Elements of Israel Move West

In the legends of the Israelitish origin of the GREEKS, of the JUDAHITE kings of Crete and the flight of Danaus from Egypt to Greece, as given by Diodorus of Sicily, Josephus and others point to the establishment of a JUDAHITE ROYAL LINE in both Cretan and Greek Mycenae. To Tacitus' confused account must be added that, as in the Holy Land, there was also in CRETE a river Iardanau. It was from Mount Ida's sacred cave that Minos, like Moses, descended, bringing laws. The Egyptian story, as given by Manetho and Josephus, is that Danaus, or Armais, quarrelled with Egyptus. The Israelites were Aramaeans (i.e. descendants of Aram).

The mythical JUPITER of the Greeks, as indicated in the above-mentioned reference by Tacitus, was therefore a JUDAHITE, if not JUDAH HIMSELF. The Mycenaean kings descended from him were in turn ancestors of other classical lines, notably the TROJAN and MILESIAN. Many points of confirmation might be cited in defence of these classical genealogies; but perhaps the most striking evidence of an Israelitish migratory settlement in Cretan Mycenae is to be found in Sir Arthur Evan's monumental work, Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult, in which it is established that HEBREW RITUALS were observed there. It is strange that Sir Arthur accepted the view that both Israelites and Cretans adopted a widespread culture which had descended from earlier non-Hebrew settlers. This culture moved to Asia Minor, where, behind TROY, we again find a MOUNT IDA (JUDAH), and where, as in Miletus, survived the belief in the Cretan royal descent.

The JUDAHITE ORIGIN of the Milesian family is strongly suggested by its lion-bearing coinage, as also the use by both Cretan and Greek Mycenaeans of the LION as the heraldic guardian of the baetylos.