The History of Ancient America, Anterior to the Time of Columbus / Proving the Identity of the Aborigines with the Tyrians and Israelites; and the Introduction of Christianity into the Western Hemisphere By The Apostle St. Thomas

by George Jones

SECTION I.

THE CAUSE OF THE EGYPTO-TYRIAN EXPEDITION—HERODOTUS REVIEWED—THE COURSE OF THE "EAST-WIND," &c.

The subject now to be considered is of peculiar interest in reference to the history of early Science; and more so from the fact, that doubts have been entertained by some Historians as to whether this celebrated Voyage was accomplished, or even attempted. These doubts have arisen from the silence of some of the early Roman writers upon the subject, and subsequent authors have, thereupon rejected the supposed expedition. It will be our object in this Chapter, to firmly establish that the Voyage did take place, and to set the question at rest. This will be done not only on the authority of the Greek historian, Herodotus, but upon the higher authority of Scripture,—from the words of the Prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel,—which will now be brought forward (as we humbly submit) for the first time to bear upon the question.

The establishing of this proposition in the affirmative, and beyond further dispute, has a material effect towards supporting the Theory of this entire work, so far as relates to the Aborigines of Mexican America being of Tyrian descent;—therefore, the interesting subject calls for minute investigation in order to sustain the proposition. It must also be of interest to the general reader, merely as an elucidation of early Science, and especially the analysis of the celebrated "East-Wind," so often mentioned in the Bible.

The suggestion by some writers that the circumnavigation of Africa took place in the time of Hiram and Solomon [1000 B. C.] cannot be supported by any proofs, or even probabilities, but, on the contrary, is refuted from two causes; viz., 1st, From the motive why the Egyptian, Pharaoh-Necho, undertook, or rather resolved upon the expedition,—which establishes it to have been the first voyage; and 2dly, The natural incident or fact, observed during the voyage (of this hereafter), and which appeared so surprising not only to the Tyrians and Egyptians, but even to Herodotus himself,—proves that the expedition did not take place before the time of Ithobalus, for the same "incident" would have been noticed whenever the first voyage was made, as it will be whenever the last voyage shall be accomplished around the Continent of Africa.

This Expedition was at the expense of the Egyptian King, Pharaoh-Necho, who slew in battle Josiah, King of Judah, as recorded in Scripture. [2 Kings xx. 3.] The Monarch of the Nile ascended the throne 616 B. C.

The ships of the Expedition were built by the Tyrians;—piloted, manned, and equipped by them, and consequently the voyage belongs to their history conjointly with that of Egypt. Let us review the circumstance which led to the Expedition, and the means of defraying the expense:—the latter will be found to emanate from the coffers of Judæa, and not from those of Egypt. Pharaoh-Necho possessed a mind of no ordinary character, not only in regard to government, but for scientific pursuits. Six years after his ascension to the throne he declared war against the King of Babylon, and marched an army towards the Euphrates. It was at this time that Josiah "the pious," King of Judah, followed the Monarch of Egypt, for the purpose of making warfare upon him and his army, and thus prevent his approach upon the Babylonians. Pharaoh used every entreaty to Josiah to entice him to return to his own nation, as he had no wish to make battle with Judæa, but rather desired the amity of that country. Josiah, however, still followed on the rear of the Egyptian army,—when Pharaoh suddenly turned upon the Judæan force, before the approach of the army of Babylon. The two enemies met in the plain of Megiddo. Josiah was mortally wounded, carried from the field in his chariot, and shortly after died at Jerusalem. His son Jehoahaz succeeded him, but reigned only three months, when he was dethroned by the indignant Pharaoh, and Josiah's eldest son crowned by orders of the Egyptian, and Judæa placed under an annual tribute "of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold." [i. e. 41,425l.] This event occurred 610 B. C.; and returning victorious to Egypt, Pharaoh probably contemplated how he might best employ the Judæan tribute, and make it available in the paths of peace. From relative circumstances we are led to reason that such were his thoughts,—for we now find that he resolved to attempt the joining of the Red Sea with the Mediterranean, or with the River Nile, by means of a Ship-Canal between either of the two waters. Egypt would then receive merchandise direct from India, passing through the Straits of Babelmandeb, and so through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Suez; and by means of the proposed Canal to some harbour, or commercial emporium to be erected on the banks of the Nile, at the fork of the Delta, or at one of the mouths of the river on the Mediterranean.

This policy of a commercial connexion between the Nile and Suez, and so to India, is again revived at the present day, after a lapse of nearly 2500 years! At this time, 610 B. C., Egypt had no commerce of her own, and had always despised the merchant's pursuit. She had no navy or vessels of her own,—except her river boats,—yet she was willing to receive from other nations the rich commodities derivable from their commercial energy, and in exchange for her corn and linen cloths; consequently the Egyptians were merchants at the very time they affected to despise the means whereby merchandise was acquired. To the fact of the Egyptians really despising and rejecting Navigation, may be attributed the land wonders of the Nile,—the Pyramids and Temples:—for not being engaged upon the Ocean, or the Mediterranean in any manner (and to leave the river Nile for other waters was esteemed a sacrilege), they of a necessity could turn their attention only to the grandeur of the Earth,—naturally or artificially,—i. e. to Agriculture, or the Arts,—and they were content to leave the domain of Neptune to those who were willing to become the bold subjects of his treacherous empire!

In the attempt to form a Canal from the Red Sea the King of Egypt completely failed, probably owing to the drifting sands; and it was this defeat in one path of Science, that led him instantly to pursue another, in which he would not have the same difficulties of Nature to contend with; and in this resolve he was actuated by the safety of his reputation,—for the new idea had precisely the same object in view, as that in which he had so signally failed;—viz., to bring the riches of India and the Nile together by means of water communication. The only way whereby this could be accomplished was by a circumnavigation of the Continent of Africa. There seems to be truth upon the entire subject of this Voyage, from the fact, as already expressed, that the second scientific attempt, had for its object the same as the first.

This is a proof that the Voyage was not attempted or accomplished in the time of Solomon and Hiram;—for if it had been, it would no longer have been a question, but a repetition of a "foregone conclusion."

The primitive undertaking of Pharaoh did not require Pilots or mariners,—the expedition now to be attempted not only demanded both, but also Galleys and "all the appliances and means" of Navigation,—these the Egyptians, like the Israelites, did not possess, nor had they any practical Knowledge of the Science.

There was but one Nation in the world to which Pharaoh could apply, for carrying into effect this bold and original undertaking,—that Nation was Tyrus:—and with the Monarch of that country the Sovereign of Egypt was on terms of amity.

Herodotus states that the Voyage did take place,—that the Phœnicians (i. e. Tyrians) were the mariners, and of course the Pilots,—that they were three years [609 to 606 B. C.] in accomplishing this then extraordinary expedition. The glory of this victory over the elements was claimed (and justly) by the Tyrians,—for without them it could not have been even attempted: and upon this occasion it was natural that both the King of Tyrus and his subjects, would hail the opportunity for such an expedition with every feeling of national enthusiasm,—and to that may be attributed its consequent success.

The proofs of the successful termination of the Voyage will now be established. The negatives will be first reviewed. These rest entirely upon the silence of several authors upon the subject during the time of the early Cæsars: and because they were silent, subsequent writers have taken upon themselves the responsibility of contradicting it entirely: but that very silence of the Roman writers (who desired only to advance themselves) should be received as a direct acquiescence, since they did not contradict it,—and they would have done so if the negative truth had been on their side,—for they must have read, or heard, the original statement of the occurrence as made by the Greek Historian, written in his description of his visit to Egypt nearly five centuries before:—by being the first Historian of the Egyptian Nation, Herodotus, or his work, could not have been unknown to the Romans.

Upon the absolute refutation of a negative, and proving the reverse, an affirmative, as a necessity, is directly established. Here, then, follows one upon that ground of reasoning: viz.—

Some writers have affirmed that the Fleet could not have been built and manned by the Naval Architects and Pilots of Tyrus, because their city was on the coast of the Mediterranean, and consequently could not reach the Red Sea, except all the Galleys were transported over land,—i. e. across the Isthmus of Suez to the place of departure, and this, say they, would be impossible. Such annotations upon the solemnity of History, only shew those authors' ignorance of the First Book of record and Religion,—for in the Bible it is distinctly written, both in the first Book of Kings (ix. 26, 27), and 2 Chronicles xiii. 17, 18, that Hiram the Great built a Navy for the King of Israel, at Ezion-Geber, near Eloth, in Edom, "on the shore of the Red Sea."

Here, then, is the fact of a fleet having been built by the Tyrians, for a foreign king, on the shores of the Red Sea, and for a voyage to India. Now this Navy was built for Solomon three hundred and eighty-five years before the time of Pharaoh-Necho, the period now under contemplation. Why should not the Tyrians build another Navy upon the borders of the Red Sea, at a later period, for another nation,—and especially when for an expedition calling forth every energy of the renowned Navigators? We apprehend that this affirmative, founded upon a refuted negative, will not now be further questioned even by the most sceptical reader; and besides, it is more than probable, that the Tyrians from the time of Solomon to Pharaoh, had a fleet, or vessels on the Red Sea, and consequently could quickly prepare for any expedition.

The affirmatives will now be established,—we shall then endeavour to describe the voyage, the discoveries, and safe return; and then prove that the entire document has the Seal of Holy-Writ, stamped by the hands of two contemporaneous Prophets of Jerusalem—Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

Herodotus says, that the Voyage was successfully accomplished,—that the fleet, pilots, and mariners, were Tyrian.

Let us review the knowledge of this Grecian writer upon the subject. The expedition is recorded to have taken place 607—604 B. C. This is evidently an error, and should be 609 to 606,—for Pharaoh instantly followed his first attempt by the second,—and the first was in 610 B. C. This last arrangement is also supported by the words of Jeremiah. The Greek Historian visited Egypt, and wrote his History about 484 B. C., deriving his knowledge from personal observation, and from the Priests of Memphis. The date, therefore, of his writing, is only a hundred and twenty-two years after the occurrence of the Voyage, and consequently not at so late a period, that the antecedent truth should have been lost. Again. He was writing of the Egyptians, to be read to, and by the Athenians, who were always proud of every glory claimed by the inhabitants of the Nile, because much of Grecian science and knowledge had been derived from Egypt,—consequently Herodotus would have given all the fame to the Egyptians concerning the enterprise, if he could have done so with honesty; therefore, from the above reasoning, the truth of his record is manifest,—for to another nation, to the Tyrians, is he compelled to give the honour of accomplishing the greatest Naval Expedition mentioned in classic History.

We will now produce a proof (the most remarkable to be true) of the accuracy of Herodotus as a writer, and which will establish his authority to be believed, concerning the subject now under consideration. In his second Book of History—the Euterpe—he gives the reigns of the Egyptian Kings down to the Conquest, by Cambyses the Persian. In the course of his writing, we find a minute description of the three classes or manners of embalming the Egyptian mummies.

In the highest class of embalming, he states, "In the first place, with a crooked piece of iron they pull out the brain by the [way of the] nostrils!" [Book ii., sections 86—89.]

So extraordinary a statement might well originally have brought suspicion upon his entire History; but, after a period of nearly 2500 years, his statement is proved to be absolutely correct!—for many Mummies of Egypt examined by Mr. Pettigrew (and others) have been found to have no fracture or incision in the skull: yet upon an after-dissection of the skull by the same eminent surgeon, it has been found that the brain had been extracted: thus proving to demonstration, that it could only have been removed in the manner described by Herodotus! When, therefore, the pages of an Historian are established by scrutinizing Time itself, to have been traced by the pen of Truth, and in such minutiæ,—he may well be believed when recording so important an event as the first circumnavigation of the African Continent.

We may here observe (although in digression), that from the accuracy of the description of Embalming by Herodotus, and its late and absolute proof, not a doubt can now be entertained as to the truth of the unheard-of crime practised by the Egyptian Embalmers upon the female bodies; and which led, he writes, to a custom, or law, that the wives of the nobility, and the beautiful or celebrated women, should not be even prepared for embalming until the third or fourth day after decease. Here, then, is the secret why the Mummy bodies of the men of the first class are in better preservation than the bodies of the same class of the other sex. The men, instantly upon their death, were prepared and forthwith embalmed, thus checking even the first symptom of flesh decay; but with the superior or beautiful women, a delay took place of three or four days, for the express purpose of preventing the crime, which could only be done by the commencement of decomposition; and which decay, all the art of the Embalmers could never restore to that state when Death first made the fleshy-walls his chosen habitation!

Another, and a conclusive proof of the truth of Herodotus in regard to this Voyage, will be given at the conclusion of this Chapter.

This expedition was repeated, upon the authority of Pliny, by the Egyptians themselves nearly 500 years after the first expedition by the Tyrians. This second undertaking was piloted by Eudoxus, at the command and expense of Ptolemy Lathyrus. The Greco-Egyptians had, during his reign (B. C. 116), become a powerful commercial nation,—Alexandria having been founded 215 years before by the warrior whose name was given to the emporium. The Voyage by Eudoxus seems to have been but the imitation of a previous one,—with this exception, viz., that the pride of the Egyptians was called into action, to equal the former glory achieved by the Tyrians; and consequently in this voyage they had their own pilots, vessels, and mariners. Even the cognomen of this Ptolemy,—viz., Lathyrus,—(by simply omitting the letter-h,—or pronouncing it hard, as in thyme,—a herb) would seem to have some hidden meaning in reference to that pride. The nomen Ptolemy was a general name possessed by a long line of Kings from the death of Alexander,—as Pharaoh had been ages before the Macedonian,—but the cognomen, or surname was placed, or used, for some great event connected with the history of the possessor. The Romans practised this custom,—as instanced in the case of Scipio,—surnamed Africanus;—one of their Emperors received the cognomen of Germanicus,—and at an earlier period, Caius Marcius received the surname of Coriolanus,—all these were given for victories in the countries, of which their names of honourable distinction were the derivatives. In reference, therefore, to the surname Lathyrus,—by the omission, or hard sound of H, or by its silence as the letter P,—in the original name,—it would read Ptolemy Latyrus, and which might be easily rendered, in direct allusion to the second great Voyage having equalled the first.—Ptolemy the Tyrian.

Enough has been adduced in support of the Expedition, as mentioned by Herodotus, to authorize a continuation of the subject.

In order to give a perfect illustration to the following remarks, and to the extracts from Scripture, a full elucidation of the celebrated "East-Wind" will be required, not only for the general reader, but for the advancement of this work. To facilitate the explanations, the reader should have before him a Map of the Atlantic Ocean (or a terrestrial globe), and observe where the Equator, or the equinoctial line, crosses the waters from the continent of Africa to that of America. It will be found to cross the shore of Nazareth Bay (Gulf of Guinea) on Africa,—and Jones' Land (at the mouth of the river Amazon) on America. This line (of course) passes around the entire globe. The reader will then trace 30 degrees of latitude from that line, both towards the North and the South Pole. Towards the North Pole the line of 30 degrees (crossing the Atlantic) touches at the point of the kingdom of Morocco on Africa, enclosing within that line the Fortunate Isles (i. e. the Canaries): on America it touches at St. Augustine,—enclosing within the same line all of Florida. The two sentences in Italics will be referred to in the subsequent pages. Towards the South Pole the line of 30 degrees touches at the minor Namquois river on Africa, and at Tramaday on the American Continent. Now between these 60 degrees,—the Equator forming the centre,—there is a perpetual East-Wind blowing FROM Africa across the Atlantic TO America, and so around the Earth,—from East to West on our diurnal, and West to East on our nocturnal hemisphere.

This current of air has been called in modern times—the Trade Wind,—a name evidently derived from the facility given by it to commercial intercourse, from Europe, Africa and India, with Central South America, and the West India Islands. It is, however, in the Bible always mentioned as the East-Wind, and as a proof of the truth of Scriptural record, (apart from its Religion) wherever a city or place is stated to have been effected by this East-Wind, it will be found to be within the 60 degrees (as detailed above) on Asia or Africa! Thus Science will support Scriptural record, although some writers have hazarded the contrary assertion. This ancient phenomenon (which is now explained by Science) must have been encountered by the Tyrians during this celebrated voyage, and is alluded to by the Prophet Ezekiel,—as will be shewn in proof that this expedition was accomplished.

The reader will remember that this perpetual East Wind blows from the African to the American Continent;—any vessel, therefore, going to the Western Hemisphere (within the degrees specified) with its sails set,—square before the wind, and its rudder secured on its centre,—the ship would then reach America (tempests excepted) without a single seaman or pilot to man or steer the vessel: and as a consequence, therefore, any ship from America to Europe or Africa,—or from India, having doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and coasting along the western coast of Africa (and being within the 60 degrees), would meet that East-Wind,—and would have to encounter what is technically called "a head wind,"—and consequently be in great danger of being "broken in the midst of the Seas" and there foundering; and especially in crossing in the line of the Equator; for directly over that line is the Sun nearest to the Globe,—varying (of course) according to the seasonal changes.

This constant current of air,—this Boræan Mercury, capped and heeled with wings of Light,—passes from Africa over the broad Atlantic,—crossing the Continent of America and the great Pacific, he pursues his faithful flight over the vast lands of China, Australia, and Hindoostan,—is borne across the waters of the Indian Ocean, the Sea of Oman and the Gulf of Persia; the sands of Arabia, and the wall-divided sea of Israel; avoiding Europe and the Mediterranean, he reaches his fiery and cradled-home on Afric's burning deserts; but no cessation is here given to his perpetual course, his energies are but renewed, and on he speeds,—his "royal progress," commenced at Creation's birth, and must continue until Nature ceases,—the glorious Sun his mighty Parent,—Light itself his swift-speeding herald,—the Breeze, Gale, Storm, and Hurricane his children and attendants,—the golden eyes of Heaven, with their princely North-star, the witnesses of his constancy,—Earth and Ocean his grand and gorgeous kingdoms,—the central line of the entire Globe, and for two thousand miles on either side, his broad and majestic pathway! Man, his only opponent;—his only conqueror,—Science,—the imaged mind of that God, who in the Eden of the Universe planted the undying Trees of Knowledge and of Life.