Research Catalog

Title

The lost tribes of Israel : the history of a myth / Tudor Parfitt.

Author

Parfitt, Tudor.

Publication

London : Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2002.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

277 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

"Tudor Parfitt examines a myth which is based on one of the world's oldest mysteries - what happened to the lost tribes of Israel? Christians and Jews alike have attached great importance to the legendary fate of these tribes which has had a remarkable impact on their ideologies throughout history. Each tribe of Israel claimed descent from one of the twelve sons of Jacob and the land of Israel was eventually divided up between them. Following a schism which formed after the death of Solomon, ten of the tribes set up an independent northern kingdom, whilst those of Judah and Levi set up a separate southern kingdom. In 721BC the ten northern tribes were ethnically cleansed by the Assyrians and the Bible states they were placed: 'in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan and in the city of Medes.' The Bible also foretold that one day they would be reunited with the southern tribes in the final redemption of the people of Israel. Their subsequent history became a tapestry of legend and hearsay. The belief persisted that they had been 'lost' in some remote part of the world and there were countless suggestions and claims as to where. At a lecture Parfitt gave some years ago in Cape Town he was approached by a group of Africans who claimed to be members of the Lemba tribe from a mysterious lost city of Sena, and of Jewish descent. The final chapter will attempt to reveal, using a combination of linguistics and genetics, what did become of these lost tribes."--Publisher's description.

Subject

• Lost tribes of Israel
• Jewish diaspora
• Judentum
• Tien stammen van Israël (volk)
• Mythevorming
• Diaspora
• Asien
• Afrika
• Zehn Stämme <Israel, Altertum>

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-267) and index.

Contents

1. Lost Tribes of Israel -- 2. As the Sand of the Sea: Israelites, the Spanish and the New World -- 3. Invisible Hebrews -- a Myth of Albion -- 4. Puritans, American Indians and the End of Days -- 5. Star in the West: Israelites and the Americas -- 6. From the Chi'ang to the Karen: Israel in the East -- 7. Land of Hard Bondage: the Lost Tribes in India -- 8. Burmese Frontier: The Land of Strangers -- 9. Doomed to Wander: Lost Tribes in the Pacific and New Zealand -- 10. Our Own People of Joseph's Seed: Japan -- 11. Africa: Abraham's Seed -- 12. Crossing the Red Sea.

ISBN

• 0297819348
• 9780297819349

LCCN

2003427172

OCLC

• ocm50054747
• 50054747
• SCSB-1262444

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library