Ashkenazi Jewish matrilineages mainly of European origin

[Sikeliot]

Nobody knows for sure (in fact no one knows for sure for most of them), but probably ancient greece. Hellenic greece. You could be descendent of a hellenized jew from alexander's time, or perhaps later byzantine jew.

I don't have any K1a1b1a on my 23andme, but for "K1a" of various types I have a great many Italians and Greeks.

[Philo]

Nobody knows for sure (in fact no one knows for sure for most of them), but probably ancient greece. Hellenic greece. You could be descendent of a hellenized jew from alexander's time, or perhaps later byzantine jew.

Most of the Greek-speaking Jews were actually Judeans influenced by the Greeks. The Seleucids ruled Israel first, and than the Ptolemais, until the Herodian(Judeans) kicked them in the Maccabean revolt.

n 333 BCE, Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great defeated Persia and conquered the region. Sometime thereafter, the first translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, was begun in Alexandria. After Alexander's death, his generals fought over the territory he had conquered. Judah became the frontier between the Seleucid Empire and Ptolemaic Egypt, eventually becoming part of the Seleucid Empire. In the 2nd century BCE, Antiochus IV Epiphanes (ruler of the Seleucid Empire) tried to eradicate Judaism in favour of Hellenistic religion. This provoked the 174–135 BCE Maccabean Revolt led by Judas Maccabeus (whose victory is celebrated in the Jewish festival of Hanukkah). The Books of the Maccabees describe the uprising and the end of Greek rule. A Jewish party called the Hasideans opposed both Hellenism and the revolt but eventually gave their support to the Maccabees. Modern interpretations see this period as a civil war between Hellenized and orthodox forms of Judaism.

[Smeagol]

I'd like to compare their mtdna to southern Italians. Ashkenazis may very well then be Levantine on the male side and southern Italian on the female side, which is why they plot where they do on 23andme.

But they plot with south Italians and Sicilians, so it makes no sense to say that Ashkenazis are half Levantine, half South Italian. There is definitely Germanic influence.

[Prisoner Of Ice]

I don't have any K1a1b1a on my 23andme, but for "K1a" of various types I have a great many Italians and Greeks.

I J and K all split off the same clade, and it's obvious that the J was split in the east. The I in the west and the K seems all scattered around, may have been more concentrated at one point though. In ice age they should have been in greece and southern italy as that's where gravettian cultural artifacts are found, so those results make sense.

[Sikeliot]

But they plot with south Italians and Sicilians, so it makes no sense to say that Ashkenazis are half Levantine, half South Italian. There is definitely Germanic influence.

Southern Italians have genetic affinity to the Levant themselves. Ancient Levantines would not have had the Arab influence and may not have been far off from Cypriots. Half Cypriot like genes and half southern Italian will be right in the midst of both clusters which already kind of overlap.

[Sikeliot]

But they plot with south Italians and Sicilians, so it makes no sense to say that Ashkenazis are half Levantine, half South Italian. There is definitely Germanic influence.

Southern Italians have genetic affinity to the Levant themselves. Ancient Levantines would not have had the Arab influence and may not have been far off from Cypriots. Half Cypriot like genes and half southern Italian will be right in the midst of both clusters which already kind of overlap.

[Smeagol]

Southern Italians have genetic affinity to the Levant themselves. Ancient Levantines would not have had the Arab influence and may not have been far off from Cypriots. Half Cypriot like genes and half southern Italian will be right in the midst of both clusters which already kind of overlap.

Maybe, but I still think there is some Germanic influence.

[Smeagol]

Southern Italians have genetic affinity to the Levant themselves. Ancient Levantines would not have had the Arab influence and may not have been far off from Cypriots. Half Cypriot like genes and half southern Italian will be right in the midst of both clusters which already kind of overlap.

Maybe, but I still think there is some Germanic influence.

[curupira]

MtDNA haplogroup K is fairly common in the Levant, so one cannot be sure that it did not come from Levantine women, at least so far.

Approximately 16% of the Druze of Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, belong to haplogroup K. It was also found in a significant group of Palestinian Arabs. K reaches a level of 17% in Kurdistan.

Approximately 32% of people with Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry are in haplogroup K. This high percentage points to a genetic bottleneck occurring some 100 generations ago. Ashkenazi mtDNA K clusters into three subclades seldom found in non-Jews: K1a1b1a, K1a9, and K2a2a. Thus it is possible to detect three individual female ancestors, likely from a Hebrew/Levantine mtDNA pool, whose descendants lived in Europe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_K_(mtDNA)

[gregorius]

cool