Israelites and Greece. 31 August 2026, 18 Elul 5785.
Contents:
1. Irish Traditions of Ancient Greece.
2. The Later Ten Tribes (LTTs) and descendants of Japhet (Gomer and Javan).
3. Contributors to this Study.
4. Martin Bernal, "Black Athena."
5. John Salverda
6. Descendants of Javan (Ancient Greece) and Israel.
(a) Javan. - Greece.
(b) Elishah and Portugal.
(c Tarshish and Spain.
(d) Kittim - Philistines.
(e) Dodanim.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1. Irish Traditions of Ancient Greece.
Irish legendary sources often indicate both Hebrew and Greek origins.
They will say they came from Egypt or from Israel, or Lebanon, or Syria, etc, and they passed over to Greece.
From there they usually report having sojourned in Spain and then moved to Ireland, or to Britain and Ireland.
These legends usually concern the peoples (Dana, Belgae, etc) who arrived separately before the Gaelic Milessians.
The Milesians also tell a similar tale.
At all events, the feasibility of Israelites having sojourned for a while in Greece, or near it, exists.
This does not mean the present-day Greeks are of Israelite descent.
The Greeks of today are on the whole anti-Jewish.
Even so, both Israel and Greece face a mutual threat in Turkey. The Government of Greece is seeking an alliance with Israel.
# Greece wasn't always in the pro-Israel camp. It voted against the UN partition plan for Palestine in 1947. It was one of the last Western states to formally recognize the state of Israel, which it only did in 1990.#
See:
Is Greece becoming a satellite state for Israel?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9VH8XeLxWo&t=15s
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2. The Later Ten Tribes (LTTs) and descendants of Japhet (Gomer and Javan).
The Lost Ten Tribes in general became associated with descendants of Gomer. An alternative association with Javan also existed.
Genesis (TCB) 19:
1 AND THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF THE SONS OF NOAH: SHEM, HAM, AND JAPHETH, AND SONS WERE BORN TO THEM AFTER THE FLOOD.
2 THE SONS OF JAPHETH WERE GOMER AND MAGOG AND MADAI AND JAVAN AND TUBAL, AND MESHECH AND TIRAS.
3 AND THE SONS OF GOMER WERE ASHKENAZ AND RIPHATH AND TOGARMAH.
4 AND THE SONS OF JAVAN WERE ELISHAH AND TARSHISH, KITTIM, AND DODANIM.
5 FROM THESE, THE ISLANDS OF THE NATIONS SEPARATED IN THEIR LANDS, EACH ONE TO HIS LANGUAGE, ACCORDING TO THEIR FAMILIES, IN THEIR NATIONS..
In Hebrew "JAVAN" (pronounced "Yavan") means Greece.
Irish traditions would indicate a link to Javan. ELISHAH AND TARSHISH, KITTIM, AND DODANIM.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
3. Contributors to this Study.
Over the years different subscribers to Brit-Am have sent us their insights concerning a possible link between the LTTs (Lost Ten Tribes) and ancestors of the Greeks.
John Salvador sent us an important series of articles comparing Green Mythology to Biblical Tradition.
"Eric" also wrote often on this matter.
Ancient Greece and Ireland
by Eric (TubalCain)
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/guest/eric1/greece.html
See Also:
Notes from Eric (TubalCain)
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/guest/eric1.html
So did others.
For example:
@Gumsheils
re
Biblical Truth. Prophecy in the News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivXOcUuJeDU&t=636s
Hi Yair in Ezekiel 27:19 Dan seems to be associated with Greece, (Javan). In the ancient Irish annals one of the groups of early settlers in Ireland were said to have arrived in Ireland following a sojourn in Greece. Also in 1 Maccabees 12 the King of the Lacedemonians, (Spartans) found in writing that the Lacedemonians and the Jews were brethren of the stock of Abraham. Some time later the Jews in Judea responded to this letter stating that from the Holy scriptures they already knew this fact. Did they get this information from Ezekiel 27:19? Josephus mentions this interaction in the Antiquities of the Jews. Could a section of the tribe of Dan have migrated to Greece and then to Ireland before the Assyrian invasion? Also, we know from Judges 5:17 that the Danite's were seafarers. I definitely am not saying all the tribe migrated to Greece but some of them?
Taking all these sources (and more) together we have quite a body of evidence.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
4. Martin Bernal, "Black Athena."
There was also an academic work of interest.
It did not say anything of Israelites going anywhere but it showed evidence of Ancient Greeks being partially descended from. and heavily influenced by Egypt, Canaan, and related areas.
See:
"Black Athena"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Athena
Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization, published in 1987 (vol. 1), 1991 (vol. 2), and 2006 (vol. 3), is a pseudo-archeological trilogy by the British Professor of Government and Near Eastern Studies Martin Bernal proposing an alternative hypothesis on the origins of ancient Greece and classical civilisation. Bernal's thesis discusses the perception of ancient Greece in relation to Greece's North African and West Asian neighbours, especially the ancient Egyptians and Phoenicians who, he believes, colonized ancient Greece producing the bulk of Classical civilization. Bernal proposed that a change in the Western perception of Greece in the 18th century led to the denial of any significant Egyptian and Phoenician influence on ancient Greek civilization.
(Yair Davidiy read a copy of "Black Athena" volume one, that had been loaned to him by John Hulley. Quite a few others works of importance for our researches were accessed in the same way).
# Bernal rejects the theory that Greek civilization was founded by Indo-European settlers from Central Europe. This theory, which Bernal calls the Aryan Model, came to be generally accepted during the 19th century.
Bernal defends instead what he calls the Ancient Model; the name refers to the fact that Egyptian and Phoenician (as well as Mesopotamian and Anatolian) influences on the Greek world were widely accepted in antiquity.
We read the 1st volume and part of the second of Bernal's work some time ago.
Regardless of the overall picture some input from Egypt and the Levant to Ancient Greece did take place.
The work of Bernal is very valuable and he quotes from valid sources.
Despite all this there is danger in taking conclusions in the opposite direction.
See:
Black Athena Explained | Dr. Rebecca Futo Kennedy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shEEsy0BkzQ
Were the Ancient Greeks and Romans White?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ3A5FnCtaQ
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
5. John Salverda
Meanwhile other correspondents of ours had steadily contributed to the overall picture which was consistent with Israelites having once been in parts of Ancient Greece.
See:
"Helleno-Yishurin. The Hebrew Origin of Greek Legends"
by-John R. Salverda
https://www.britam.org/salverda/salverdacontents.html
�Athens and the Hebrews. The Other Lost Israelites� by John Salverda.
�Pelops, Ahab and the Achaeans by John Salverda�.
Salverda, �Scandinavian Legends and the Hebrew Bible": "The Aesir Legends from Norse Mythology" by John R. Salverda.
Salverda, John R. "Helleno-Yishurin. The Hebrew Origin of Greek Legends."
Salverda, John R. "The Danaans�.
Salverda, John R. "The Identification of Israel with Saturn�.
Salverda, John R. "Europa and Jeroboam of Israel�.
Salverda, John R. "Sisyphus and Joseph�.
Salverda, John R. "Salmoneus as Judah�.
Salverda, John R. "Moses, Hermes, and Io�.
Salverda, John R. "Olympus: The Council of the gods".
Salverda, John R. "Perseus: The Youth of Perseus".
Salverda, John R. "Perseus: The Graeae and the Mountain".
Salverda, John R. "Perseus: Medusa".
Salverda, John R. "Perseus Compared to Moses and the Danites of Jaffa".
Salverda, John R. "The Wanderings. Pelops, Ahab and the Achaeans�.
Salverda, John R. "Perseus at the Danite seaport of Joppa�.
Salverda, John R. "Perseus, Dan, and the Golden Calf of Dionysus�.
We shall return to the above sources.
Meanwhile here are some notes on the descendants Javan (Greece):
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
6. Descendants of Javan (Ancient Greece) and Israel.
(a) Javan.
Genesies (TCB) 19:
14 AND THE SONS OF JAVAN WERE ELISHAH AND TARSHISH, KITTIM, AND DODANIM.
Javan represents the Greeks in general.
Our notes from Bernal appear to be non-existent and it was some time ago that we read it.
From memory he says there was a tradition that Athens (the chief city of Ancient Greece) and other cities were founded by
Egyptians.
Thebes was founded by Canaanites.
Sparta was founded by relations of the Jews, possibly Edomites.
We therefore find descendants of Javan mixed in with other peoples.
==========
(b) Elishah and Portugal.
Elishah:
Wikipedia tells us:
# Elishah has traditionally been associated with Cypriots, as the island of Cyprus is a possible location of the Bronze Age kingdom of Alashiya. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, Elishah is to be identified with Magna Graecia (Greek Mainland) and Sicels (Sicily, Italy). Flavius Josephus related the descendants of Elishah to the Aeolians, one of the ancestral branches of the Greeks.[4] Other traditions identify Elishah with Hellas (Greece) and Carthage ("Elissa").
Elishah is also mentioned in the mediaeval rabbinic Book of Jasher (Hebrew transliteration: Sefer haYashar); he is said in Jasher to have been the ancestor of the "Almanim", possibly a reference to Germanic tribes (Alemanni). An older and more common tradition refers to him as a settler of Greece, particularly Elis in the Peloponnese.
Portuguese traditions
Elishah features heavily in the folk traditions and national mythography of Portugal. According to tradition, Elishah (called Lysias or L as)[7] is an ancestor of Lusus, son of Bacchus. Elisha is older than Lusus, reaching the Iberian Peninsula with his uncle, the Biblical character Tubal, and founding the city of Portalegre.[8] He is traditionally considered the first "cultivator" of Lusitania [Portuagal and Western Spain]. Tradition places Lusus' reign in the 16th - 15th centuries BC, as in the Livro Primeiro da Monarchia Lusitana of Bernardo de Brito
The Portuguese orator and mythographer Father Ant Vieira (1608-1697) refers to Elishah as founder and eponym of both Lisbon and Lusitania, as well as Elysium of Greek mythology.[14][15] Vieira also identified Elisha's Biblical brother Tarshish as the founder of Tartessos in Andalucia [Southwest Spain].
So here we have Elisha associated with several places especially Portugal.
==========
(c) Tarshish and Spain.
The Term "Tarshish" can mean the Atlantic Ocean in general.
"Ships of Tarshish" meant ships plying the Atlantic Ocean.
Concerning King Solomon it was written:
1-Kings
22 FOR THE KING HAD AT SEA SHIPS OF TARSHISH WITH HIRAM'S SHIPS; ONCE IN THREE YEARS, THE SHIPS OF TARSHISH WOULD COME BEARING GOLD AND SILVER, IVORY AND MONKEYS AND PEACOCKS.
Isaiah 23:
1 THE HARSH PROPHECY CONCERNING TYRE: WAIL, YE SHIPS OF TARSHISH, FOR IT HAS BEEN PILLAGED FROM WITHIN, FROM COMING; FROM THE LAND OF THE KITTIM HE APPEARED TO THEM.
The name "Tarshish" can also apply to the area known as "Tarsis" to the Phoenicians and as Tartessos in southwest Spain.
Tarshish today is also the name of a modern village in the Mount Lebanon Governorate, Lebanon, and Tharsis, Huelva is a village in Andalusia, southern Spain.
The province was called Baetica in Latin sources
==========
(d) Kittim - Philistines.
Kittim can mean the Philistines, Crete, Cyrus.
Inscriptions from Judea in later Roman times show them referring to the Romans as "Kittim."
Yosippon (ca. 900 CE) also identified the Kittim with the Romans and their leaders and a portion of their population with Edomites.
Abarbanel (1437 - 1508) related a tradition that the Philistines had founded both cities of Genoa and Venice.
==========
(e) Dodanim.
The Greek island of Rhodes
Dodona in Epirus (between Greece and Albania) and Dardania in Illyria (as in Midrash Genesis Rabbah),. Samuel Bochart associated the form Rodanim with the river Rhone's Latin name, Rhodanus.
Franz Delitzsch identified the figure of Dodanim with Dardanus son of Zeus and Electra, and ancestor of the Trojans.
==========