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lated by other peoples? Flavius Josephus said the Ten casus Mountains and the Caspian Sea -- along the land
Tribes of the first century A.D. were "an IMMENSE route from western Asia into Europe.
MULTITUDE, and not to be estimated by num-
bers." It is unlikely in the extreme that such a multi- -- Raymond F. McNair
tude just disappeared as an identifiable people from
the face of the earth.
Nomadic Horsemen of the Steppes
-- Raymond F. McNair
It is helpful to note that anyone who lived in the vast
region of Scythia (beyond the limits of the Greco-
The "Diaspora" Roman world) was looked upon as a "Scythian" -- a

term which incorrectly came to be synonymous with
Notice how James, the Lord's half-brother, addressed "barbarian" from the perspective of Greek and Roman
his epistle around A.D. 60: "James, a servant of God writers. Actually, the Scythian tribes had a well-
and of...Jesus Christ, to the TWELVE TRIBES [not developed, though nomadic, way of life. These nomads
just the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin] which dwelled mainly in tents or wagons. They raised some
are scattered abroad [Gk. diaspora, "dispersed"]" crops, but their main talent was in tending livestock:
(1:1). James did not address his epistle to just the cattle, sheep, goats and especially horses!
Jews. Rather, he addressed his inspired letter to ALL
the Israelites -- "to the TWELVE TRIBES in the dis-
persion" (same verse, NRSV and Moffatt). The English
translation of the original Aramaic text is as follows:
"James...to the twelve tribes which are scattered
among the Gentiles." The Goodspeed Bible renders
this verse in a similar way: "James...to the twelve
tribes that are scattered over the world."

The dispersed Jews are only part of the diaspora --
only a small portion of the Israelite peoples whom
God said He would disperse throughout all nations. Of
course the diaspora would not be of the same nature
for the Jews as for the other Israelites. The Jews
were widely dispersed but never "lost," whereas Scythian Warriors
the Ten Tribes of Israel were both dispersed and
later "lost" to the world in general! The Scythians were acknowledged to have been the
best horsemen of their day, and no cavalrymen could
match their skill in fighting. In about 512 B.C., Darius
Where were these Israelites of all Twelve Tribes -- in- the Great tried to subdue them north of the Danube
cluding the Ten Lost Tribes -- living in New Testament River and the Black Sea, but he failed. On numerous
times? The apostle Peter gives us part of the answer to occasions the Scythians defeated the powerful armies
that question: "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to of their enemies -- the Assyrians, Persians and Ro-
the pilgrims ["strangers" KJV] of the Dispersion mans. In fact, it was some of the hard-riding, violence-
[which were then] in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, loving Scythian tribes which later laid in dust the might
Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the fore- and glory of Rome!
knowledge of God the Father" (I Peter 1:1-2). These
areas of dispersed Jews and Israelites were in what is
today northern Turkey -- showing a westward migra- Archaeological evidence and historical records reveal
tion. There is abundant historical evidence to prove that the Scythians were fair-skinned peoples closely
that many of the Ten Lost Tribes migrated even be- akin to, if not identical to, today's northwestern Euro-
yond this point in the centuries preceding Christ; but peans! In fact, archaeologists have discovered burial
that many of them still lingered here on the southern mounds containing the frozen bodies of Scythian
shores of the Black Sea in the days of Christ and his chieftains and their retainers. "The chieftains were ex-
apostles. This area was immediately west of the Cau- ceptionally tall and strong and...racially the Altai [a
Scythian tribe] were predominantly [of] European

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