CHAPTER 1 EXCERPT: THE ASIAN “SACAE” BECOME THE EUROPEAN SAXONS

Not all of the migrating Parthians and Scythians came to be known as Goths or Germans. One of the famous branches of the Germanic tribes entering Europe from the east was the Saxons. Sharon Turner comments on their Scythian origins:

“The Saxons were a German or Teutonic, that is, a Gothic or Scythian tribe; and of the various Scythian nations which have been recorded, the Sakai, or Sacae, are the people from whom the descent of the Saxons may be inferred…The Sakai…were an important branch of the Scythian nation. Ptolemy mentions a Scythian people, sprung from the Sakai, by the name of the Saxones…There was a people called Saxoi, on the Euxine [the Black Sea], according to Stephanus.”46 (Emphasis added)

The Scythian/Parthian people had been known as the Sacae or Saka for over a millennium. This name was retained by the Germanic tribe that the Romans called the “Saxons.” Phonetically, “Saxons” is the same as “Sac’s sons,” or “Sons of Isaac.” While the English word “Saxon” has a Latin “x,” the German word for “Saxon” is “Sachsisch” or “Sachse.”47 The modern German words for “Saxon” still preserve the name of the Scythian “Sac-ae” who migrated into Europe from Asia. The Sacae were Scythians and Parthians in Asia, so the Saxons, or Sachse, were Scythian/Parthian refugees entering Europe. The Bible prophesied in Genesis 48:14-16  that the name of Isaac would specifically be placed on the Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. Since the Saxons still bore the name of Isaac as they migrated into Europe, it confirms that the Saxons were primarily the Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.

The Scythian/Sacae origin of the Germans and Saxons has been known for centuries. A famous British historian, William Camden, wrote the following in 1610:

“…that the Germans are called Scythians, we gather not only out of…Strabo…but also out of Pliny. The name of the Scythians (quoth he) extendeth…even to the Germans…the Saxons descended from the Sacae, a most noble nation, and of much worth in Asia…they came in companies…together with the Getae, Suevi, Daci and others into Europe.”48 (Emphasis added)

Consider also Sharon Turner’s comment in the 1836 book, The History of the Anglo-Saxons:

“The next great sources of its [Europe’s] population were the Scythian or Gothic tribes, who entered it out of Asia, and who gradually spread themselves from its eastern to its western extremity…The Saxons were a German, that is, a Gothic or Scythian tribe; and of the various Scythian nations which have been recorded, the Sakai, or Sacae, are the people from whom the descent of the Saxons may be inferred…”49 (Emphasis added)

These accounts confirm that, in 1610 and 1836, it was known that the Germans, Saxons, Getae, Sacae and Daci had migrated into Europe from Asia, and that the Germanic and Saxon tribes of Europe descended from the Scythian and Sacae tribes of Asia.

The Romans had a custom of naming leaders after the enemies they fought. Thus one Roman leader was named “Germanicus” because he fought the Germans. Another took the name “Parthicus” because he fought the Parthians. One Roman leader who fought without success against the Parthians called himself “Decidius Saxa.” Since the Sacae (or Saka) were part of the Parthian Empire, this Roman general had apparently taken the name Sac-ae (or Sak-a), and represented it in a Latin form as “Sax-a.” Since this was done long before Parthia fell, the Romans apparently referred to the Parthian “Sacae” as the “Saxae” even before they migrated to Europe. The Latin plural is “Sac-ae,” and “Sax-a” is a singular form. It is not surprising then that the descendants of the Sacae would be called the Saxons when they later migrated to Europe. Col. Gawler also noted in the 19th century that the classical writer Ptolemy:

“…mention[ed] a Scythian people sprung from the Sakai named Saxones.”51 (Emphasis added)

The link between the Scythian/Parthians and the Saxons is well established. R.H. Hodgkin, in History of the Anglo-Saxons, elaborates further on Ptolemy’s comment on the Saxones. He states:

“After Ptolemy’s statement that the Saxons were to be found ‘on the neck of the Cimbric Peninsula,’ we have to wait for more than a hundred years before we hear of them again. Then about 286 A.D. they are mentioned along with the Franks, first as pirates who infest the coasts of Gaul and later as allies of Carausius, the Roman admiral who revolted and established himself in Britain.”52

He says that the Saxons were first recorded as being “on the neck of the Cimbric Peninsula [modern Denmark]” over a century prior to 286 A.D. This was likely an advance group of Scythian explorers or traders. The Saxons were never present in large numbers in Northern Europe until after the fall of the Parthian Empire. However, by 286 A.D., large numbers of Saxons and Franks are found as pirates in Northern Europe, just six decades after Parthia’s fall.

The conclusion is inescapable that masses of refugee Scythian or Parthian Sacae migrated into northern Europe, and were called Saxons by the Romans. Refugee Sacae would also be anti-Roman. They preyed on Roman shipping and allied themselves with a Roman admiral who was willing to oppose Rome.

Alfred Church wrote in Early Britain that the pirate tribes who allied themselves to Carausius were:

“the first-comers of the swarms of invaders who, under the names of Franks, Saxons, Danes and Normans, were to work such a change on the face of Northern and Western Europe” [and adds] “Carausius was a native of the country now known as Holland.”53

This indicates that the Franks, Saxons, Danes and Normans were allied tribes who jointly migrated into Europe from a similar location. We now know that point of origin was in Asia. The Romans referred to many of these tribes as “Germanic.” While the Saxons bore the name of Isaac, the “Danes” bore the name of the Israelite tribe of Dan, which tribe had attached its name to the major rivers entering the Black Sea during Scythian times. William Camden also wrote in 1610 the following about the Danes’ origin:

“Andrew Vellius a Dane and a very great scholar, fetcheth their original from the Dahae, a people of “Scythia.””54

R.H. Hodgkin wrote: “the motive force of the [Saxon] migrations was a land-hunger like that which has carried men of Anglo-Saxon stock as migrants around the globe.”55 He also recorded that the Saxons:

“began to molest the Island (Briton) some time in the latter half of the third century…After 250 A.D. the Imperial authorities began to construct defenses along the coast…the Saxon raiders are not mentioned…till the last quarter of the third century.”56 (Emphasis added)

These dates are extremely significant. The Parthian Empire fell in 226 A.D., precipitating a massive migration of Sacae to the northwest across Europe. From 250-300 A.D., the Saxons and related tribes migrated into Europe in great numbers. Some became pirates, attacking the coast of Britain after 250 A.D. Could anything be clearer? The Saxons were the Sacae who had been dislodged from their homelands by the fall of Parthia just decades previous to their appearance in Europe. While the Goths struck directly at Rome, the Saxons and their allied tribes migrated into Europe around the northern edge of Rome’s European territory in search of a new homeland.

D.V. Fisher’s Anglo-Saxon Age states that:

“Saxons from the eastern shores of the North Sea ravaged the coasts of Britain and occasionally penetrated deep into the lowland zone. Until the end of the fourth century the [Roman] Empire was strong enough to repair the damage done by the incursions.”57

However, Rome’s hold on Britain grew steadily weaker, and Rome eventually had to abandon Britain altogether. The native British Celts at first invited Saxons from the European mainland to assist them as mercenaries, but the Saxons eventually occupied much of England, pushing the native Celts into Wales and Scotland.

Several Germanic/Scythian tribes formed a confederation in the lower Rhine and Weser River areas by 240 A.D.58 These tribes had migrated out of Asia into Central Europe just 14 years after the fall of Parthia! The common denominator in all the Scythian-Germanic-Gothic migrations out of Asia is that their tribes arrived in Europe in huge numbers only after the fall of the Parthian Empire. Clearly, the fall of the immense Parthian Empire is what triggered these great migrations.

The armaments of the Saxons included spears, pikes, bows and arrows, and defensive armor of mail-coats and helmets.59 The fact that they wore metal armor indicates that the Saxons were a people skilled in metallurgy, not ignorant nomads. Their use of the bow and arrow and pikes for offensive weapons and use of mail armor for defense attest to their Parthian origin. The previous book noted that the Parthians primarily fought with a light cavalry with bows and arrows, and a heavy cavalry that charged with long pikes (spears). Their heavy cavalry and horses were clad with mail armor and metal helmets. The Saxons, while exhibiting traditional Parthian weaponry, had to fight on foot instead of on horseback. The horses were needed for hauling their families and possessions in wagons, and may even have been eaten during the privations of migration.

There are additional cultural factors that identify the Saxons with the Parthian/Scythian peoples, but these factors are also common to the Angles, Goths, Germans, Vandals and others who migrated out of Asia into Europe. These factors will be discussed after we examine the migratory history of some of the other tribes who also fled the fallen Parthian Empire.

The tribes most likely migrated just far enough to come to a vacant area and then settled there. New migrants then leap-frogged past them to the next vacant area. Or, when the population increased, they sent out more settlers in covered wagons, like in the American West.

While small Gothic outposts had long existed in Northern Europe,60 the Goths were mainly located in the Black Sea region when they began to invade the Roman Empire. Some accounts about the Goths speculate that the original Gothic homeland was in Scandinavia and that they migrated south toward the Black Sea, but that is incorrect. The vast numbers of Goths who massed by the Black Sea circa 250 A.D. before pouring into Europe were Parthian and Scythian refugees who had been driven out of Iran and Asia, as the evidence clearly shows.

The Gothic-Scythian connection is also noted by the Encyclopedia Britannica, which asserts that the Goths “migrated into Scythia.”61 (Emphasis added) Both the Britannica and Henry Bradley discuss the assumption that the Goths migrated into Scythia from the north, out of Scandinavia. However, the Britannica properly expresses doubts about a Scandinavian origin for so many Goths in these words:

“The credibility of the story of the migration from Sweden has been much discussed by modern authors… [however] so many populous nations can hardly have sprung from the Scandinavian Peninsula.”62

How true! While there were some Goths in Europe prior to the fall of Parthia, they were not known for great numbers or strength until their ranks were swelled by the masses of Parthians, Scythians and other Semitic people who fled from the fallen Parthian Empire. Some Goths had settled as far north Scandinavia, but Scandinavia was not the original homeland for the masses of Goths who invaded the Roman Empire. There is no historical record of massive populations of Goths in Scandinavia before their appearance in Europe in great numbers. The original “Gothic homeland” was Parthia and Scythia!

At the beginning of the third century A.D., the Goths were divided into the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths) and the Visigoths (Western Goths). These two Gothic groups lived on each side of the Dniester River on the shores of the Black Sea.63

The Goths, Germans, and Saxons are sometimes collectively called the Teutonic people. Henry Bradley’s 1887 book, The Goths, states:

“The Gothic language…is very much like the oldest English, though it is still more like the language that was spoken by the ancestors of the Swedes and Norwegians. There is little doubt that in the first century all the Teutonic peoples could understand one another’s speech, though even then there must have some differences of dialect, which grew wider as time went on…the old Teutonic speech…developed into the different languages which we call English, German, Dutch, Swedish and Danish.”64

These tribes separated as they spread over Europe, and the dialects of their old Teutonic Gothic”) speech developed into modern European languages. The original Teutonic or Gothic speech gradually fell into disuse and was last recognizable in its original form in the Crimea in the 16th century, the original Black Sea region from which they poured into Europe.65

There is a great deal more to this story and you will want to get this book to learn more of this supressed history that is not being taught in American schools that the American people need to know and understand. Why? Because this will help them to “know” who they really are.