Danite Migrations To Europe



Taken from:

http://www.israelite.ca/research/specialstudiesfiles/other_exodus

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Whether it was their original intention or not, the Danaan sailed their ships north to the secluded bay of Argos in the Greek Peloponnesus. The Encyclopedia Judaica  (5:1257) quotes a leading Israeli archaeologist, Y. Yadin, who states, “...there is a close relationship between the tribe of Dan and the tribe of Danaoi whose members were clearly seafarers.” This encyclopedia also tells us, “the name Dan should be regarded as a short form of Dan(ann)iel or the like.” (5:1255) Again the connection with the Greek Danaan is unmistakable. Dr. Robert Latham, one of the most respected 19th century authorities, firmly stated that the Danaan of Greece were the Israelite Tribe of Dan. In his Ethnology of Europe, Latham commented, “Neither do I think that the eponymus [i.e., founder] of the Argive [Greek] Danai was other than that of the Israelite 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... ignore the share they may have taken in the ordinary history of the world.” (p. 137)

Archaeologist Dr. Cyrus Gordon states that they later sailed from Greece to other European coastlands, including Ireland and Denmark. In his book Before Columbus, Gordon relates, “A group of Sea People bore the name of ‘ Dan.’ The Bible tells how a segment of the seafaring (Judges 5:17) Danites [were part of] the tribal system of ancient Israel... The Danites were widespread. Cyprus was called Ia-Dnan ‘The Island of Dan(an).’ The same people were called Danuna, and under this name they appear as rulers of the Plain of Adana in Cilicia. Greek tradition has their eponymous ancestor, Danaos Dan), migrating from the Nile delta to Greece...”(p.108) Note that the Israelites did in fact emigrate from Egypt. Cyrus Gordon added, “Virgil also designated the Greeks as “Danai.” Bold scholars see the influence of the Danites in Irish folk lore... and in the name of Danmark (‘Denmark’): the land of Dan...”(p. 111)

There is indeed strong evidence that the Danaan of Ireland, Cornwall and Scotland, the Danaan of Greece and Italy, as well as the Danes of Denmark, were Israelites of the tribe of Dan. W. Ewart Gladstone in Juventus Mundi states that the Tuatha de Danaan of Ireland came from the Danaan of Greece. The similarity of name would itself seem conclusive; but is there other evidence that these two groups of Danaan were related? Dr. H.R. Hall, in The Civilization of Greece In The Bronze Age, stated concerning the Greeks of the age of Homer, “Athenian funerary lekythoi [painted vases] give us coppery-red or brown hair side by side with dark-brown or black, and generally fair complexions, resembling a certain Irish Celtic type.” Keating’s History of Ireland says, “The Dannans were a people of great learning, they had overmuch gold and silver… they left Greece after a battle with the Assyrians, and for fear of falling into the hands of the Assyrians came to Norway and Denmark (Dannemark) and thence passed over to Ireland.” (p.40) The Annals of Ireland by the Four Masters explains, “The colony called Tuatha-de-Dannan conquered the Firbolgs and became Masters of Ireland… were highly skilled in architecture and other arts from their long residence in Greece and intercourse with the Phoenicians.” (p.121) They have left their names in many places; we find Dannonia, Caledonia, and Donaghadee in the Lough of Belfast. We can see by now it is no coincidence that the early Greeks resembled the Irish Celts, because the Tuatha de Danaan of early Ireland descended from Greek “Danaan” colonists who sailed westward in search of new lands.

            These Danaan colonists did indeed settle in Denmark, which name means, ‘Dan’s Mark’ or ‘Dan’s Land.’ In ancient times, Denmark was settled by a tribe called the “Dani,” according to early Roman historian, Procopius (fifth century, A.D.), who recorded that the Dani were a group of tribes inhabiting the Danish peninsula. (VI.xv.1-6) That these were part of the Hebrew tribe of Dan may be seen in the fact mentioned previously that Biblical Dan was called, “Dani-el or Dananniel,” a variation of ‘Dani’ or ‘Danaan.’

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