Fragmenta sepulchralia. A glimpse of the sepulchral and early monumental remains of Great Britain ... / An unpublished fragment.

  • Matthew Bloxam
Date:
[1840-1850]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Fragmenta sepulchralia. A glimpse of the sepulchral and early monumental remains of Great Britain ... / An unpublished fragment. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Though the period cannot be precisely ascertained when the Phoenicians first traded to Britain, ^ it was undoubtedly very early; since it is described by Heca- teus, an ancient Greek historian, who fiourished five centuries before the Christian' era, as an island situate in the Ocean, over against the Celtic coast, or Gaul, full as large as Sicily; famous for a magnificent sacred inclo- sure, dedicated to Apollo, (the sun) and a temple re- no’vvned for its riches, and of a circular form. This account, the earliest record perhaps existing respecting Britain, and that remarkable structure Stonehenge, the historian probably received in the first instance from some Phoenician merchant or mariner, who had resorted hither to traffic. From this intercourse the southern Britons became more civilized in their manners than the rest of their countrymen, and adopted many of the customs and reh- gious rites of the Phoenicians, which latter they seem to have engrafted upon, and intermixed with, their own primitive theological doctrines. ^ The Celtic Aborigines appear to have retained quiet possession of the whole of this island, until about 350 years A. C. ^ when an eruption of the Belgse® took place ^ Borlase conjectured the Phoe- nicians to have discovered Britain about six centuries before Christ. Ant. Cornwall, p. 28.—I conceive, however, that the discovery was made much earlier : and that the rude stone circles in Cornwall, and elsewhere, which bear a close ana- logy with those described by Moses, Exod. xxiv. 4. Deut. xii. 3., were the most ancient Druidical temples, and of Phoenician origin ; and that Stonehenge was erected under the superintendence of some skilful Phoenicians at a later, though still very early, period, when they had acquired a knowledge of the powers of mechanism, and hewing of im- mense stones, for which, even in the days of Solomon, they were re- nowned. From the Sabian idolatry, in- troduced by the Phoenicians, blend- ed with the worship of the ark, ori- ginated the Helio-arkite mysteries. ^ Richard of Cirencester. ® The Belgic Gauls have been considered as the descendants of the Scythians, who about 600 years A. C. entered Europe, drove the Cimerian or Celtic race before them, and gradually extended their conquests over Germany and a part of Gaul, from whence they invaded Britain.—Herodotus. Davies’ Cel- tic Researches. Turner’s History of the Anglo-Saxons.
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