We have seen that the name Cimmerian or Gimiri, as mentioned on the Behistun Rock Inscriptions, referred to the people of the House of Omri, Khumri, or Ghomri. But what is the origin of the word "Scythia," as mentioned in the Persian and Susian languages on the Behistun Rock Incriptions? Is this name connected in any way with the dispersed "Lost Ten Tribes of Israel"? The word "Scythian" is used only once in the Bible. "There is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all" (Col. 3:11). The Scythians were looked upon as barbarians in the eyes of the Greeks and the Romans. They did not have their culture, but they had a highly developed culture of their own. They were not ignorant savages like the aborigines of Africa or Australia, or like the natives of the Americas. True, they were nomads who roamed far and wide over the vast Euro-Asiatic steppes of South Russia in tents and in covered wagons. But they were not barbarians in the strict sense. This does not imply that they were "angels." They committed many barbarities; but did not the so-called civilised Romans, Greeks, Assyrians, Egyptians, Babylonians and Medo-Persians do as bad or worse? Let us notice Strong's definition of this word "Scythian." "Scythian. (Scuthes=Gk.) A Scythene or Scythian i.e. (by implication) a savage" (The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible). "Scythian" is thought by some to mean "the tribes," but hardly anyone will really venture to dogmatically say what the derivation of this word is.
MOST OF THE SCYTHS WERE ISRAELITES
Who were these Scythians, or Scyths, as they were often called? And how did the name "Scythian" originate? This was one of the names that the Ten-Tribed House of Israel bore in their captivity. The most likely derivation of this word is as follows: This word "SCYTHIAN" appears to be derived from the Hebrew word "SUCCOTH." We shall later see that the language of the Scythians (Scythiac) was very similar to the Hebrew. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance defines this word as follows. "Cukkouth, sook-kahthr'; or Cukkoth, sook-kohth';... booths; Succoth, the name of a place in Egypt and of three in Palestine" (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, p.82). The Hebrew language was written only in consonants. The vowels had to be supplied by the reader. If one takes out the vowels from the Hebrew word "Succoth" the basic part of the word is "Scth." In Strong's Exhaustive Concordance it is spelled phonetically both with a "c" and also with an "s." Remember the "c" and the "s" often have the same sound, as in our English words, "cell" and "sell." Both English words are pronounced exactly alike. There were three Succoths in Palestine, and one in Egypt. There is every reason to believe that the Israelitish Hebrews who migrated to Egypt, founded the city by the name Succoth near the border of Egypt and Israel. If you will locate the Egyptian Succoth on a map, you will see that it lies immediately west of the Suez Canal in the vicinity of Goshen. Abraham, and also Jacob and his twelve sons, all sojourned at one time in the land of Egypt, very near this town called Succoth. In Genesis 33:17 we read that Jacob made booths for his cattle. The word translated as "booths" is from the same Hebrew root which we have been considering. Keep in mind that if one takes the vowels out of Succoth, the consonants remaining will spell Scth, or Skth. As an example, let us take one of God's names. How was the name "Jehovah" pronounced in Hebrew? Not one single Hebrew scholar can answer this question. This Hebrew name YHWH or JHVH was probably pronounced as YEHWEH. No one can say for sure how this word was originally pronounced because, as already mentioned, only the consonants were written. The present vowel points which one finds in the Hebrew manuscripts were added much later.
THE ISRAELITES WERE TENT (SUCCOTH) DWELLERS
"Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt" (Lev. 23:42,43). This was to be observed by Israel "forever" (v.41). The Hebrew word used in verses 42 and 43, translated as "booths" is from the Hebrew SCTH or SKTH. The Greek word for "Scythian" is "Scuthes," and is pronounced much like the Hebrew word for "booth." The Scythians were undoubtedly booth dwellers or Succoth-dwellers originally, though at a later period in their history, many of them lived in covered wagons. After the Israelites were deported from their homeland in Palestine, unto the region of Media and Assyria, they were an unsettled people. They undoubtedly wandered about in tents or booths, and were called "Scythians," meaning booth or tent dwellers. Some historians think "Scythian" means "the tribes". We have already observed that God said the people of Israel would be punished for their sins and would become "wanderers among the nations." They were to be "scattered among the countries," "sifted among the nations." These references indicate that they were to dwell in tents or booths for many years; for people who are moving or wandering about do not live in fixed abodes. They must resort to tents, or portable abodes, even as do the Gypsies. For many hundreds of years the dispersed Israelites wandered from the region of the Caucacus Mountains (to which they had been deported from Palestine) through the lands of Central and South Asia, and finally made their way to North-western Europe. In some instances, we see them traversing or even retracing their steps under various names. But they were always on the movethat is, until they reached their present homes in Northwestern Europe. These new territories in North-west Europe were to become their new "Promised Lands." After occupying these choice, fertile lands they were to be blessed with the overflowing promises which God had made thousands of years earlier to the faithful patriarchs of the people of Israel. We have already read in Deuteronomy 32:8 that God Almighty had foreordained the inheritance of all nations, and that He set the bounds of the peoples of the worldthe Gentile nationsaccording to the number of the children of Israel (Deut. 32:8). Later on, we shall see from a number of historical sources that such names as "Scot," "Scotch," and "Scythian" are all derived from the Greek name "Skuthes" all of which appear to be derived from the Hebrew "Succoth" meaning "booth." Thus the people of Scotland have to this day retained one of the early names which the people of Israel bore in their captivity.
THE TERRITORIAL EXTENT OF SCYTHIA
It is only after much painstaking research that one can accurately determine the limits of the territories which were once inhabited by the Scythians. The Scythians (Gk. Skuthai, Latin Scythae, Persian Saka) were the first nomads of which we have any knowledge.
Heredotus assigned to them the country between the Don and Dniester, but their tombs show that they once held the region on the Kuban River, east of the Sea of Azov, and that they penetrated far to the west. A Scythian burial was found... just outside of Berlin (Chamber's Ency., Vol. XII, Art. Scythians).
We are further informed that traces of the Scythians have been found in Poland, in all parts of Hungaria and Transylvania, and some in Rumania. A number of very rich tombs have been exhumed in Bulgaria (ibid.). According to Herodotus, the Scythians had come from "out of Asia" and from "across the Araxes" (Minns, Scythians and Greeks, p. 44). This further shows that the Scythians had formerly lived south of the ARAXES which lies in Armenia, just south of the Caucasus Mountains. Modern Armenia is divided among the Soviet Union, Turkey and Iran. "We find the Cimmerians, Gimirrai, first N. of Urartu (Ararat)... so that the identity with the Greek Kimmerios and Scuthes is almost complete" (Minns, Scythians and Greeks, p. 42). The above statement is further proof of what has been mentioned earlierthat the SCYTHIANS and CIMMERIANS were all basically the same people. The Cimmerians were, in fact, merely a branch of the Scythians. Also note that these Cimmerians or Gimirrai were first noticed north of Urartu or Mount Ararat. This is further confirmation of the fact that these Gimirrai or Cimmerians were the people of Bit Ghomri (House of Omri), who were taken captive into the regions south of the Caucasus Mountains, in the vicinity of Mount Ararat in the eighth century B.C. The foremost authority regarding this subject of the Scythians is unquestionably Professor E.H. Minns. In his monumental work, Scythians and Greeks, he analyzes the Scythian subject very thoroughly. Among the various rivers which were located in Scythia were the Danube, Don, Dnestr and the Dnepr (ibid., p.27). The exact limits of Scythia are not easily discernible, but some of the Scythians had, at a fairly early period, penetrated as far east as China!
We have tried to show that information from China and the west tally completely as far as the conquest of Bactria, owing to the great trek, is concerned. Konow supposes, following Rapson's opinion, that the cause of the invasion into India must be sought for in the action taken by the Sakas [Scythians] in Seistan, when, after the reign of Mithradates II, they made themselves independent of the much weaker Parthia (Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, The Scythian Period, Chap. VII, p.324).
We are then informed by Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw that the Scythians, Sakas, and the Yueh-Chi were allied in their fight against Artabanus I, whom they killed in battle. Another mention is made of the Scythians in the East, fighting against Mithradates II who had succeded Artabanus I. Mithradates II was successful in his fight against the Scythians in the East (ibid. pp. 324, 325).
Phrates II (138-127) defeated Antiochus VII in Media (129), and as a result the Seleucides were permanently excluded from the lands east of the Euphrates; but he died in battle fighting the Tochari (the Scythians or Sacae of the Greeks), a tribe driven forth from Central Asia by the Yue-Chi (Langer, An Ency. of World History), 1956 ed., p. 83).
Notice the name, Yue-chi. Langer, Minns and others show that the Scythians had penetrated as far east as the vicinity of China. This is also indicated by Minns in his work, Scythia and Greeks, on the back cover map.
Thucydides (Thus. II. 96, 97), for instance, must mean all the people of Scythia together when he says that uncivilised though the Scythians were, no single nation of Europe or Asia could stand against them in war, if but they were all of one mind (ibid., pp. 35, 36).
There can be no doubt that up to the coming of the Goths and the Huns, the Steppes around the Black Sea were "chiefly inhabited by an IRANIAN population." The Encyclopedia Britannica shows that Scythia (Gk. Skuthia) was originally the country of the Scythae, and it included all of the territory from the Carpathians to the Don River (11th ed., Vol. XXIV, Art. Scythia). This article mentions that throughout classical literature the word "Scythia" generally meant all the regions to the north and north-east of the Black Sea, and a Scythian was any barbarian who came from those parts. We are informed of a group of "rebel Scyths" who broke away from the main body of the Scythians and migrated to the north-west of Lake Balkash, settling in an area called Sacae. Scythian burial grounds and tombs are found not only on Hungarian soil, but also in Rumania and Bulgaria. Some of these SCYTHIANS were undoubtedly adventurers, and others were, according to historical sources, driven relentlessly by the Sarmatians advancing from the east (Rice, The Scythians, p.55). Rice mentions that the name Scythia is reserved by a group of authorities in the U.S.S.R. for the tribes which once ruled over all of the territories stretching from the Don in the east to the Carpathian Mountains, near the Danube in the west. Collier's Encyclopedia says that Scythia included Southern Russian between the Caucasus and the Danube, but in Roman times this territory was called Sarmatia (Vol. XVII, Art. Scythia). According to this article, the Scythians, who ruled from the Don River to the Carpathian Mountains, remained in power until they were defeated by the Sarmatians in the first and second centuries B.C. The Scyths ruled Media for twenty-eight years, and were then massacred or expelled, according to Herodotus. "Most writers think that the SCYTHIANS who troubled Asia were SACAE from the east of the CASPIAN..." (Ency. Brit., 11th ed., Vol. XXIV, Art. Scythia, p. 527). Here is a significant statement from the Encyclopedia Britannica:
About the same time, similar peoples harrassed the northern frontier of Iran, where they were called Saka (Sacae), and in later times Saka and Scyths, whether they were originally the same or not, were regarded as synonymous. It is difficult always to judge whether given information applies to the Sacae or the Scyths (ibid., p. 528).
It is interesting to see how many authentic historical statements there are which equate the Scythians and the Sacae.
SCYTHOPOLIS IN PALESTINE
The Dictionary of the Bible, by James Hastings, mentions that the nomadic Scythians lived "between the Danube and the Don"instead of the Carpathian Mountains and the Don, as some affirm. But the Carpathian Mountains are very near the Danube River, so this is roughly the same territory. We are futher informed by this source that in the time of the elder Pliny the name Scythia was rather vaguely applied to the remote regions of South-east Europe and Central Asia. See Map XI.
Herodotus mentions (I.103-105) that a horde of Scythians invaded Media, and become masters of Asia, and intended to attack Egypt. Psammetichus, the king of Egypt met them in Palestine when he was besieging Azotus, and prevailed on them by bribes to retreat... Thuc. (II. 96) connects the SCYTHIANS with the GETAE, their neighbours with whom they afterward coalesced (ibid., pp. 369, 370).
Did you notice that the SCYTHS are equated also with the GETAE, who were later known as GOTHS? After the Scythians were bought off by the Egyptian Pharoah, they returned to Asia. It was during this general period that the name of Scythopolis was given to a town west of the Jordan River and south of the Sea of Galilee in Palestine. This name shows the influence of the Scythians even in Palestine. By piecing together all of the above information regarding Scythia, one can see how vast an area it covered. At one time Scythia stretched from India and China in the East to the Danube River and the Carpathian Mountains in the West.
SCYTHS — SECOND GREAT BRANCH TO ENTER EUROPE
In the foregoing chapters, we have studied the racial backgrounds of the Cimmerians (Cymry) Gauls, Celts and related tribes. We have observed that all of the aforementioned peoples were merely different branches of the same basic race. Also, it has been pointed out that the Cimmerians were, after all, merely an offshoot of the great Scythian nation; and we have further noticed that the main body of the Cimmerian peoples coalesced with the Scyths. The name "Celto-Scyths" is an indication of how much these tribes had mixed. On one occasion it was pointed out that the Cimmerians and Scythians had met each other on the battlefield, but this does not imply that they were not closely related. Sharon Turner shows that most of the nations of modern Europe have descended from the Scythian peoples (History of the Anglo-Saxons, Vol. I, p. 3). It is important to note that it is sometimes difficult to draw a clear line of demarcation between the Scythian and Cimmerian peoples. The reason for this is quite easy to understand when one considers that the Cimmerian branch was (as we have already proven historically) merely an offshoot of the great Scythian nation. One need only peruse the histories of such countries as America, England, France and Germany to note the many internal struggles which have been waged within these nations even in modern times. The American, French, British and German civil wars are examples of the struggles that have often been waged between closely related peoples.
SCYTHIAN ORIGINS
Now let us answer the following questions: What was the origin of the Scythians? Who were they? From where did they come? When are they first noticed in history? What is their importance as a people? What part have their descendants played in modern times? What social and religious customs did they have? These and other questions shall be answered in our discussion of the Scythians and the part they played in ancient times. Though much has been written on the subject of the Scythians, most people know very little about this prolific and widely scattered people. The reason for this is quite natural. The Scythians lived beyond the pale of the civilized world, and therefore were not known except as they came into contact with the more "civilized" peoples such as the Greeks and the Romans, and it was their enemies who were their historians. The Scythians lived, as we shall later observe, to the north of the historic peoplesthe Romans, Greeks, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Persiansand are not widely known except through contact with them. We shall presently note that no nation could withstand these Scythian peoples when they were unitedwhich was seldom, if ever. It has already been brought to our attention that, according to the BEHISTUN ROCK INSCRIPTIONS, this name "SCYTHIAN" is one of the first names which ISRAEL bore in exile. God had determined to bury the identity of these exiles whom he had expelled from the Promised Land, so that they would lose their identity until the latter days, when their identity was to be revealed to them. In this section on the Scythians, the foremost authorities will be consulted and, in order to thoroughly understand the Scythian background and their connection with Israel, we shall examine this subject through the eyes of many different historians who have diligently studied Scythian history. First, we shall consider this subject through a classic work written by Sharon Turner. He had an unusually penetrating way of analyzing the ethnological entanglements of the peoples of Europe. Turner shows that Europe has been peopled by three great streams of population from the east, which have followed each other at intervals so distinct as to possess languages clearly separable from each other. These "three streams of population" were: (1) Cimmerian or Celtic, (2) Scythian or Gothic, and (3) Sarmatian or Slavic. He points out that the earliest people who came to Europe were of the Cimmerian, Cymric or Celtic race. The second people to migrate into Europe were the Scythian, Gothic or German peoples. It would appear that Turner did not mean that the Scythian peoples were synonymous with the true Germans of today. We have already noticed that the first branch of people who came to Europe were the Cimmerians or Celts. They settled primarily in the north or western parts of Europe - mostly on the coastlands and islands of that continent. But the Scythian or Gothic peoples occupied the great body of the European continent (Turner, History of the Anglo-Saxons, Vol. I, p. 24).
The early occupation of Europe by the Kimmerian and Keltic races has been already displayed. The next stream of barbaric tribes, whose progress formed the second great influx of population into Europe, were the Scythian, German, and Gothic tribes. They also entered it out of Asia (ibid., p. 81). Herodotus, beside the main Scythia, which he places in Europe, mentions also an Eastern or Asiatic Scythia, beyond the Caspian and the Iaxertes... The Anglo-Saxons, Lowland Scotch, Normans, Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, Germans, Dutch, Belgians, Lombards, and Franks, have all sprung from this great fountain of the human race, which we have distinguished by the terms SCYTHIAN, German or Gothic (ibid., pp. 81-83).
What did the Scythians call themselves? "Their general appellation among themselves was SCOLOTI, but the Greeks call them SCYTHIANS, SCUTHOI or Nomades" (ibid. p. 84). "The emigrating Scythians," says Turner, "crossed the ARAXES, passed out of Asia, and invading the Kimmerians, suddenly appeared in Europe IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY BEFORE THE CHRISTIAN ERA" (History of the Anglo-Saxons, p. 85). The Araxes was just south of the Caucasus Mountains! This was the very region to which the tribes of Israel were deported some in 741 and some in 721 B.C. in the 8th century B.C. Yes, the Scythians left the Caucasus in the 7th century B.C. or about one hundred years after the first tribes of Israel were taken into captivity by the Assyrians. Turner mentions that these Scythian tribes have become better known to us in recent times "under the name of GETAE or GOTHS, the most celebrated of their branches" (ibid., p. 86). We have discussed the Goths in more detail in an earlier chapter. The Saxons were, according to Turner, a Gothic or Scythian tribe, and he further equates them with the SAKAI or SACAE who were the same people as the "SAKAISUNA," which he explains to mean "the sons of the SAKAI" (ibid., p. 87). Turner shows that the THIRD GROUP of closely related peoples to arrive en masse in Europe were the SARMATIANS.
SARMATIANSTHIRD BRANCH TO ENTER EUROPE
Who were the Sarmatians? Where did they come from? Were they a Scythian tribe, or were they always clearly distinguished from the Scythians? Were they the ancestors of the Slavic peoples as many have believed, or were they the progenitors of the Germans as others have held? Since the Sarmatians were from the earliest times the neighbors of the Scythians, and especially because some have mistakenly confused the Scythians and Sarmatians, it is needful to briefly examine this subject.
SARMATIAN ORIGINS
"The THIRD great branch of people to come into Europe were the SARMATIAN or SLAVONIAN peoples who were bordering on the Scythian (or Gothic) tribes, as these Scythians spread over the great body of the continent of Europe" (Turner, History of the Anglo-Saxons, Vol. I, p. 4). These Sarmatian or Slavonic tribes have, according to Turner, settled in the eastern parts of Europe Poland, Bohemia, Russia, etc. There is a great abundance of material to prove beyond question that the Sarmatians (Sauromate) are the ancestors of the present-day Slavs (and some Germans) inhabiting the countries just mentioned, plus such South-east European nations as Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Hungary, and others. All of these Slavic peoples, according to reliable historical sources, came from the Carpathian Mountains which was the central point of their diffusion. Included in the Sarmatian tribes were undoubtedly many of the German peoplesespecially the "Slavic" elements to the east, and some of the Alpine peoples of Central and Southern Germany, and Austria. We shall notice later that the most discriminating historians always differentiate between the Sarmatians and the Scythians, though these people have always been in close proximity to one another! There are no other peoples mentioned in history from whom the millions of Slavic peoples could have descended, other than the great Sarmatian horde. This is the view which is commonly held and is undoubtedly correct. We shall not, however, consider the Sarmatians to any great extent, except as they are associated with the Scythians. Later, we shall see that the overwhelming majority of the Scythians were dolichocephalic (long-headed). The Sarmatians were brachycephals (round-headed): "A series of eighteen Sarmatian crania from the Volga... has a cranial index of 80.3" (Coon, The Races of Europe, p. 200). "Most of the modern Slavs are rather short-headed" (Ency. Brit., 11th ed., Vol. XXV, Art. Slavs, p. 229). In an earlier chapter we have seen that many of the present-day Germans are "Slavic" by descent, and are therefore of Sarmatian descent. Their social customs and their other habits would also lead one to belive this. Let us notice two or three authors who clearly distinguish the Scythians from the Sarmatians. Professor Rostovtseff distinguished the Sarmatians, who were definitely Iranian, from their predecessors, the Scyths (Iranians and Greeks in South Russia, 1922 ed., pp. 60, 122f). "He [Hippocrates] draws a very clear line between them [the Sauromatae] and the rest of the Scyths" (Minns, Scythians and Greeks, p. 45). History shows that a great horde known as the Sarmatians or Sauromatae were, in Roman times, inhabiting the land which had formerly been inhabited by the far-flung Scythian peoples. "With the disappearance of the Scythae as an ethnic and political entity, the name of Scythia gives place in its original seat to that of Sarmatia" (Ency. Brit., 11th ed., Vol. XXIV, Art. Scythia). The reason why the Sarmatians were able to dispossess the Scythians was that most of the Scythians had already migrated to Europe, leaving a vacuum in their lands, with only a few of their people still in possession of these Scythian territories in the steppes of South Russia. The Encyclopedia Britannica mentions that many have thought the Slavs were descended from the Sarmatians (11th ed., Vol. XXV, Art. Slavs, pp. 228-230). Madison Grant identifies the Sarmatians with the modern Slavs (The Passing of the Great Race, pp. 143, 245, 269, 272). Also see Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 15. Speaking of the Wends, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Serbs and other Slavs, Grant says: "The Centre of radiation of all these Slavic-speaking Alpines was located in the Carpathians... These early Slavs were probably the Sarmatians of the Greek and Roman writers" (ibid., p. 143). "From this centre," says Grant, "in the neighborhood of the Carpathians and in Galicia eastward to the head of the Dnieper River, the Wends and Sarmatians expanded in all directions. They were the ancestors of those Alpines who are to-day Slavic-speaking. From this obscure beginning came the bulk of the Russians and the South Slavs" (ibid., p. 272). Kephart is also of the same general opinion. He shows that the Poles, Ukrainians and others are descendants of the Sarmatians (Races of Mankind, p. 506). The nations who entered Europe after the Gothic or Scythian tribes, were the Slavonian or Sarmatian. These peoples have occupied Russia, Eastern Prussia, Poland, Bohemia, and Moravia.
"The Poles became the most distinguished of the Slavonian nations in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but the Russian branch has since attained a pre-eminence, which, for power, influence, and extent of empire, transcends now, beyond all competition, every other people of Sarmatian descent" (Turner, History of the Anglo-Saxons, Vol. I pp. 90, 91).
The Encyclopedia Americana mentions that "The authors who have best described these Scythian peoples distinguish the SCYTHIANS proper or Scolotes, as they call themselves, the immediate neighbours on the north of the ancient Greeks, from the Sarmates... " (Vol. XXIV, Art. Scythians, p.471). This is further confirmation of the view which has consistently been expressedthat the Sarmatians properly speaking, were always distinguished from their Scythian neighbors!
THE SCYTHIAN MASSAGETAE
One branch of the Scythians was known as: Getae, Massagetae and Thyssagetae. The Massagetae, who lived east of the Caspian Sea and north of the Oxus River, were involved in a struggle for pastoral lands with the Scythians. This assault by the Massagetae caused the Scythians to attack the Cimmerians. The mounted Scythians were superior to the Cimmerians who fought on foot. The Cimmerians were routed and found themselves forced to retreat through the Dariel Pass. "That the Getae were Goths cannot be doubted" (Turner, History of the Anglo- Saxons, Vol. I, p. 95). Speaking of the Massagetae, Herodotus says:
Now, this nation [the Massagetae] is said to be both powerful and valiant, dwelling towards the east and the rising sun beyond the river Araxes, over against the Issedonians; there are some who say that this nation is Scythian (Herod., Clio I, par. 201). The Caucasus, then, bounds the western side of this sea, which is called Caspian, and on the east... is an extensive plain... inhabited by the Massagetae, against whom Cyrus resolved to make war (ibid., par. 204).
The above statements show that the Massagetae were a Scythian tribe who lived to the east of the Caspian Sea! Some of the Israelites had been deported to Media near the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. They must have migrated around to the eastern side of the Caspian soon after their captivity! Herodotus informs us of a very interesting encounter between the Persians, under the leadership of Cyrus the Great, and this Scythian tribe which was known by the name of Massagetae. At the time of this encounter, the king of the Massagetae was dead and his widowed queen Tomyris was ruling over the Massagetae. Cyrus had decided to invade the country of the Massagetae, and was constructing a bridge across a river in preparation for this struggle. Queen Tomyris informed him that if he were determined to fight with her people, he could save himself the trouble of building this bridge. She thereupon informed him that she and her people would withdraw a threedays' journey from the river and allow his army to get across safely before giving battle; or if Cyrus preferred, he and his people could withdraw into their own territory for the distance of a three-days' journey, and allow her and her army to safely cross the river before attacking them. After counsel and much deliberation, Cyrus decided to let Queen Tomyris and her people to withdraw into their territory for a three-days' journey, with the idea of giving battle with the Massagetae in their own territory, thinking this would be to his advantage. He had a premonition that disaster was going to overtake him; but still he persisted in his conquests. Cyrus decided to resort to stratagem in order to defeat these Scythians. He slew many animals and prepared a big feast and provided wine in abundance. After preparing this huge feast, he left the weaker part of his army behind at the place where he had prepared this feast. The main body of the Persian army then retired from the place where the banquet was spread. Shortly thereafter a third division of the army of the Massagetae attacked and defeated the small and weak division of the Persian army which Cyrus had left behind. The victors promptly began celebrating what they thought to have been a great victory. They glutted themselves with an abundance of food and wine. Shortly thereafter, most of them fell into a stupor. While they were in this stuporous condition, the Persian army attacked and defeated this division of the Massagetae. But fortunately for the Massagetae, only one-third of their army was involved in this encounter. Not only had the Persians defeated this third division of the army of the Massagetae, but they also captured one of the Queen's sons. The Queen of the Massagetae demanded of Cyrus that her son be set free. If the Persians didn't free him, her declared intentions were: "I will glut you with blood." Cyrus finally set her son free, but as a result of the disgrace which had befallen him, this son took his own life. Tomyris was determined to revenge her son's death. A battle followed in which the Massagetae were victorious and the greater part of the Persian army was hewed to pieces. Cyrus was slain in this battle.
"But Tomyris, having filled a skin with human blood sought for the body of Cyrus among the slain of the Persians, and having found it, thrust the head into the skin, and insulting the dead body, said: 'Thou hast indeed ruined me though alive and victorious in battle, since thou hast taken my son by stratagem; but I will now glut thee with blood, as I threatened'" (Herodotus, Clio I, para. 205-214).
Herodotus also says: "The Massagetae resemble the Scythians in their dress and mode of living" (ibid., Clio I, par. 215). They were one of the branches of the Scythian people! Two other important branches of the Scythians, as we have already seen, were the Cimmerian (or Cymric) branch in the west, and the Sacae who lived near the Massagetae to the east of the Caspian Sea.
DARIUS INVADES EUROPEAN SCYTHIA
The Western or European Scythians had an interesting encounter with the Persians. About 515 B.C. Darius the Great, who had determined to conquer and utterly destroy Greece, knew that his first step would have to be the cutting off of the vital supplies and timber imports of Greece, especially from the Balkans and her consignment of grain from Scythia. With an army of seven hundred thousand (see "Epitome of History" by Ploetz, p. 28), he launched a campaign in Europe, crossing the Bosphorus over a bridge built especially for him by a clever Greek engineer named Mandrocles of Samos. He then marched into Thrace and on to the Danube, which he also crossed by means of a bridge of boats, drawn across the river at a place a little below the present day Galatz. Before marching on to attack the Scythians, he left a detachment of Ionians with instructions to guard this bridge for sixty days pending his return, failing which they were to retire across it, destroying it behind them. He then proceeded to attack the Scythians. But the Scythians, realizing they could not overcome the Persians in a pitched battle, appealed to their neighboring tribes for help; and having been refused, they decided to rely on their own cunning, to preserve themselves. The Scythians adopted the "scorched earth" policy. They divided their army into three groups, as was customary, each commanded respectively by one of the three Royal Scyths. They agreed that whichever of the three was pursued by Darius, would retreat to the interior part of Scythia, breaking up water supplies and destroying the food and fodder of the land. Darius immediately took the offensive. The Scyths promptly retreated before him. The sixty days which he had set as a time limit for conquering the Scyths, were fast slipping away, his men were becoming weary, his supplies were running shortyet the Scyths continued to retreat, scorching the earth behind them. Their determination not to give battle exasperated Darius. He at last determined that he would force the issue, and challenged their king, Idanthyrsus, in the following words:
"Thou strange man," shouted his messenger, "why dost thou keep on flying before me, when there are two things thou mightest do so easily? If thou deemest thyself able to resist my arms, cease thy wanderings and come, let us engage in battle. Or if thou art conscious that my strength is greater than thineeven so thou shouldest cease to run awaythou has but to bring thy lord earth and water, and to come at once to a conference." (Elsworth Huntingdon, The Pulse of Asia).
However, the undaunted Scythian king, proudly informed Darius that he didn't flee from him out of fear, but only because he wished to follow a peaceful way of life. He told Darius that his Scythian people did not cultivate lands or possess towns which (through fear of loss or ravaging) might induce them to join battle. He then dared Darius to molest their father's tombs, saying that such sacrilege would provoke them to fight with heated revenge. Otherwise they would not fight with the Persians until they pleased (ibid.). At this Darius was greatly disheartened. He realized further pursuit was useless, and decided to retreat. The Scythians harassed and reduced his troops as he withdrew, but Darius felt greatly relieved, only to get the greater part of his army back safely across the Danube. He and his army had escaped a disastrous experience, and this kept him from ever again invading northern Europe. On one occasion when the Persian infantry was ready to engage the Scythian cavalry in a minor skirmish, up jumped a hare, and off galloped the yelling Scythians howling after the hare, chasing it at full speed on their horses, leaving the startled Persians covered with their dustthereby revealing their arrogance and contempt towards the Persians. Smith mentions the custom of the Scythians of living in a kind of covered wagons which were constructed as lofty houses of wicker-work, on well-wheeled chariots.
They kept large troops of horses, and were most expert in cavalry exercises and archery; and hence, as the Persian king Där'us found, when he invaded their country (B.C. 507), it was almost impossible for an invading army to act against them (A Smaller Classical Dictionary, 1910 ed., Art. Scythia, p. 475).
He then mentions that the Scythians simply retreated, taking their wagon-homes with them before their enemies; and as they did this they kept harassing the enemy with their light cavalry; and left famine and exposure in their wake. Philip II of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Great, who defeated the Medo- Persians, both had to engage the Scythians on different occasions, in order to keep them from encroaching upon their territory.
SCYTHIAN CUSTOMS
Rice informs us that the Scythians were a prosperous people, obtaining much of their wealth from their trade especially with Greece. The Scythians exported grain, furs, hides, meat, honey, salt, fish and also many of her slaves to Greece. Some of the Scyths followed patriarchal rule as did the people of Israel (The Scythians, p. 51). The Royal Scyths were relatively few in number, but they were fearless fighters and such capable rulers, that they had little difficulty in governing a vast territory and controlling with ease the population consisting of their own husbandmen and the agriculturalists whom they had found established in the region and who outnumbered them greatly. We are further informed that some of the Scythians were agriculturalists and raised wheat for export; others were pastoral Nomads. The Royal Scyths were from among the Nomadic Scyths. The Nomadic Scyths lived on a diet of milk products, which included fermented mare's milk (Collier's Ency., Vol. XVIII, Art. Scythia). It is interesting to note that the Scythians had no use for pigs, either in sacrifice or in any other way (ibid., p. 49). We have proved the Scythians to be the same as the Sacae and the Gimiri, and we have shown that these people were the same as the people of the House of Omri or "Beth Omri" and that the people of the House of Omri were the Ten-Tribed Northern Kingdom of Israel. There is nothing to show that the Ten-Tribed House of Israel ever made any use whatsoever of swine while in the land of Palestine. In fact swine were held in great contempt and the pig was used as a form of contempt. The God of Israel strictly forbade them to eat swine (Lev. 11; Deu. 14). We know that many of the modern-day descendants of the ancient Scythian or Sacae people do eat the pig, and use it generally; but this practice has been formed only after many generations of turning aside from the principles and the teachings which God had given them under Moses. We have shown conclusively that the Celts, the Gauls, the Galatians, the Kimbri, the Ombri, and such peoples were all closely relateddescendants from a common ancestor; and that they were all different branches of the Cimmerian nation, the Cimmerians being a Scythian people. The Scythians practised polygamy; but so did the pre-captivity Israelites! The Scyths were fond of a sort of "Haggis" reminding us of the fondness of their descendants, the modern-day Scots, for this same dish (Rice, The Scythians, p. 63).
SCYTHIANS EXPERTS IN WARFARE
The Scythians owed much of their prowess in battle and in hunting to the superb skill with which they handled their mounts.
All the horses' trappings which have so far been found, regardless of whether they come from the east or the west of the plain, reveal the great importance which the Scythians attached to the turnout of their mounts. Can the inhabitants of England have inherited this outlook together with the decorative elements which effected "Celtic" art? (ibid., p. 74).
Rice implies that the English have inherited their fondness for horses from their Scythian ancestors. Historical evidence proves the majority of the people of England have descended from Scythian tribes. There are two other points of interest mentioned by Rice. (1) Some of the Scythian tables were "of a startling Victorian character" (The Scythians, p. 137). (2) There is a striking similarity between Scandinavian, Viking, Celtic and Saxon art when compared to Scythian art (ibid., pp. 186, 187). It was customary for the Scyths to have rather elaborate burialsespecially for their chiefs. After an ordinary person died, his body was carried about for forty days in a wagon among the tribal camps and then buried.
"For a king, the funeral cortege was more elaborate. On burial the body was placed in a square pit. After some of his concubines, attendants, and horses had been strangled and laid beside the Royal courts, a great mound was built over the grave. A year later fifty youths and fifty fine horses were strangled, stuffed and mounted in a circle around the tomb" (Collier's Ency., 1959 ed., Vol. XVII, pp. 433-34).
THE FROZEN TOMBS OF SIBERIA
The Russian archeologist Rudenko, carried out some interesting excavations on the frozen tombs at Pazyrik in western Siberia. These frozen tombs were certainly unique. They had been plundered centuries earlier. The tomb-robbers had worked down deep enough to reach soil perpetually frozen, but they had not encountered any water. When the tomb robbers disturbed the filling of the shaft, the moisture from the upper soil seeped down into the timber-lined chamber and slowly filled it to the brim. This water later froze, out of reach of the summer's sun, and everything which the robbers had left was preserved in COLD STORAGE until Rudenko opened these frozen tombs! He was delighted to see the good condition in which the objects were found.
When he came upon the ice, through which he could faintly glimpse objects lying on the chamber floor, normal methods of excavation had to be abandoned; Rudenko simply poured boiling water on the ice, pumped it all out, and the contents of the tomb lay there exposed! (Wooley, History Unearthed, 1958, ed., p. 159).
In one tomb Rudenko found a huge burial chamber which contained the skeletons of about seven to sixteen horses which had been pole-axed. The tomb contained a number of heavy wooden carts, pots, and many other objects. The treasures of gold and silver had been taken by the robbers, but the ice had preserved many objects in deep-freeze condition. These hermetically-sealed tombs had preserved some of man's most perishable possessions including carpets, embroideries, hangings of applique felt; and there were two coffins containing the remains of the king and his wife or favourite concubine. The bodies had been embalmed after a fashion. There were many interesting objects found in some of these tombs including in some instances treasures. In the account of the invasion of Scythia by Darius, we have noticed how much the Scythians prized the tombs of their dead. There is nothing which would incense them as much as to have someone disturb the resting place of their fathers. Darius presumably feared the unabated wrath of the Sythians enough that he dared not provoke the Scythians by desecrating the tombs of their forefathers. We shall now examine further historical proof verifying that the majority of these Scyths who lived in South Russia (especially in the Crimea) were exiled Israelites.
ISRAEL'S CRIMEAN GRAVESTONES
Here is a very interesting quotation taken from an article entitled Synchronous History, Volume III (1874), written by J.W. Bosanquet:
"The old gravestones in the Crimea", writes Neubauer, "which are now recognized as genuine by all men of learning, attest that there were Jewish [Israelitish] communities in the Crimea as early as the year A.D. 6, and that the Jews there held themselves to be descended from the TEN TRIBES." I Jehuda Ben Mose ha-Nagolon of the East country... of the tribe of Naphtali... who went into the exile with the exiles, who were driven away with Hosea, the king of Israel, together with the tribes of Simeon and Dan, and some of the generations of the other tribes of Israel, which (all) were led into exile by the enemy Shalmanezer... the cities of the exiled tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half of Manasseh, which Pilneser drove into exile and settled there... (ibid.).
The author of the above quote, like almost everyone, thought these exiles of the "Lost Ten Tribes" of Israel were "Jews." But the people of Ten-Tribed Israel were never called "Jews" in the Hebrew Scriptures! Notice that the person whose name was found on this Crimean Epigraph was of the tribe of NAPHTALI, who was taken into captivity with the captives in the time of Hosea, king of Israel, with the tribes of SIMEON, DAN, REUBEN, GAD, and the half tribe of MANASSEH. This is another proof that the exiles of Israel (those of the so-called Lost Ten Tribes) passed through the area of the Crimea, in the vicinity of the Black Sea! The exiles of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel wandered for centuries in the steppes of Southern Russia under such names as Cimmerians and Scythians. Myers says that the long-headed stocks of the British Isles and of Scandinavia seem to be an early offshoot of the "Tumulus people" of South Russia, who are the ancestors of these Nordics. This is further confirmation of the facts that have been reiterated in this thesis.
In the British Isles, there are more or less pure descendants of... old long-headed stocks. In Scandinavia and the whole north-western area of the Continent. They are the tall, massive, long-headed folk who had apparently been developing there... They seem to be an early offshoot of the "Tumulus people" [meaning Scythians] of Southern Russia, and are the ancestors of the present "Nordic" blondes (Myers, Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. I, p. 98).
RACIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SCYTHIANS
We shall now carefully examine historical, archaeological, and portrait evidence to see what the physical characteristics of the Scythians were like. Before we have finished our investigation, we will notice complete unanimity among all of these fields of study. "The general opinion has been that the Scyths were Iranian [white European types]" (Ency. Brit., 11th ed., Vol. XXIV, Art. Scythia). Because of the nomadic life which most of the Scyths led, some have erroneously believed the Scythians were of Mongolian origin.
This opinion is, however, no longer held. The little we know of their language, customs and religion leads rather to the conclusion that they were IRANEANS. About the 2nd century B.C. the Scythians were conquered [driven further west] by the Sarmates... Thereafter they disappear from history (ibid., p. 471).
Notice that the Scythians disappear from history about the 2nd century B.C. Some claim they survived until the early centuries of the Christian era. Since the Apostle Paul mentioned them (Col. 3:11) we know they were still in existence in the 1st century A.D. It would appear, however, that most of the Scyths had migrated or were driven into Europe in the centuries immediately after the birth of Christ. We are informed by the Encyclopedia Britannica that the Scythian power began to decline in the early centuries A.D., so that by the middle of the 4th century the Sarmatae, the eastern neighbors of the Scyths, had crossed the Don River. As the Scyths are pressed by Sarmatians to their east, they, in turn, exert pressure on the peoples of the Danube, and finally emerge in North-western Europe under various tribal names. After this time the name of "Scythia" is purely geographical. The lands which they had formerly occupied were completely taken over by the Sarmatians.
SCYTHIAN RACE ANALYSIS BY MINNS
It is difficult to see how some who have studies Minn's classic work on the Scythians, can make him say something which is contrary to his plain statements. Some have asserted that Minns attributed a Mongoloid origin to the Scythians. Let us see what Minns really did say regarding this subject: "On the other hand Scheifner absolutely annihilated K. Neumann's attempt to derive any Scythian words from Mongolian" (Scythians and Greeks, p. 40). The Scythians' mode of life consisted of the men riding on horseback and the women in wagons. Minns also mentions the habit of the Scythians of tattooing or branding various parts of their bodies.
This slackness they counteract by a custom of branding themselves on various parts of their body (Cf. J.G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, III. p. 217). Further he says that the cold makes their colouring purros, which seems to mean a reddish brown, the colour that fair people get from being much in the open. It cannot be any kind of yellow (Minns, Scythians and Greeks, p. 45).
The above statements show that Minns definitely believed the Scythians were not Mongolians, but were a "fair people" having "reddish brown" colouring due to tanning. Yet some who have studied Minn's classic work on the Scythians have claimed that he believed the Scythians to be of Mongoloid descent! There was undoubtedly some Mongoloid influence among certain of the Scythians because of intermarriage. Herodotus informs us of marriages between Scythian kings and various foreign women.
So too some of the skulls illustrated by Count Bobrinskoj in Smela slightly suggest Mongolian forms, others are purely European (Sm. II., pl. XXVII. — XXX). To this same conclusion came Professor Anatole Bogdanoy (Congres International d'Archeologie Prehistorique et d'Anthropologie, II Session A Moscou, T.I., Moscow, 1892, p.5), who says that in Scythic tombs the skulls are mostly long though occasionally Mongoloid, and notes a general tendency towards brachycephaly during the Scythic period. For, strangely enough, although Slavs and Finns are now short-headed, they seem to have become so only during the last few centuries (Minns, Scythians and Greeks, p. 47).
Minns was very explicit in the foregoing statement. He showed that the Scythic skulls were "mostly long, though OCCASIONALLY MONGOLOID," according to Professor Anatole. Minns nowhere says he disagrees with him on this point; Minns' silence must mean that he is in agreement with Professor Anatole on this point! Scythians had penetrated into Hungary and other Slavonic countries at a fairly early period, but these Scythians were not Slavs or Mongols. There can be no reasonable doubt that the overwhelming majority of the Scythians were a long-headed people (whose descendants are only found today in North-western Europe and territories settled by them). There must have been occasional Mongolians among them. We have just read in the quotation preceding that the Slavs and Finns are short-headed. It is not at all difficult for one to see how the present Slavs are in the main a short-headed people though the skeletal remains in the ancient graves of these Slavic territories show a long-headed people formerly resided there. The answer to this enigma is quite simply explained. The following picture emerges when all of the histories on this subject are properly pieced together. At one time most of Western, Northern and Central Europe, as well as Western and Southern Asia as far east as the Don (in some instances, as far east as China), were inhabited chiefly by dolichocephalic (long-headed), Scythian people. Many historians show clearly that some of the Scythians came into Europe as peaceful colonists and settlers, filtering into Europe year after year, and season after season, with their flocks and herds from the south steppes of Russia, to the lands in the regions of the Danube and the Baltic. Others were undoubtedly impelled or catapulted into Europe by pressure brought upon them by invading tribes (such as the Sarmatians) to their east. These eastern round-headed Sarmatian neighbors swarmed into the lands which the long-headed Scythians had formerly inhabited and were buried. Thus, it is only because one racial type succeeded another to these lands, that one can find a satisfactory explanation for the broad-headed skulls prevailing in the latter cemeteries and among the modern populations of these Germanic and Slavic lands. The ancient historians do not tell us much about the type of clothes worn by the Scythians, but they mention that they wore belts, baggy trousers and pointed caps. Professor Minns mentions some representations on Greek vases which depict Northern nomads. He says that one of these nomad archers was called "Kimerios" and that he was equipped in the representations with a bowcase. "Kimerios, about whose name there can be no doubt, is similarly equipped but has a bowcase instead of a quiver. In the case of another painting of barbarians attempts have been made to identify them as Cimmerians" (Scythians and Greeks, p. 53). There is every reason to believe that this person called "Kimerios" was a Scythian or a Cimmerian by race. The tall, pointed caps worn by these Scythian nomads, as depicted by the Greeks, show that they were the same people as the Sacae or Saka. The Persians called all of the Scythians by the name of Sacae or Saka as we have already observed. There can be absolutely no doubt whatsoever, according to many reliable historical sources, that the ancient Sacae were the ancestors of the ANGLO-SAXONS. The Israelites, while living in Palestine, were famous archers (I Chr. 5:18; 12:1-2). So were the Scytians well known for their archery. Their descendants in Europeespecially those who came to the British Isleswere often very expert in the use of the bow. Surely every one is familiar with the story of Robin Hood and his followers, who were expert archers and wore pointed caps also. "The Asiatic nomads had very high-pointed head-gear, according to Herodotus and the Bisutun [same as Behistun] bas relief of Sakunka Saka" (ibid., p. 57).
On the bas relief of the Bisutun we have a Saka labelled as such in the inscription of Darius: unfortunately being a prisoner he is without his weapons and his national dress. The only thing distinctive about him is his very tall cyrbasia [tall pointed cap] upon his head. He is fully bearded (ibid., p. 60).
Herodotus says that the Sacae had tall, pointed caps (Herodotus VII, 60 through 66). Minns mentions "a Blonde race" which he equated with the Scythians.
SIMILAR EVIDENCE BY RICE
Speaking of the pastoral nomads in the Ukraine districts of South Russia, Rice says these Scythian nomads were "fair-haired men of a long-headed type" (The Scythians, p. 23). We are informed that "what [anthropological material] is available seems to support the Indo-European attribution" (ibid., p. 37). "An examination of the male skulls and mummified heads found at Pazirik confirms this view" (ibid., p. 39).
Indeed, there is nothing surprising in the occasional presence of people of Mongol blood among the tribes inhabiting the eastern section of the Asiatic steppe, for there was probably intermarriage between them and the locals, just as the Royal Scyths at times intermarried with Greeks or Thracians from neighbouring regions in the west (ibid., pp. 40, 41).
A close examination of all of the male skulls and the mummified heads found at Pazirik confirms such a view. Notice that Rice shows there was "the occasional presence" of Mongol blood among the tribes inhabiting the eastern section. This statement should cause no great alarm if one remembers that the people on the eastern border of Scythia were Mongolians. One would naturally expect a little racial mixing between the Scyths and the Mongols. Later we shall show cranial statistics proving that the people who lived in ScythiaSouth Russia especiallyat this time were not the same people as the broadheaded "Alpine" or "Slavic" people who dwell there today. All archaeological remains prove that the people who formerly inhabited this region in the Scythian age were definitely different from the present-day inhabitants of that country. They were predominantly a long-headed people. Note carefully the following statements which show that some of the Scyths lived near China.
The ancient Greeks applied the names Scyth, Saka, or Caha indiscriminately to all the nomads of the Eurasian steppe, without distinguishing between those inhabiting lands within reach of China and those living close to the Carpathians... there seems reason to think that at any rate the MAJORITY were linked by some sort of racial tie. A definite affinity [a blood relationship] is indeed suggested by the nature of their art, which shows wellnigh identical features over so wide an area (ibid., p. 42).
We are told that not only did the Scyths wear peaked hoods, but they also had suspenders attached to their belts to hold their soft, high boots. The only other people known to wear the same type of clothes were the "tall, red-haired, blue-eyed people" from Turkestan whose faces were "pronouncedly European, thus giving support to the theory that the Scythians were of Indo-European stock. The statues of the women show high hats somewhat similar in shape to those worn by Welsh women of the eighteenth century" (Rice, The Scythians, pp. 68, 69).
Rudenko has succeeded in establishing that the majority of the skulls found at Pazirik and at such allied burials as Shibe, Tuekt, Kurai and Katanda were European in type. This bears out Jettmar's view that, at any rate until the fifth or fourth century B.C., the inhabitants of western Siberia were a fairhaired people of European origin, and that it was after that date that an influx of Mongoloids resulted in a very mixed type of population... Most scholars are, however, convinced that no racial links exist between the Slavs and the Scythians, and Ripley draws attention to the fact that in the central Russian burials of the stone age, as many as three-quarters of the skulls were dolichocephalic, [long-headed] from the ninth to the thirteenth century only half belonged to this group, and after that date only forty per cent remained, the rest of the population being brachycephalic [broad-headed] (ibid., p. 77).
Speaking of a Scythian tomb, Rice says: "The woman lying at the chief's side, however, had the soft hair and the dolichocephalic [long-headed] skull of an Indo- European (The Scythians, p.122). Speaking of the Scythians, Child says: "Many people hold that these Scyths were IRANIANS" (The Aryans, 1926 ec., p. 38). He then shows that there is archaeological evidence to prove that the Scyths had made incursions into Bulgaria, Hungary, and Eastern Germany from the east. We have now seen various statements from numerous historians showing that the Scythians were North-west European in type. They, as we have observed, had "occasional" brachycephalic (broad-headed) elements among them.
COON'S ANALYSIS OF SCYTHIAN CRANIA
Coon is the "last word" regarding craniological data of the Scythians. Speaking of the Scyths, he says: "About 700 B.C. the Scyths were first noticed in the lands to the north of the Black Sea" (The Races of Europe, p. 196). This was about 50 years after Israel's First Captivity in 741 B.C! He then shows that the Scythians, including their eastern branches, the Massagetae and the Saka (Sacae) people, "formed the continual cultural zone from the CARPATHIANS to CHINA" (ibid., p. 196). He mentions that some believe the Scythians to have been Mongoloid, while others believed that they were Iranian or North-west European in type. He says: "Another school holds that they were European in physical type, and spoke Iranian, while their cultural breeding ground lay somewhere to the east of the CASPIAN" (ibid., p. 196). The Scythians were decidedly North-western European according to Coon:
There can be little doubt, even before examining skeletal evidence that the Scythians and Sarmatians were basically, if not entirely, white men, and in no sense Mongoloid. The only definite description of them which we have from classical literature is that of Hippocrates, who called them white-skinned and obese (ibid., p. 198).
He then shows that the Scythians produced a very distinctive style of realistic art. Their representations include a number of Scythian portraits in very realistic and life-like poses.
They show a well-defined type of heavily bearded, long-headed men with prominent, often convex, noses. The brow ridges are moderately heavy, the eyes deep set. These faces are strikingly reminiscent of types common among northwest Europeans today, in strong contrast to those shown in the art of the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Hittites, which are definitely Near Eastern. The face, therefore, is definitely Nordic (ibid., p. 199).
We are next informed of the research of Donici's collection of seventy-seven Scythian crania from Kurgans of Bessarabia, which was one of the Scythian's favorite pasture lands during the height of their domination of the South Russian steppes. "The fifty-seven male crania of this series" (according to Coon) "are not homogeneous but fall into two types, a long-headed and a round-headed, with the former [long-headed] greatly in the majority" (ibid., p. 199).
The means of these Scythian skulls show them to be low mesocephals [medium to long-headed] of moderate cranial dimensions, but with a low vault height. The cranial means are, in fact, almost identical with those of the Keltic series from France and the British Isles (ibid., p. 199).
This would mean that they would be dolichocephals (long-headed) in the general classification which so many use — i.e. 80 and under representing the dolichocephals. According to Coon, the mean or average cephalic indexes would fall in the low (mediumheaded) range, and this undoubtedly included some mongoloid brachycephals. "When the brachycephalic element is eliminated, these Scythian skulls are narrow faced, and narrow nosed, and fit more nearly into a central European Nordic category. Other series of Scythian crania from Southern Russia and the CAUCASUS show the same general characteristics, but are in most instances purely dolichocephalic, which leads one to understand that the brachycephalic element in the Rumanian skulls may have been at least partly of local origin" (ibid., pp.199, 200). This shows that some Scythians were long-headed, while some had heads of medium breadth. He continues, "Other collections of Scythian crania vary in their mean cranial indices from 72 to 77. Those from the Kiev government, a Scythian center, have a mean of 73" (ibid., p. 200). In sharp contrast to this long-headed type for the overwhelming majority of the Scythians, Coon mentions that "A series of 18 Sarmatian crania from the Volga, although otherwise the same as the other, has a cranial index of 80.3" (ibid.). Again, this is in complete agreement with what has already been observed. The Sarmatians are the ancestors of the Slavic peoples, and of the Alpine and "Slavic" type Germanic peoples of Germany, Austria, etc. We have repeatedly seen that discriminating historians all draw a clear line of demarcation between the true or proper Scythians and the Sarmatians. Coon then mentions that some of the skeletal data for some of the ancient Germans shows them to be a "purely long-headed element in the Keltic blend... They closely resemble the Keltic crania of Gaul and of the British Isles, and those of the Scythians" (ibid., p. 203). This further proves what has been previously shownthat many of the Keltic, Cymric and Scythian tribes who formerly lived in "Germania" and were called "Germani" actually were not true Germans as we know the Germans of today. They were Keltic peoples who migrated through Germany and into Northern France and the British Isles. Speaking of the Slavs who "penetrated Russia," we read:
The skulls of these invaders belong to a generalized Nordic form, with a cranial index of 75 to 76, and an intermediate vault height. The Ukranian skulls from the eighth to the ninth centuries A.D. do not greatly diverge from this general standard, but the early Slavic [Nordic] crania from the Moscow region in Russia dated from the eleventh to twelfth centuries A.D., are, in fact, almost purely dolichocephalic, with a mean cranial index of 73.5 (ibid., p. 219).
And on page 220 we read:
On the whole, the Slavic racial type, as exemplified by skeletal series from Poland, Germany, Bohemia, Austria, and Russia, were reasonably uniform... The Slavs, like all the other Indo-European-speaking peoples whom we have been able to trace, were originally Nordic, and there is no suggestion in their early remains, in the region studied, of the numerically predominant brachycephalic [broad-headedness] racial increments which today are considered typically Slavic (ibid., p. 220).
Most of the "Slavs" retained their original dolichocephalic (long-head) cranial form until about the thirteenth or the fifteenth century. At that time, those who inhabited Central Europe and Russia grew progressively broad-headed, at a rapid but consistant rate. "Well-documented series from Bohemia and the Moscow government show how this change progressed from century to century, so that normal means of 73 to 75 rose as high as 83 by the nineteenth" (ibid., p. 220). Few Slavs were spared this change to brachycephaly which was parallel to that which affected the South Germans and other peoples of Central and Eastern Europe. Although it occurred in the full light of medieval and modern history, no one has, as of yet, offered a fully satisfactory explanation (ibid., p. 220). Here then, without doubt, is the explanation of this baffling question. The overwhelming majority of cranial measurements from the ancient mounds of the countries just mentioned (Western Russia, Poland, Bohemia, Austria, and most of Germany) were mainly the dolichocephalic or long-headed type. They were of Keltic and Scythian descent, but have mostly all moved out of those lands and into Britain, Scandinavia, and Northern France. All history is crystal clear in showing that the general movement of the peoples of Europe and Asia was in a westward direction. The Asiatics (broad-headed people) kept pushing the Nordic long-headed element further and further west before them. The ancient Scythians (who were mostly long-headed) and their off-shoots Cimmerians, Kelts, Gauls, and otherswere in many instances purely dolichocephals (long heads), and in other cases had heads of medium breadth. These Nordics contually migrated peacefully or were driven by force of arms before their enemies from the general territory of Central Asia and Eastern Europe further and further west. It is easy to see that the long-headed Iranian or Nordic element, which at one time inhabited Europe, from the Carpathian Mountains in the west to the river Don in the east, were driven continually westward. The vacuum which they left behind was filled with the Asiatic Alpine or broad-heads. The peoples today living in these lands are generally spoken of as "Slavs" or "Alpines." The author of this work concluded that the "ancestral Slavs of Poland were Nordic, within the range of the Indo-European group". But the simple truth is that the Nordics, at one time, lived in Poland, Austria, in parts of Germany, the Balkans, Northern Italy and Spain, as well as in all of North-western Europe. The Eastern and Southern European Kelts were later all pushed into Northwestern Europe, where they are today foundin the British Isles, Scandinavia, and Northern France. The same is true of Bohemia. According to Coon, the Bohemians were "very close to an older Keltic mean. They formed, without question, a mixed group and included in their number a minority of round-headed forms... The skulls of these invaders belong to a generalized Nordic form" (ibid., p. 219). He then mentions that the skulls of the Anglo-Saxons (of Scythic descent) who invaded England in the 4th and 5th centuries were almost identical with the skulls of some of the early Germans from Hanover; they were also very similar with the Spanish Visigothic skulls. The old Frisians from Northern Holland were identical in every respect with these long-headed Nordic, Swedish types (ibid., p. 207).
A number of individual cemeteries which date from the earliest period of Saxon invasion, give us a lively picture of the manner in which the first Saxon raiders and settlers operated... All of the adult males 30 years of age or older represent a single type, the classical Saxon, and are all long headed (ibid., p. 210).
From these statements, it is easy to see that the Anglo-Saxons (who were all of Scythic descent) were mainly a long-headed people. We shall have occasion later to investigate the subject of the Goths, but it should be understood that nearly all of the cephalic indexes of the Goths, regardless of where they are measured, show that they were primarily a long-headed people. Coon makes this very plain (ibid., pp. 205, 206). When all the foregoing evidence is carefully weighed, the only conclusion one can come to is this — the Scythians and cognate peoples who formerly inhabited the steppes of South Russia from China to the Danube River were primarily long-headed people. What is the significance of this inescapable conclusion? When one considers that the peoples who now inhabit the territory from the Danube to China are mainly a round-headed or broad-headed type, then he can see that something has happened to cause this change from dolichocephaly to brachycephaly. Furthermore, when one learns that the cephalic index (the general head form) does not change, as we have proven earlier, except by intermarriage or deformity, then one is forced to the inevitable conclusion that these Slavic or Alpine type peoples who now inhabit these steppe lands are a totally different people. Also, when one sees such an avalanche of historical and archaeological evidence proving that the long-headed type of peoples who formerly inhabited the vast stretches of Scythia are only found today among North-west European peoples (and their colonial offspring) — then one is compelled to the conclusion that there, and only there, are these people found in any appreciable number today! We have previously seen proven from the Behistun Rock Inscriptions that the exiles of Israel were called by three different names (Gimiri, Sacae and Scythians) yet they all refer to the same people. It has been clearly demonstrated that these people are the same as the Cimmerians and as the Ghomri, or the people of Omri, who was a well-known king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. It should now be clearly established in our minds that the Cimmerians, Celts, Gauls, Sacae (Saxons), and the Massagetae were all branches or offshoots of the great Scythian nation. What LANGUAGE did the Scythians speak? This will give us a further insight into the origin of these peoples. The most exhaustive and authoritative dictionary in the English language is unquestionably A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, edited by Sir James Murray LL.D. Here is the definition of the Scythian language as found in this dictionary: "Scythiac... There is a strong similarity between the Hebrew and the Scythiac languages" (Vol. VIII, def. Scythiac). This is quite understandable since we know that the majority of the Scythians were the exiles from the land of Israel; and there can be no doubt that the language which they spoke while in the Promised Land, and at the time of their captivity, was Hebrew! The Scythians were not an ancient people, but they themselves declared that they were "the newest of races" (Minns, Scythians and Greeks, p. 43). Many nations existed before the nation of Israel was conceived (Deut. 7:7). This shows that these Scytho-Israelitish exiles knew that the historic nations of Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and many others were in existence before Israel was born. According to Herodotus the Scythian nation had existed only 1,000 years to the time of Darius. This shows they had their national beginning at the same general time Israel left Egypt in about 1491 B.C. Before concluding the subject of the Scythians, it should be stressed that not all of the Scythians were of Israelitish extraction. It has been definitely proved, however, that most of them were wandering exiles of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. Even at the time of the Exodus there was a "mixed multitude" (meaning non- Israelites) who accompanied Israel to the Promised Land (Ex. 12:38, Num. 11:4). Israel was given many laws whereby the people were informed clearly that they could permit Gentiles to settle among them. We have seen that the Scythians were a numerous and mighty nation. What happened to this by-gone people? Proffesor Minns shows that it took the successive hordes of Sarmatians, Huns, Avars, Khazars, Pechenags, Polvtses and Tartars and other tribes many centuries to sweep the Iranian or SCYTHIAN folk completely off the plains over which they had wandered; the Scythians finally succumbed to this fate only because they were living in open country upon a "highway of nations." "About the 2nd century B.C. the Scythians were conquered by the Sarmates... thereafter they disappear from history" (Ency. Brit., Vol. XXIV, Art. Scythians, p. 47). "By the fourth century A.D. they [the Scythians] had been completely forgotten by the civilized world of the day" (Rice, The Scythians, p. 23). From many historical sources cited we can see that these Scythic peoples filtered into Europe from the seventh century B.C. to our era. By the second century B.C. so few were remaining in Scythia that the Sarmatians easily over-powered the remaining few. The name "Scythia" is swallowed up thereafter in the many tribal names which these Scythic people had assumed by the time of their final settlement in North-west Europe. We have also seen that the Kymry, Celts, Gauls, Saxons, Goths, Keltic, "Germans," and similar peoples all traced their racial origins back to the Scythian nation or tribes! These Scythian peoples were all closely related and are definitely equated by history with the people of the House (dynasty) of Omri — the House of Israel!
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