Ancient History Reconsidered

The names Aulerci and Arverni (Greek Aroerni) are derived from the name Aroer, this being the name of two Israelites cities to the east of the River Jordan belonging to the tribes of Gad and Reuben and the half tribe of Menashe. The name Aroer is written עֲרֹעֵר and, because the letter ayyin can sometimes be transliterated as a ‘g’ or a ‘k’, the name can also be transliterated as Gargoer. Strabo mentions a city of the Arverni, a people he more correctly called Aroerni (Ἀρουέρνοι), which was named Gergouian (Γεργοουίαν), though, in translation, this name becomes Gergovia. Here, the name Aroer becomes Gergouia, where the final letter ‘r’ has been dropped in pronunciation. The Arverni of southern Spain were predominantly from the tribe of Menashe. The Arevaci (Greek Aruaci) of Spain were also from the tribe of Menashe.

The names Vellavi, Helvii Helvetii are the Latin forms of these names. The Greek is generally closer to the Hebrew form. The Vellavi were called Ouellai (Ὀυελλάιοι) by the Greeks, with Strabo (Geog. iv.ii.2) informing us that they once formed part of the Arverni (Aroerni). The Helvii were likewise called Elui ( Ἐλουοὶ) by the Greeks, the Helvetii, Eluetoi (Ἑλουήττιοι). All of these names are variant spellings of the Hebrew name יוֹאֵל Yoel (AV Joel), this being one of the sons of Reuben (1 Chron. 5:4). We are told that the family of Yoel (Joel) of the tribe of Reuben dwelt in Aroer. (1 Chron. 5:8)

The names Cantii and Caleti are both variations on the same name. The interchange of the letters ‘n’ and ‘l’ in ancient languages is well-attested. Those familiar with the works of Josephus, for example, will know that he called Reuben Rubelos. (There are many other examples which could be quoted, such as the Chaldean king Nabonidus, who Herodotus called Labynetus.) It could be argued that these two names (Caleti and Cantii) are derived from the name Galeti, from which we get the words Kelt, Galatae (i.e. Galatians) and Gaul. Whatever the true etymology of the name, they are clearly the people Herodotus called Cynetes (Greek Κύνητας), a people who, in his day (5th century bce), were located in mainland Europe and were the westernmost dwellers of all the Celts. (Herod. iv.49)

The suggestion that the Bellovaci are named after the Celtic leader who was called Bellovesus by Livy (The History of Rome, Book 5, Chap. 34) is strained. We can explain the dropping of the one letter ‘s’ at the end of the name, but not both. We should also bear in mind that the name Bellovaci is the Latin form of the name. In Greek, it is Βελλοάκοι, pronounced Bello'akoi. The Bellovaci seem more correctly to either be named after the family of Pallu, son of Reuben (Num. 26:5), the interchange of the bilabial letters ‘p’ and ‘b’ in ancient languages being well-attested, or after Belah (בֶּלַע, son of Benjamin. (Gen. 46:21) Due to the letter ע ayyin, the name Bel[g]a can be written Belga or (as in the AV) Belah. Their principal city was Beauvais (var. Beauais), which could equally be a corruption of Pallu or Belah, the letter ‘l’ in French often being silent. The Veliocasses (variants Vellocasses, Velocassi and Bellocasses) who dwelt alongside these Bellovaci might be from the same family. Ptolemy, however, who located them in his day further to the south, called them Ouneliocasoi (Οὐενελιοκάσιοι Geography Book 2, Chap. 8 §.8), which name appears to be a corruption of Yoel-Cassi. (See entries against Helvii, Velavi and Helvetii.)

The Haedui to the south of this map are the people who, in most translations, appear as Aedui. The French pronunciation of this name is ‘Eye-dwee’, a name which is a variation on the Biblical form of Ard, this being a family named after Ard son of Benjamin. (Gen. 46:21) Notice how the letter ‘r’ has been dropped in pronunciation. The Aedui who fled to Britain during the time of Julius Caesar (middle of the first century bce - The Gallic War, Book 2, Chap. 14) became the Ordovices. The name Ordovices is once again the Latin form of the name. The Greek form is Ordouikes. The Andes, who are mentioned by Julius Caesar as dwelling on the River Liger (Loire) between the Turones and Namnetes, were a people called Andecavi by Tacitus. (The Annals Book 3, Chap. 41) Pliny, in referring to the selfsame people, called them Aedui. (Nat. Hist. iv.18 (107) or iv.32 in John Bostock’s translation.) The Aduatuci who settled in northern France were also descended from the Aedui (Ard son of Benjamin). They seem to have given their name to the forest of Arduenna. The River Aude in southern France will also have been named after this tribe.

The Picts who settled in Scotland were known as Verturiones by Ammianus Marcellinus. (Rerum Gestarum xxvii.viii.5) The name Verturiones, when transliterated into Gaelic, became Fortrenn, a name which means ‘Sons [or men] of Turoni’. The Turoni who are nenowned for building the city of Tours in France were therefore a break-away faction of Pictones. The Turoni who are recorded by Ptolemy (Geog. Book 2, Chap. 11, §22) as being in west Germany were another splinter group of these Picts. Pliny called these German Turoni, Istiaones. (Nat. Hist. iv.14 (100) or iv.28 in John Bostock’s translation.) These Istiaones are related to the Sitones of Tacitus, which means that the Santones, who dwelt to the south of the Pictones in France, were also Picts, albeit known by a different name. (The addition of the letter ‘n’ was a Celtic practice. Compare the entry for the tribe of Andes, a people who were called Aedui by Pliny.) Apart from the name Pict/Pictone, all of these names (Sitone, Santone, Turone, Istiaone) are variant corrupted spellings of the Hebrew name יֵצֶר Yetser (AV Jezer), this being the third-born son of Naphtali. For more information, you are encouraged to read my book The Forgotten Tribe of Naphtali and the Phoenicians.

The name Bituriges is a corruption of Abi triges, where triges means ‘inhabitants’. The suggestion that the name is derived from the Celtic bitu rige, meaning ‘kings of the world’, or from vita rige, meaning ‘kings of life’, is highly contrived. These Bituriges came via Euboea, an island off mainland Greece. According to Aristotle, as recorded by Strabo (Geog. x.i.3), the island was named by a certain Thracian by the name of Aba. These became the people most writers called Abantes. The name Aba is a transliteration of the Hebrew name יוֹאָב Yoab (AV Joab). The island of Euboea (Yoab-oah) was occupied by a number of Israelite and Edomite tribes, including the tribe of Menashe, the tribe of Calchol son of Judah and the tribe of Yetser son of Naphtali, which makes it difficult to identify to which of the tribes these Bituriges belonged. As mentioned in the preface above, the Cubi (a corruption of Yaacubi? [i.e. Jacob]) are said by Pliny to be Bituriges under a different name. The Bituriges who dwelt to the south of the Santones were surnamed Vivisci, a people called Ου͗ϊβίσκοι Ouibiski (i.e. Yoab-isci) by Ptolemy (Book 2 Chap. 7 §.8). Vivisci is the Latin form of the name, the Greek form being closer to the Hebrew. Strabo, however, called them Ὀΐσκων Ouisci, which could be a variant spelling of the name Isaac. For further information concerning the migration of the Israelite tribes through Anatolia, Thrace and Greece, you are encouraged to read my book The Forgotten Tribe of Naphtali and the Phoenicians.

The Ambiani who settled in Belgium and the Ubii who settled in Germany appear to be related to the Bituriges. It is interesting to note that the Ambiani’s capital, Samarobriva, is the Latin form of Samaria bria, where bria, according to Strabo, is the Thracian word for city. (Geog. vii.vi.1)

The Atrebates of France are related to the Atrebates of northern Spain, a people who sometimes appear in their metathesised form of of Arrotrebae. The name Atrebates is a corruption of Atropatene, the region in Armenia from whence these tribes emerged. (The interchange of the bilabials ‘p’ and ‘b’ in ancient languages is well-attested.) The Atrebates mainly comprised the tribes of Calchol and Darda, sons of Zerach, of the tribe of Judah. The Atrebates who, according to the English historian, settled in Berkshire in Britain during the time of Julius Caesar, were from the same Israelite stock.

The name Menapi is a corruption of Imnah apii. The word apii is Celtic for ‘sons’, the name Menapi meaning literally ‘sons of Imnah’. These people were descended from the family of Imnah (Hebrew יִמְנָה) son of Asher. (Gen. 46:17 - transliterated as Jimnah in the AV) Some of these Menapi later settled in County Fermanagh in Ireland as well as on the Isle of Man. Pliny referred to the Isle of Man as Monapia. (Nat. Hist. iv.16 (103) or iv.30 in John Bostock’s translation), whilst Ptolemy called it the Isle of Mona. (Geog. Book 2, Chap. 1, §.12) These people seem to have come from the region of Menapia in Bactria mentioned by Ptolemy. (Geog. Book 6, Chap. 11, §.8)

The Regni arrived in Britain in the first century ce from the city of Rhegium in southern Italy. These inhabitants of Rhegium, who were called Rhegini by Strabo (Geog. vi.i.6), were Chalcidenses. In The Forgotten Tribe of Naphtali and the Phoenicians we demonstrate that the Chalcidenses were named after Calchol son of Zerach of the tribe of Judah.

The Namnetes and Nemetes of France, the Numantians of Spain and the Tri-Novantae (Trinobantes), Novantae and Silures of Britain all belonged to the same group of people. The name Novantae, the Greek form being Nouantae, is a variant spelling of Namnetae, the letter ‘m’ in the Bretonic, Gaelic, Assyrian and Persian languages often being pronounced as a ‘v’. Consider the fact that the Namnetae of France built the city of Nantes, this being equivalent to the name Nouantae as used by Ptolemy for the Novantae who settled in Scotland and the Tri-Novantae who settled in Hertfordshire and Essex. The Silures who settled in Wales were also Novantae. According to the Scottish writer Hector Boetius, the Novantae who settled in Galloway and Carrick in Scotland likewise called themselves Silures, naming themselves after the River Silaro in Italy on whose banks these Numantians once dwelt. These Britons are the people the Romans called Bruttii, but the Greeks called them Brettians, that is Britons. These people were forced out of Italy in the beginning of the second century bce, and despite what academics would have us believe, were the first inhabitants of Britain. The name Namnetes in its variant forms is a corruption of the name neo-Menashe. For a fuller explanation of these remarks, it is recommended that you read my book The Forgotten Tribe of Naphtali and the Phoenicians.

Salluvi is the Latin form of the name. In Greek, it is Sallui. These people are either named after the family of Sallu of the tribe of Benjamin (1 Chron. 9:7), or after the family of Shaul (Saul) of the tribe of Shimeon (AV Simeon - Num. 26:13).

Massilia is the city nowadays known as Marseilles. The inhabitants of Massilia were Massilians and Phocians from Greece, though Naphtali was also dwelling amongst them. The name Massilia is a metathesis of Melissa, which in turn is a corruption of the name Menashe. The interchange of the letters ‘l’ and ‘n’ in ancient languages is well-attested. (Those familiar with the works of Josephus, for example, will know that he called Reuben, the son of Jacob, Rubelos. Herodotus called both the Chaldean king Nabonidus and his son Belshazzar, Labynetus.) The Phocians, who were closely related to the Massilians, were descended from Huppim, son of Benjamin. (Gen. 46:21) We are told that Machir son of Menashe took to wife Maachah, the sister of Huppim. (1 Chron. 7:15) The dropping of the final letter ‘m’ is also otherwise attested. The name then undergoes a metathesis to form the name Phocian. All of this might seem contrived, but I can assure you that what I am saying is philologically sound.

The Sordones would appear to be named after the family of Seredi (AV Sardites) who take their name from Sered son of Zebulun. (Num. 26:26)

The Tectosages of southern France were related to the Tectosages of Anatolia, whose capital was the city Ancyra. The Latin writer Livy informs us that the Tectosages of Anatolia dwelt both sides of the River Halys. The region of Taokheti to the east of the River Halys is where the tribe of Tahat dwelt. Tahat was one of the sons of Ephraim. (1 Chron. 7:20) Julius Caesar informs us that some of these Tectosages settled in Germany in the land which the Greek writer Eratosthenes called Orcynia. (The Gallic War Book 6, Chap. 24) Orcynia is a metathesis of Ancyra. The Ancalites, who are recorded by Julius Caesar as dwelling in Britain in the middle of the first century bce (The Gallic War Book 5, Chap. 21), will also have been descendants of these Ephraimite sons of Tahat known as Tectosages.

The Boii came from Boeotia in Greece. The name Boeotia is a transliteration of the Hebrew name Baasha (בַּעְשָׁא), this being the name of one of the kings of Israel. Baasha belonged to the tribe of Issachar. (1 Kings 15:27) The capital of Boeotia in Greece was a city called Ascra, this being a transliteration of the Hebrew name Issachar. According to the Greek writer Pausanias (Description of Greece ix.xxix.1), the city was built by a certain ‘person’ by the name of Oeoclus. (As demonstrated in my books, the Greeks had this annoying habit of turning the names of tribes into fictitious people.) This name Oeoclus, as well as the variant spelling Achelous (the name given to a region in northern Greece), are both transliterations of the Hebrew name Yigal (AV Igal - Hebrew יִגְאָל). We are told that Yigal of the tribe of Issachar was one of the spies sent to spy out the Promised Land. (Num. 13:7) Whilst Yigal died in the wilderness, his family name seemingly lived on. The Boii were at one time widely dispersed. Some settled for a while in southern Spain, giving their name to the region known as Baetica. Others were dispersed throughout southern France. They eventually all seem to have settled in Switzerland.

The Usipetes, a people called Usipii by Tacitus (Germania 32), were Josephites - descendants of the tribe of Joseph. These Usipii were often allied to and associated with the Bructeri and Tencteri. The Bructeri were probably named after Becher, son of Ephraim (Num. 26:35 - note the metathesis), though they could also have been named after Beri[g]ah (בְּרִיעָה) son of Ephraim (1 Chron. 7:23), the Hebrew letter ע ayyin often transliterating into other languages as either a ‘g’ or a ‘k’. The Tencteri, on the other hand, were clearly named after Tahath, son of Ephraim (1 Chron. 7:20), who was probably the selfsame person who is called Tahan in the book of Genesis (26:35).

Believe it or not, the name Meldi is a corruption of the name Menashe. Meldi is a variant spelling of Melid, this being an alternative form of the name Melitus, a city in Anatolia. The occupants of this city were known as Milesians. The names Malta, Melid, Melitus, [the Melisian city of] Mynda and [the River] Meander are all variant spellings of the name Menashe. For fuller information on these claims, you are encouraged to read my book The Forgotten Tribe of Naphtali and the Phoenicians.

The name Catalan is a corruption of the name Yachtsiel (יַחְצְאֵל AV Jahzeel), this being the first-born son of Naphtali. (Gen. 46:24) The dropping of the first syllable was commonplace. The Hebrew letter צ tsadi can be transliterated a number of different ways. Even in the KJV, the city of Tsidon (צִּידֹן) is sometimes transliterated as Sidon, and other times as Zidon. This Hebrew letter can also be transliterated as ‘st’, ‘t’ or even at times as the Greek letter ‘psi’. Josephus, for example, transliterated Tsaphnath-pa’aneach (צָפְנַת פַּעְנֵחַ AV Zaphnathpaaneah), the name Pharaoh gave to Moses (Gen. 41:45), as Psothom Phanech (Ψονθονφάνηχον Antiq. ii.vi.1). The Greek ‘god’ (sic!) Poseidon is merely a corrupted Graecised form of the name Sidon. These Catalauni, along with those who were dispersed throughout northern Italy and Sardinia, later settled in Catalonia in Spain.

The Samnites and the Senones (note the dropping of the letter ‘m’) were descendants of the tribe of Shimeon (AV Simeon). They at one time (prior to 200 bce) dwelt alongside the Namnetes in southern Italy. The Leuci who settled in eastern France were another breakaway faction of Samnitae as were the Lucensi who settled in northern Spain, the latter becoming the Luceni of Ireland. The Samnites who settled in Britain were known to Julius Caesar as Cenimagni. As realised by the 16th Century historian William Camden, these Cenimagni became the Iceni who settled in Anglia, these being the people Ptolemy called Simeni and William Harrison in Holinshead’s Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland called both Samothei and Semnothei. These Samnetae who were inhabiting Britain, a people also called Cenimagni, were related to the Cenomani of Brittany as well as the Cenomani of Northern Italy.

The Parisii, who gave their name to the city of Paris in France, appear to be named after Peresh, son of Machir, son of Menashe (1 Chron. 7:16), this being the people the Greeks often cryptically referred to as Perses, son of Perseus, turning the tribal name into a semi-fictitious person. The Parisii are the people who were also known as Brenni - named after their leader Brennus who led the Parisii (Strabo called them Prausi) in an expedition to Delphi in Anatolia. (Strabo, Geog. iv.i.13) According to the English historian William Harrison, writing in the sixteenth century ce and quoting from a work of Appian which is seemingly no longer extant, these Brenni were also known as Cimmerians. Some of these Parisii settled in Yorkshire in northern England and are first mentioned by Ptolemy in the middle of the second century ce. They seem to have arrived in Britain sometime towards the latter half of the first century ce. The Cymri who settled in Wales were also Parisii.

Academics do not like the name Eber, because they flatly refuse to believe that the name has anything to do with the Hebrew name Eber, which means simply ‘Hebrew’, meaning ‘one who has passed over’. They will argue that it is a Celtic word for ‘yew tree’. It is nevertheless generally accepted amongst academics that the Eburones and Eburovices were one and the same people. According to my research, they are descended from Heber son of Asher. (Num. 26:45)

The Dumnonii came from southern Ireland and comprised the tribes of Tuatha De Danaan and Uithne. They seem to have arrived in Britain sometime in the latter half of the first century ce. The Uithne were from the Irish royal household who in turn were descended from Ethan son of Zerach of the tribe of Judah. For further information, it is recommended that you read my book Early Irish History Reconsidered.

The name Remi is probably a variant spelling of Rome. According to one tradition, Rome was founded by Romulus and Remus, who were ‘suckled’ (sic!) by a ‘wolf’. Other traditions tell us that Rome was built by a woman by the name of Roma who came from the city of Troy in Anatolia. Other traditions attribute the founding of Rome to Romus or Romanus. In The Forgotten Tribe of Naphtali and the Phoenicians, we demonstrate the the wolf was the tribal symbol of the tribe of Benjamin, who were responsible for the distribution of land and for the upholding of the law. The ‘wolf’ who ‘suckled’ Romulus and Remus was therefore the tribe of Benjamin. Romulus is a corruption of the name Ro-Menashe. Remus, Roma, Romus and Romanus all appear to be corruptions of the name Reuben. When the Latini, who took control and ‘became’ Romans, forced out the Celtic tribes, the tribes responsible for founding Rome ‘disappeared’. The Remi will therefore have been one of these Celtic tribes who once ruled from Rome, a people who “had equal influence with Caesar” (Julius Caesar, The Gallic War Book 6, Chap. 12).