Answers to Quora Questions by Yair Davidiy
Where did the lost ten tribes go?
They went to the west in two major movements each of which may be broken up into smaller ones.
1. Movement by Sea
Most of the Israelites were exiled to the north. A portion however were transported overseas in Phoenician and Philistine ships working for the Assyrians (Amos 1:6-10).
Hebrews transported by ship were taken to Spain, Gaul, and Britain. Those taken to Spain later moved northward into Gaul or crossed over to Britain and Ireland.
2. Movement by Land Northward
Ca.740-720 BCE: The Assyrians moved masses of Northern Israelites (and other Syrians and Phoenicians) to Northern Mesopotamia and to Hara in eastern Iran.
They became identified with the Cimmerians, Scyths, and Goths. They were confederated with these peoples but not necessarily the major groupings among them.
They moved westward in stages.
The first movements are identified with the Cimmerians and attached themselves to Celtic Civilizations.
After that came different groups of Scythians.
Some of the Scythians went westward at an early stage merging with the Celts.
Other remained in the east eventually receiving Germanic language and culture.
They too moved westward in groups becoming the Franks, Angles, and Saxons, etc who moved into the Netherlands, France, and England.
Scandinavian received Israelites at an early stage in the Bronze Age and then several times later in some cases (e.g. Finland) quite late.
A remnant of the Tribes remained in the east becoming known as the Khazars. They mostly converted to Judaism though portions of them migrated to Scandinavia and to Scotland and Ireland whey they were assimilated among the Picts.
See:
Major Migratory Movements
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