By M.O'Neill
The
warlike sons of the Gadelian race remain’d among the Goths for thirty years,
and there shall some of their prosperity. Remain till the world’s end.
– Giolla Coamhan.
In my opinion, the creators of the Milesian
genealogies used all types of information from various sources including the
Bible to eliminate all types of pagan ancestry, and this would look respectable
in the eyes of the church during those periods in Ireland. The Irish scribes
either wanted to associate the Royal Bloodlines of their Celtic kings and
chiefs to a Gothic / Scythian origin or they were retelling the folklore of a
Gothic / Scythian bloodline in Ireland. All the Milesian myths sound very
familiar to the Goths journey through Europe. Which led me to create the theory
that this was a creation of ancient Irish Scribes mixing oral history, Abrahamic
Genealogy to satisfy the church in Ireland and then being heavy influenced by the
Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum. In
the Irish myths Milesius was a Scythian Nobel whose ancestors were born in
Scythia, the island of Gotland, Northern Spain, Thrace and Egypt; consequently,
these myths were absorbed and believed to be fact by the Irish population with
the writings of men like Keating, O'Hart and other pedigree writers of their
time. It’s an interesting notion that an aristocratic Scythian tribe is the
progenitors of an entire society from Northern Spain with roots in the Middle
East and the Mediterranean.
In the reign of King Brath, son of Dega, he commands
a voyage with the Gadelians form Gothland or Gothinia and the destination is
Spain. [1] [2] King Brath sails with
4 ships and 24 men and an equal amount of women with each of the four ships
being in command of Oige and Uige, sons of Alloyed, son of Ne niul, also,
Mantan and Caicer the Druid. King Bratha
has a son named Breoghan, later to become King Breoghan of Spain, founder of
the city of Bregonia or Braganza, in La Coruna, Galicia situated in Northern
Spain. [3][4][5] King Breoghan of
Spain has a 14 sons among them Cuailgne , Cuala, Blath, Aibhle, Nar, Breagha,
Fuad, Muirthemhe, Ith, and Bille. Now Bille, the son of King Breoghan, the
grandson of King Brath, has a son named Galamh, later to be known as Miles
Hispaniae or Milesius of Spain, “The Soldier of Spain” or “Soldier of a 100
battles.” [6] Galamh after fighting
many victorious battles in Spain against the native population, and the arrival
of a famine in Spain, decides to visit his Royal kindred that being King
Reffleior of Scythia. [7][8] Galamh
arrives in Scythia with his group of Gadelians and is welcomed by King Reffleior,
who gives him command of a part of the army to fight his enemies, and after
Galamh and his Gadelians soldiers are victorious in many battles King Reffleior
offers his daughter Seang in marriage to Galamh, as a result, Galamh becomes
the father of two sons named Donn and Aireach Feabhruadh meaning, “The Red
Browed”. [9] King Reffleior is over taken by envy and jealousy over the
popularity of Galamh among the Scythians, and orders the murder of Galamh, when
this is found out by the Gadelians and Galamh they storm King Reffleior palace
and kill him. Galamh his two sons and the Gadelians leave Scythia, towards
Egypt without his wife Seang, who had died in Scythia. [10] In Egypt the Gadelians and Galamh where they find that Pharaoh Nectonibus II is at war with the
Ethiopians , and he enlist the help of Galamh and the Gadelians, there Donn and
Aireach Feadruadh are trained in the
arts of war. Again Galamh is victorious in many battles; as a result, Pharaoh
Nectonibus offers Galamh his daughter Princess Scota Tephi’s hand in marriage. [11]
In Egypt Galamh and Scota become the parents of
Heberus Fionn and Aimhergin, but seven years later Galamh remembers the
prophecy of his ancestors Caicer the Druid, about the Western Island in which
his descendants would rule. [12] Galamh
decides to leave Egypt with his wife Scota, his sons and the Gadelians, and
they sail from the River Nile with 60 ships into the Mediterranean where they
land on the island of Irene, off the
coast of Thracia, and there Scota delivers a son named Ir. Galamh’s Gadelians
are now known as the Milesian and they decide not to go back to Spain, but to
fight their way through Europe, until they with a fleet reached the island of
Gothinia, described to have been within the Baltic Sea and the Arctic sea. On
the island of Gothinia, Scota gives birth to another son of Galamh, named Colpa
of the Sword. Years later from the island of Gothinia the Milesian sail to Alba
or Caledonia where they plundered the regions , and then they sail past the
Orkneys and Shetlands islands down thru the British Channel to the Bay of
Biscay into Northern Spain. There in Northern Spain, Galamh and the Milesian
fight a total of 54 battles against the Goths and other warrior nations within
Spain. [13] Galamh remained in Spain
and so did his sons, until one winter’s night Ith, the son of King Breoghan, from
the Tower of Breoghan in Galicia saw an island; which is modern day Ireland.
Ith, with his warriors arrived in Ireland, named Inis Elga, which was ruled by
three Kings named Mac Cuill, Mac Cécht, and Mac Gréine. Ith and his soldiers
were told to leave Ireland and Ith refused soon his soldiers fell victim to
demons and a plot of murder was devised by the 3 kings of Ireland, as a result,
Ith was wounded in a pursuit his body was then taken back to Spain, where the
sons of Galamh “The Milesian” and the sons of Breoghan swore revenge.
With a force of 36 ships and 36 Gadelian Chiefs they
began the conquest of Ireland; these chiefs were the ten sons of Breoghan - Brego,
Bile, Blad, Cualu, Cuailnge, Fúat, Muirthemne, Eibleo, Íth, Nár. The seven sons of Galamh - Donn, Colptha,
Amorgen, Éber, Ír, Érimón(Heremon),and his three sons, and Érech Febria and Érennán, who was the youngest
among them all. [14] After battles
against the native population of Ireland, Heremon, the 7th son of
Galamh,who cuts off his hand to win the kingship of Ulster, and there we get
one of the myths of the Red Hand of the O’Neill’s. [15][16][17][18][19][20] King Heremon ends up slaying his brother
Heber and Amergin, and becomes the sole monarch of Ireland and divides it among
his commanders and family. Heremon gave Munster to the sons of Heber: Er, Orba,
Feron, and Ferga. Ulster to Ir, the Eastern part of Leinster he gave to his
commander Criomtham-Sciath-Bheil, Connaught to one of his commanders named
Un-Mac-Oigge, and a section of Munster to Lughaidh the son of Ithe. [21]
NOTES:
[1] Getulia
was situated in North Africa in a desert region south of the Atlas Mountains,
bordering the Sahara, and other accounts says it was in the regions of what are
modern day Tunisia and Algeria. These regions were once occupied by the
Gaetuli, an ancient Berber tribe of Northern Africa. If one wants to believe
the Milesian myths then we are to believe that the Milesian lived for over 150
years among the nomadic Berber tribes of Getulia, a region that the Roman
Empire had trouble with for years. There are no accounts of Celts settling any
areas of North Africa, but only the Vandals (East Germanic tribe) from Jutland.
In 429 AD under King Genseric entered Northern Africa and by 435 AD they
controlled most of the Roman North African provinces this being what modern day
Algeria is and Northern Morocco.
[2] Gothland, “Land of the Geats” which is located in
the geographical area in the south of Sweden, bounded by the north by Svealand.
Once it was inhabited by a North Germanic tribe called the people called the
Gautars or Geatas. Historical theories suggest that the Goths immigration from
Scandinavia is associated with the Weilbark culture. This was a culture that
appeared during the first half of the 1st century BC, and replaced the Okyswie
culture, which was located in the regions of what is now modern day East
Pomeriania around the lower Vistula River, yet this is just a theory. In
ancient accounts the island of Scanza, homeland of the Goths was called
“Scythia Antigua". Dacia, during the fourth century, when it was settled
by Goths it was called Gothika. The Goths move into
Asia Minor during 250 - 270 A.D. they invade Moesia in
248 A.D., and invade Greece, Thrace, and Asia Minor in 258 A.D.
[3] The myths have the Milesian being
Kings also of Galicia, and the Celts did occupy Galicia prior to the arrival of
the Suevi in 395 AD. The first Celtic settlement in Galicia was that of the
Saefs, or Sefes in 11th century BC. The Saefs were Celtic peoples of the
Hallstatt Culture that was predominant in Central Europe from 8th to the 6th
century BC, basically European Iron Age that developed from the Urnfield culture.
The Hallstatt culture is often associated mainly with the Celtic populations.
The Saefs are believed to have been from the areas of the Czech-German areas
they are said to have migrated in the 6th century BC over the Pyrenees into
Spain. Then there is the Gallaeci a Celtic people that are the descendants of
an Atlantic Stone age peoples 1300-700 BC composed of tribes with the names of
Arrtrebi, Albioni, Celtici, Supertamarici, and Lemavi. The Asturian region was
occupied by the Astures Celtic tribe composed of tribes by the names of
Luggones, Albiones, and the Pesicos. The Astures may have been part of an early
immigration of the Hallstatt expansion that emigrated from the Bavaria –
Bohemian region. The Astures are recorded to have fought as Spanish Mercenaries
under Hasdrubal Barca’s army in 207 BC, during the 2nd Punic war.
[4] The Romans entered Galicia in 137 –
138 BC. Under General Decimus Junius Brutus and the area was now known under
the name Gallaecia. In 137 BC the Gallaeci faced the Romans with an army of
60,000 at the battle of the river Douro and were defeated. In 61 BC the Romans
under the command of Julius Caesar landed in Brigantium, modern day la Coruna.
In 395 the Suevi took over Galicia, and in 411 they created the first medieval
kingdom of Europe. Also, the Vandals, Suevi, and Alans occupied Spain, and in
416 – 418 AD.
[5] Breoghan - Also known as Brigus,
King of Galicia, Andalucía, Murcia, Castile, and Portugal. The tribe called the
“Brigantes” ruled kingdoms in what is now County Wexford, Ireland. Prior to
Roman invasion there were three different tribes of people living in the
Yorkshire area among these tribes was the Brigantes, who lived between Tyne and
Humber. Ancient accounts describe the Brigantes living in small villages, and
raised cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and horses.
Where they controlled the largest section of what would become Northern
England, and a significant part of the Midlands. These modern regions are
Northumberland, County Durham, North Yorkshire, Lancashire, North Yorkshire,
Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, York, and West Yorkshire. There are several
ancient settlements named Brigantium all throughout Europe such as Betanzos in
Galicia (Spain), Bragança in Portugal and Briançon and Bregenz in the Alps. This
may be due to the worship of the Goddess Brigantia, or tribal occupations.
[6] Bile – Also known as Belinus,
Belenos, Bolgios, or Bel, and possible origins with the Cymric/ Gaulish God
Beli, or Bolgios the lord of death.
Bolgios was the titular deity of a Belgae tribe.
[7] Feinius Farsaid, King of Scythia (Alanius): The
legendary king of Scythia who is well recorded in the Irish mythologies and
versions of their history. Feinius Farsaid was the son of Baath the son of
Magog. Magog is the second of the seven sons of Japheth. According to Josephus
he identified Magog as the progenitor of the Scythians, a name used in ancient
times for peoples north of the Black Sea. Jordanes in his work Getica, circa
551, mentions Magog as ancestor of the Goths. According to Johannes Magnus
Magog had migrated to Scandinavia eighty eight years after the flood, and his
five sons were Suenno, Gog, Ubbo, Thor, and German.
[8] The Galatians were led by Brennus and they were
Celts that migrated and invaded Macedon, and others Galatians were original
Celts, who settled Galatia and they had arrived via Thrace under the leadership
of Leotanius and Leonnorios around 270 BC. The fall of the 2nd Scythian kingdom
was due to an onslaught of Celts, Thracians, and Sarmatians circa the 3rd century
BC. That is one is to assume that the Milesian were of Galatian Celtic origins,
and then we have get into Y-DNA samples to prove this. The
Ostrogoths leave Greece, Thrace and Asia minor in 270 A.D.
[9] Nél (m. Scota, d. of Pharaoh): Nél according to the
myths journeyed to the Tower of Babel. Nél then married Scota, daughter of
Pharaoh Cingris of Egypt, and their son was Gaedel Glas.
[10] In the 2nd Century the Goths occupied the areas
of Scythia under the legendary Gothic King Filimer, and then in a second
migration they went into Moesia, Dacia, and Thrace. But later returned and
settled in the northern parts of the Black Sea, and under another legendary
Gothic King Tanausius, of the Royal Goth bloodline, who is said to have
repelled the military advances of the Egyptian Pharaoh Sesostris of the 12th
dynasty, yet this could be all myths. There are the historical accounts of the
Goths raiding Crete in 269 A.D. and this was during the massive invasions of a
coalition of “Scythians” into Roman
territory during 267-269 AD , and these "Scythians" were in reality
the Goths, the Gepids, the Peucini, and the Heruli. All Germanic tribes outside
the Peucini , which were a mixture of Germanic and Celtic cultures. The first
so called “Scythians” were the Heruli , which raided and ravaged with a total
of 500 ships the coasts of the Southern Black Sea. Until they were defeated by
the Romans military, and they escaped into the Aegean Sea, where they just
ravaged surrounding lands and this included the islands of Crete and Rhodes.
[11] King Milesius of Spain: Milesius married Scota
Tephi Princess of Egypt, daughter of Nectonibus, Pharaoh of Egypt. Pharaoh Nectonibus
II was said to have ruled from 380 – 363 B.C., or 360 - 343 B.C.
[12] The name
Heber is another name that looks to be just another corruption of the Hebrew
bible figure named Eber, an ancestor of the Israelites; he was the great
grandson of Noah’s son Shem and the father of Peleg. This figure Eber refused
to help with the building of the Tower of Babel, so his language was not
confused with others and he and his family ended up retaining the original
human language Hebrew a language named after Eber.
[13] The Goths invaded Northern Spain circa 475 A.D.
The
Visigoths invaded Spain, were the King Attaces of the Alans was killed in
battle. Galicia and Asturias came under Suebic and then Visigoth control when
585 AD, the Visigoths took control of Galicia, and its first king was King
Leovigild, before that it was originally occupied by the Romans. Milesius
is said to have fought the Goths in Spain before he traveled back to his home
land of Scythia and then Gothinia again other accounts have him fighting
against the Goths and then conquering Ireland. This would place the Milesian in
the year of 475 A.D. this was the time the Goths and Vandals were conquering
Iberia.
[14] The name Ir may represent the Irminones, also
referred to as Herminones or Hermiones were a group of early Germanic tribes
that circa the 1st century AD who expanded into Bavaria, Swabia and Bohemia.
T.F.O’Rahilly points out that the figure of Ir was an invention by Irish
genealogist: A third son, Ir, was added
early; the ‘Historia Brittonum’ speaks of the invasion of Ireland by tres
fillii Militis Hispaniae, who can only be Eber, Eremon, and Ir. The invention
of Ir was probably due in the first instance to the genealogist, who were favorably
disposed towards the Cruthin and determined to provide them with a highly
respectable Goidelic pedigree. Before the end of the ninth century the number
of Mil’s sons had been increased to six by the addition of Donn, Colptha, and
Amairgein. Later we find two others added, viz. Erech Febria and Airennan,
making a total of eight…In the course of time the genealogist ennobled the
remnants of the Erainn by inventing Goidelic pedigrees for them. This was done
in particular in two ways. Some branches of them, especially the Corcu Loigde,
they made descend from Ith, who is usually represented as son of Bregon and
uncle of Mil.– T.F. O’Rahilly Early Irish History and Mythology.
[15] Heremon and his
association with the origin of the “Red Hand of the O’Neill’s.” I have
researched the origin of the Red Hand, and, in my opinion, its origins are of a
Germanic one. There are some tales of
the two sons, of a Viking who fought, and one lost his hands in battle to gain
kingship of Ulster. This practice is known has “The fountain of Tyr” associated
with Viking berserkers, but there is no evidence of this practice was ever done
in battle. Another is an ancient worship of the God Tyr, who lost his right
hand versus Fenrir, but the Left Red Hand was used by the O’Neill Kings and the
myths say Heremon cut off his Left Hand.
[16] The battle cry of the
O'Neill's of Ulster is Lamh dearg an Uachtar ' the Red hand uppermost' and also
Lamh dearg Aboo ' the Red hand forever’. This was always an exclusive symbol of
the O'Neill's of Ulster. The resemblance among the Scandinavian and Germanic God
Tyr, and the god Nuadu, chief of the Tuatha De Dannan, who lost his hand in
battle and it was replaced by a silver one so he could reign once again. Nuadu
was also the one handed god of the sun. Tyr, the one handed Germanic god of
battle and patron of the sword was also called 'the shining one’. Nowhere in
Europe is there any mention of any men associated with losing one hand, or the
practice associated with one hand that is only among the Scandinavians. From
the saga of the berserker Egil the one handed in the Saga Einhenda ok Asmundar Berserkjabana.
[17] There was the berserker practice of the
Fountain of Tyr in which a berserker would cut his hand and use the blood of
his spurting artery to blind an opponent. The Goths would sacrifice their
captives to the god Tyr, and would put the arms of their victims on branches of
trees.
[18]Theodoric is said to have cut off the right hand
of his prisoners, who he took, so they might never be able to fight against
him. The original practice of cutting off a warrior’s right hand is not known, nowhere,
outside the O'Neill legend and the Scandinavians. I have yet to see any
accounts or legends otherwise.
[19]Tyr was the great god of the Teutonic peoples,
the Southern Germans named him Ziu, the Northern Germans called him Tiuz, the
Scandinavians called him Tyr, and the Anglo Saxons, by the name of Tiw.
[20] Nuada – Possible
origins the God Nuada Airgetlam “of the Silver Hand/ Silver Arm” who was the
1st King of the Tuatha de Dannan. The mythological parallels to Nuada are with
the Norse God Tyr, Roman God Mars, and the Welsh Lludd Llaw Eraint “Lludd of
the Silver Hand.”
[21]Heremon, the 7th son of Galamh, born in Galicia,
Spain became the King of Munster, and ruled sometime in 1698 or 1700 B.C died
in 1683 B.C. at Rath-Beothaight, Argat-Ross, Ireland. Heremon began his reigned
for fourteen years, and was succeeded by three of his four sons, named Muimne,
Luigne, and Laighean, who reigned jointly for three years.
