THE FOUNDER OF ATHENS

 *THE FOUNDER OF ATHENS*

The Mycenaean house of Atreus also traced its lineage to Zeus (i.e. Judah). And considering the Mount Zara rising above Mycenae, it would seem that this royal line, like that of Troy, sprang from Zerah. Indeed, remember that the Zarhite Dardanus actually came from this area of Greece. Thus it would appear that the Jewish Cretan royal family, evidently of Zerah, was split-with one line going to northwest Turkey and the other going to Mycenaean Greece. Yet they were fused back together when Dardanus married Teucer's daughter and founded Troy.

How, then, does all of this relate to the Milesians? The father of Ireland's Milesian dynasty from Spain is sometimes given as Miledh, Golamh or Gathelus. He is often called the son of Nel (also Niul or Neolus) - surely the Neleus from whom the Milesians of Asia Minor traced their descent. But Gathelus is sometimes referred to as the son of Cecrops, the founder of Athens in Greek mythology.

The Mycenaean Greeks also traced themselves back to "Achaeus and Ion, who begot the Achaean and Ionian tribes, which after many wanderings, peopled respectively the Peloponnesus (southern Greece) and Attica (the region of Athens). One of Ion's descendants, Cecrops, with the (supposed) help of the goddess Athena founded ... the city that was named after her, Athens. It was he, said the story, that gave civilization to Attica, instituted marriage, abolished bloody sacrifices, and taught his subjects to worship the Olympian gods - Zeus and Athena above the rest" (Durant, pp.39-40). This is likely a corrupted account of something that actually happened. We've already seen Zeus identified with Judah. And Athena may have been named after Athens rather than the other way around. Furthermore, as she was the goddess of wisdom, perhaps Cecrops simply promoted the celebration of wisdom and this was later interpreted as promoting the worship of a goddess. Then again, he may have been thoroughly pagan - we just don't know.

Intriguingly, while much has been made of Dardanus (and rightly so), some students of this subject have identified Cecrops as one of the other sons of Zerah - Calcol or Chalcol. This might at first appear to be a rather tenuous connection. But there is some evidence to support it.

Consider that of the two scriptural mentions of Calcol and Darda (apparently called the sons of Mahol in the latter), Calcol is mentioned first both times - apparently as the eldest or most prominent. This would seem to indicate that, between the two, the primary royal line from Zerah should be through Calcol. Yet that is rather surprising when we consider Darda as the founder of the royal house of Troy. For what could be more prominent than that? Perhaps, the answer would seem to be, the founder of the royal house of early Athens - a lineage that also seems to have become the dynasty of Miletus and other kingdoms (eventually including Ireland).

Regarding Mahol, some see a relation to the name Miletus. The name Mahol can be rendered in Hebrew as Machol, which means "dance" or, literally, "to move in a circle". This name does seem similar to the promontory just worth of Miletus - "Mycale, the central meeting place of all Ionia". It was here that the Ionian cities of Asia Minor would gather for meetings and to celebrate their great festival of song and dance, the Panionium. While both Calcol and Darda appear in Scripture to have descended from someone named Mahol or have been cryptically referred to as "the sons of dance", there is no way to know whether or not "Mahol" is related to Mycale or Miletus.

It is also possible that the word mahol or machol as here applied was actually imported from Greece - that it was the Hebrew transliteration of the Greek word megale, meaning "great". Thus, Calcol and Darda would be the "sons of greatness". This would lend further credence to Calcol's identification with the founder of Athens. Of course, there is yet more to go on anyway, not least of which is the fact that on the large island of Euboea right next to Athens, settled by Athenians, was a region called Chalcis.

Furthermore, since there is compelling evidence that Ireland's Milesian rulers descended from Zerah, the first of the Milesian rulers springing from Cecrops would seem to require the Athenian founder to have been a Zarhite too. Because of that, and Calcol's preeminence above Troy's founder Darda, it is not unreasonable to identify Calcol with Cecrops - despite how incredible that may sound.

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