Page 64 - BV3

speakers themselves they began to make their appear- If such parallels are not due to chance they are hardly
ance at that epoch at about 400 B.C. Some were then likely to be represented only by objects from the Ae-
very widespread, such as the curious idea of using part gean area at the time of the Second Millennium B.C.
only of an entity (like the head alone, for example) One might expect to find parallels also in Egypt. Such
which, while comparatively rare in Celtic art, is com- parallels do as a matter of fact occur. For not only
monly found in the Mediterranean area and is well does curvilinear decoration appear in Egypt on the
known in Scythian work. light-on-dark decorated pots at Kahun, Abydos and
other sites, not all of which by any means came from
"Perhaps the most important elements appear in the Crete or the Aegean, but also torques have been found
principle of asymmetry and in the drawings of a line in deposits of the period of the Middle Kingdom in
which varies in its thickness imparting great vitality Egypt. Torques are in historic times characteristic of
and liveliness to the design. Of the former, perhaps, only one people -- the Celts. The longevity of the
the finest examples are the engraved mirrors found in Celtic dialects might well be thought to suggest the re-
England, such as the Desborough mirror in the British ality of a highly developed sense of nationality which
Museum. Of the latter, probably the best illustration is perhaps needed long to develop."
provided by the Torrs Chamfrein in the Royal Scottish
Museum. Mr. Burton-Brown also notes that in the Second Mil-
lennium B.C. there was a flourishing of other arts in
"The parallels drawn suggest that a particular group of Egypt, in styles completely different from the tradi-
artistic conventions was in use at two epochs very tional and due, he suggests, to this "particular people"
widely separated in time. It is surely fair to say that who had entered Egypt. There is the appearance of a
these conventions reveal as excellent sense of decora- non-traditional literature delighting in saga-like stories
tion, something not far, perhaps, from genius. Was this featuring the exploits of heroes in foreign lands which,
the mark of a particular people? flourishing later in Ancient Greece, brought immortal-
ity to Homer and flourished yet again in the Dark Ages.
We must, of course, intervene here for as far as we are There is the appearance of non-traditional sculptures
concerned who believe in the positive identity of which are far more imaginative and of greater artistic
Celto-Saxondom with Israel of old, Mr. Burton-Brown quality, revealing a deeper insight into the spiritual as-
has -- in asking this remarkable question -- hit the nail pect of humanity. This development -- which was
on the head. These are indeed the mark of a particu- short-lived in Egypt -- again is found to flourish later
lar people -- or, as the Apostle Peter terms them in amongst the Ancient Greeks. In architecture, there was
our Authorized Version -- a "peculiar" people. These a sudden flourishing of non-traditional designs -- such
artistic conventions are the mark of the God-blessed as the fluted columns and which were later brought to
sons of Shem which were inherited by the children of fruition in the glorious architecture of Ancient
Eber (the Hebrews) and later by their progeny, the Greece. Another interesting observation made by the
Israelites. author concerning an Egyptian dish with incised Se-
mitic letters which could be paralleled in early Greek
alphabets.
The author continues: "It is suggested by what has been
said that one can trace parallels between early Second
Millennium pottery in the Aegean area and the deco- To summarize and conclude...Mr. T. Burton-Brown
rated products of people such as the La Tene Celts and discerned unique arts and skills developed in Egypt in
the Saxons who were active in western Europe during the Second Millennium B.C. which he attributes to a
the latter part of the first Millennium A.D. At that pe- non-Egyptian people who had entered Egypt. He
riod, when the Celts and Saxons were active, there recognizes the same arts and skills amongst the An-
were several different artistic systems in use, overlap- cient Greeks, the Etruscans, the Scythians and finally
ping to some extent, as for example in the case of the the Celts and the Anglo-Saxons.
typically Celtic curvilinear system of decoration,
which continued for a long time, well into post- His findings, assuredly, lend support, albeit unwit-
Christian times, and long after the Saxons had intro- tingly, to our belief that the British and kindred peo-
duced new manners of ornament to the west. ples are descended from Israel. It is incontestable that
Jacob and his sons entered Egypt early in the Second
Millennium B.C. Within 500 years they grew into a

64