. 13, last two = lines ff.).=20 The latter were known by the Assyrians even before = their=20 captivity, as the Bit Khumri, as shown on the Black obelisk of = Shalmanezer II=20 (860-825 B.C.) now in the = British=20 Museum. This name originated = from=20 Omri, who was King of Israel 929-918 B.C. (Ussher) (1 Kings xvi, 23, 28). From the days of Omri they must have = been known=20 to the Assyrians as Khumri, which Pinches shows was actually pronounced = Ghomri.=20

Now Diodorus Siculus, who wrote during the first century B.C. refers, in Bk. II, ch. 3, to two = remarkable=20 colonies among the Scythians, =E2=80=9Cthe one they brought out of = Assyria, and settled=20 in the country lying between Paphlagonia and Pontus: the other one of = Media,=20 which they placed near the river Tanais.=E2=80=9D

Danvers (in Israel Redivivus, p. 97) says: =E2=80=9CThus = Diodorus Siculus=20 identifies two colonies amongst the Scythians, who may have been = Israelites of=20 the Assyrian captivity (see p. 13, end of last paragraph but one) and = this=20 appears to suggest that the Israelites of the Assyrian captivity did = migrate=20 from Asia into Europe with the Scythians, and were, for the time being, = known by=20 that name.=E2=80=9D Allatius (Allaci, Leone), too, states (ibid., p. 98) = that the=20 districts of=20 Iberia = and=20 Colchis =E2=80=9Cwere peopled by Israelites from = the banks of the=20 Chaboras.=E2=80=9D

This does not infer that the Israelites up to the time of the end of = the=20 Assyrian captivity period (circa=20 734-669 B.C.=E2=80=9465 years), or even up to the time of the = Behistun=20 inscription (circa = 515=20 B.C.) were known otherwise than as Saka (Persian) and Gimirra = (Babylonian) but=20 it does infer that, later, when the Greek writers gave the general = designation=20 of =E2=80=9CScythian=E2=80=9D to all wandering tribes, Herodotus = followed suit, and, not knowing=20 that the Saka (Gimirra) were Kimmerioi, called them Scythians, and also = said=20 that the Persians called all the Scythians Saka, whereas they really = called the=20 Cimmerians Saka. At a later stage, the Israelites were merged in the = various=20 wandering tribes known as Scythians, and became known as such.

Dr. Donaldson in Varronianus (1844), p. 51, remarks that in the immense area to which the ancients gave the name = of Scythia=20 we must distinguish between the Sarmatae or Sauromatae, who were mainly, = or to a=20 large extent, Sclavonian; the Scythae, or Asa-Goths; the Sacae, or = Saxons, who=20 were identical ultimately with the Daci, or Danes; and the Scolotae, or=20 Asa-Galatae, also called Cimmerii.

From 2 Esdras xiii, 40-46, we learn that the ten tribes took a = journey of a=20 year and a half to Arsareth; Herodotus wrote about the migration of = Scythian=20 people from the south of the Caspian to a country north-west of the = Black Sea;=20 and as neither of them mentions any incursion of other peoples, in the = same=20 direction and to the same districts, it=E2=80=99 is but a natural = deduction that both=20 the accounts refer to the same people, notwithstanding that the one is = called=20 Israelites and the other Scythians.

This does not appear more unreasonable than the tradition (among = others)=20 which Herodotus is =E2=80=9Cinclined to,=E2=80=9D of events which = happened two hundred years and=20 more previous to his date of writing, especially bearing in mind that = Herodotus=20 committed the anachronism of applying the generic term = =E2=80=9CScythian=E2=80=9D to the=20 particular people certainly known, at the time he was writing about, as = Saka.=20

The fact seems to be that no Assyrian, Babylonian or Persian wrote=20 =E2=80=9CScythian.=E2=80=9D They wrote Umman-Manda, Zab-Manda, Mada, = Gimmirra, Saka. It was the Greeks who introduced the word = Scythian. The=20 days of Assyria,=20 Babylon and=20 Persia = were all=20 over and the Greek period was well advanced before you find the Greek = name=20 Scythian on any monumental inscription (Ency. Biblica, Vol = IV, p. 4330).

Let us try to clear up this question of names:

1. From p. 7, Lehmann-Haupt = (=C2=A7 58)=20 quotes Strabo VII. 2, 2. C 293, who cites = Poseidonius as=20 saying, =E2=80=9Cthe Cimmerian Bosporus was named after them (Cimbri), = being equivalent=20 to Cimbrian, the Greeks naming the Cimbri = =E2=80=98Kimmerioi=E2=80=99.=E2=80=9D

2. =20 Rogers (in his = History of Babylonia and Assyria, II, pp. 286-293) says in a = note: =E2=80=9CThe=20 name Manda in the Babylonian text applies to the = same people=20 that were called Sakae or Scythians by the Greeks.=E2=80=9D

3. C. P. Tiele, in an = article from=20 Babn. Assy. Gesch. (Historians=E2=80=99=20 History, I, p. 422) says: =E2=80=9CCimmerians or, more = accurately, the=20 Umman-Manda.=E2=80=9D

4. Pinches says that the = Manda were=20 in Media in the time of Abraham. Therefore if the Cimmerians are now the = Manda=20 they must have ousted the Umman-Manda from their former ruling position = in Media=20 and had become in the eyes of neighbouring countries, not in their own,=20 Umman-Manda by affiliation. Here we have the old story, the conqueror = taking the=20 name of the conquered. As Minns says in Scythian and Greeks, p. = 40: =E2=80=9CAll=20 history tells us, easily as nations change their language, they change = their=20 names still more easily.=E2=80=9D

5. From p. 14 it will be = seen that=20 Lehmann-Haupt (op. cit., =C2=A7 19) definitely equates the Gimirrai and = the=20 Cimmerians; and on page 15 Hall (op. cit., p. 495) equates the Gimirrai = with=20 Gomer of the Hebrews and with the Kimmerioi of the Greeks.

6. From p. 17, Sayce says = that Teuspa=20 or Teispes, the leader of the Gimirrai is called a Manda by Esarhaddon, = and he=20 quotes from the Darius inscription (Behistun) that the Gimirra Umurgah = of the=20 Babylonian text corresponds with the Saka Humavarka of the Persian text. = Also that the Mada (or true Medes) were totally distinct = from the=20 Manda.

7. Finally, Omri built = Shomeron, and=20 the Assyrians wrote Omri as Khumri (as shown on the Black obelisk now in = the=20 British=20 Museum). Pinches=20 (in his Assyria and Babylonia, p. 339) says: =E2=80=9COmri = was likewise=20 pronounced in accordance with the older system before the = =E2=80=98Ghain=E2=80=99 became =E2=80=98Ayin.=E2=80=99=20 Humri shows that they said at that time = =E2=80=98Ghomri.=E2=80=99=E2=80=9D By the time of Esarhaddon=20 this was written Gimmerai.

CONCLUSION

The arguments put forward suggest:

1. A western = Cimmeria=E2=80=94possibly=20 Jutland or=20 Britain=E2= =80=94of which=20 Homer had heard only vaguely.

2. An eastern Cimmeria, = subsequently=20 developed by later waves of the same Iranian-Thracian people, actually=20 Israel. =

3. That the whole edifice = of the=20 story by Herodotus is based on an extremely shaky foundation.

4. That there is no = evidence whatever=20 for the Cimmerians being found in Assyria, Armenia, or Asia Minor, until = after=20 the smashing-up of the kingdom of Beth-Khumri and the transportation of = the=20 Khumri people to those very localities.

5. That it was the earlier = captivity=20 of = Israel = which=20 was long engaged in the fighting with Assyrians, about Urartu, till = (according=20 to Esdras) they went to Arsareth.

6. That it was the later = captivities=20 of = Israel = (721,=20 715 B.C. and onwards) = which=20 ousted the original Umman-Manda from the leadership of Media, and became = affiliated as Umman-Manda themselves. After their defeat in 677 B.C., = and the=20 death of Teushpa (Teispes), their leader in the field, they were driven = into=20 Asia Minor, as Cimmerians, by the Assyrians under = Esarhaddon, aided (then) by Ishguzai (Scythians), and subsequently = engaged in=20 years of fighting with the Lydians.

7. That the Ishguzai under = Bartatua=20 were genuinely a tribe of Scythians.

8. That the Scythians under = Madyes=20 who attacked Cyaxares during the first abortive siege of=20 Nineveh, may also have been=20 Ishguzai, but they were more probably Bactrian Scythians (Scoloti) from = western=20 Asia. These were subsequently persuaded to join = Cyaxares=20 for the final capture of=20 Nineveh, and it was probably = these=20 who ruled Asia for 28 years, whether before, = during, or=20 after, the siege of Nineveh = (if at=20 all?), no one seems able to say.

9. That there is no = evidence whatever=20 that the Japhetic Gomer of Genesis x and the (presumably) non-Israelite = Gomer of=20 Ezekiel xxxviii, 6, are the same as the symbolic Gomer of Hosea, which=20 represents backsliding (Shemitic=E2=80=94not Semitic)=20 Israel. =

10. That the later Gomer of = Hosea may=20 genuinely mean Cimmerian. According to Pinches they were called Ghomri = in=20 Hosea=E2=80=99s day.

To sum up. I suggest the following = explanation of=20 the ideas examined in this paper:

The indications of Homer=E2=80=99s geography seem to show that the = Cimmerians which=20 he had heard of were filtrations of the people from Samaria, who from = the time=20 of Omri c. 918 B.C. (Ussher) were known as Khumri (as shown in the Black = Obelisk), whence=E2=80=94it is suggested=E2=80=94that the name Cimmerii = is derived. These=20 Cimmerians were beyond Oceanus in a wintry land north-west of=20 Greece, = and were=20 actually on the shores of the North Sea or in=20 Britain. = Subsequent to the earlier Homeric writings the Milesian sailors = discovered the=20 Sea of Azov, and, thinking that they had reached = Homer=E2=80=99s=20 =E2=80=9Cland of wintry Cimmerians,=E2=80=9D named its entrance the = =E2=80=9CCimmerian Bosphorus.=E2=80=9D The=20 report of the doings of the Cimmerians in the east, in the eighth and = seventh=20 centuries B.C., reverberated throughout the known world, the geography = of which=20 was little known, and may have induced Aeschylus (writing in the fifth = century=20 B.C.), who was a poet and not a geographer, to locate the Cimmerians in = the=20 Crimea. It is quite possible that there were some Cimmerians there by = that time.=20 Herodotus (484-425 B.C.), on the other hand, had to account for the = actual=20 presence of Cimmerians in Asia Minor, in the seventh century B.C., so = the story=20 of the Cimmerians, started by Homer in his description of their wintry = abode=20 north-west of Greece, and carried on by the = Milesian sailors=20 naming the Crimea the Bosporus Cimmerius, led to Herodotus accepting the = story=20 to which he =E2=80=9Cinclined.=E2=80=9D This seems to be a notable = instance of what Sayce (Higher Criticism and the = Monuments,=20 p. 529) describes as a history that has no perspective, = though it is=20 based on facts, and blends into one picture manifold events and = personages of=20 the past.

Both Esdras and Herodotus describe the same actual event. The former=20 (correctly) calls the people, who passed over the=20 Caucasus,=20 Israel, = whereas=20 Herodotus accepted the story, which was an inversion of what took place = more=20 than two hundred years before he wrote. The Cimmerians were not driven = from the=20 Crimea through the = Caucasus by the=20 Scythians. The Israelites in the form of Sakae, Cimmerians, and = Gimirrai, went=20 from the Armenian table-land to Arsareth (Scythia) and other Cimmerians = already=20 there (about the Crimea) gave way=E2=80=94as described on page 79 of my = book,=20 Israel=E2=80=99s Racial Origin and Migrations (1934)=E2=80=94part = moving into Thrace and=20 part rejoining the Cimmerians still remaining in Asia Minor.

The confusion of events in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., was = largely=20 added to by the fact that the (Eastern) Cimmerians had settled in what = used to=20 be the land of ancient Gomer, which in the time of Dungi (probably third = millennium B.C.) was (from the description given) in Northern Media, = possibly=20 south of the Caspian. They therefore became =E2=80=9CGomer,=E2=80=9D = just as the Teutons have=20 become Germans, and the Angles and Scots have become Britons. Thus the=20 Cimmerians, the seed of Hosea=E2=80=99s wife of whoredom=E2=80=94Gomer = of Hosea 1=E2=80=94actually the=20 captive Israelites, became identified with the Gimmirai, who were = supposed to be=20 derived from the inhabitants of Gomer, but were really the same people.=20