How are Spartans the son of Abraham?

Question

I was reading the Book of Maccabees (I and II) over Shabbat and in it there is a letter written to Sparta to ask for peace, goodwill and friendship.

In the reply letter back from Sparta, they affirm everlasting peace and friendship, and say that the Jewish people are Kin of Sparta for they are the children of Abraham.

Does anyone know what this means, or how Sparta knows this, or what they mean by it?

Chapter 12 verse 20-23 of the Book of Maccabees I

"Arius, king of the Spartans, sends greetings to Onias, the chief priest. It has been found in a writing concerning the Spartans and Jews, that they are a kinsmen, and that they are descended from Abraham. Now since we have learned this, please write us about your welfare. We for our part write you that your cattle and property are ours and ours are yours. So we command them to report to you to this effect."

According to one reading of Josephus, Josephus makes the same claim:

"Areus, King of the Lacedemonians, to Onias, sendeth greeting ... we have discovered that both the Jews and the Lacedemonians (Spartans) are of one stock, and are derived from the kindred of Abraham ... This letter is four-square; and the seal is an eagle, with a dragon in his claws"(Ant.12:4:10).

Answer 1

The Hellenistic writer Cleodemus Malchus (a contemporary with the author of I Maccabees.). He is quoted by a Hellenistic historian who is then quoted by Josephus. The son of Abraham and Keturah, Aphras, accompanied Hercules into North Africa. His daughter married Hercules and had a son Diodorus.

Kingship Myth in Ancient Greece

Answer 2

This is a quote from the following, I found it hard to summarize, the entire article is very interesting. I can't vouch for the author, but he appears to be knowledgeable in both history and Judaism. The Missing Simeonites

The Book, Sparta, by A.H.M. Jones, a Professor of Ancient History at Cambridge University, noted several things about Sparta. He states the Spartans worshipped a "great law-giver" who had given them their laws in the "dim past" (page 5 of his book). This law-giver may have been Moses.
Professor Jones also noted the Spartans celebrated "the new moons" and the "seventh day" of the month" (page 13). Observing new moons was an Israelite calendar custom, and their observance of "a seventh day" could originate with the Sabbath celebration. Prof. Jones also notes, as do other authorities, that the Spartans were known for being "ruthless" in war and times of crisis. This sounds exactly like the Simeonite nature, which was given to impulsive cruelty, as the Bible confirms.

Answer 3

Sheba and Dedan
The second son of Keturah by Abraham, Jokshan, had two sons Sheba and Dedan .... Dedan is recorded as being the progenitor of the Asshurim, the Letushim and the Leummim (Gen. 25:3).

Confusion can arise with several of these names. For instance: although the term Asshurim here is related to Asshur (SHD 804), it refers to a different people from the Assyrians (also 804), who were descendants of Asshur son of Shem. Similarly, Sheba was the name given generations earlier to one of thirteen sons of Joktan, son of Eber (from whom the Hebrews are named).

Asshurim (SHD 805) means steps in the sense of taking steps to go somewhere. In later Jewish literature the Asshurim are described as ‘travelling merchants’.

Letushim (SHD 3912) means hammered or oppressed (Strong), directly related to a word (3913) meaning to sharpen, hammer, whet (BDB), that is, the Letushim were occupied in the sharpening of cutlery and weaponry.

Leummim (SHD 3817) means peoples or communities, from a root word meaning to gather. In later Jewish writings the Leummim are described as the ‘chief of those who inhabit the isles’, perhaps alluding to the Greek islands.

This would also help to further explain the two major Semitic Haplogroups of the Greeks being J and I with the later major haplogroup being the Hamitic E3b from North African occupation there. These sons of Keturah may be the Laconian Greeks or Spartans although they did not inhabit the islands rather the mainland. Thus two branches of the sons of Keturah may be involved in Greece.

Source: “Descendants of Abraham: Part IV: Sons of Keturah”. Copyright © 2007 Wade Cox & anor.

Answer 4

In the Sefer Toldos HaKohanim HaGedolim and in Divrei HaYomim Livnei Yisroel it mentions the Spartans.

Answer 5

Please see the website here- it explains that the Phoenicians (who have the same blood and alphabet but different religion) were frequently equated with the Hebrew people. The Phoenicians were known for their ships, as were the tribe of Dan. The Spartans were even called Sephardi (form of it) before the name was given to Spain.

http://www.whowerethephoenicians.com/free-chapters/sparta/

Answer 6

Have any of you done any research into a possible link between the tribe Dan and Sparta?

The Spartans are said by Herodotus to be descended from Hercules.

The long-hair/Samson connection as well as the Pillars of Hercules in Herodotus (a Phonecian monument) seem eerily reminiscent of Samson's destruction of the Philistines by pushing out the temple pillars in the book of Judges. Herodotus also notes an Egyptian Herculean myth in which he was being led away to be sacrificed to Zeus and then turned and destroyed his captors.

Also, Judges tells of the Danites being seafaring and even impersonating the Sidonian. Finally Ezekiel connects Dan to the Greeks (Javan) in their trade with the city of Tyre.

Eze 27:19 Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market.

I think the connection between Dan and the Greek & Phoenician sea merchants is clear but I can only find speculative evidence of their connection to Sparta. Still, I think it is a safe bet that the myths of Hercules were at least influenced by Samson.

Answer 7

Well, I'm going to toss something out there. J1 haplogroup (J-M267) used in genetic studies in proto-Semitic / Semitic peoples represented by the major branch P58 which all Semitic peoples are found in the haplogroup for genetic study purposes.

Focus has largely been on famous Cohan model downstream from BY68,or Z640 associated with Samaritans, FGC11/FGC12 associated with Prophet Mohammed, FSC76 also among Jews such as founder of FTDNA Bennett Greenspan. There is another sibling branch to Z640, FSC76, FGC11. That is PF4872. PF4872 has been described as sea merchants, not really given much attention until next generation testing Y700 and full sequencing services arrived. It changed everything.

J1 is a bit of a late arrival to the Levant, bronze age, no J1 has been discovered prior layers such as Natufian culture. Follows the biblical narrative of Abraham to the Levant. This PF4872 is unique, it is not found in Arabia, or Maghreb, it is Levant specific branch with a westward migration to Europe. Next generation testing has demonstrated with new SNPs downstream a continuous maritime connection across the Mediterranean sea, which genetically is really a lake or pond, representing thousands of years of migrations and reverse migrations.

Then you have Tel Dan, with the famous Mycenaean grave and Mycenaean artifacts. Phoenicians "And Hiram sent his men--sailors who knew the sea--to serve in the fleet with Solomon's men. 1 Kings 9:27.

These ancient sea routes had been in continuous use since the Bronze era, and expanding through history. 50% of southern Italians have some Jewish heritage with automosal testing. There is one or two PF4872 Jewish reported, one from Basra Iraq.

Answer 8

"Kadmos sent some of his men to fetch water from the spring of Ares, but a Serpent, said by some to be a child of Ares, guarded the spring and destroyed most of those who had been sent. In outrage Kadmos killed the Serpent, and then, following the instructions of Athena, planted its teeth. From this sowing there sprang from the earth armed men, called Spartoi . . . As for Kadmos, to atone for the deaths he served Ares as a labourer for an ‘everlasting year,’ for a year then was equal to eight years now." http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/AresWrath.html#Adonis

Apparently the 8th star, the morning star, was a god of the Phoenicians, Eshmun, meaning the 8th, symbolizing resurrection and life, as did the serpent. The Greeks also knew him as Adonis and as Asklepios. The Hebrews also worshiped a serpent that Moses lifted upon a staff and which Hezekiah destroyed. Perhaps the Spartans saw themselves descended from the same god as the Hebrews, or at least from the Phoenicians which they may have seen as close of kin to the Hebrews.

Answer 9

I think it can easily be demonstrated that the Spartans are Dorian Greeks descended from Dor in Palestine. Phoenicians from the seed of Abraham and of Jacob Israel. The problem with associating Spartans and Jews as kinsmen. If we are talking about Jews as Judeans then the anthropological and archeological connections are not there.

1 John 2:19 tells us "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us". This can be collaborated by Josephus who mentioned the Edomite "conversion" into Israel. There clearly contradicts "we have discovered that both the Jews and the Lacedemonians (Spartans) are of one stock". The contradictions are only etymological.

Relating Jews to Hebrews is a false claim.

The 1905 edition of the Jewish Encyclopedia states that "Edom is in Modern Jewry".

Also, according to The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia (1977 p. 589; and Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, Vol. 6, p 378) "Judah Maccabee's son, John Hyrcanus, conquered the whole of Edom and undertook the forced conversion of its inhabitants to Judaism."

Edom is in 'Modern Jewry' Jewish Encyclopedia, 1925 edition, Vol. 5, p. 41

"Strictly speaking, it is incorrect to call an ancient Israelite a "Jew" or to call a contemporary Jew an "Israelite" or a "Hebrew." "IDENTITY CRISIS," " The Jewish Almanac , compiled and edited by Richard Siegel and Carl Rheins (New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1980) p. 3

“JEWS BEGAN IN THE 19TH CENTURY TO CALL THEMSELVES HEBREWS AND ISRAELITES IN 1860”.Encyclopedia Judaica 1971 Vol 10:23

"STRICTLY SPEAKING IT IS INCORRECT TO CALL AN ANCIENT ISRAELITE A ‘ JEW' OR TO CALL A CONTEMPORARY JEW AN ISRAELITE OR A HEBREW." (1980 Jewish Almanac, p. 3).

Answer 10

The tribe of Simeon was very numerous in the first census taken by Moses after leaving Egypt in a census taken years later the numbers for Simeon are Quite small and other tribes lost a certain number of their warriors... If there was a falling out after the incident with the Midianites this could explain it as these people left for greener pastures such as possibly Troy and or Sparta...