Scots - Scythians?

[LarryUSA]

Hi everyone,

Recently, I was reading one of those British Israel sites, and came across something that said that in the Declaration of Albroath (1320), it declared that the Scots were Scythians, an ancient Western Asian people.

Does anyone know if this is standard Scottish history? What are the facts on this? I'm just curious. This is something new and I hadn't heard it before.

As for the whole British Israel thing and the Lost Ten Tribes, I think it is an intriguing thing to read, but I have no idea if its true. I'll leave that to the historians, but since I read about this particular Scottish item was in a historical document, I was curious about its origin, validity, and if it is part of standard Scottish history, and basically if its true.

Scotland looks like a beautiful country, and I hope to visit someday.

Larry

[ANDY-J]

LarryUSA,
The 7th century Anglo-Saxon historian the venerable Bede states that the Picts were Scythians.The Scots however are traditionally said to be descended from an ancient Egyptian tribe and took their name from a princess called Scotti who supposedly brought the stone of destiny to Scotland.However both of these assertions can probably be taken with a pinch of salt.It was traditional for ancient historians to label any people of unknown origin as Scythians and the Picts were more likely a mixture of native non-Celtic peoples and Celtic immigrants who arrived in the first millenium BC.The declaration of Arbroath was designed to portray the Scots as an ancient race who had the right to sovereignty over their own nation.It was created in order to convince the papacy,among others,that Scotland had a just case in resisting English aggression and therefore a little embellishment and propoganda was employed to make the Scots case more impressive.There is no textual evidence however to support the idea and the Scots,like the Picts were in all probability a product of the great Northward migration of Celtic peoples which occured in the first millenium BC.

[J-J]

Aw,I'm so disappointed.I could have had some real fun with that if it were true.

[Mamie]

no textual evidence exists that it isn't true. Unless of course you were there? Have fun with it anyway(hehe)

[J-J]

It can be fun to see how far these things can go.I love the 'Princess Scotti of Egypt' theory.If it were true it would wipe the smiles off a few faces I know.Just a thought - aren't there similarities between pagan arab and pagab celtic culture and music?Ahhh...could be onto something there.I bet there's a 'Scotti' language too.If there isn't we can always invent one.That's what normally happens in these cases.

[Mamie]

After all the Gunn Clan came from Gunni supposedly and my last name was supposed to originally be Rousay.

Scotti language what alphabet shall we use or shall it be a symbloic language with pictograms or....

[J-J]

As for how it's to be written,I dunno have to think about that.But I've discovered,during my extensive researches this afternoon,that Scotti in it's spoken form still exists(this is taking the easy way out I know - but that's how it's done).The language of the people of Greenock and the Inverclyde region is none other than Scotti.It bears a remarkable resemblance to the early Arabic from which it is derived.Here is an example:
"Ah-watti gotay di'doctoz,Ah-hink a' ghottah diziz-upmah ghenghi"

See what I mean?