Israelite Migrations From Tarshish Spain To Britain And Ireland

Here we will look at a section of William Greig’s 1878 book Anglo-Israel: A Lecture — in which he connects the Israelite colonies in Tarshish as a launching point for further migrations up into the British Isles and Ireland.

In a previous article, we discussed recent archeological discoveries have provided ample evidence that ancient Israelites established colonies in Tarshish — now modern Spain — as the location of King Solomon’s mines — which provided much needed valuable gold and silver — which were not available in the Kingdom of Israel — to build his legendary temple (1 Kings 6).

The shipping of precious metals in the Mediterranean basin at that time was largely controlled by the Phoenicians — whose main port cities of Sidon and Tyre — originally settled by Canaanites — with Sidon named after Noah’s grandson from Ham.

Later these coastal lands were conquered by the Israelites — and from then on were known as Phoenicia — though Homer in the Illiad refers to them as “Sidonians.”

And as Steven Collins, in his book The ‘Lost’ Ten Tribes of Israel….Found! writes,

“When historians refer to the Phoenician Empire and its international power and influence around 1,000 to 700BC, they are actually identifying the empire of Israel to which Tyre and Sidon were allied” (p. 76).

We mention this history of the Phoenicians simply because those who object to the theory that the Israelites settled in Spain — and then the British Isles — are wont to claim that it was the Phoenicians, not the Israelites who did so — which Greig points out — yet these two peoples were very much closely allied.

See L. Waddell’s 1924 book, The Phoenician Origin of Britons, Scots, and Anglo-Saxons.

For example, Carthage, on the northern coast of Africa was another major port city on the Mediterranean settled by the Phoenicians but also had an irrefutable Israelite presence — the evidence of which Steven Collins spells out in detail in Chapter 5 of The “Lost” Ten Tribes of Israel….Found! — a must-read.

And many linguists now acknowledge that the Phoenician language was virtually identical to ancient Hebrew — and Syro-Phoenician inscriptions have been discovered in pre-Columbian North America.

Linguistically, we can connect the Hebrew-speaking Phoenicians — and Israelites in Tarshish — with the ancient Scots and Irish — the similarities and parallels between Gaelic and Hebrew cannot be dismissed as mere “coincidence” — also see Thomas Stratton’s 1872 book, The Affinity Between the Hebrew Language and the Celtic.

And just to be clear, the settlement of the British Isles and Ireland happened over many centuries with different waves of migration — some by sea, as Greig points out, but much more by land — from the Near East, up through the Caucasus Mountains, then following the major rivers like the Danube to the west.

Spain was also settled in waves — by the Phoenicians and Israelites by sea, but also by the Celts and Goths by land — and it was only much later that the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by the arabic Moors, aided and abetted by the Sephardic Jews — who were not legitimately related to the original Israelites who settled Iberia — and after whom it is named.

Now we will look at a portion of William Greig’s lecture — which was in response to a previous lecture given by a Professor Campbell who attempted to refute the British-Israel Identity doctrine — from Anglo-Israel: A Lecture, 1878, p.16-17, 18:

The Professor [Campbell] says, “How the Danites made their way from Media, nobody knows.” I think it would be hard to prove that the whole of the tribes of Dan and Asher ever were in Media. Even in the days of Deborah and Barak, Dan is said to have remained in ships, and Asher by the sea, instead of going up to fight against Jabin, (see Judges 5 and 17).

Philo, Josephus, Seneca, and Cicero, mention a Hebrew colony in Spain; and Tarshish was supposed to be in Spain, but has also been with very great show of reason located in Britain, (see Isaiah 66:19-20, and Isaiah 60:9):

“And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations.”

“Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish, first to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy Gcd, and to the Holy one of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.”

Various renderings have been given of the word Tarshish: It is said, that when resolved into its elements, “Tar” and “shish” signifies bright, or white round about, a name which may have been applied to England in ancient times because of the whiteness of its cliffs on the southern coast.

Etymology teaches us that “Tar” implies round about, a border, and “shish” signifies white marble, bright, shining — appearances which present themselves to every voyager coming from the south to England. A learned Jew being asked to interpret the Word, gave it as his opinion, that it meant Tin Islands.

Solomon had a navy of Tarshish, which brought Gold, and Silver, Ivory, Apes, and Peacocks, we also know that Tin was used by Solomon, and even by Moses, in the sacred utensils. Tartessus, in Spain, was rich in silver and gold, (see Pliny’s Natural History,Vol.3. p. 3); and apes and ivory could easily be obtained from the opposite coast of Africa; and who does not know that the ancient Phoenicians traded to England for tin? In Ezekiel 27:12 we read of Tyre:

“Tarshish was thy merchant, by reason of the multitude of ail kind of riches, with silver, iron, tin and lead, (all productions of Britain),they traded in thy fairs.”

The Jesuit father Vilipandus, states that a stone had been found at Sagantum, having an inscription in Hebrew characters sculptured upon it, running thus: “This is the tomb of Adoniram, the servant of King Solomon, who came to collect tribute, and died here.”

And in 1 Kings 4:6, mention is made of Adoniram, who filled the post of collector of taxes. If, then, Hebrew colonies were already in Spain — and Jonah was at one time in a ship of Tarshish sailing from Joppa, a seaport of Dan — what more likely than that fugitives in great numbers both from Dan and Asher, found their way there, and ultimately to Ireland or Britain?

Tacitus and Strabo both say that the men of Wales resemble the people of Spain, and they conclude they were Iberians. Prichard, in his Vol. III., p. 121 and 122, gives a list of similar names occurring both in Britain and Spain, which at least proves that there was direct historical connection between the two countries.

C. M. Kennedy, in a paper read before the Ethnological Society, July 8, 1857, “On the Ethnology of the ancient Britons,” says, “That the Irish Gael came originally from Spain, is a fact substantiated by history as well as by tradition, and now may be further proved by those reasonings, which Ethnology teaches us to have recourse to, in investigating the origin of nations.

Not only do the Irish historians and traditions assert this fact, but the Spanish also; and still more the earliest English writers: for Nennius distinctly declares it; therefore I think there was no necessity for the Professor’s witty story of the sailor alighting on the deck at the captain’s feet, after a fall from the rigging, and on being asked where he came from, answered, from the north of Ireland, Sir — to shew that if the tribe of Dan came to Ireland at ail, it came in as round about a fashion…

It may also be considered evidence of there having been a Hebrew colony in England, that one of the oldest port towns in Cornwall is called by a Hebrew name ” Marazion,” and another, Port Isaac; and in Lloyd’s 1584 [Historie of Cambria, Now Called Wales] are found three old British Kings named Solomon.

…Some have said if this [Israel Identity] doctrine be true, how is it that our commentators in ail past ages have failed to discover it?

The answer is simple. The time had not come. It required that history should develop itself, before God’s hand in history could be seen and understood by us. The things which God hath revealed (either by his inspired messengers or by history) belong to us and to our children, and we do no violence to sacred things when we compare them with God’s dealings with the Nations. Does it seem strange that this idea is only now beginning to gain ground ?

Were not the rocks in existence ages before the eighteenth century, and yet the science of Geology was in a manner till then unknown? Were not the planets revolving through space for myriads of years, and yet the laws of gravitation were not understood before the days of Sir Isaac Newton? Was not the lightning seen, and its terrible effects felt, and yet its power as the swift-winged messenger was undiscovered until the days of Franklin? Was not steam known to the Ancients, and yet its power as a propeller of machinery was almost unknown until the days of Watt and Stephenson?

There were as few barriers in the way of discovering these arts and sciences ages ago, as there is today, and yet they were not discovered; but we are now apparently come to the time of the end, spoken of by Daniel, when “many shall run to and fro,” (as in our railways and steamboats), and knowledge shall be increased,” (as we see it is today by our telegraphs, telephones and printing presses); and as there are in nature vast fields yet unexplored, so there are in God’s word hidden treasures, which the wisdom of man has hitherto failed to discover.

Source: Anglo-Israel: A Lecture, by William Greig, 1878, p.16-17, 18