February 10, 2009
Steve Collins
A reader sent me the link below, which offers additional evidence that the Scythians were the ten tribes of Israel who were relocated into Asia after the fall of the ancient kingdom of Israel. This link, from a website about Scythian art, examines the artwork styles of the Scythians and finds a strong connection to the artwork of the Phoenician/Israelites. This is what should be expected if the Scythians were descended from the ten tribes of Israel.
The link notes strong similarities between the regions of Luristan in ancient Persia (Iran) and the Scythian regions by the Black and Caspian Seas. This is strikingly parallel to what I concluded in my book, Israel’s Lost Empires. My book documents from both biblical and secular sources that while about 1/3rd of the Israelite tribes went into an Assyrian captivity due to conquest, about 2/3rds of the Israelite tribes voluntarily migrated out of the old Promised Land to regions which would be more defensible against attacks from the Assyrian Empire.
II Kings 15:27-29 records that the tribes of Gad, Reuben, 1/2 of Manasseh (the tribes of Gilead) and the tribe of Naphtali went into forced captivity within the Assyrian Empire. II Kings 18:9-11 adds that the inhabitants of the single city of Samaria also went into captivity, but it does not mention that the remaining tribes of the northern kingdom went into captivity. The latter account adds that the Israelites were transplanted by Assyria to a region of the Medes in modern Iran, so it makes sense the previously captured Israelites were also transplanted into ancient Medo-Persian regions. This would equate with the “Luristan” region of Iran mentioned in the link. History records the Scythians (also called “Sacae”-bearing the name of Isaac) arrived in the Black Sea region soon after the kingdom of Israel fell, conquering the region of Urartu (also mentioned in the link below). II Esdras 13:40-45 records that a large body of the ten tribes escaped the Assyrian captivity and migrated into “Arzareth” (which other sources equate with the Black Sea region where Scythian civilization took root).
The article below notes the “strong links” between the peoples who lived in Luristan in ancient Iran and the Scythians by the Black Sea. This makes sense as the Luristan “Scythians” were the Israelites carried captive into Assyrian regions and the Scythians by the Black Sea were the Israelites who escaped the captivity (even though they also still went into exile). The article also comments on the “strong links” between Scythian art and the earlier artwork of Phoenicia (the northern kingdom of Israel, Tyre, Sidon, etc.). The article also notes that this “Phoenician” artwork resurfaced in Luristan and Scythia soon after the “invasions of the Assyrians into Syria, Phoenicia and the northern kingdom of Israel.” The conclusion that the ten tribes of Israel were relocated into Luristan and Scythia is inescapable. The conclusions in the link below exactly mirror the conclusions offered in my aforementioned book.
Finally, the link also observes that the Scythians (a nomadic people) would migrate back and forth between European and Asian locations throughout their expansive territory in Eurasia. This also offers a clear explanation of why the Scythians would migrate into Europe soon after their allied )and related) Parthian kingdom fell in 227 AD. The Scythians were already well-familiar with European regions so it made sense for them to “migrate back into Europe” permanently when the fall of Parthia compelled both the Scythians and Parthians to flee out of Asia into Europe as refugees, starting in the 3rd century AD. The migrations of the Scythians and Parthians into Europe is covered in detail in my book, Israel’s Tribes Today. They migrated through the Caucasus Mountains into Europe, resulting in them being called “Caucasians” afterward as they conquered the Roman Empire and formed the population bases for modern European nations.
http://pages.sssnet.com/7genex7/where.html
