Perhaps the most succinct answer to this question was given by Strabo, the great Greek historian/geographer. His "Geography" is described by the Encyclopedia Britannica as "the only extant work covering the whole range of peoples and countries known to both Greeks and Romans during the reign of Augustus (27 BC- 14 AD)". Strabo himself had traveled throughout the length of the Roman Empire, from Tuscany through Europe and Asia Minor down to Egypt, and up the Nile River to the border of Ethiopia. Concerning the Jews, Strabo wrote:

It is not at all surprising that wherever one looks, whether in Europe, Africa, or Asia as far as China (and who knows, perhaps as far as America), one finds populations of Jews claiming descent from the "Lost Tribes of Israel".

How obnoxious and condescending these Diaspora Jews must have been! Yet, at the same time, their faith must have been awe-inspiring to the local people, because everywhere they went, tremendous religious/philosophical changes took place.

We shall begin by considering the nations of Persia (modern day Iran) and India. However, before proceeding, we must review a bit of history about these two nations. You see, their religious fates were closely intertwined at that time in history.

The peoples of Persia (Iran) and India were much more closely linked in ancient times than they are today. This is because they were both, in ancient times, invaded and conquered by the same group of central Asian nomads, known as "Aryans". These were Caucasian Indo-European people, believed to have originally emanated from the land between the Oxus and Indus rivers (corresponding to the modern-day Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan).

After settling in Iran, one or more waves of these light-skinned Aryan invaders crossed the Hindu Kush Mountains into India between 2000-1000 BC, changing the nature of that country forever. The original inhabitants of India, sometimes referred to as Dravidians, were black. Centuries of warfare pushed the Dravidians toward the south, but in the end, intermarriages gave rise to a new people, the Indians of today.

From the time of the Aryan invasions until about 600 BC, the ancient religions of Iran and India developed in parallel. They were both extremely polytheistic. Their gods had similar names. For example, the two very important gods "Indra" and "Mitra" of India were called "Intar" and "Mithra" in Persia . Their ceremonies involved the use of a hallucinogenic drug, which is believed to have been an extract of a particular species of mushroom. This drug was called "Soma" by the Indians, and "Haoma" by the Persians.

Considering the ancient linkage between the two nations, it is not surprising that when profound changes occurred in Iran, they quickly spread to India, its spiritual cousin.

And, when Diaspora Jews arrived in Iran, profound changes most assuredly took place.

This may seem like a silly question to readers of the Babylonian Talmud, but to others it may be less obvious. Let us, therefore, answer the question, leaving no stones unturned.

The Bible reports that in the late 8th century BC, the Assyrian invaders of the Northern Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) deported the Jews to "Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes" (II Kings 17:6).

Now, concerning the latter cites, there is no question about who the Medes were. Media was the northwestern part of modern-day Iran. It was an alliance between Media and Babylon that overthrew the Assyrians in 612 BC, giving rise to the Babylonian Empire.

We have already seen that there were plenty of Jews in Babylon; taken there as captives by Nebuchadnezzar in the 6th century BC. Thus, the alliance between the Medes and the Babylonians was an alliance between two nations which eventually developed large Jewish populations. When, in the course of time, the Medes and Babylonians were themselves conquered by the Persians, the new Persian Empire "inherited" many Jews.

The Persians were the inhabitants of the southern part of Iran. They considered themselves to be descendants of the Aryan invaders described above, and they considered themselves to be ethnically distinct from the Medes. It was from the term "Aryan" that the modern name "Iran" was derived.

The Persian conqueror Cyrus II, known as Cyrus the Great, conquered the Medes in 550 BC, inaugurating one of the great empires of world history, the Persian or "Archaemenian" Empire. This empire rapidly grew to encompass much of the "known" world, extending west into Egypt, and south into upper India. It lasted until its overthrow by Alexander the Great.

We need look no farther than the Bible to see the important role Jews played in the Persian Empire. In the Book of Daniel, we can see clearly that the Jews, in spite of the fact that they were in so-called "captivity" in Babylon, actually occupied favored positions. Daniel himself was clearly a man of great power and prestige. It seems, in fact, that he occupied much the same position of power in Babylon that Joseph had occupied in Egypt a thousand years earlier. Joseph was Governor of all Egypt, second in power only to Pharaoh himself, and if Daniel was less in prestige than that, it cannot have been too much less.

Whenever King Nebuchadnezzar needed advice, he consulted with Daniel. This was a most favored "captivity" indeed! Now, Kings of Babylon came and went, but not Daniel. In chapter 5 of his book, we find that Nebuchadnezzar is gone, but Daniel is still there, serving a new King, Belshazzar. Daniel's prestige in this new court is such that he can predict, right to the King's face, that the King will die that night as a punishment for his transgressions. This is surely not the sort of thing a lowly "captive" would say to a mighty King. Without a doubt, Daniel was a man of considerable power in Babylon.

How powerful? After hearing this dire prediction of death (which came true!), the King, instead of having Daniel drawn-and-quartered, "clothed [him] with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom" (Daniel 5:29)! Again I say, if this was "captivity", it was a captivity of a most favored nature!

Perhaps more significant than the prediction of death itself for the King, was the prediction that his Kingdom would be "given to the Medes and Persians" (Daniel 5:28). And, indeed, in Chapter 6 of the Book of Daniel we see that the conquest of Babylon by the Persians is complete, and Daniel now occupies the same favored position with the new Persian Emperor, Cyrus the Great!

I must confess that ever since I read the Book of Daniel, I have wondered privately whether the continuing prestige of Daniel in the court of the Persian Emperor was not, perhaps, a clue as to a possible role he and his fellow Jews played in the downfall of Babylon. Since the Bible explicitly predicts the fall of Babylon, any activities toward that end could not have been regarded by Jews as "treasonous", but merely as aiding in the fulfillment of prophecy.

For whatever reason Cyrus the Great favored the Jews, the fact remains that he is a man highly esteemed in Jewish history. It was Cyrus who, in the year 523 BC, allowed the "captive" Jews to return to Israel to rebuild their country and their Temple. But they did not all return! It is obvious that many of the Jews had taken a liking to Babylon, and they remained there. The mere existence of the Babylonian Talmud is testimony enough to the fact, well-established in any event, that Babylon was a center of Jewish life for centuries after the Persian conquest.

The Book of Esther provides further insight into the powerful roles played by the Jews of Persia. According to this Book of the Bible, the favorite Queen of one of the great Persian Kings was Jewish! Although the historical authenticity of this Book has not been established to the satisfaction of all scholars, it seems inconceivable that the Book of Esther did not, at the very least, reflect the general state of things in Persia.

Around the time of the destruction of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, a sudden change came over the religion of Persia. As we have seen, the ancient religion of this country was a familiar sort of pagan idol worship, whose many gods were similar in name to the gods of the ancient polytheistic religion of India. Then, sometime not too far from 600 BC, the great Persian prophet Zoroaster suddenly began teaching that the multitude of gods were actually only "angels", and that there was only one true God, whom he called Ahura Mazda, which means "Wise Lord".

Subsequently, the Zoroastrian religion came to dominate the Middle East; a state of affairs which persisted for a thousand years, up to the time of Muhammed. Many believers survive to this day. Most of them now live in India, having been long since driven out of Iran by Muslim persecution.

How can we account for the sudden appearance of monotheism in a pagan, idol-worshipping people? Surely it was the presence of the Jews. What else can it have been? It is inconceivable that the legends of the Israelites were not known to the neighboring peoples, from the story of Noah and the flood, to the glories of Israel under David and Solomon. The arrival of Jewish deportees after the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles suddenly propelled these people of legend right into their midst, in the flesh.

And what did the Jews have to say for themselves? They came bearing a horrifying tale of destruction. They had been warned of the impending wrath of God for at least a century, by Prophets of such stature that we are still reading their words today, 2600 years later. The warnings had been ignored, and the terrible prophecies all came to pass.

This must have put the fear of God into the Persians, because they put away their idols forthwith, and began worshipping one God.

To any Zoroastrian reading these words who takes offense, I offer a humble apology. No, I do not think for a moment that Zoroaster took "Jew lessons" from the captives. On the contrary, I have never doubted that his religious experiences were genuine, original, and of the highest order.

But I do think that the shock waves which passed through the Persian Empire when the deportees arrived with their terrifying stories, and with their lamentations and repentances, created an atmosphere such that the Persian people suddenly become receptive to the Spirit of God, Whom they had previously rejected.

A final historical note: Zoroastrians like to place Zoroaster's ministry 'way back in the past, before Abraham. This, of course, would make Zoroaster the "father of monotheism". But non-Zoroastrian academic scholars are firm in dating his ministry at about 600 BC, because the Zoroastrian scriptures themselves contain a reference to Alexander the Great. It is from these references that the date of 600 BC for Zoroaster's ministry is derived with near-certainty.

The more one reads about ancient Jewish history, the more one realizes that Jews were involved in trade with the orient from the time of Solomon, and at all times thereafter. At the very least, it is well-documented that Jews were involved in the silk trade, and they must surely have been involved in trade of numerous other goods as well.

Just as the Italians, at the time of Marco Polo, had trading outposts in central Asia, the ancient Jews must have had trading outposts themselves, all along the Silk Road from Israel to India and China. Although the names and locations of such trading posts have not, to my knowledge, been preserved, it is nevertheless difficult to imagine any substantial trade going on without at least a skeleton population of Jews strategically located throughout Asia.

Besides, if such outposts did not exist, then it would be difficult to imagine how Jewish refugees could have successfully settled in India and China in 600 BC. And settle they did!

In India, there are at least 3 Jewish populations I have heard of which trace their roots to the First Diaspora of 600 BC. The best-known of these are the Malabar Coast Jews, located principally in the city of Cochin on the southwest tip of the country. Cochin has been a maritime trading center throughout history. It harbors an ancient Jewish population which considers itself, in no uncertain terms, to be descended of the "Lost Tribes" of Israel.

Interestingly, there are at least three ethnically distinct groups of Jews in Cochin; "white", "brown", and "black". These disagree with each other as to who were the original Israelites, and who were the proselytes. But, then again, the "color" of the ancient Israelites is an ongoing question which may never be answered with certainty.

A second population of Jews is found in and around Bombay. They call themselves the Bene-Israel (children of Israel), and they too consider themselves to be, without a doubt, descendants of the Lost Tribes.

A third group was reported upon a few years ago in the Jerusalem Post. These are called the Tchiang tribe, and they live in the northeast Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur. They number 750,000 people, of whom 5,000 are still practicing Jews. They consider themselves to be descendants of the tribe of Manassah. The State of Israel is financing their return, as part of a larger program to bring the lost remnants of the Jewish people back to Israel in preparation for the coming of the Messiah.

In each of the above instances (Cochin, Bene-Israel, and Tchiang), there are many voices of skepticism regarding the origins of these Jews. But, as I have seen repeatedly in my readings, this is a pattern which is repeated in every place where ancient populations of Jews exist, whether in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, or the Far East. In fact, there is no instance I know of where a claim of descent from the "Lost Tribes" has been accepted without a fight. Why is every Jew automatically presumed to be a liar?

When one examines the multitude of "Lost Tribe" claims, from all corners of the globe, one begins to see the pattern. The people in these various places have no doubt about who they are. They usually have characteristics whereby they can be dated to antiquity. Many of them, for example, know the Torah, but not the Talmud, which dates their departure from the Holy Land to the pre-Christian era. In fact, the Jews of China (to be described shortly), when they were first encountered by Christian missionaries, had never even heard of Jesus!

My own conclusion, after reading about many such "Lost Tribes", is that the term "lost" is a misnomer in the first place. Without a doubt, these tribes were not "lost" to themselves. They all know who they are, and they always have! In fact, these tribes have actually been known to many people all along.

They were never really lost. They were simply ignored.

As in virtually every other part of the world, there are people in China who consider themselves to be descendants of the "Lost Tribes" of Israel.

When the Jesuits established a foothold in China in the 17th century, they found no Christians. We know today that Nestorian Christianity was once prevalent in China (as it also once was in India). But, as has often been the case in Christian history, the Nestorians, like other sects branded "heretical" by the Catholic Church, had long since been absorbed into Islam, whose view of Christ was closer to their own than was the view of the Catholic Church.

Thus, the Jesuits found Muslims in China, but no Christians. But, when they reached the city of Kaifeng in Honan Province, they found, to their astonishment, a well-established community of Jews!

These Jews knew the Old Testament, but not the Talmud. They had never even heard of Jesus Christ. These facts established them as a very ancient community.

In fact, there turned out to be several Jewish communities in China at that time, all very ancient. Among the Jews themselves, there was no doubt that they were descendants of the "Lost Tribes". All efforts by the Catholic Church to convert these Jews to Christianity failed. Their religious beliefs were so deeply ingrained that they had survived 2000 years of Confucianist, Taoist, and Buddhist encroachment, and the Catholic Church could not touch them.

By far, the most famous of the Chinese Jewish communities was that of Kaifeng. The historical records (mainly a few stone inscriptions) and the legends of the people themselves showed without much doubt that the community dated back at least to the period following the First Jewish Diaspora of 600 BC. Not long afterwards, two major changes occurred in China. The first of these changes was political: Kaifeng (called, at that time, Ta-liang) became the capital of the Wei Dynasty, which controlled most of what we call China today.

The dominance of the city of Kaifeng was perhaps due mainly to canals which the Wei built to connect China's main waterways. Whether Jewish trade along the Silk Road helped establish Kaifeng's economic strength, or whether, conversely, Jews were drawn to the city because of its strong economy, would be impossible to say 2600 years later.

The second major change which took place shortly after the arrival of the Jews was much more important to the history of China, and of the world. This was the sudden appearance of Confucianism and Taoism.

I admit, unhesitatingly, that there is not a shred of evidence directly linking these two monumental religious/philosophical developments to Jews. I myself do not believe, for a moment, that Confucius took "Jew lessons", any more than I believe that Zoroaster did, or that the Hindu Brahmans did. Yet, in all three instances, and in the other instances which I have listed previously, the changes occurred shortly after the arrival of the Jews. The mathematical probabilities involved (derived in the preceding chapter of this book) seem to me to prove, almost unequivocally, that the influence of the Jews was somehow causative.

Concerning the physical mechanism of causation, we may never know. But, somehow, the presence of Jews, arriving with their terrifying stories, and with their lamentations and repentances, must have created an atmosphere such that certain of the Chinese people suddenly become receptive to the Spirit of God, Whom they set out to seek in new ways. The most enduring and widespread of these new ways were the philosophy of Confucius and the religion of Lao-Tzu (Taoism).

When one examines the principles of Confucius and Lao-Tzu, the evidence of the work of the Hand of God becomes evident. Confucius is discussed elsewhere in this Web Site. Let us look now at the work of Lao-Tzu.

Confucius' religion was what eventually came to be known as Taoism. The texts of Taoist thought are highly mystical in content, but short on attention to the social matters which form the backbone of the teachings of Confucius. Therefore, it is natural that Confucianism and Taoism have existed side-by-side in China for 2600 years. They complement one another.

The major text, or "bible", of Taoism is the Tao Tê Ching, which appeared at about the same time as the Bhagavad Gita appeared in India. The authorship of the Tao Tê Ching is credited to one Lao-tsu, about whom essentially nothing is known except his dates. Chinese tradition holds him to be a contemporary of Confucius. Thus, his ministry occurred in the years following the First Jewish Diaspora.

Taoism, like Buddhism, avoids referring to the ultimate reality in a personal manner. The "Tao" is the natural order of things in the universe; literally "the Way". The Tao Tê Ching is one of the most concerted efforts to describe the indescribable which has ever been undertaken. Consider this passage, from Chapter 1 of the book:

Like Buddhists, Taoists teach that there is a single all-encompassing reality behind the universe, and that establishing a relationship to it necessitates the removal of desire.

I hope that many readers of this Web Site will be interested in learning more about the principles of Taoism. Because they are, from a Westerner's point of view, similar to the principles of Buddhism and Hinduism, we shall not review them in any detail here. The most important aspect of Taoism to keep in mind is that which we have already noted: the indivisibility of the ultimate reality, and the necessity of removing desire to attain to Taoist wisdom.

If there is anything else in the Tao Tê Ching which ought to be brought to the attention of Western eyes, it is surely Chapter 63:

Thus, we find that the principle of returning evil with kindness was known in China 600 years before Jesus. If the Hand of God is not conceded to be evident in the simultaneous appearance of Buddha, Confucius, and Lao Tsu, all in the years shortly following the Jewish Diaspora, then who's hand was it?

The subject of Jews in Africa is discussed in the parts of this Web Site which deal with Islam. To make a long story short, it is well-documented that northern and sub-Saharan Africa formerly contained large Jewish populations which dated back to the Diaspora of 600 BC. It is difficult to doubt that this Jewish heritage was what made it possible for the armies of Islam to "conquer" Africa so easily. The ancient, pre-Talmudic Judaism being practiced there was so similar to Islam anyway, that there was little "conquering" necessary.

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