The Tribe of Asher

The Vandals along with the Goths and other peoples were descended from the Ten Tribes of Israel. These had been taken to the north by the Assyrians, from there they moved further northwards and then to the west entering northern and western Europe. The historian Procopius reported that the Vandals had come from the Sea of Azov area just north of the Black Sea by the River Don. The Vandals in the first century CE had been known as Lygians (Lugians) or Lugii. They were then located by the Upper Vistula River. In the Vistula area the Vandals absorbed a Celtic group who had previously had a highly developed "La Tene" type culture. In archaeological terms this region is considered the homeland of the Przeworsk culture with which the Vandals are identified. Burgundians, Veneti, and Lugians were once in this region as mentioned by Ptolemy and others. The Burgundians as well as being in the north were also along the Black Sea shores and later in the west. The Veneti were by the Baltic Sea to the north of the Goths. In addition in western France we find a sea-faring people by the same name, ,Veneti, who eventually were to move to Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. The Lygian-Vandal tribes by the Vistula were the Boreoi, the Omani, and the Heissi. These names are similar to those of the sons of Asher (Beriah, Jimnah, Ishuah, and Isui). The sons of Asher were Jimnah, and Ishuah, and Isui, and Beriah, and Serah their sister: and the sons of Beriah; Heber and Malchiel (Genesis 46:17). The sons of Asher correspond to the Tribes of the Lygian Vandals; Jimnah became the Omani, Isui the Heissi, and Beriah the Boreoi. The Vandals may also be identified as the legendary VANES who had dwelt in Vanaland besides the Don River in Southern Scythia and then moved to Scandinavia. The Vendel district in east-central Sweden has been associated with a contingent of Vandals. [A link to the Veneti of Gaul is also possible.] According to legend as recorded by Snorre Sturlassen (1179 - 1241), the Vanes had first warred and then amalgamated with the Aseir. The Aseir (singular, "As") like the Vanes were to become ancestors to part of the Scandinavians. "AS" in Phoenician Hebrew was a shortened form for ASHER. Phoenician-Hebrew appears to have been the dialect employed by the Northern Ten Tribes prior to their exile. The Aseir are also equated by scholars with the Ansis who become the ruling elite among the Goths. The Royal family of the Ostrogoths were known as the Amal. We find "Amal" son of Helem recalled among the early forefathers of the Tribe of Asher (1-Chronicles 7:35). The Goths and Vandals spoke the same language and were considered different branches of the same people. The Vandals had first appeared south of the Burgundians who in turn were south of the Goths on the Baltic coast, east of the Vistula. At that stage the Vandals were led by two leaders, named AMBRI and Assi. The name "Ambri" is reminiscent of the Ambri who, with the Sicambri (Franks), encountered Alexander the Great in Bactria (Justin Book xii;ix) and later moved to Northern Europe whence in ca. 109-101 BCE they joined the Cimbri and Teutons in attacking Rome. Their name is recalled in Ambrum, Imbri, and Ymbre of Scandinavia. They were descendants of Jimna (Yimna) son of Asher. The name of the second leader of the Vandals was "ASSI" which is the same name as that of the people of "Assi" in Roman Chronicles. These were referred to in Chinese records as WUSUN. They were recorded as having once conquered the Goths (Yueh-chi) in East Scythia. After that they then moved to the Don River region before migrating northward. They were also known as the Aseir (As). The Aseir were the people of Odin and migrated to Scandinavia. The names As and Aseir are Northern Israelite Hebrew versions of the name Asher. Pliny (N.H. 4; 14) said that the VANDALS were a federation encompassing the Vandili, Varini, Goths, and Burgundians. The Burgundians were to settle in France and Switzerland and were also associated with the Swedish isle of Bornholm. The French-speaking element among the Swiss is linked to the Burgundians. The Burgundians descended from BERIAH son of ASHER whose name may also be pronounced as Beria(g)h or "Veriag". Similar appellations to Beria(g)h were "Barragos", "Varegu", and "Variag" which names were applied to the Vikings, especially those who penetrated Russia. A related people were the Varachan Huns who were a Tribal component among the Khazars in southern Russia. The Varins or "WARINGS" who came with the Angles and Saxons to Britain were to conquer the Celtic Brigantes. The Brigantes were also descended from Beriah. They were located in the northern areas of Roman Britain (i.e. North England), in Gaul, in east Switzerland and in southeast Ireland.

THE VANDALS BECOME "AFRICANS"
From the Vistula Region in present-day Eastern Poland the Vandals had moved south and for a time were subject to the Romans in Pannonia (Hungary). In the 400's CE the Vandals participated in the invasion of Roman Gaul and then penetrated Spain where Andalusia (Vandalusia) still bears their name. In 429 CE the Vandals, under their king Geiseric, crossed the Straits of Gibraltar into North Africa. From North Africa the Vandals raided and plundered the city of Rome (Italy) in 445 CE. A tradition states that in their raid on Rome the Vandals "liberated" treasures taken from the Temple in Jerusalem that the Romans had destroyed in 66 CE. Some of the treasures were retaken by the Byzantines and may have been "liberated" again later by the Goths. The possibility also exists that some of the Temple treasures went with the Vandals to Ireland and then to Britain. The Byzantines in 533 CE crushed the last vestiges of North African Vandal kingdom though most of the Vandals appear to have left previously. At all events after their defeat, Procopius records that the entire Vandal nation took ship and sailed away. In the Vandal period North Africa via Spain had been invaded by other related groups such as the "Massagetae" (probably Nephtalites), Suebi, Franks, and others and these must have joined the Vandals and moved with them to Ireland and from there to Britain.
Geoffrey of Monmouth (History of the Kings of Britain", ca. 1136) reported that 160,000 "Africans" from Ireland joined the Saxons in invading Britain. These so called "Africans" were Vandals and kindred bands.
The Vandal presence in Britain is also evidenced from other areas. The Romans after 277 CE had encouraged Alamans, Burgundians, and Vandals to settle in Britain. It is believed that these settlers assisted the Anglo-Saxons in invading Britain in the 450's. Bede (Ecclesiastical History book iv, ch.ix) mentions the Rugini among the Anglo-Saxon forces. The Rugini were a Vandal group. The isle of Rugen in the Baltic is named after them and this isle was once a Vandal center; there is also a Rogaland in Norway. [A small portion of this tribe settled temporarily in part of Austria. They later moved out and today most Austrians belong to the Indo-Germanic and Slavonic elements that were "native" to Europe]. The names Rugini, Roga, and Rugen in connection with the Vandals derive from Rohgah son of Shomer son of Heber son of Beriah son of Asher (1-Chr. 7:30-34). Another group of Vandals were the Varini or Warings. The VARINI had been allocated to the VANDALI group by Pliny together with Vandili, Goths, and Burgundians. The Varini in England were known as Warings and appear together with the Angles. The royal clan of the Warings was the Billings. Also on the Continent, Angles and Warings were associated in the Province of Thuringia. The British Province of Brigantia was conquered by the Angles who contained a substantial Vandal and Varini component. The exact proportion of different peoples amongst the Anglo-Saxon invaders is unclear. East Anglia, for instance, was settled by Angles in the 450's but already in the 500's its kings were supposed to have come from Sweden and presumably had brought Gothic or Swedish warriors with them. We also find groups associated with the Tribe of Asher and with the Vandals in Scandinavia, among the Khazars, the Varangian-Vikings, the Warings in Lowland Scotland, "Bernicia" in Northumbria, in Ireland and in Wales.