The Phœnician origin of Britons, Scots & Anglo-Saxons : discovered by Phœnician & Sumerian inscriptions in Britain, by preroman Briton coins & a mass of new history : with over one hundred illustrations and maps

408 PH@NICIAN ORIGIN OF BRITONS & SCOTS

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Nyendi”’ ;: and the ‘ Tri-Novantes ”’ of Cesar are called “* Tvi-Noantes by Ptolemy and Tacitus,* ‘‘ Tyoia,’’ the old Greek and Gothic name for the capital city of the Trojans could become “ 7yi’’ in British dialect, as seen in the Old English form of the word “ Trifle ’’ being spelt “* Trofle,’* and “ Tryst’’ is a variant of “ Trust.’’ Indeed, the Gothic form of “ Tyoia-Ny ’° for this ““ Tri-Novantum ” title of early London appears to be preserved in a Norse Edda which mentions ““ Tvoe-Noey’’ along with “ Hedins-eyio ’’ or Edin-burgh,* as furnishing a contingent fleet of “ longheaded ships ’’ for raiding their joint enemy, the Huns.°

As regards “‘ Tri-Novantum”’ as a traditional name for early ‘“ London,” it is remarkable that no modern writer, nor even Geoffrey or Nennius, appears hitherto to have equated that name to the well-known historical title of “ Zvi-Novantes’’ for the pre-Roman British people described by Cesar as occupying the Essex or north bank of the Thames estuary, including obviously the site of London City.

Czsar nowhere mentions the name London, for the obvious reason to be seen presently. The name “‘London’”’ for the British “ Lud-dun”’ or ** Fort Lud ’’ of the Cymric records is first mentioned in Roman history by Tacitus in 61 A.D., who described it as “‘ the most celebrated centre of busy commerce,’’*and he refers to it in such a way as to imply its timeimmemorial existence as a city. And the historian Ammianus Marcellinus, of the fourth century, calls London (Londinium) “ an ancient town towards which Cesar marched,’’? thus clearly implying that the ancient city was im existence in Cesar’s day.

The reason why Cesar did not mention “ Tri-Novantum” city, or *“London,”’ appears to be because he obviously did not pass through that city ; and he was not in the habit of mentioning places unnecessarily in his very laconic journal ; and he does not even mention the names of the place or places where he landed and re-embarked on his two expeditions, nor the name of Cassivellaunus’ stronghold, although it was the most important place which he stormed, and described by Czsar as “ admirably fortified,’’ and the culminating place of victory in his British war—a fort which has been fairly well identified with Verulam at St. Albans.

Cesar’s avoidance of the capital city of the Tri-Novantes, or London, in his hurried brief campaign is apparent, it seems to me, from his own narrative. He states that at his second invasion of the S.E. corner of Britain, the Tn-Novantes were at war with Cassivellaunus, his chief enemy, and the paramount king of the Britons and leader of the confederated tribes,® and whose personal territory extended northwards from the north bank of the Thames, excluding the province of the Tri-Novantes, which

comprised the petty kingdom now known as the eastern portion of Middlesex and Essex. Cassivellaunus, according to Czesar’s information, had slain the king of the Tri-Novantes some time previously, and the son of the latter, Mandubracius, had fled fer protection and assistance to Cesar in Gaul, and was accompanying Cesar in his invasion and supplying him with auxiliary troops and information, so that he is called in the Weish 7 riads “ the betrayer of his country:”

When Cesar, with his veteran army of 30,000 infantry, besides cavalry, after driving back Cassivellaunus and his raw confederate forces from Kent to the Thames, forced the passage of the Thames at its lowest

1“ Troia™ was the old Greek name for the old capital city of the Trojans and that identical name forit is used in the Norse sagas of the thirteenth century (V.1LD., 642) ; and Ny and Niuiis are the Gothic originals of the modern English “‘New”’ in the Eddas and in Ulflas* Gospel translations, corresponding to the Greek Neos, the Sanskrit Nava and Latin Novus.

* Tacitus, Annals, 14, 31.

* Piers the Plowman’s Crede, 352; Morte <Arthure, ed. Brock, 2932.

* Edinburgh was already called “Fert Edin” or “Fort Eden” (Dun-Edin or Dun-Eden) before the advent of the Anglo- “Saxons, see S.C.P., cxlii and 10.

5 ** Helga-kvida Hundings Bana,” see Edda, (N), x 30, and V.P., 1, 134,

§ Annals, 14, 33,1. 7 ACM 1.H., 27,8,7. *D.B.G., 5, 5