Spartans: Descendants of Abraham? The Hebrew Connection

In my article, Jew and Greek: Rethinking Gentile Identity in the NewTestament, I explored the historical connections between the Jewish people and the Greeks. However, I had not yet uncovered what may be an even more intriguing connection to one particular Greek city-state: the legendary city of Sparta.

The Spartans have an unusual place in this discussion. Unlike the Greeks who were directly involved in the Seleucid persecution of the Jews under Antiochus IV Epiphanes, Sparta appears in an entirely different historical context. Ancient writings preserve a remarkable tradition in which the Spartans and the Jews regarded one another as relatives, claiming descent from a common ancestor: Abraham, the father of Isaac.

But the connection may extend even further. There are ancient genealogical traditions connecting Abraham's descendants through Keturah to Hercules, the legendary ancestor of the Spartan royal houses. Additionally, some intriguing biblical observations have led to the possibility that members of the tribe of Simeon may have contributed to the ancestry of the Spartan people.

At first glance, these connections may seem farfetched, perhaps even an attempt to associate the Hebrews with one of the most iconic warrior societies of the ancient world. However, there are scriptural passages, historical writings, and genealogical traditions worth examining.

Let's investigate.

Jonathan Maccabee and King Areus' Letters

Following the deaths of Mattathias and his son Judah Maccabee, leadership of Judea eventually passed to Jonathan Maccabee, who also assumed the office of High Priest. During his leadership, Jonathan sought to establish diplomatic relations with Sparta.

In 1 Maccabees, we find a remarkable letter addressed to the Spartans:

"Jonathan the High Priest, the national council of leaders, the priests, and the rest of the people of Judea, to our brothers in Sparta, greetings." (1 Maccabees 12:6)

Notice the language Jonathan uses. He does not simply address the Spartans as allies or acquaintances. He calls them brothers.

Why?

Jonathan's letter goes on to reference an earlier correspondence from King Areus of Sparta to Onias the High Priest:

"King Arius of Sparta to Onias the High Priest, greetings. We have found a document about the Spartans and the Jews indicating that we are related and that both our nations are descended from Abraham." (1 Maccabees 12:20–21)

According to this letter, King Areus had discovered an earlier document identifying a common ancestry between the Spartans and the Jewish people.

Flavius Josephus also preserves this correspondence in Antiquities of the Jews:

"Areus, King Of The Lacedemonians, To Onias, Sendeth Greeting. We have met with a certain writing, whereby we have discovered that both the Jews and the Lacedemonians are of one stock, and are derived from the kindred of Abraham. It is but just therefore that you, who are our brethren, should send to us about any of your concerns as you please. We will also do the same thing, and esteem your concerns as our own, and will look upon our concerns as in common with yours..." (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 12.4.11-12)

This is an extraordinary claim. A Greek king was reportedly acknowledging Abraham as the common ancestor of his people and the Jewish nation.

The Jewish response is equally fascinatingsting. Jonathan explains that the Jews had remembered the Spartans during their festivals and prayers:

"Throughout the years we have taken every opportunity, on our festival days and other suitable days, to remember you when we have offered our sacrifices and made our prayers, as it is fitting and proper for brothers to do." (1 Maccabees 12:11)

This suggests that the relationship was not merely a diplomatic courtesy. The correspondence presents the Spartans as a people whom the Jews regarded as their brothers.

Historians continue to debate the authenticity and interpretation of these letters. Nevertheless, Josephus preserves additional documentary details that have led recent scholars to reconsider the possibility that the correspondence originated from genuine historical records.

Whatever the final historical verdict, the tradition of an Abrahamic relationship between Sparta and Judea is firmly preserved in ancient literature.

The Origin of the Spartans: The Abrahamic Connection

Unfortunately, the original document King Areus reportedly discovered has not survived. We cannot identify it with certainty.

However, there is another ancient source that may shed light on the genealogical tradition he referenced.

Josephus, while discussing the descendants of Abraham and Keturah, references the writings of Alexander Polyhistor, who quotes an otherwise lost work attributed to Cleodemus Malchus.

Josephus records the following:

"And indeed Alexander Polyhistor gives his attestation to what I here say; who speaks thus: Cleodemus the prophet, who was also called Malchus, who wrote a History of the Jews, in agreement with the History of Moses, their legislator, relates, that there were many sons born to Abraham by Keturah: nay, he names three of them, Apher, and Surim, and Japhran." (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 1.15)

The account goes on to describe how these descendants of Abraham were associated with Hercules:

"That from the other two (Apher and Japbran) the country of Africa took its name, because these men were auxiliaries to Hercules, when he fought against Libya and Antaeus; and that Hercules married Aphra's daughter." (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 1.15)

Here we have a curious genealogical tradition connecting Abraham's descendants through Keturah with Hercules himself.

According to this account, Hercules married a descendant of Abraham through Apher. This would establish an Abrahamic connection within the legendary genealogy associated with Hercules.

Why is this significant?

According to Greek tradition, the Spartan royal houses were descendants of Hercules, known as the Heracleidae.

Herodotus, the Greek historian often called the Father of History, references this ancestral tradition when discussing the Spartan kings. He specifically identifies Leonidas, the famous king who led the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae, as a descendant of Hercules.

"Leonidas, a descendant of Hercules." (Herodotus, Histories 7.204)

Other contemporary writers, including Apollodorus, Tyrtaeus, Pindar, Isocrates, and Ephorus, preserve traditions connecting the Heracleidae with the Spartan royal lineage.

When these genealogical traditions are considered together, an exciting possibility emerges:

If Abraham's descendants through Keturah were connected to Hercules, and the Spartan royal houses traced their ancestry to Hercules, then the traditions provide a possible genealogical connection between Abraham and Sparta.

Of course, Hercules is traditionally understood as a mythological figure. Whether he originated from an actual historical individual whose accomplishments were magnified through generations is another question entirely.

In my article, Unveiling the Reality Behind Mythological Deities: ARevelation of Ancient Truths, I explore the possibility that mythology may preserve distorted accounts of ancient history.

While this does not establish the historical existence of Hercules or prove the genealogy, it is an interesting tradition worth investigating.

The Origin of the Spartans: The Tribe of Simeon Connection

Another theory worth examining is the possibility that descendants of the tribe of Simeon contributed to the ancestry of the Spartan people.

Unlike the Abrahamic connection preserved in the ancient genealogical traditions, this theory has considerably less historical evidence. Even so, there are some tantalizing biblical observations that make it worth discussing.

When the twelve tribes of Israel departed from Egypt, Scripture records a census of the fighting-age men within each tribe.

Regarding Simeon, we read:

"Of the tribe of Simeon, were fifty-nine thousand three hundred." (Numbers 1:23)

Approximately forty years later, another census was conducted. This time, however, Simeon had experienced a dramatic population decline.

"These are the families of the Simeonites, twenty-two thousand two hundred." (Numbers 26:14)

The tribe had declined from 59,300 fighting-age men to just 22,200. This was a reduction of 37,100 men, making Simeon the smallest tribe in the second census.

No other tribe experienced a comparable numerical decline.

What happened to Simeon?

One possible explanation sometimes considered is that a significant portion of the tribe separated from the rest of Israel following the events recorded in Numbers 25.

During this incident, a Simeonite prince named Zimri was killed by Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest.

The incident occurred while Israel was being led into idolatry and immorality through the women of Moab and Midian.

"Now the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a fathers' house among the Simeonites." (Numbers 25:14)

Zimri openly brought a Midianite woman into the camp, even while the congregation was mourning because of the plague that had fallen upon Israel.

Phinehas responded by taking a spear and killing both Zimri and the woman.

"He went after the man of Israel into the pavilion, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So, the plague was stopped among the children of Israel." (Numbers 25:8)

The plague had claimed 24,000 lives among Israel.

Could this incident have contributed to the decline of Simeon? It is possible, although Scripture does not tell us that the Simeonites subsequently abandoned Israel or migrated elsewhere.

Another peculiar observation is that Simeon is not individually mentioned in Moses' blessings over the tribes in Deuteronomy 33.

Could these circumstances point toward a larger historical development involving the tribe?

We should be careful not to confuse the possibility with established history. Simeon's eventual integration into Judah, reflected in the tribal allotments recorded in Joshua 19:1–9, provides another possible explanation for its diminished identity as a separate tribe. Though it would not explain the drastic population shift number in the book of Numbers.

Nevertheless, there are additional similarities worth examining.

The Warrior Characteristics of Simeon

Before Jacob, also known as Israel, died, he pronounced prophetic words over his sons. His words concerning Simeon and Levi are particularly worth mentioning:

"Simeon and Levi are brothers. Their swords are weapons of violence... Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel." (Genesis 49:5–7)

Jacob's words reference the incident in which Simeon and Levi slaughtered the men of Shechem after the violation of their sister Dinah.

The account is recorded in Genesis 34:

"On the third day, when they were sore, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword, came upon the unsuspecting city, and killed all the males." (Genesis 34:25)

Simeon and Levi demonstrated a willingness to employ extreme violence in response to the violation of their sister. Their actions were so severe that Jacob later condemned their anger and foretold that they would be scattered throughout Israel.

Comparatively, another scriptural work provides a description of Simeon's character.

In the Testament of Simeon, part of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, Simeon describes his own strength and temperament:

"Moreover, I became strong exceedingly; I shrank from no achievement, nor was I afraid of ought. For my heart was hard, and my liver was immovable, and my bowels without compassion." (Testament of Simeon 2:3–4)

This description presents Simeon as a particularly formidable and uncompromising individual.

While these characteristics do not establish a historical relationship with Sparta, they provide a thought-provoking comparison with the warrior culture for which the Spartans became famous.

Did the Spartans Come from Egypt?

There is another historical detail worth considering.

Herodotus makes an interesting statement concerning the ancestry of the Dorian kings:

"If one enumerates their ancestors in succession going back from Danae the daughter of Acrisios, the rulers of the Dorians will prove to be Egyptians by direct descent." (Herodotus, Histories 6.53)

The Dorians were one of the principal Greek peoples associated with Sparta.

Herodotus is discussing the legendary genealogy of the Dorian royal houses, tracing their ancestry through Perseus and Danae. He suggests that following the genealogy further back would reveal Egyptian ancestry.

This is not the same as establishing that the entire Spartan population originated in Egypt. Nonetheless, it is an ancient tradition concerning the ancestry of the Dorian ruling houses.

Recall the earlier account from Josephus concerning Abraham's descendants through Keturah and their association with Hercules.

Could these traditions preserve some distant memory of people connected to Abraham settling in regions surrounding Egypt and eventually becoming associated with the peoples of the Mediterranean?

Could descendants of Simeon have been among those who migrated from the land of Israel?

Conclusion: The Brothers of Judah

Although we cannot definitively establish the precise ancestry of the Spartans, the ancient writings preserve a remarkable tradition connecting Sparta with the Jewish/Hebrew people.

The correspondence recorded in 1 Maccabees and Josephus presents a relationship in which both peoples were identified as descendants of Abraham. Whether the correspondence represents authentic diplomacy, a literary tradition, or a more complicated historical circumstance remains a subject of scholarly debate.

Additionally, the genealogical traditions preserved by Cleodemus Malchus and Alexander Polyhistor provide an interesting connection between Abraham's descendants through Keturah and Hercules, whose legendary descendants included the Spartan royal houses.

The possibility of a Simeonite connection is even more speculative, but the dramatic population decline recorded in Numbers, Jacob's prophecy concerning Simeon and Levi, and the warrior characteristics attributed to Simeon provide additional avenues for investigation.

Perhaps the Spartans were descendants of Abraham through the genealogical traditions surrounding Hercules. Perhaps other connections existed through the scattered tribes of Israel. Or perhaps these accounts preserve a combination of historical memories and legendary traditions that we can no longer fully reconstruct.

Whatever the case, one thing remains true: the ancient tradition of a brotherhood between Sparta and Judea was significant enough to be preserved by both Jewish historians and the writings of antiquity.

Could these legendary warriors have been distant relatives of the Hebrews?

I encourage you to examine the historical records, study the Scriptures, and come to your own conclusions.

Shalom!

P.S.

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