Scotland's past links with Ancient Egypt

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SCOTLAND'S PAST LINKS WITH ANCIENT EGYPT

According to the ancient Scots Chronicles the origin of the Scottish people, at least in part, derives from the Pharaonic lineage of an Egyptian princess named Scota, who may have lived around 1500 B.C. The old Irish Annals support this same tradition saying that Scota came to Ireland, via Spain, from Egypt. Even today the placename Glen Scota traditionally records her presence in Ireland. Subsequently descendants of Scota migrated to Scotland around 300 B.C. from whence came the Scots royal lineage.

The feasibility of Egyptian travel to the British Isles in ancient times is borne out by modern archaeological findings. This occurred in 1937 when two Egyptian sailing ships, dated to around 1400 B.C., were discovered in a Yorkshire estuary, on the north west coast of England. Moreover, Egyptian faience beads dating from the same period have been found in Scotland and other parts of the British Isles.

The old Scots Chronicles also record that during the 2nd century B.C. certain "Egyptian philosophers" (probably from the Egyptian mystery temples) came to Scotland to advise the Scots King of the period. They were able to divine for him where certain metal ores were located in the land by studying the movement of the stars. It seems likely that these Egyptian philosophers would have associated with the Druid magi, some of whom were in attendance as advisors to the ancient Scottish Royal families.

During the early centuries A.D. the Celtic monks in the British Isles, much of whose tenets were rooted in a pre-Christian Druid tradition, saw Egypt as the true holy land rather than Palestine due to the ascetic Desert Father tradition established there which they sought to follow and emulate. Hence we find in Scotland, and Ireland, a number of dysarts (desert) placenames which record monastic settlements and retreats founded on the Egyptian anchorite model.

So the historical links between Scotland and Egypt are fairly well established and provide an interesting sidelight to our knowledge of the ancient past.

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