ANCIENT LITERATURE, ANCIENT CHRONICLES VOLUME 2 : EUROPE STUDENT TEXTBOOK Compiled and edited by J. Parnell McCarter Compiled and edited by J. Parnell McCarter ©2005 J. Parnell McCarter. All Rights Reserved. 6408 Wrenwood Jenison, MI 49428 (616) 457-8095 The Puritans’ Home School Curriculum www.puritans.net 2 ANCIENT LITERATURE, ANCIENT CHRONICLES VOLUME 2 : EUROPE TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION……………………………………………….………………..p. 4 CHAPTER 1 : OF THE IRISH (AKA SCOTS)……………………….…………..p. 5 CHAPTER 2 : OF THE BRITISH (AKA WELSH)…….….…….…….…….….p. 53 CHAPTER 3 : OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS IN BRITAIN……..………………..p. 75 CHAPTER 4 : OF THE ROMANS……………………….…..….……………....p. 102 CHAPTER 5 : OF THE GREEKS………………….. …..…….…….…………....p. 162 CHAPTER 6 : OF THE GERMANIC PEOPLES IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE..p. 268 CHAPTER 7 : OF THE PICTS……………………………….……..………….…..p. 308 APPENDIX : FOR FURTHER STUDY……………………..………………….….p. 312 3 INTRODUCTION The purpose of the Ancient Literature, Ancient Chronicles series is to provide high school students with a broad exposure to the literature (and especially the chronicles) of ancient peoples from many parts of the world. The series is designed as a follow-up textbook to the textbook Introduction to Ancient Literature, published by The Puritans’ Home School Curriculum ( www.puritans.net ). Like Introduction to Ancient Literature, the textbook Ancient Literature, Ancient Chronicles is especially prepared for courses taught by Westminster Covenant Academy. It is our conviction that the Bible of the Old and New Testaments is the foundation of all true knowledge. We believe that the literature and chronicles of the peoples of the world, when rightly interpreted, corroborate the veracity and historicity of scripture. Virtually all of the contents of Ancient Literature, Ancient Chronicles are available on the internet. Ancient Literature, Ancient Chronicles gives the website addresses of the literature so students wanting to study certain works more in depth may do so. There is now a plethora of such resources available on the internet. And we hope a course using Ancient Literature, Ancient Chronicles as the textbook will encourage further study by students, using these resources. Volume 1 of Ancient Literature, Ancient Chronicles explored some of the ancient literature and chronicles of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. This volume explores some of the ancient literature and chronicles of Europe. 4 CHAPTER 1 : OF THE IRISH (AKA SCOTS) Since the creation of man (circa 4000 BC), man has had the capability of writing, and there is good reason to believe man has employed this capability to maintain historical records even from before the time of the Noahic Flood. History, according to Webster’s Dictionary, means “a systematic, written account of events, particularly of those affecting a nation, institution, science, or art, and usually connected with a philosophical explanation of their causes; a true story, as distinguished from a romance; -- distinguished also from annals, which relate simply the facts and events of each year, in strict chronological order; from biography, which is the record of an individual's life; and from memoir, which is history composed from personal experience, observation, and memory.“ Modern scholarship, including humanistic scholarship, acknowledges that the earliest known historical records date from circa 3000-4000 BC, precisely when one would expect if the Biblical chronology is true. Archaeology has uncovered the records in the Mesopotamian region: “Sumerian, the oldest known written language in human history, was spoken in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and peripheral regions) throughout the third millennium BC and survived as an esoteric written language until the death of the cuneiform tradition around the time of Christ…The earliest known writing comes from Uruk and has been dated to about 3,300BC. It took the form of 'word-pictures' drawn with a stylus on tablets of damp clay.” (from http://www.crystalinks.com/sumerlanguage.html ) We should not be surprised then that many peoples maintained historical records from the time of the Noahic Flood (circa 2350 BC) onwards. Yet modern humanistic history textbooks, used by most children in our schools, largely neglect the historical records of such people as the Irish (aka Scots), the Britons, etc., in the centuries preceding the first advent of Jesus Christ. The writings and historical records of these people are an embarrassment to modern humanistic scholarship, because the historical records of such people as the Irish corroborate the Genesis record, which modern humanistic scholarship has sought to discredit. The adherents of humanism would like to relegate the historical account in Genesis to the realm of myth. But all that modern humanistic scholarship can do, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, is dismiss these historical records as fanciful myths and fabrications, largely perpetrated by Christian scholars in an attempt to invent a history to fit scripture. But such a theory lacks credibility. While we should certainly not believe every dot and tittle of the historical records of such peoples as the Irish or Britons, neither should we so cavalierly dismiss a whole body of historical records. The various Irish chronicles, as well as those of other peoples, contains a significant body of credible recorded history, which we dismiss at our own peril. To dismiss it all is as fanciful as believing in macro- evolution of animal and plant life, despite a total lack of observed evidence. Humanism rests upon blind faith, whereas Biblical Christianity rests upon reasonable faith. 5 We shall begin our study of the ancient chronicles and literature of Europe in this textbook with the study of the chronicles of the Irish. Aside from the Hebrews, arguably no people better maintained their historical records through the centuries than the Irish. Excerpts from Dr. William Cooper’s ‘The Early History of Man’ Ancient Irish history is chronicled in various manuscripts. These include: The Book of Leinster (written in 1130 AD, and copied from the much older Saltair of Cashel), The Book of Ballymote (1390 AD), The Annals of the Four Masters, the Chronicum Scotorum, and the Cin Droma Snechta. In his book THE EARLY HISTORY OF MAN , author Dr. William Cooper offers us instructive insights into these manuscripts of ancient Irish life and history. Here are extended excerpts from his book (see http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/nation04.htm): “…The Cin Droma Snechta is now lost by all accounts, yet its contents were preserved by Keating, the Irish historian who wrote his own History from this and many other early manuscripts in about 1630… The importance of the Cin Droma Snechta lies in the early date of its compilation, concerning which a note in the twelfth-century Book of Leinster tells us: "Ernin, son of Duach, that is son of the King of Connacht....it was he that collected the Genealogies and Histories of the men of Erinn in one book, that is the Cin Droma Snechta." The importance of this statement lies in the fact that Duach, Ernin's father, lived towards the end of the fourth century AD, which places the compilation of the Cin Droma Snechta well before the coming of Christianity to Ireland (and the oft-alleged forgeries of the Christian monks)! The contents of the Cin Droma Snechta were themselves, of course, far older than the book into which Ernin had gathered them, and they thus pre-dated the close of the fourth- century by a very long time indeed. In short, this remarkable book recalled the times when certain peoples first settled in Ireland after the Flood (itself a very real event in the memory of the Irish), and it recalled those times and events with remarkable erudition... it must also be emphasized there are certain points about which the records are by no means confused, and these should be examined closely, for they reveal a sequence of historical events that accord closely indeed with the Genesis record in particular and other records in general, and of which too few students of history are aware. These points relate to the colonization and recolonizations of Ireland after the Flood, and the compilers of the records even attempted to supply the dates in which these colonizations took place. Briefly, the records state the first colony to settle in Ireland after the Flood was that led by Partholan. All are agreed on this, and it is well worth taking seriously. This first colony is said to have landed in the 2520th year after the Creation (ie. Anno Mundi - the year of the World.) It is also recorded that while Partholan and his clan were roaming the sea searching for a land to settle, they were intercepted by a fleet of British ships returning to England from Denmark: 6 "...their leader, Partholan...entreated from the prince some small portion of land in Britain... the British prince received him under his protection, and assigned faithful guides to attend him into Ireland, which was then wholly uninhabited; and he granted it to them subject to an annual tribute, and confirmed the appointment of Partholan as their chief. This account... is specially set forth in an Irish act (11th of Elizabeth) among "the ancient and sundry strong authentique tytles for the kings of England to this land of Ireland." That, however, is not the end of the account, for Partholan is recorded as having subsequently landed in the estuary of what is now the River Kenmare. (He was to die 30 years later in Anno Mundi 2550.) After only 300 years, the colony which he founded was wiped out by a plague, 9000 men, women and children dying in one week alone. The name of the area in which they had settled was later called Tattaght, a place where plague victims are buried together, and it is interesting to note it is still littered with ancient burial-mounds today.