Sunday, September 21, 2014

Aquila Rome in Southern Africa .

Aquila of Zimbabwe II

Andre Willers
21 Sept 2014

Synopsis :
Celtic genetic and cultural influence in Southern Africa circa 50 BCE.

 
Discussion:

Celtic and Bantu cultures .
These are so similar that we have to wonder if there is not cultural contamination .
Both used the same huts , cattle as wealth , clan structure , border raiding , metallurgy etc, etc .

Bantu culture suddenly erupted from the West coast of Africa south of the Congo-delta circa 50 BC and spread south-eastwards because of the cattle . No other societies around them had the same cattle-based economy or iron metallurgy . The iron-working (a variant of bog-iron folding) spread into Angola and Southern Africa . The same with the cattle .

Where did this come from ?

An intriguing speculation is that it came from the Celts .

The Celts had this mechanism of getting rid of surplus population : split the populace at random in three . One third has to leave . By about 70-60 BCE , the Romans had made it clear (after Marius massacred 500 000 at Aquiliae Sextae) that no further volkewanderung in Gaul or Italy would be tolerated .

So they tried the sea-route down the west coast of Africa . About 200 coast-hugging ships of the time could take about 100 000 people . Another 100 ships for the cattle and horses . A population of about 500 000 would be rich enough and powerful enough to get the lowlanders to build the ships . The Druids probably could see problems ahead either with the Romans .  So they would also give their support , and more importantly , money .

This is why Julius Caesar invaded Britain . He knew that a powerful Gaul fleet had sailed not long ago , and he had to know where they were . There was no way that he could tell the Senate

“By the way , a fleet of 100 000 Gauls can descend anytime on Rome , Egypt or Carthage . “

He knew that they had not been recently sighted in the Mediterranean . His most immediate danger would be that they had gone to Britain and would sally forth at their leisure . So he took the initiative : a reconnaissance in force .
When he found out the truth , he withdrew .

But he sent pursuit forces to make sure they did not return .
Talk about the last legion .
But he probably sent no more than two maniples . About 1200 men . Enough for the job .
These were real Romans with orders to make sure that the Gauls never return .
The highest probability is that they caught up with the weather-beaten fleet and burned most of it on the beach .

His policy decision then to eradicate Druidism because of their demonstrated capability to mobilize a fleet of about 300 ships coloured Roman and Roman-Catholic policy since .

Prestor John Empire myths
The Prestor John Empire myths stem from this episode . The ambivalence of the Roman-Catholic Church is understandable . They knew very well there might be a Western culture in Africa , but that it probably would have Druidic roots .

So what did happen to the Gauls ?
They hopped down the western coast of Africa in true Peoples of the Sea fashion . The first place suitable for cattle is south of the Congo .
This is probably where the Romans caught up with them , catching them by surprise and burning the ships on the shore .

After they lost the horses and the ships , they made the best of a bad business and acculturated , slowly drifting south-eastward . The Druids formed the core of the traditional healers , and still has the old verbal knowledge .

What happened to the horses ?
They are notoriously susceptible to diseases , especially African Horse sickness .
See http://andreswhy.blogspot.com “Mongols of the Serengeti”
Horses could survive , but only with a large initial influx or continual replenishment .
Without replenishment of new blood they would have died out . This implies that the Gaulish force lost sea-going capability , which is consonant with  pursuing Romans catching up with them .

What happened to the Romans ?
They probably walked back . Well , most of them . They could sail as far as the Niger and then up to Lake Chad . Then march back to Egypt (It was wetter then). Take them about two years . There was little in Africa that could stop two Roman maniples .
The Primus Pilum probably retired on the shore of the Red Sea , telling unbelievable stories to his grandchildren on their visits .


Scenario:
The argument was that a Celtic migration (about 100 000 people) circa 60 BC  coast-hopped down the West-African coast , pursued by a Roman force that managed to destroy their ships somewhere south of the Congo delta .

The remains should be findable (a lot of metal was involved) .
A sensational dig !
The Celts could not return , which was the Roman strategic objective .

The Romans returned , as discussed , but what happened to the Celts ?

Genetic evidence:
I had a look at some genetic maps . There are European genetic markers in the Bantu population predating 1500AD . The problem lies in interpretation .

The generally accepted interpretation is that the markers (mutations) originated in North-Africa . Some of the population went to Europe (via landbridges like Malta during the last ice-age) , and some went south into Africa to end up south of the Congo at the start of the Bantu surge .

Refer to Jared Diamond’s arguments about the difficulty of crossing latitude and  climate boundaries . North Africa and Southern Europe were climactically similar at the time .
But crossing the Tropics has some major problems for a herder culture with subsistence farming . (Impossible without water-transport . )

Some remnants of the Bantu probably did arrive south of the Congo , but  few cattle  . (Probable numbers : about 200 000 ,
but hardened survivors in organized tribal groups . Every inch of the way they came would have been contested .)

Meeting up with the Celtic castaways (probably about 50 000 at this time ) was a stroke of luck for both parties .

A new , vital culture was forged .

(If these numbers seem large , remember that the area was teeming with game . The main competitors were other humans who were already at optimal population densities for their environment . Foreigners in these numbers could not be tolerated , as the local’s own grandchildren would be endangered .)

Skin Colour .
Melanin concentration has been shown to a strict function of UVB radiation per latitude .

The Melanoma Gradient

Populations too white (not enough melanin) suffer higher incidences of skin cancers , as well as problems with the folic acid-vitD balances . The effect is that children who are too white will be much healthier the further away from the equator . Populations free to move will move to where children have a higher survival rate .

The Bantu light skin colour .
This evolved in North-Africa .
They were forced south by climate change and enemies to move south through some very hostile territory .
Then they met the Celts .
There was a fusion of Celtic genes and technology .

The present accepted  model presupposes that lower melanin concentrations were caused by assimilating San and Koi , who had low melanin concentrations because of their high latitude . The problem is numbers . There simply was not enough numbers of San/Koi slaves to turn a ebony population into a latte  .

The latest evidence is that areas like North-Africa were populated from Southern-African regions . The high-melanin (extreme black) concentrations evolved in the tropics after medium-melanin . White-skins evolved after this in extreme northern Europe .

So the proto-Bantu were medium-melanin to start with , as well as the high cheekbones and pointed chins . (Cf Mongols) . Big bums in older females are found in every peasant society where there is no food preservation . Fat has to be stored for childbearing .

Fusion .
Ubuntu .
The Celts and proto-Bantu fused into a new vital culture , enabling them to survive together where they could not apart .
Most important was the meme of co-operation , instead of conflict .
Win-win .

Technology : iron working , huts , cattle , fermented milk , pottery , preservation , etc

Software : culture : shares in cattle , a typical Celtic technology . This increases the population carrying capacity by at least a factor of ten . But limited by the lack of written records .
Raiding (continual low-level aggression to keep everyone on their toes. Works for non-professional armies)

Matrilineal descent

Rather contentious , as there was a lot of Egyptian cultural contamination via Ethiopia. The three waves of skilled agricultural refugees from Yemen after the successive failures of the Maghreb dam stirred the pot .

The One-Third Diaspora Meme :
This is telling .

In their movement south-eastwards , the Bantu were never hemmed in , so the meme-machinery of hiving off a third was never activated .

Until they ran into whites moving northwards .
The extreme facility in which the Xhosas shifted  one third of the population of the Eastern Province to the Western Province in 1994  argues that this meme is alive and well .

Think about it . In most African states like Somalia , Ruanda , etc , the inhabitants have to be at death’s door before they relocate . And they want to be back in the old country as soon as possible .

But in south Africa , the Bantu say “ Ho-Hey! Where’s the bus ?” This actually happened .
The old meme-machinery kicked in . The whites experienced the one-third volkewandering at a 2 000 year remove !
What delicious irony !
The Celtic Revenge !

This is one of the main driving forces of the xenophobic attacks .

The whites have something similar .
The second Great Trek.
About a third of the white population left after 1994 . The problem was that this was not random . Only the ones who could find a job overseas left . The skilled , graduate lot .
But still , it was only a third .
A very good thing . The benefits of a captive skill pool is far outweighed by the instability they would have engendered .
Better incompetent management than war .
Anything is better than a civil war (except starvation a-la-Zimbabwe)

To get back to the Eagles .
 









Roman Eagle                                                                          Zimbabwe Eagle 

Roman Eagle at

Zimbabwean Eagle at

Note the similarities .




Roman Eagle
Roman Legions liked to march over the top of a hill with the Aquila showing first , then the other standards , then the serried ranks of the legions . In total silence . Terror tactics . It worked , too .
Shamanist groups like the Druids ascribed mystic powers to the symbols (ie Eagle) . For centuries keeping the standard up was a major thing . It was at the most defended center . If you cannot keep this up , what use are you ?

Hence the Zimbabwe bird : a Roman Eagle , captured and it’s power transferred .


Huts 
                                                                

Gaelic hut                                                 




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaelic_Ireland                                                                                                         Southern African hut (Basotho)

Southern African (Basotho)

The terrace agriculture : from Yemen (Maghreb  , Sha’aba)  Queen of Sheba .
There were three breaks in the Maghreb dam . Each one was accompanied by a a refugee flux . The Maghreb dam was a single point of failure for an entire civilization.
From genetic evidence , there are still descendants in Zimbabwe .

The normal stone walls :
Ever tried to farm a stony ground ? You have to move the stones somewhere . And obviously where you will not have to move them again . This is the iterative definition of a wall .


The conical stone towers : This was standard in Celtic countries  . Some still survive .
See photos below .



Southern Africa : Zimbabwe



Zimbabwe




Scotland :


Glenelg


Scotland Glenelg broch.jpg
4th century BC to 1st century AD
One of the best-preserved brochs, the dry-stone walls surviving to over 7 m in height in places.[43][44]



.
Roman Ruins
See Appendix A

Romans were exploring into Africa in the first century ACE .

Why did they stop ?

Or did they ?

Ave atque vale

Andre

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Appendix A


Roman expeditions to lake Chad and western Africa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Roman expeditions to lake Chad and western Africa were a group of military and commercial expeditions undertaken by the Roman Empire in order to explore the area of western and central Africa south of the Sahara desert.
Historical background[edit]
These exploration were undertaken between the first century BC and the second century AD, when was created the Roman limes from Roman Mauritania to Roman Libya. There were five recorded by Roman historians:
·         The first expedition -according to Plinius- was the one of Cornelius Balbus, who in 19 BC reached the river Niger near actual Timbouctou. He moved from Libyan Sabratha and conquered with ten thousand legionaries the Garamantes capital in actual Fezzan and sent a small group of his legionaries further south across the Ahaggar mountains in order to explore the "land of the lions": they found a huge river (the Niger) that in their opinion was going toward the Nile river [1] Indeed in 1955, many Roman coins and some Latin ceramics were found in the area of actual Mali[2]
·         The second was done in the year 41 AD by Suetonius Paullinus, afterwards Consul, who was the first of the Romans who led an army across Mount Atlas. At the end of a ten days' march he reached the summit,—which even in summer was covered with snow,—and from thence, after passing a desert of black sand and burnt rocks, he arrived at a river called Gerj...he then penetrated into the country of the Canarii and Perorsi, the former of whom inhabited a woody region abounding in elephants and serpents, and the latter were Ethiopians, not far distant from the Pharusii and the river Daras (modern river Senegal). From the first century after Christ there is evidence (coins, fibulas) of Roman commerce and contacts in Akjoujt and Tamkartkart near Tichit in actual Mauritania.[3]
·         The third expedition was done by Valerius Festus in 68-70 AD. He -probably by orders of Nero- repeated the travel done by Balbus, but this time he started from the Tunisiansouth.
·         The forth expedition was done by Septimius Flaccus in 76 AD and reached the lake Chad through the Tibesti mountains[4]
·         The fifth was done by Julius Matiernus in 86 AD and reached lake Chad and territories of actual northern Central African Republic. Ptolemy wrote that Matiernus did a travel of four months from southeastern Libya in order to reach the land called Agisymba, populated by rhinoceros and elephants.[5]
Further south[edit]
Romans explored the coast of western Africa and reached even the Gulf of Guinea.
Indeed the western coast of Africa was explored by the Romans after the conquest of northern Maroc (then called Mauretania Tingitana): the Roman vassal king Juba II organized a successful trade from the area of Volubilis. Pliny the Elder, a 1st-century Roman author and military officer, drawing upon the accounts of Juba II, king of Mauretania, stated that a Roman expedition from Mauritania visited the islands of the archipelago of the Canaries and Madeira around 10 AD and found great ruins but no population, only dogs (from those animals he called the islands, using the Latin word "canarius" or "canis" for dog).
According to Pliny the Elder, an expedition of Mauretanians sent by Juba II to the archipelago visited the islands: when King Juba II dispatched a contingent to re-open the dye production facility at Mogador (historical name of Essaouira, Morocco) in the early 1st century AD Juba's naval force was subsequently sent on an exploration of the Canary Islands, Madeira and probably the Cape Verde islands, using Mogador as their mission base.
We have even recorded historically that, according to Pliny the Elder, the Greek Xenophon of Lampsacus stated that the Gorgades (Cape Verde islands) were situated two days from "Hesperu Ceras" (today called Cap-Vert), the westernmost part of the African continent, showing a knowledge of the area by the Romans. They even knew of the Hesperides: some researchers, like Duane Roller, have even identified the Hesperides with the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea.
Furthermore, according to Pliny the Elder and his citation by Gaius Julius Solinus, the sea voyage time crossing the Gorgades (Cape Verde islands) to the islands of the Ladies of the West ("Hesperides", actual São Tomé and Príncipe and Fernando Po) was around 40 days: this fact has created academic discussions about the possibility of further Roman travels toward Guinea and even the Gulf of Guinea. A Roman coin of the emperor Trajan has been found in Congo.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
1.    Jump up^ Plinio, Naturalis historia 5.10
2.    Jump up^ Virgilio Boccardi e Cino Boccazzi: "Il cimitero dei dinosauri". Sugarco Editore, 1972
4.    Jump up^ Focus Storia N°. 78 / 2013; pp. 36 -42.
Bibliography[edit]
·         Henry Lhote. L'expédition de Cornelius Balbus au Sahara, in Revue africaine, 1954.


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