Albanians Israelites

**Cleitus** · 10-17-2013, 05:33 PM

From the rib of Adam He formed the first woman, Eve.

Adam (1-931 AM), m. Eve (3-941 AM)
Seth (231-1143 AM), m. Azûrâ, his sister
Enosh (436-1341 AM), m. Noam, his sister
Cainan (626-1536 AM), m. Mûalêlêth, his sister
Mahalalel (796-1691 AM), m. Dînâh, dau. of Barâkî'êl, son of Enosh, above
Jared (961-1923 AM), m. Bâraka, dau. of Râshûjâl, son of Cainan, above
Enoch (1123-1488 AM), m. Ednâ, dau. of Dânêl, son of Mahalalel, above
Methuselah (1288-2257 AM), m. Ednâ, dau. of Âzrîâl, son of Jared, above
Lamech (1475-2228 AM), m. Bêtênôs, dau. of Bârâkî'îl, son of Enoch, above
Noah (1663-2613 AM), m. Emzârâ, dau. of Râkê'êl, son of Methuselah, above
Shem, next
Japheth
Shem (2165-2765 AM) (whence Semite)
Arphaxad (Arpachshad) (2265-2880 AM), m. Râsû'ejâ, dau. of Elam, son of Shem, above
Cainan (Kenan) (2400-2860 AM) *, m. Mêlkâ
Shelah (Salah) (2530-2990 AM), m. Mû'ak, dau. of Kêsêd, son of Arphaxad, above
Eber (Heber) (2660-3164 AM) (whence Hebrew)
Peleg, next
Joktan
Peleg (2794-3133 AM)
Reu (2924-3263 AM)
Serug (3056-3386 AM), m. Mêlkâ, dau. of Kâbêr, son of Peleg, above
Nahor (3186-3394 AM)
Terah (3265-3470 AM)
Abraham, next
Nahor
Sarah (Sarai) (3345-3472 AM) (by other wife), m. Abraham, next
Abraham (Abram) (3335-3510 AM), m. Sarah, above
Ishmael (by other wife)
Isaac, next
Midian (by other wife)
Isaac (3435-3615 AM), m. Rebekah
Jacob (Israel, Saturn of Crete), King of Goshen (3495-3642 AM) (whence Israelites), m. Leah
Levi
Judah, next
Judah, King of Goshen (whence Jews), who had twins by Tamar . This is Rollo's and Poppa's common ancestor.
Pharez, next
Zerah
Zerah (Zarah) *
Calcol, who was probably Cecrops
Darda (Dara), who was probably Dardanus
Dardanus, King of Dardania (-1414 BC)
His ancestry is disputed. He is probably the Biblical Darda, as Trojan argues. *
Erichthonius, King of Dardania (-1368 BC)
Tros, King of Troy (-1328 BC), whence Troy, Trojan
Ilus, next
Assaracus
Ilus, King of Troy (-1279 BC), whence Illium
Laomedon, next
Themiste, m. Capys
Laomedon, King of Troy (-1235 BC)
Priam, next
Tithonus

The accepted version was that the Dardani were kindred people of the Trojans who had degenerated in their new home to a state of barbarism.

Though for a time probably subordinate to Epirus, the Dardani maintained an independence that was later eroded by Macedonia and finally extinguished by the Romans… After 335 BC nothing is reported of them…

In the Greek and Roman world…the Dardani…came to be linked with a people of the same name who dwelt in Asia Minor and who gave their name to the district of Dardania from which the modern name Dardanelles is derived. Other coincidences of ethnic names supported notions of a connection between the Balkans and Asia Minor. A current explanation cites as a likely context the large-scale movement of peoples…(around 1200 BC) when some of the well-established powers around the eastern Mediterranean were afflicted by attacks of the ‘sea-peoples’.
Illyrians & Dardanians were two separate people even in antiquity.

The excerpt below is worth reading because it sheds light on how different Dardanians were compared to the Illyrians who surrounded them. For example: out of 20 place names (toponyms) in Dardania: 4 are definitely Thracian and 8 Illyrian. This means that 8 / 20 Dardanian place names are neither Illyrian nor Thracian - nor are they Greek or Dacian. They simply cannot be grouped into any classical Balkan language:

This makes any neat apportioning of the Dardanian onomastic material less plausible and suggests that the Dardanians are better regarded as a separate onomastic province. The problems are no less in regard to the place names of the region... Out of 20 place names 4 are definitely Thracian...and 8 Illyrian. The two groups are distributed in a pattern similar to the personal names: Thracian only in the East and Illyrian mainly, but not entirely in the West.

As modern scholarship becomes more skeptical of simple theories of how change occurs in the remote past, so the homogeneities of prehistoric and historic formations have been revealed as false of illusory.

John Wilkes
The Peoples of Europe: The Illyrians
Page: 144, 145
1992
Blackwell Publishers

Wilkes suggests that "the Dardanians are better regarded as a separate onomastic province". In other words, they did not speak an Illyrian dialect, at least not originally.

There is also the matter of personal names. Wilkes says that Dardanian rulers always had Illyrian names. But a number of other Dardanian names have no parallel outside the area:

The ethnic affinities of the Dardanians, from whose name is said to derive the modern Albanian word for 'pear' (dardhe) as revealed by the names of their territory have been examined by Papazoglu .. The recorded names Dardanian leaders during the Macedonian and Roman wars...are all Illyrian. Native names on Roman tombstones of the 2nd to 3rd centuries are unevenly distributed in Dardanian territory, with several areas entirely devoid of evidence.

In the matter of distribution, the Thracian names are found mainly in eastern Dardania...although some Illyrian names do occur. (They) are entirely dominant in the western areas...while Thracian names are absent. In favor of (Illyrianization) may be the close correspondence of Illyrian names in Dardania with those of the 'real' Illyrians to their west including the names of the Dardanian rulers... Other Dardanian names are linked with the central Dalmatian group...

So, not only do almost half of all Dardanian place names have no parallels among either Thracians or Illyrians, but many Dardanian personal names have no parallel among Thracians & Illyrians also. This is unusual because no other Illyrian group (except for the Dardanians) has exclusive personal names or toponyms. Venets, Pannonians, Japodians and even the 'real Illyrians' who dwelt south of the Dardanians until 168 BC - all used similar Illyrian personal names and their respective place names did have parallels among other Illyrian groups. The Dardanians are an anomaly; an aberration.

We are indebted to Strabo…for a portrayal of the Dardanians: “they are so utterly wild that they dig caves beneath their dung heaps and live there but still they have a taste for music and are always playing instruments, both flutes and strings”. Though their territory and ethnic associations remain in doubt, the Dardani were, for several centuries, an enduring presence among the peoples of the central Balkans, "the most stable and conservative ethnic element in an area where everything was exposed to constant change", as the Yugoslav scholar Fannoula Papazoglu puts it…the Dardani endured.

Wilkes says of the Dardanians that "their territory and ethnic associations remain in doubt". Papazoglu says that they were "the most stable and conservative ethnic element in an area where everything was exposed to constant change". Strabo calls the Dardanians "utterly wild" and then goes on to describe their archaic living conditions. Ethnic conservatism (or xenophobia) & stability, as well as archaic living conditions persist to this very day among contemporary Albanians.

The case for Dardanian / Illyrian synonymy & for Albanian / Illyrian continuity has been adequately refuted through linguistics & anthropology. But If most of the Dardanian personal names listed by Wilkes could be translated into Albanian stem-words, then the case for Dardanian-Albanian continuity becomes even stronger than it is at this stage. That will take further research.

In 168 BC, in retaliation for supporting the Macedonian Greeks, the Romans massacred 150 000 Illyrians in Central Albania (Illyris) & Epirus. What was left of the Dardanians then gradually moved into Central Albania from Central Dardania after 168 BC. There, they mixed with a small, insignificant surviving Illyrian population.

Roman treatment of Illyrians south of the Drin had reached a brutal climax following the victory over Macedonia in 168 BC. In attacks by the Roman army on Macedonian allies in northern Epirus and Illyris, 70 communities were destroyed, 150 000 of the population enslaved and the countryside devastated.

A depopulated northern Epirus & Illyris would have provided the perfect refuge for the pure, unassimilated Dardanians of Central Dardania to start over. It would have been especially convenient because Dardania is immediately to the north of Illyris. While in Central Albania, the Dardanian language & culture resisted complete Thracianization, Illyrianization & finally Romanization and developed into modern Albanian.