Super
Bonus Article 2
info@archaeologyanswers.com
by Jonathan Gray
www.beforeus.com
SOLOMON'S FLEET MYSTERY
Evidence
of Phoenician voyages into the South Pacific
I
stumbled into it. And hating secrets, I just had to find out.
Mount
Moehau, on New Zealand’s Coromandel Peninsula, plunges steeply
into the sea. Draped in subtropical rain forest, downcut by waterfalls
and precipitous gorges, the region oozes mystery and enchantment.
Here,
says Maori legend, the Turehu people, light-skinned, with reddish hair,
made their last stand.1
The Maoris say they found them in parts of New Zealand. As the
Maori encroached, the Turehu retreated further into the hills, particularly
of the Coromandel Peninsula. Here the mountains of Moehau, steep and
remote, became their final refuge. Since they sought concealment near
the misty summit of Moehau, the Turehu were sometimes spoken of as the
"Mist People". Their voices and the ghostly piping of their
flutes could often be heard in the dense forest. Huge gourds they grew.
They built forts from interlaced supplejack, a long thick woody vine
that trailed across the tall forest trees.
According
to other Pacific islanders, people answering the same physical description
had come from the east — from the direction of South America —
long, long ago.
And
would you believe, in South America I ran into similar traditions of
a light-skinned, red-haired, blue-eyed race. According to legends, these
people had settled and built cyclopean stone cities (whose ruins survive),
but following a war had fled westward across the Pacific.
Was
there some link, here? Could they have been the same people?
And
pushing the question a little further, could these people of historical
tradition have been the descendants of some ancient traders whose story
we shall now relate?
Around
the fifteenth century BC, two powers were taking possession of the land
on the eastern Mediterranean coast. About the same time as the Hebrew
(Israelite) nation was coming into Palestine, another power was being
established on the sea coast adjacent to the north, a people whose career
was definitely marked out for them.
It
was the destiny of Phoenicia that she should become to the ancient world
in material things, what the Hebrew had become in spiritual things.
Phoenicia
was the great manufacturing nation of the ancient world. Her dyed textiles,
glass technology, superb stonework, ceramics and gem engraving were
unsurpassed.
Indeed,
L.A. Waddell (citing Sir Flinders Petrie) asserts that the Phoenicians
"had a civilization equal or superior to that of Egypt, in taste
and skill.., luxury far beyond that of the Egyptians, and technical
work which could teach them rather than be taught."2
The
city of Tyre was the London of antiquity, the centre of a vast global
trading network.
Mistress
of the seas
Phoenicia,
mistress of the seas, sent ships to all ports and traversed all oceans.
From the thirteenth century BC she was the dominant naval and commercial
power. Her mercantile operations were enormous. This great naval power
had the trade of the planet in her hands. She was a great distributing
nation; her people were the carriers of the world.
The
famous Indian epic, the Mahabharata, states that:
The
able Panch (Phoenicians) setting out to invade the Earth, brought
the whole world under their sway.3
They
were termed "leaders of the Earth".4
And
Phoenicia was, in the tenth to eleventh centuries BC as great as Babylon
or Egypt.
The
coasts and islands of the Mediterranean were rapidly covered with colonies.
Today’s "Venice" preserves the ethnic title of "Phoenicia".
The
Straits of Gibraltar were passed and cities built on the shores of the
Atlantic. They founded Gades (Cadiz) on Spain’s west coast, 2,500
miles from Tyre, as the starting point for the Atlantic trade.
In
the expanding range of their voyages, Phoenician ships out of Spain
were battling the wild Atlantic en route to the tin of Cornwall and
even to Norway (2,000 miles beyond Gades).
Eastward,
there is evidence that Phoenicia built factories on the Persian Gulf
and traded as far as Ceylon.
London
founded
An
interesting sideline concerns the founding of London.
It
has been adduced from substantial evidence that some 89 years after
the fall of Troy (a Phoenician colony), Brutus, a descendant of the
Trojan royalty, sailed up the River Thames in Britain and founded Tri-Novantum
("New Troy"). This ultimately became London.5
Thus,
contrary to popular misconception, there existed a highly civilized
dynasty, which survived in Britain even until the Roman invasion. It
left behind gold coins, at least one surviving stone inscription and
a detailed chronology. Indeed, Julius Caesar and other contemporaries
testified to its cultured, well-dressed city-dwelling subjects, though
untamed tribes did flank the western and northern borders.6
Researcher
L.A. Waddell gives an authenticated unbroken chronology of highly civilized
independent British kings reigning in London from Brutus (c. 1103 BC)
to the Roman conquerors.7
There is evidence that a large proportion of the people of Britain are
descendants of the sea-going Phoenicians.
Sophisticated
Instruments
Phoenician
ships probed ever further. Navigation across open ocean was no problem
to these explorers.
Due
to the insufficient attention paid to this aspect of the subject, we
have tended to belittle the size and sophistication of Phoenician shipping.
If
we conceive of it as represented by types of marine craft as outlined
on Phoenician coins and tombs, we shall not be able to suppose that
the nation was ever employed on such voyages as those that shall shortly
engage our attention.
There
is evidence that they had the benefit of sophisticated instruments and
large, fast, modern vessels carrying over 500 people.8
This will be a surprise to many readers.
"Ships
of Tarshish"
The
type of vessel built especially for ocean travel was designated "ship
of Tarshish" to distinguish it from the smaller craft which merely
plied the eastern Mediterranean.
The
name of the original Tarshish (in Spain) became displaced as the horizon
of the Phoenician navigators moved westward.
Herodotus
records a Phoenician clockwise circumnavigation of Africa about 600
BC, on behalf of Pharaoh Necho — a distance of 13,000 miles. Herodotus
sniffed at their report that the sun was on their right, that is, to
their north.9
This
establishes the fact that Phoenician nautical prowess and daring was
at a level not to be seen in modern times until the century of Columbus.
It
is only due to the proud announcement of the Pharaoh who sponsored the
trip that we know of this voyage. The Phoenicians were not publicists.
So
what other trips were being made — from perhaps as early as 1200
BC?
At
La Venta, Mexico, was found a sculpture with distinctly Phoenician characteristics:
bearded faces, upturned shoes, twisted rope borders and other details.
It has been dated to around 850 BC. From Nicaragua to Mexico, on jade
figurines, the backs of slate mirrors, funeral urns and other objects,
appear bearded men who bear little resemblance to American Indians.
A
well-known colony of Phoenicia was Carthage. An ancient historical work
records the voyage of a convoy of as many as 60 ships, each carrying
550 people. This was around 500 BC.10
Strabo
writes that Phoenician colonies (300 colonies, he estimates) were planted
prolifically well down the Atlantic coast of Africa.11
From
West Africa, it would be a simple matter to follow the trade winds to
- you guessed it - South America.
To
some, the idea that ancient mariners would have known the Americas may
appear too ridiculous to consider, and it will be cast aside. But before
such actions are taken, surely the evidence for this position should
be carefully considered.
As
Michael G. Bradley aptly put it, "The truth is just now being glimpsed
by a handful of specialists - it is still almost completely unsuspected
by the average civilized citizen."12
Voyages
to the New World at around the time of King Solomon of Israel now seem
more likely than not.
Some
twelve years’ research for the book Dead Men’s Secrets
finally convinced me that these colonists of a forgotten age were
indeed part of a great network of ancient civilizations that once maintained
a flourishing trade between Europe, Asia, and the Americas, some 3,000
years ago.
I
should not have been surprised to discover that Harvard professor Dr.
Barry Fell, from his own research, had reached the same conclusion.
He considered the ancient visitors to North America were probably not
explorers, but rather merchants, trading with well-established fur trappers
and very likely also mining precious metals on those sites where ancient
workings have been discovered.
Fell
states:
Because
of the depth of ignorance into which Europe fell during the Dark Ages,
at times we are apt to forget how advanced were the ideas of the ancients,
and how much they knew about the earth and about astronomy and navigation.13
Fell
is also convinced that "America shares a history with the Old World,
and ancient Americans must have been well acquainted with much of that
history as it took place."
Dr.
Fell is now recognised as one of the world’s foremost epigraphers.
Phoenicians
in America?
In
1780, on a rock on the shores of Mount Hope Bay in Bristol, Rhode Island,
there was discovered an inscription, which Fell deciphered in 1975 to
read:
VOYAGERS
FROM TARSHISH
THIS
STONE PROCLAIMS
This
suggests strongly that here on the eastern seaboard of North America
there was once a port for "ships of Tarshish".
On
the island of Hispaniola, Columbus discovered immense ancient mines.
In Haiti, he thought he could trace furnaces in which gold had been
refined.14
Between
1850 and 1910, travelers in the Amazon region and other parts of Brazil
were reporting the finding of old inscriptions on rock faces.
Former
rubber tapper Bernardo da Silva Ramos, in a now rare book in Portuguese,
has published 1,500 reproductions from such rock carvings. They are
all covered over with the letters of the Phoenician alphabet.
Investigator
Pierre Honore discussing the finds of other Brazilian travelers and
explorers of last century, states:
Today
there is a whole library full of their reports; and they too were
firmly convinced that the inscriptions were Phoenician texts. They
were sure that King Solomon (975-935 BC) had once come to the Amazon
with his ships; that the gold countries of Ophir, Tarshish and Parvaim
were not to be looked for in the Old World at all, but here in the
Amazon region on the Rio Solimoes, Solomon’s River.15
It
is reported that in Havea near Rio de Janeiro are letters several feet
high inscribed upon a sheer cliff face in cuneiform. The inscription
reads:
BADEZIR
OF THE PHOENICIAN TYRE.
THE
FIRST SON OF JETHBAAL 16
(Jethbaal
ruled Tyre from 887 to 856 BC.)
In
1872, on the coast of Brazil near Paraiba, Joaquim Alves da Costa found
on his property a stone that bore numerous characters which no one understood.
He copied them and sent them to the President of the Instituto Historico.
A translation is as follows:
We
are Sidonian Canaanites from the city of the Merchant King. We were
cast
(2)
up on this distant island, a land of mountains. We sacrificed a youth
to the celestial gods
(3)
and goddesses in the nineteenth year of our mighty King Hiram
(4)
and embarked from Ezion-geber into the Red Sea. We voyaged with ten
ships
(5)
and were at sea together for two years around Africa. Then we were
separated
(6)
by the hand of Baal and were no longer with our companions. So we
have come here, twelve
(7)
men and three women, into "Island of Iron". Am I, the Admiral,
a man who would flee?
(8)
Nay! May the celestial gods and goddesses favor us well.
This
eight-line inscription proved to be in Phoenician characters. There
are reasons to believe that the king referred to was Hiram III (553-533
BC). Brazil was known, anciently, as Hy Brasil. The incorporation of
‘I’ or ‘Hy’ is typically Phoenician.
According
to Cyrus Gordon, Head of the Department of Mediterranean studies at
Brandeis University, Massachusetts, the Phoenicians certainly knew Brazil,
which they called "Island of Iron". Hy Brasil means "Island
of Iron". Iron is still the country’s main resource.
When
I first learned of this inscription, I was skeptical. Mention of it
was omitted from my book Dead Men’s Secrets, since I preferred
to publish only discoveries which could be confirmed beyond doubt as
genuine. Others also considered it to be a fraud.
As
we noted, at the time the alleged inscription was found, the script
was not known. No one other than the original translator could read
it. That has now changed.
Significantly,
it contains Phoenician idiosyncrasies that were unknown in 1872 but
which are now authenticated by other inscriptions found since.
Concerning
many such initially rejected finds, Barry Fell says:
One
by one competent scholars who hold responsible positions in universities
and museums are now coming forward with confirmations of the decipherments.17
Shipping
routes westward at first
The
trend of Phoenician colonial development prior to 1000 BC was mainly
in a westerly direction.
However,
it is quite certain that they did not long rest satisfied with that.
With
their overland routes to the east at risk from unrest in Babylonia,
the Phoenicians gave careful attention to an alternative eastern route.
We
know that Hiram I, king of Tyre, shared a friendship with Israel’s
King David, and with his son Solomon.
There
was also a religious sympathy. These early Phoenicians — contrary
to the now current notions of popular writers — were monotheists.
As
a result of a commercial treaty, Hiram assisted in the erection of Solomon’s
Temple and Israel granted Phoenicia the two ports of Eilat and Ezion-geber
on the Gulf of Aqaba.18
Like
Gades in the west, the Persian Gulf colonies must now be viewed not
as an end of Phoenician navigation in the east, but as the starting
point for more distant navigation.
Fortunately,
a mass of undigested historic data leaves no doubt concerning this fact.
King
Solomon’s silver
We
find that the ships employed in the prosecution of the silver trade
in both easterly and westerly directions were now "ships of Tarshish".
Suddenly
we find gold and silver in such abundance in Jerusalem that Solomon
made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones… for abundance"
19
And
why? "... for the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy
of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold
and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks." 20
There
can be no question that the peacocks came from South-East Asia. But
whence the abundance of silver?
Says
Heeren:
Silver
is also found in Siberia and in China or South Asia, but the large annual
importation of the metal from Europe in consequence of the high price
it bore in the East sufficiently prove that it was found there in small
quantities. We may therefore conclude with certainty that the greater
portion of the silver possessed of old by the Asiatic nations was imported,
and there can be no question that the Phoenicians were the channel of
importation.21
Ultimate
destination: Ophir
The
ultimate destination of the ships of Hiram and Solomon was a place or
region called Ophir.
"And
they came to Ophir," says the Scripture, "and fetched from
thence gold." "And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold
from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees, and precious
stones."22
From
the books of Genesis23
and Josephus,24
it can be found that Ophir was the general name for the rich southern
countries lying on the African, Arabian and Indian coasts.
But
when we ask, Where was that Ophir which could be reached from Ezion-geber
that provided silver in such abundance, we are faced with a problem.
It
can be shown that the source was not Asia, the greater portion of whose
silver was imported.
Silver
was so scarce in Arabia, that it was assessed at ten times the value
of gold.25
Yet
in Solomon’s Jerusalem it became as common as stones.
I
am aware of the nineteenth century explorers’ tales that supposedly
identified the mines of Ophir with central Africa. There are people
who refuse to accept that the massive stone fortress known as the ruins
of Zimbabwe (and situated in that country) could have been built by
native Africans.
Such
identification with King Solomon must be regarded as romantic fiction.
Zimbabwe
is AD not BC and almost certainly it is the work of a powerful indigenous
African empire.
"Three
year" voyages
That
the expeditions pushed into regions much more distant than the Indian
Ocean is apparent from the "three years" required for the
double voyage, only nine months being required for a return journey
to the extremities of Arabia.26
Thomas
Johnston suggests that Ophir "must be looked for in the farther
East, and in a territory that was not only capable of supplying silver
in practically unlimited quantities, but of affording conclusive evidence
of occupancy by the Jews and Phoenicians."27
Johnston
argues persuasively that the route of the expeditions can be traced
beyond the peacock lands, through Indonesia, the Torres Strait (at the
north of Australia), and via Samoa and Tahiti to Mexico and Peru. It
appears that they founded colonies along the route.
An
American destination accords well with the fact that the world’s
largest silver deposits are in the Americas — in the United States,
Mexico, Canada and Peru.
Reached
from two directions
The
Bible says that the distant land of Tarshish was rich in silver, iron,
tin and lead.28
It could be reached from the Mediterranean port of Joppa (Jaffa),29
or the Red Sea port of Ezion-geber.30
A
glance at the map tells us that the only part of the world that one
would reach by ship from either the Mediterranean or Red Sea ports is
the Atlantic seaboard.
Cyrus
Gordon of Brandeis University, Massachusetts, says that a text mentioning
"gold of Ophir" found at Tell Qasile on the Mediterranean
coast of Israel, suggests that Ophir could be reached via Gibraltar.
I am aware that many places have been suggested as the location of Solomon’s
fabled mines. New respect for the seagoing capabilities of early navigators
makes the Americas a strong possibility.
"Ofir"
The
Ugha Mongulala tribe of north-west Brazil preserve written records of
an ancient city called Ofir (Ophir) which once stood at the mouth
of the Amazon River.
This
is the ONLY independent mention of a specific locality called Ophir,
outside of the Bible. Could this be significant?
Their
tradition states that:
Lhasa,
the prince of Akakor... commanded the construction of Ofir, a
powerful harbor city at the mouth of the Great River [the Amazon]. Ships
from Samon’s [Solomon’s?] empire docked there with their
valuable cargoes. In exchange for gold and silver...31
Perhaps,
like that of Tarshish, the name Ophir became displaced, and as
the trade of the Phoenicians moved further eastward and westward, it
moved with the trade, until in course of time it came to be applied
to a more distant region controlled by the Phoenicians.
Corroborating
this, the Phoenician Ophir or Ofor means, in their ancient
language, the Western Country.32
And
what land lay to the west? The Americas, no less.
Mixed
crews
While
the expeditions were under Jewish and Phoenician direction, they undoubtedly
carried crews and marine force of composite nationality, In the next
chapter we shall touch on evidence suggesting that considerable numbers
of Seythians and Thracians were employed on the Phoenician fleets. At
this time in history Hebrew, Phoenician, Scythian and Thracian were
the dominant factors in the national life of the eastern Mediterranean.
The Thracians and Scythians were then the two great nations of south-eastern
Europe.33
Eastward
There
must have been, from Ezion-geber, a general push of the giant "ships
of Tarshish" toward the east.
To
control the South Arabian markets could not have been the sole purpose
of Solomon building his great ships. If these ships had been merely
constructed to trade with Yemen, and back, and if, as the Scripture
says, the journey had taken three years, then Solomon and Hiram were
inept investors. The cost of the ships, the expense of working them,
the interest on capital for such a long interval, as well as the deterioration
of cargo in such a climate, would have outweighed any advantage of using
sea transport, as against an overland route.
Furthermore,
it seems most unlikely that expeditions to a place as close as Yemen
could have wakened such enthusiasm, as to have brought Solomon and his
court from their safe capital into the heart of a discontented country
to witness the departure of the ships and their crews, as 2 Chronicles
8:17 records.
If
we continue the line to Java and Sumatra, we will have reached the native
home of the peacock, which was collected on the return journey of Solomon’s
and Hiram’s expeditions.
Penetrating
beyond Indonesia, we shall discover some facts of a rather startling
nature.
The
"ships of Tarshish" encountered unknown perils as they ventured
into new regions. One particularly dangerous passage was along the north-western
coast of Australia.
Any
mariner approaching the north-west coast of Australia could find the
West Kimberley area near Derby one of the most dangerous on the coast.
A violent rip runs up to ten knots and creates whirlpools. To come in
at the entrance to King Sound, ships must run through this riptide.
There are many reefs and shoals. Navigation is hazardous.
Around
the entrance to King Sound lie the islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago.
King Sound itself is about 90 miles long and at its widest about 35
miles across.
A
feature of this area is the extreme rise and fall of tides: up to 35
feet, which leaves ships high and dry.
Here
salvage diver Allan Robinson found what he believed to be the wreck
of an ancient Phoenician ship.
He
noticed that in the mud of the swamp off the mainland, there was a strange
shape. Small pips of mud seemed to project above the surroundings to
form a shape more like a banana than a ship.
The
contour was quite plain. A bronze plate was retrieved and declared by
a university official to be of Phoenician origin.
The
Phoenician wreck was near an overgrown mine of galena. And galena is
an ore of silver, lead and zinc.
It
is not surprising that, if the ships of Solomon and Hiram came as far
as Java and Sumatra (which, as we said, was the native home of the peacock
— one item of Solomon’s cargo), that they would have found
the nearby coast of Australia.
Their
route would have taken them through Torres Strait. And, conceivably,
they could have sailed down the eastern coast of Australia.
Should
it surprise us, then, that Phoenician-style engravings have been found
on a marble slab in North Queensland? Or that further south along the
coast, in New South Wales, many strange symbols, ships, and figures
of Egyptian, Phoenician and Syrian style have been discovered carved
on rocks along the Hawkesbury River?
Ancient
Aboriginal legends tell how people in large ships like birds (the bird-headed
prows of the old Phoenician triremes?) sailed into Gympie (now 34 miles
inland), dug holes in the hills, erected the "sacred mountain"
found nearby and interbred with local inhabitants. Interestingly, evidence
of ancient mining and smelting was recently found here, as well as traces
of a causeway or stone quay.
Near
Toowoomba in Queensland, recently, a group of seventeen granite stones
was discovered, bearing ancient inscriptions. These were identified
as Phoenician. One of them has been translated to read "guard the
shrine of Yahweh’s message". Another says, "God of gods".
Some
years ago, a farmer in the Rockhampton area plowed up a large ironstone
slab. Today the slab sits in the museum of Rex Gilroy near Tamworth,
New South Wales. It bears another Phoenician inscription that reads,
"Ships sail from this land under the protection of Yahweh to Dan."
Dan
was an ancient trade center in north-west Israel just south of Tyre,
a Phoenician port. These discoveries were reported in an issue of the
Ravenshoe Northern Star dated July-August-September, 1996.
As
I commented in the book, Dead Men’s Secrets, fiction
couldn’t challenge your imagination more. And yet here it all
is, fact after fact, story after story, about the lives and discoveries
of a people thousands of years ago.
Now
naturally these exhibits will not be popular with some people. The majority
of the scientific community has greeted them with deathly silence because
of early indoctrination in the theory of evolution. It tries to ignore
them for the sole reason that it cannot explain them.
I
ask, was it simply to control the nearby Arabian trade that Solomon
and Hiram created the costly fleet of large armed ships of Tarshish?
Or were these large, sophisticated vessels fitted out to travel the
earth’s surface?
The
biblical account suggests the latter. And the implications are dynamite.
Into
the Pacific
As
an eastern port on the Red Sea became a reality, the Phoenicians, with
Solomon of Israel, now pursued with eagerness a further expansion eastward,
to parallel that in the west.
And
beyond Australia, they left a trail right across the Pacific. Samoa
rises up dramatically from the sea. But its native population has
traditionally not pronounced it as Samoa, but as Samo. And this
was also the name of a Phoenician colony (pronounced the same way) on
the coasts of Asia Minor — Samos.34
The
name Samo means, according to Pliny, "a mountain height
by the sea". Both locations have a similar appearance, rising up
from the sea. In fact, modern navigators term the Pacific Samoa "high
islands", in contrast to the low coral atolls that surround it
for hundreds of miles in all directions.
The
principal island of Samoa is named Upola — the equivalent
of the Scythian deity Apollo. And the main town of Western Samoa
is Apia —which is the name of the Scythian deity, the Earth,35
as well as the name of the Peloponnesus36
— a Phoenician locality.
Next,
traveling east, the ships of Solomon and Hiram would have reached the
Society Islands. Here is Tahiti, with a silent "h".
This is identical to Tabiti (probably also with a silent "b").
Tabiti was the Scythian Vista. Both names would be pronounced Ta-iti.
The
name of Tahiti’s chief settlement, Papeete, is only a slightly
modified form of the name of the Scythian Jupiter, or father, Papeus.
Morea,
the name of an island separated from Papeete by a narrow strait,
is the same as Morea, a principal district of the Hellenic Peninsula
in the Mediterranean, colonized by the Scythians shortly before the
period of Solomon’s expeditions. Morea was given that name because
the contour of the shoreline resembled a mulberry leaf. This explanation
is also applicable to Morea of the Pacific.
It
would seem that in the Pacific the Phoenicians followed the same policy
as in the Mediterranean. They established stations for the ships to
call at on these long voyages. It appears that these colonies were placed
under the care of responsible governors, drawn from the Scythians of
the marine corps, since most of the names we have referred to were clearly
drawn from this source.
There
is no other explanation for the presence of Scythians in the heart of
the Pacific.
Enormous
stone remains in many of the Pacific Islands can be linked with local
traditions.
Strong’s
Island is one example. An ancient tradition says that "an ancient
city once stood round this harbor which was occupied by a powerful people
called Anut, who had large vessels in which they made long voyages,
many moons being required in their prosecution.37
Early
European missionaries to the Pacific found in these islands evidence
of numeric skill, cosmogony, astronomical knowledge and religious system
which was plainly Phoenician.
For
example, the Phoenician skill in the use of numbers and astronomy is
reflected in the same extraordinary skill of the Society Islanders.
And their names of stars and constellations and the use to which they
applied their knowledge of the heavenly bodies was the same as that
of the Phoenicians.
Their
sacred groves, open-air temples or marais, their human sacrifices, and
their methods of initiation and practice, were identical to those of
the priests of Astarte on the eastern Mediterranean.
It
should be noted that, throughout the period of the Solomon-Hiram voyages,
both Israel and Phoenicia were monotheistic, worshipping the one true
Creator. But later, both nations descended into the worship of Baal
the sun-god and Astarte (Ashteroth) the "queen of heaven".
The expeditions were, however, continuing during this period. Thus,
although monotheism had been planted first throughout the world wherever
the expeditions went, this was eventually corrupted as new generations
of sailors brought their practices with them.
The
Phoenician alphabet of 16 letters was the same as the Samoan. The natives
of Samos (Samo) in the Mediterranean were famous as seamen; likewise
the Pacific Samoans were famed for their nautical skill.
The
gymnastic systems used in the Mediterranean, as a means of training
for war, as well as the implements used (including spear, javelin, bow
and arrow, dart, sword, falchion, and sling and boomerang) are found
over the entire route of the ships across the Pacific to the Americas.
The
historical traditions, practices, circumcision and some other customs
such as test of virginity were clearly Jewish.
Further
customs (tattooing, spear and javelin throwing) were clearly Thracian.
Their
worship of the skulls of ancestors, cannibalism, and use of bow and
arrow as a test of strength were peculiarly Scythian.
Research
has established that the implements of war and the festivals and games
among these Polynesians were the same as those found in the ancient
Mediterranean. And the foregoing is just a small sampling of the many
parallels.
Here
are startling facts, pointing to the presence together of four races
— Hebrew, Phoenician, Scythian and Thracian — in the mid-Pacific
in the remote past.
How
can this be explained, if not through the instrumentality of the historic
expeditions of Hiram and Solomon?
The
Encyclopaedia Brittanica notes concerning the Polynesians that,
while their facial features sometimes suggest Mongoloid affinities,
their light skin, wavy hair and full beards, as well as their blood
types, suggest European ties.38
This
is certainly consistent with the planting of outposts in the Pacific
by European members of Solomon’s and Hiram’s crews, such
as Scythians and Thracians.
And
on to the Americas
The
Maya population already inhabited central portions of the American continent.
Votan,
the first historian of the Maya (c.1000 BC), actually reported the arrival
around that time, on the Pacific coasts of Central America, of seven
large ships.
In
his book on the origin of the race, Votan declares himself a descendant
of Imos, of the land of Chan, of the race of Chivim.
Research
shows that present-day Tripoli in Syria was, in the time of Solomon,
a town in the kingdom of Tyre, and was anciently known as Chivim.
Votan
is said to have led some of his people to Yucatan in Central America,
where he found inhabitants already there. Here he established the kingdom
of Xibalba and built the city of Nachan (probably Palenque).
A
copy of Votan’s book, written in the Quiche language, existed
until 1691, when it was very likely burned, along with other native
relics, by the Spaniards at Huehuetan, but not before extracts had been
copied from it.39
Fray
Lizana set down in his Historia de Yucatan the tradition that
from the west (that is, from the direction of the Pacific) "many"
people had come.40
Indeed,
there is abundant physical evidence in Central America which appears
to indicate Phoenician and Hebrew penetration of these remote regions.
Evidence of occupancy, linguistic features, physical characteristics,
intricacies of customs, as well as traditions and place names.
Some
resemblances
It
will be of interest to note a few similarities to be found between the
indigenous peoples of America and the Hebrews.
The
religion of the Mexicans strongly resembled that of the Hebrews in numerous
minor details. De Bourbourg noted the perfectly Jewish dress of the
women at Palin and on the shores of Lake Amatitlan.41
Like the Hebrews, the Mexicans tore their clothing on receipt of bad
news. Another similarity was giving a kiss on the cheek as a token of
peace.42
The
Hebrew nation were ordered to worship Yahweh the true and living God.
James Adair, a trader with the "wild" Indians of the south-east
of North America, discovered that the North American Indians styled
the living God as Yahewah.43
Like
the Hebrews, the North American Indians offer their first fruits, they
keep their new moons, as well as the feast of Atonement at the
same time as the Jews. The brother of a deceased husband marries his
widow. In some places, circumcision is practised. There is much analogy
in rites and customs, such as the ceremonies of purification and the
manner of prayer.
It
was reported last century that the Indians likewise were abstaining
from the blood of animals, as also from fish without scales. They had
various "clean" and "unclean" animals.
A
replica "Ark of the Covenant"?
Researchers
Rivero and Tschudi indicated that they:
have
a species of ark, seemingly like that of the Old Testament; this the
Indians take with them to war; it is never permitted to touch the
ground, but rests upon stones or pieces of wood, it being deemed sacreligious
and unlawful to open it or look into it.
[they]
celebrate the first fruits with religious dances, singing in chorus
these mystic words: — YO MESCHICA, HE MESCHICA, VA MESCHICA,
forming thus, with the first three syllables, the name of Je-ho-vah,
and the name of Messiah thrice and pronounced, following each initial.
The use of Hebrew words was not uncommon in the religious performances
of the North American Indians, and Adair assures us that they called
an accused or guilty person haksit canaha, "a sinner of Canaan";
and to him who was inattentive to religious worship, they said, Tschi
haksit canaha, "you resemble a sinner of Canaan". Les Carbot
also tells us that he had heard the Indians of South America say "Alleluia"
44
Adair,
who wrote these facts in his History of the American Nations
(pp.15-212), lived 40 years among the Indians.
The
evidence suggests that a significant portion of the early American civilization
came from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. Its intermediaries
were Phoenicians and Hebrews, who were accompanied by Thracians and
Scythians, who were accustomed to hire themselves out as mercenaries.
They
sailed from Ezion-geber on the Red Sea to a destination called Ophir,
whose actual location has been traditionally difficult to determine.
This
should, however, occasion no surprise, since the Phoenicians adopted
a policy of secrecy as to their routes and destinations after the Greeks
displaced them on the eastern Mediterranean some 150 years before the
expeditions that sailed from Ezion-geber.
Their
route may be tracked across the Pacific by observing such traces as
still exist of the presence of nations which formed the personnel of
these expeditions. This is possible because the Phoenicians, on their
longer routes, were accustomed to establishing stations for repairing
and revictualling their ships and ports of call.
For
how long?
How
long did these voyages continue? We have no means of determining accurately.
However, it is likely that they continued for some 300 years, until
the Assyrians and Babylonians occupied strategic land and closed areas
of Middle East territory that were crucial to the continuance of the
voyages.
Lighter
skinned peoples
At
the time of the conquest of Peru, the Spaniards noticed that many of
the Inca ruling caste were paler of skin and had reddish tints in their
hair, as distinct from the native mountain peasants of the Andes, who
were generally of distinctly Mongoloid ancestry.
Inca
legends spoke of certain white and bearded men who advanced from the
shores of Lake Titicaca, established an ascendancy over the natives,
and brought civilization.
Ancient
representations in stone, as well as portrait jars from the ruins of
the city of Chan, in coastal Peru, show white, bearded men. And mummified
corpses of chiefs from the oldest layers of graves in this region bear
hair that is auburn or blond, wavy and fine.
Reports
frequently surface concerning ancient "white" tribes still
surviving in isolated pockets of the Americas.
South
American legend records that some of the bearded white men who built
the enormous stone cities found in ruins there eventually left to sail
westward... into the Pacific Ocean.
Polynesian
legends still current are living proof that the bearded white men arrived
safely in Polynesia.
But
there is evidence more substantial than legend on some of these islands:
pyramids, helmets and panpipes. As well as proof that irrigation , trepanning
and head-deformation were practised. These same Pacific Islanders knew
that the earth was round — and they had a vast astronomical knowledge,
as well as a calendar curiously similar to that in the Americas.
On
some of the islands, early missionaries found people of a lighter skin,
who sported reddish hair and blue eyes. Which made me prick up my ears
when I learned of a discovery on the other side of the world.
Some
sarcophagi had been found at the old Phoenician city of Sidon. On these
were some lavishly colored representations which suggest that some of
the deceased were blue-eyed and had dark red hair.
Now
I prefer not to speculate. It’s just a thought. In the introduction
to this article I was musing on a New Zealand Maori tradition of light-skinned
people with red hair and blue eyes, having long ago been driven by the
Maori people into a last refuge on the Coromandel Peninsula.
In
distributing their products to the ends of the earth, the Phoenicians
brought within the range of their influence practically every center
of population, civilized and uncivilized, known to the ancient world.
And
the thought just crossed my mind. Could some descendants of the crews
of the Hiram-Solomon maritime expeditions have reached even the remote
land of New Zealand?
I
think we all love mysteries. And there we have another mystery to titillate
our mental powers…. We can safely say that most of our past is
unknown.
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End
notes:
1 Isdale, MA The River Thames. Thames, New Zealand:
Thames Star Print, 1967. MA. Isdale is a respected local historian.
2 Waddell, L.A. Phoenician Origin of the Britons, Scots
and Anglo-S axons. London:
Williams
and Norgate, Ltd 1924, p.220 (P.H.E. 2.146)
3
Maha-Barata, Indian epic of the Great Barats. Book 1, ch.94,
sloka 3738
4
Waddell, p.1, quoting, Rig Veda Hymn
5
Ibid., pp.156,175
6
Ibid., pp.144-149. Haberman, Frederick Tracing Our Ancestors. Vancouver
2, BC: British Israel Association, 1962, pp.92-112
7 Waddell, pp. 385-393
8
Johnston, Thomas Crawford Did the Phoenicians Discover America? London:
James Nisbet and Co., Ltd, l9l3,pp.70-1O4,289. Compare with Jonathan
Gray’s Dead Men’s Secrets. Adelaide, South Australia
(P.O. Box 3370, Rundle Mall, South Australia), 1996, pp.77-81
9 Herodotus History of Herodotus. iv:42.& Edited by
George Rawlinson. London: Murray, 1875
10
Irwin, Constance Fair Gods and Stone Faces. London: W.H. Allen,
1964, pp.228,229,235
11
Strabo (H.L. Jones transi. i.3.2)
12 Bradley, Michael The Black Discovery of America. Toronto:
Personal Library Publishers, 1981
13
Fell, Barry America BC: Ancient Settlers in the New World. London:
Wildwood House Ltd, 1978, p.88
14 Bancroft, H.H. Works of Bancroft. San Francisco:
A.L. Bancroft & Company, 1883, Vol. V, pp.64-65
15
Honore Pierre In Quest of the White God. London: Hutchinson &
Co. Ltd 1963 (Transl. from the German by Oliver Coburn and Ursula Lehrburger),
p.207. A more accurately fixed date for Solomon’s reign is 971
to 931BC.
16 Hansen, L. Taylor He Walked the Americas. Amherst,
Wisconsin: Amherst Press, 1963, p.209
17
Cited by Violet Cummings in Has Anybody Really Seen Noah’s
Ark? San Diego Ca.:
Creation-Life
Publishers, 1982, p.264
18
2 Chronicles ch.2; 1 Kings 9:26,27
19
1 Kings 10:27
20 v.22
See also Ezekiel 27:12, which mentions tin.
21
Heeren HistoricalResearch. Quoted by Johnston, pp.127,128
22
1 Kings 9:28; 10:11
23
Genesis 10:29,30
24
Josephus, Flavius Antiquities of the Jews vi.4
25
Johnston, p.131
26 Ibid., p.l30
27 Ibid., p.132
28
Ezekiel 27:12
29
Jonah 1:3
30
2 Chronicles 20:36
31
Brugger, Karl The Chronicle of Akakor. New York: Delacorte Press,
1977, p.58
32
Fontaine How the World Was Peopled. Cited by Bancroft, Works
of Bancroft: Vol v, p.65
33 Johnston, p.248
34 Pliny, v.37
35
Herodotus, iv.59
36 Strabo, 1.49337 Johnston, p.151
37 Johnston, Ibid.
38 Encyclopaedia Brittanica, 1985, art. "Polynesians"
39 Bancroft, H.H. Works of Bancroft.
San Francisco: A.L. Bancroft & Company, 1883, Vol.111, p.457
40 Johnston, p.69
41 Brasseur de Bourbourg History
of Native Civilisations. Vol. I, p.17
42 Morley, Sylvanus Griswold The
Ancient Maya Rev, by George W. Bramerd Stanford, Ca.: Stanford University
Press, 3rd ed,1956, pp.77,78
43 Bancroft, Vol. V, p.91 note
44 Rivero and Tschudi Peruvian Antiquities. New York:
George P. Putman & Co., 1857, pp.9,10
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