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This essay is part 15 in a 17-part series on what biblical prophecies say about
the fate of the ten "lost" tribes of Israel. These seventeen essays are mostly directed
to people who have been subjected to Anglo-Israelism (British-Israelism), but they
can be beneficial even for others.
This present treatise considers a question regarding the tribe of Dan of Israel: Did the Danites travel to Greece and Ireland, as some have claimed? And also: What about Denmark?
Links to the other parts in this series can be found under the heading "Tribes" on the index-page keyw-t4.htm. Some of them are mentioned even in the "Additional reading" section towards the end of this essay.
Some Anglo-Israelists have claimed that a part of the ten "lost" tribes of Israel for some time lived in Greece, and then moved on, northward, all the way to Ireland. They have referred to certain words and names, and claimed that they supposedly point to Israel. Apparently, some have even claimed that the deka phulai, a division of the people of Athens into ten phulai, created by Kleisthenês, supposedly were the "ten tribes of Israel".
Is there any truth in those stories? This essay takes a closer look at the question regarding the tribe of Dan of Israel: Did the Danites travel to Greece and Ireland, as some have claimed? And, because of certain other claims, there is also the question, what about Denmark?
A number of the more common points that Anglo-Israelist preachers have come up with, will be considered, as well as some other, related matters.
At one time, there were in Greece (Athens) something that perhaps could be seen as "ten tribes" – deka phulai in the old Greek language. But, those Greek deka phulai had nothing to do with Israel. Explanation:
Attica, a region of old Greece, used to be divided into four phulai which were called Geleontes, Hopletes, Aigikoreis and Argades (named after the legendary sons of Ion). But later, in the 500s BCE, the tyrant Kleisthenês (Cleisthenes) divided the people of Athens into ten phulai: Erechthêis, Aigêis, Pandionis, Leontis, Akamantis, Oinêis, Kekropis, Hippothontis, Aiantis and Antiochis (named after the Greek idols Erechtheus, Aigeus, Pandion, Leos, Akamas, Oineus, Kekrôps, Hippothoôn, Aias and Antiochos).
In other words: Kleisthenês changed the political system, from an earlier four tribes division based on family relations, into a system with ten "tribes" based on living quarters (communities). It is said that the ten "tribes" (phulai) which he created, were further subdivided into fifty naukrarioi and one hundred demoi.
Here, the important thing is to note and realise that those Greek (Athenian) divisions which were created by Kleisthenês and named after Greek idols, had nothing to with the people of Israel. The Denmark-claim that some have promulgated, will be considered towards the end of this present treatise. The essay ey11b.htm contains some notes on the origin of the people of north-western Europe.
Danae of the Greek myths was the daughter of the Greek mythic figure Acrisius. She conceived Perseus by Zeus. And so on.
But, the goddess Danae and things named after her, had nothing to do with the tribe of Dan or the people of Israel.
The Greek Danaoi were subjects of the mythical ruler Danaos, the son of Belos and Anchinoe (and twin of Aiguptos), born in Panopolis in Egypt. Danaos was a king of Argos, a district in ancient Greece. In those myths, Danaos' and Aiguptos' father Belos was the son of Libue the granddaughter of Io and the river-god Poseidon.
So, those people were not connected to Dan the son of Jacob (Israel), but rather to Danaos the son of Belos. And, in the Danaos story, it was not a whole people who came to Greece from Egypt but only one person with his family.
So, there is a story that says that some Egyptian "god" came and subjected the Achaians (a people in Greece) to himself, and that his name then became the name of those subjects as well.
But, those myths, and the things and people named after Danaos and his children who were called Danaides, obviously have no connection with Israel. And, in case there is anything to those myths, then one should consider that the lineage indicated by them would instead seem to be connected to Nimrod.
A number of Anglo-Israelist preachers have made a lot of noise about a few rivers in the Balkans and in the Black Sea area, rivers with the letters D and N in their names. In the strange world of Anglo-Israelism, names of rivers that are situated in a Slavic area, far away from England, are supposed to "prove" that Englishmen are "Israel". (Yes, that is quite odd, but that is how they "prove" things.)
Now, the Greek called the river Don (which empties itself in the Black Sea in what today is Rumania), by the name Tanais. But that was Greek; others have expressed the opinion that the name Don simply meant "water". That fits well with the fact that the goddess Danu was related to waters. The Hindus knew the water-goddess Danu, and she appears in various forms around the world. Thus, it is no wonder if people have included the letters D and N from the name of the water-goddess Danu, in the names of several waters (rivers).
But those idols and rivers and their names have nothing to do with Israel or with the tribe of Dan.
There was also an Irish-Celtic goddess Danu (the mother or several Irish-Celtic "deities"); there is more on her, below.
The name "Tuatha Dé Danann" (some spell it Tuatha Dé Danaan) which occurs in Irish-Celtic mythology, may literally have meant something like "people of the god whose mother is Dana" (sometimes spelled Danu). Dana, "the Great Queen", was a fertility-goddess, and "a mother of the Irish gods".
Unfortunately, some British-Israelists (Anglo-Israelists) have shamelessly twisted things and invented a totally new history, one fitted for their own purposes. That deception has then been spread so much that the original story has more or less become unknown.
Irish myths and tales do talk about a group of people who came to Ireland, including an "Egyptian princess", a daughter of the Pharaoh. Sometimes those tales have that group come to Ireland via Greece, Denmark and then what today is England and Scotland. Some add Spain to the route of that Egyptian group, which sometimes is called Tuatha Dé Danann.
What many Anglo-Israelist preachers have not wanted to mention, is that the original story talks about an Egyptian princess, a daughter of the Pharaoh. Also: The time when that mythical "princess" left Egypt, was hundreds of years earlier than what those preachers want people to believe.
Some Anglo-Israelists have claimed that the Pharaoh's daughter whom the Irish tales talk about, supposedly was "a daughter of the king Zedekiah" (of Israel). They have further claimed that the prophet Jeremiah supposedly transported her to Ireland (and also, a mystery stone, and supposedly even the ark of the Old Covenant, and who knows what more).
But: For the first, Zedekiah was never a true king of Israel; he was appointed by the Babylonians, see 2 Kings 24:17. And then, more importantly: Jeremiah and Zedekiah lived several hundreds of years later than the Egyptian princess who is mentioned in Irish myths. That makes it clear that the Anglo-Israelist talk about Jeremiah transporting a daughter of the king Zedekiah to Ireland, is total nonsense.
A note: Jeremiah never went to Ireland. The existing records state that he died in Egypt, being stoned to death by the Jews who had fled there. The essay ey14b.htm has more on this, and on the Anglo-Israelist "daughter of Zedekiah" story, including some notes on the Freemason book "The Irish Prince and the Hebrew Prophet, A Masonic Tale of the Captive Jews and the Ark of the Covenant" which some Anglo-Israelist preachers have referred to.
Then, some Anglo-Israelist preachers have claimed that people from the tribe of Dan supposedly left Egypt for Ireland in the days of the Exodus. But: There is no evidence or even indication of any such thing. Not in the Bible, nor in books of history or in Irish annals. It is only in Anglo-Israelist writings that such a thing appears. Anglo-Israelist preachers have often quoted each other's writings as "proof" for their various claims, but that does not make their baseless claims any more true. Consider this: If Irish annals gave any support to those preachers' claims, we can be certain that they would have forced facsimile copies of those annals on all whom they could reach. But, they have not done that – simply because they have nothing to show. The whole story is taken out of the thin air.
Again: The Tuatha Dé Danann were not people of the tribe of Dan of Israel. They were people who were devoted to the goddess Dana (Danu). That goddess (a "mother goddess") is similar to that of many other stories around the world. Dana may even be the same as the Phrygian Artemis whom the Romans called Diana. Anyone who has seen pictures of Artemis-statues, has probably noted the many breasts she had. Now, in Ireland there is a mountain, "sacred for the druids", which is called "Paps of Dana". Apparently, Dana was a "mother goddess" of the same kind as Diana and Artemis were. Perhaps the very same one, only under a different name.
The essay ey12b.htm considers the biblical facts regarding the line of David of Israel, what really happened to it, and in whom it was to become permanent.
There is much more that could be said about that matter of "blue blood" and "royal line" which some Anglo-Israelist preachers talk so much about (a mythic lineage that came from Egypt to Ireland). That story is not a very nice one. In the phrase "blue blood", blue is the colour of heaven and refers to a claimed "heavenly origin" of the lineage in question. That "heavenly royal line" seems to be that of the "sun-god", through Nimrod. If the Irish tales and myths about a daughter of the Pharaoh are at all true, then it could be that a branch of the wicked lineage of Nimrod and the "sun-god" was transferred to Ireland, somewhere around the days of the Exodus. But, there is no way of knowing how that really was.
Some Anglo-Israelist preachers have even used as "proof" for their dogmas certain stories which say that London (in England) originally was founded by a mythical Brutus from Troy. It is strange that they refer to Troy, because Troy and Pergamos, and Phrygia and Lydia in general, are an area from which a lot of old idolatrous myths and rites of Babylonian origin have been transferred to the western world.
The book of Revelation has this:
Revelation 2:12 'And to the messenger of the assembly in Pergamos write: These things saith he who is having the sharp two-edged sword: 13 I have known thy works, and where thou dost dwell—where the throne of the Adversary is—and thou dost hold fast my name, and thou didst not deny my faith, even in the days in which Antipas was my faithful witness, who was put to death beside you, where the Adversary doth dwell. (DBY)
A note: Some translations end Revelation 2:13 with the words "where Satan has his seat". The citadel of Troy was also called Pergamos (cf. purgos, "tower"). That name was even used for Troy itself. And, there was also the city of Pergamos. From that general area, the western world has received a lot of wicked things, such as the worship of Mithra (who in the churches of this world appears as a false "Jesus"), the man in red with his Phrygian cap ("Santa"), a part of the rites and dogmas of Freemasonry, Theosophy and "New Age", and a lot more. Apparently, even the stories and worship of Artemis (Diana) and her twin brother Dionysos (Bacchus) came to Europe from (via) that area, with their orgies and the ivy and all the rest. All those rites, or certain parts of them, can be traced to the general area where Troy and the city of Pergamos were situated (Lydia, Phrygia, western Anatolia).
Another note: The "non-Catholic" churches are not any better than the "Catholic" one, in regard to those things. Both have in their rites and ceremonies a lot of idolatry and ancient Phrygian and Babylonian things. It is only that most people are not aware of this, and cannot recognise the rites and symbols all those churches have and use, for what they really are.
Some have claimed, on whatever grounds, that when Babylon was destroyed in the 5th century BCE, a number of Babylonian priests supposedly moved to Pergamos, taking their "sacred stone" with them. How it is with that, is hard to say. It is impossible to find real, hard facts regarding those things. But, it would seem that not only was the religion of that area basically of Babylonian origin, but most likely also the "royal line" of Troy (the one that some Anglo-Israelist preachers have claimed to have come to England). There are idolatrous "sacred stones" connected to "royal lineages". The essays ey14b.htm and ey12b.htm have some more details regarding the cult around one such idol stone, including some notes on the Freemason book "The Irish Prince and the Hebrew Prophet, A Masonic Tale of the Captive Jews and the Ark of the Covenant" which some Anglo-Israelist preachers have referred to.
Many Anglo-Israelist preachers have also claimed that the people of Denmark supposedly are of the tribe of Dan of Israel. But the inhabitants of Denmark (in Danish, Danmark) are a Germanic people, just as the other Nordic people and the Normans, the Anglo-Saxons, the Dutch and the Germans are. (It seems that by 1066, at least some of the Normans might have lost their Germanic language, but that does not change anything.)
However, the details of that matter cannot be included here. The essay ey11b.htm has more on the peoples of north-western Europe, including Denmark.
You can find the other parts in the "tribes" series under the heading "Tribes" on the index-page keyw-t4.htm.
Many have wondered, why is the tribe of Dan not mentioned in what appears to be a list of "tribes" of a spiritual Israel, in Revelation 5? (The tribe of Joseph is mentioned twice, since Manasseh is of Joseph – but Ephraim is not mentioned.) Indeed, why is the tribe of Dan not mentioned in the book of Revelation? We simply do not know. Many have come with various kinds of theories as to why, but the simple facts are that we do not and cannot know the reason. We do not even know what that "tribes list" in Revelation 5 really is or means – but it seems clear that it must refer to "tribes" of a spiritual Israel, irrespective of racial background, and not to the tribes of the physical Israel.
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Additional reading at the Bible Pages, on related as well as other issues:
A clarifying explanation of the short names for the bible-versions quoted or mentioned at this site, such as that NKJV stands for New King James Version, YLT for Young's Literal translation, HCSB for Holman Christian Standard Bible, NRSV for the New Revised Standard Version, and so on. → es09c.htm
The lost ten tribes of Israel in prophecy. What happened to Israel's northern tribes? Where are they today? Does the Bible give any clues regarding their fate? → ey01b.htm
A full list of the parts in the "tribes" series is found under the heading "Tribes" on the index-page keyw-t4.htm.
The ten lost tribes of Israel – did they move into Europe? Who are the north-west European peoples of our day? → ey11b.htm
Jesus warned his disciples about false prophets, teachers of falsehood, deceivers and deception. He said that many would be deceived. → eo09e.htm
The prophet Jeremiah – where did he die? Did Jeremiah go to Ireland, as some have claimed? What about the so-called "stone of destiny" which many Anglo-Israelists talk about? → ey14b.htm
The line of David the king of Israel – is it still ruling somewhere on Earth, with a mortal king on the throne? → ey12b.htm
Genesis 22:17, "And your Seed shall possess the gate of His enemies". What does that mean? → ey03c.htm
Check your bible knowledge. A basic self-test with 15 biblical questions (with answers and commentary). → es04b.htm
How to understand the Bible. Easy keys to interpreting and understanding Scripture in a better and deeper way, by avoiding certain fundamental but common mistakes and errors in bible study. These vital keys are really the basics for objective bible study. Knowing these keys will make many things easier to interpret and comprehend, and one will see several central matters in the Bible from a new and different perspective, especially in connection with the Gospels and the Epistles. → eg02c.htm
Covenant signs, including the sign of the New Covenant which shows who really are God's people. The Old Covenant's sign was the circumcision of males. What is the New Covenant's sign, seal or token? → ec09b.htm
Gentiles, pagans and heathen or heathens – what do those words mean? This exposition makes it plain and clear what the concepts "gentile", "pagan" and "heathen" actually refer to, in the Bible. → eg01c.htm
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What does the word "righteous" really mean? What does the Bible say about righteousness? → eg08b.htm
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