Sons of Japheth Part II: GomerPage 1
Christian Churches of God
No. 46B
Sons of Japheth Part II:
Gomer
(Edition 1.0 20120323-20120323)
This paper deals with the Sons of Gomer who inherited the Northern areas and settled in Europe to Eurasia.
Christian Churches of God
PO Box 369, WODEN ACT 2606, AUSTRALIA
E-mail:
(Copyright 2008, 2012 Wade Cox)
This paper may be freely copied and distributed provided it is copied in total with no alterations or deletions. The publisher’s name and address and the copyright notice must be included. No charge may be levied on recipients of distributed copies. Brief quotations may be embodied in critical articles and reviews without breaching copyright.
This paper is available from the World Wide Web page:
and
Sons of Japheth Part II: Gomer
Sons of Japheth Part II: GomerPage 1
The sons of Gomer
The first portion of Japheth in Eurasia was given to Gomer and the area to the north (termed inner north) of that which was given to the sons of Magog who were the Scythians. Herodotus also places the Scythians in this area (Hist. 4).
The sons of Gomer also included the sons of Togarmah and these were described as inhabiting the uttermost parts, or the recesses, of the North (Ezek. 38:6). We shall identify these people and the root division of the people and see just how numerous and widespread these people really are in Asia. By the time of Ezekiel they had spread over the entire north and that extended into Asia.
And so many were the countries that had the children of Japhet for their inhabitants. Of the three sons of Gomer, Aschanax founded the Aschanaxians, who are now called by the Greeks Rheginians. So did Riphath found the Ripheans, now called Paphlagonians; and Thrugramma the Thrugrammeans, who, as the Greeks resolved, were named Phrygians. (Jos. A of J, Bk. 1, ch vi. 1)
The Sons of Gomer originally inhabited Anatolia or the area of Turkey in three areas.
Aschanax or Ashkenaz founded Aschanaxians who were named by the Greeks Rheginians. These sons of Gomer all settled in their original inheritance, which was in the area of Anatolia from Troy to the Sea of Azov and the surrounding area. Ashkenaz settled in that area and became the originator of two people the Ashkenazim and the Rheginians who seem to have settled Rhegium as a colony of Chalcis ca. 720 BCE on the coast of South Italy now called Reggio di Calabria.
The sons of Riphath founded Paphlagonia.
It was on the Black Sea coast of north central Anatolia between Bythnia and Pontus. It was separated from Phrygia (which was later named Galatia after its reconquest by the Cimmerian Gauls) by an eastern extension of the Bithynian Olympus. Strabo says its western boundary was the river Parthenius and the eastern boundary was the river Halys.
They formed a force in the Trojan War under their leader Pylaimenes, as we see from the Iliad. His name was carried on afterwards by their rulers, as a mark of descent according to Xenophon. Though part of the Persian Empire they were never under a satrap probably because of the mountainous country. According to Herodotus they were conquered by Croesus and sent a contingent to Xerxes in 480 BCE
Thrugramma or Togarmah founded the people that came to be known as Phrygians. Essentially these people were only part of the hordes of Togarmah who went to the “uttermost parts of the North.”
Phrygia was the area in the west central part of the Anatolian Highland in what is now Turkey.
Homer says that their area was on the banks of the Sangarius River (now Sakarya River) and bounded in the East by the Halys (now Kizil) River. They were bordered on the west by Mysia and Lydia.
They settled in the area from 1200 BCE. Their Kingdom established in the Eighth century BCE was overrun by the Cimmerian reinvasion of Anatolia ca 690 BCE. After Phrygia’s subsequent conquest by its neighbour Lydia it passed into the empire of Cyrus.
The Phrygians were dedicated to the Mother goddess Cybele and the father god Sabazios. He was depicted as a Horse-god and she as a Lunar Bull and hence the origin of the Bull-slaying myths of Mithras.
The Trojan prince Paris son of Priam is depicted by the Greeks with a Phrygian cap. After Alexander’s empire collapsed it was taken by the king of Pergamon and eventually became part of the Roman Empire.
The Phrygians fought at Troy in 1064-1054 BCE and they appear to have been at least two separate kingdoms.
The Trojan kingdom was that of Wilusia and was part of the Hittite Alliance in Anatolia. The Hittie Alliance was comprised primarily of the Hatti and the Kalti and extended into Africa and north into Eurasia. The Kalti were those known as Celts and they are now primarily in Europe.
The origin of the Trojans is important and many false claims have been made concerning that origin.
The traditions concerning the survivors of Troy claim that Aeneas of one line from Dardanus founder of the Troad went to the area of Latium and founded the site of what was to become the city of Rome. These were not sons of Priam or Riphathians. Another group under Brutus or Briotus went from Troy to North Africa and met up with the Trojan group that became the Dumnonians of Devon and Cornwall and they went to and invaded Britain and subjugated the Magogite Celts in Britain. These people are the ones we regard as the Welsh and Cornish Celts of today. One tradition has them going via Latium and staying among the sons of Aeneas for a short time. They were later accompanied by the Belgiae who settled to the east of them in Southwest England and also invaded Ireland with them. The YDNA tests for these groups confirm they are R1b Celts as are the Early Romans and are all sons of Japheth.
Macgeohegan claims in his History of Ireland that Briotus came there from Ireland. It is possible that he did both. The YDNA of the Irish is predominately R1b as well and we will discuss this aspect later.
Sons of Riphath
The main branch of the Francs was known as Riphathian Francs. The secondary branch was the Salien Francs. The major distinction between them was that the royal family of the Saliens could only pass through the paternal line whereas the Riphathians could be inherited through the maternal line as well.
As the name suggests, the Riphathian Francs claim descent from Riphath, son of Gomer. These people form the major element of the French people today. They came in with the Saliens from Anatolia though Europe into what is now NW Germany and Frisland and moved south into Gaul colonising the areas of central and Southern Belgium and south as far as the borders of Aquitane. The language of Aquitane was in fact related to the Basque who were sons of Tubal (see the paper Sons of Japheth Part VI: Tubal (No. 46F)).
The Kings of the Francs trace their ancestry back through Charlemagne and the kings of the Francs to their ancestors who were the Cimmerians or the Gimmery. The line goes back to Antenor I king of the Cimmerians ca 500 BCE. From there imputed lineage to the sons of Priam of Troy is claimed.
The traditions of the Cimmerians, as recorded by Nennius and Geoffry of Monmouth and others, were that they came from Troy and while the Trojan Briotus and the Cornish went to England, The sons of Hector remained in the Middle East with the Hittites Northeast of Troy and later re-occupied Troy again for a few centuries and then moved into Europe. The sons of Paris formed the tribe of the Parisii who had elements in both France and in the area in what is now Yorkshire north of Lincolnshire and the Iceni in Norfolk in Britain. The Magogite tribe of the Brigantes occupied the lands to the East in what is now Lancaster. Thus Lancaster was Magogite and Yorkshire was Riphathian Celt with the Sarmatian knights later based at the Roman Fort at Ribchester. Yorkshire later became the Norse kingdom of Yorvik (Jorvik) based at York and no doubt the tribes were assimilated. The tribe of the Parisii were in southern York towards what later became Anglia.
The Parisii also remained in France naming their capital after the hero Paris and also one of the founding cities they named Troyes.
The Belgae occupied Belgium and what are now areas of Dorset and Hampshire. The Durotriges were between them and the Dumnonii in the West and the Atrebates to the north east and the Regnenses were in Sussex and the Cantii in Kent. The Catuvellauni were to the North with the Trinovantes in the North East and the Iceni north of them in what is now Norfolk. The map of the Tribes as at 55 BCE when the Romans invaded is at Appendix A.
As explained, the Dumnoniae, Belgae and another group perhaps a composite entered Ireland from Wales.
The French that entered Britain in the Norman Conquest in 1066 bore names like Montgomerie, now Montgomery, which means literally of the Mountain of Gomer.
The Trojan consolidation of Britain is recorded as being by the sons of Heli (or Beli Mawr meaning Great Lord). The actual overlordship of Britain by this family branch occurred at the beginning of the First Century BCE. They occupied Britain for eight hundred years prior to this. During that time they had to subjugate the Magogites and then defeat the Huns at the Battle of the Humber and expel them from Britain. They then had to deal with the northern tribes of the Caledonii and the Eastern and Western Picts and the Votadini, Matae, Damnonii in Scotland and the Selgovae and Novantae and deal with the invasion of the Magogite Brigantes from Spain that entered Lancaster and then organise the Welsh and southern tribes.
It is interesting that the name of the Great Lord of the Britains is Heli, as that was the name of the father of Mariam the Mother of Christ. Heli’s grandson King Lear son of Caswallon married his cousin Penardun daughter of Lud and their son Bran the Blessed married Anna the daughter of Joseph of Arimathea asserted to be the brother of Heli father of Mariam the mother of Christ.
The town we now know as London was originally built as New Troy or Trinovantium and the occupants were the tribe of the Trinovantes. Whilst Colchester was the major city in England at the time London was still of some significance. Lud is listed as the elder brother of Caswallon who is listed as Cassivelaunos (ca 60-48 BCE) who was the ruler of the Catuvellauni and the earliest know historically identifiable British king.
Lud ruled from Trinovantium and rebuilt it naming it KaerLud after himself and it became known as Lud’s Town and hence London Town.
We can thus see that we have a powerful clan ruling from Essex through the South east. The legends also include the Welsh tribes including the Silurians as Lud had another brother who ruled a major Welsh group as Llefelys. The tale concerning them is contained in the Mabinogion.
He was buried outside the gates of London and his grave is marked as Lud’s gate or Ludgate.
He was remembered as a god in Celtic ancestor worship as Llud and as Nudd the Celtic form of Nodens.
His younger brother Caswallon was given rulership of the tribes to the west in what is now the shires and counties west of the Thames.
The Catuvellauni
The Catuvellauni are not actually recorded when Julius Caesar invaded Britain. He merely mentioned their leader Cassivellaunus. It is thought that he formed the tribe from a group of smaller tribes of Belgian origin and may have been part of the Belgae. If that was the case then the subdivisions of the Belgae occupied and subjugated the South East of England from 55BCE to 10 CE. The name may well mean Vellaunus of the Cassi. He was succeeded in 20 BCE by his son or grandson Tasciovanus who became ruler of the Catuvellauni and thus the new tribe was identified.
Caesar identifies the tribes and mentions the Cassi. He says:
'When the Trinovantes had been placed under protection and secured from all outrage at the hands of the troops, the Cenimagni, the Segontiaci, the Ancalites, the Bibroci and the Cassi sent deputations and surrendered to Caesar. ...' (De Bello Gallico v. 21)
Thus when his brother’s forces in Essex and London had surrendered after their security was guaranteed he surrendered. Cassivellaunus means Vellaunus of the Cassi and thus Caesar does mention his tribe.
Caesar also says he was placed in supreme command of the force.
'by common consent they had entrusted the supreme command and conduct of the campaign to Cassivellaunus, whose territories are divided from the maritime states by the river called Tamesis, about eighty miles from the sea.'
Caesar also says '"Having obtained knowledge of their plans, Caesar led his army into the borders of Cassivellaunus as far as the River Thames, which can be crossed at one place only on foot, and that with difficulty. ..'
We can see from these accounts that the unification of the Cassi with the other tribes resulted in the Catuvellauni or the Smiters (warriors) of Vellaunus.
His son (some say grandson in which case he was the son of the brother of King Lear) was Tasciovanus father of Cunobelin, Andocomius and Epatticus. Geoffry of Monmouth makes him (Tenvantius) the son of Lud and Nephew of Caswallon. He ruled Cornwall before becoming high King of Britain. Geoffry says he was very warlike but pursued diligently the rule of law.
There is a shadowy figure names Andoco(mius) (c 5-15 CE) known only from his coins. He may have been a short-lived brother of Cunobelin or a usurper that was eventually deposed.
The Trinovantes were originally ruled by Imanuentis and his son Mandubracius the attributed great grandfather of Boudica wife of Prasutagus king of the Iceni. Their daughter married Marius, son of Arviragus and father of Coel I. The history and descent of these kings is contained in the paper Hittites in the House of David (No. 067C).
Imanuentis was murdered by Caswalon in 55 BCE. Mandubracius fled to Gaul and established an alliance with Caesar for his second expedition when the Cantii and the Catuvellauni were subjugated and forced to pray tribute. Manddubacius was reinstated in the Trinovantes in 55 BCE and ruled until ca 30 BCE. He was left in a precarious position after the assassination of Caesar in 44 BCE and certainly by 30 BCE he had been succeeded by Addedomarus who ruled the Trinovantes from at least 30 BCE to 20 BCE when he was overthrown by the pro Roman Dumnovellaunos.
The Trinovantes ruled by Lud were inherited by Dumnovellaunos ca 20 BCE – 5 CE. He also appears to have ruled the Coritani over this period. Around 15 BCE he invaded the Cantii and seemingly after coming to an arrangement with the Romans ruled there near Canterbury until 5 CE with an alliance formed with the pro Roman Tincommius (son of Commius) of the Atrebates (20 BCE – 5 CE) whose lands went into west Kent from what is now Sussex. However, the Anti-Roman forces of the Catuvellauni under Taciovanus defeated them in a battle ca 5 CE and Dumnovellaunus and Tincommius fled to Rome and remained there.
Thus the rule of the Trinobantes of London and Essex, the Coritani, the Atrebantes and the Cantii passed to the hands of the family of Tasciovanus whose rule passed to Cunobelin with his brother Eppaticus ruling the Atrebates seemingly as his vassal until 10 CE.
What leads us to believe the tribes were united under the one family rule was that the sons of Cunobelin were Amminius, Togodumnos, Arviragus and Caratacus or Caradog.
Amminius was king of the Cantii from 25 CE when Eppillus was deposed to ca 40 CE when family rivalries forced him to flee to the continent and seek aid for the coming invasion of Caligula. After Caligula received his submission he simply went home in triumph and left Amminius to return to Britain and his tomb appears to have been found at St Albans.
Togodumnos was allegedly king of the Catuvellauni from 41-43 CE. The name is probably a title Tog y Dumnainti.e. chief of the Dumnonii in Devon and Cornwall. When Caratacus or Caradog was defeated by the Romans in Kent he led a second expedition against them and was defeated in Wales on the Border of Shropshire. A legendstarted that the leader (allegedly Caradog) was killed in Hampshire. He may actually have been Arviragus the elder. His son Meurig was taken to Rome and Meurig is the Celtic abbreviation or form of Arviragus.
Caradog was king of the Cantii at the invasion of Claudius and after his defeat moved west and assumed overall rule of the Silures who were under Arviragus. As we stated Togodumnos was the title of the War chief of the Dumnonii and Arviragus held that title as well as king of the Silures as also later did Guiderius son of Caradog (a careful analysis of M. Ashley, TheMammoth Book of British Kings and Queens, Carroll and Graf 1999, pp. 67-79).