The Ten Lost Tribes

The concept of the Ten Lost Tribes dates back to the exile of the Israelite kingdom in 722 BCE. Whereas the progeny of the tribes of Judea, Judah, and Benjamin were eventually permitted to return to their lands, there are, curiously, no biblical records regarding the whereabouts of the ten northern tribes. Ben-Dor Benite's insightful analysis reveals a direct link between the search for the Tribes and the rise of geographical knowledge, shedding new light on the theological dimension associated with the emergence of modern consciousness, and the theological crisis associated with the age of discoveries. The theme of the absent land and the peculiar myth of the Tribes provide the historian with a unique prism to analyze the many-faceted aspects of encounters between cultures and the processes of colonization.