What is the earliest evidence of contact between Ireland and Egypt?

Question

There is a folk tale of an Egyptian princess in Ireland around 1700 BC. Is there credible evidence of early contact between the two places?

Answer 1

I haven't heard of a connection between Ireland and Egypt, but I have heard of Vikings making it to Greece closer to 1200 BC. I didn't see much about it on Wikipedia, but this article by Ellis Peterson is pretty reflective of what I had heard in a history class several years ago. He describes a Viking invasion at a time when the Greeks were weak.

If the Vikings could do it, I could see arguments that the Egyptians and Irish could as well. Still, it seems a little far-fetched that either the Irish or the Egyptians would accomplish it 500 years before the Vikings, who were renown for their abilities on the sea.

Edit:

Alright, I tried googling "Irish Egyptian connection" and anything that actually referenced pre-Christian times also mentioned "Scota" or "Scotia" (the Egyptian princess from the folktale.) I also noticed that all of sites were outside of what one would consider standard academic history.

1. This was the first one I looked at, and by the time I got to this passage, I stopped reading:

I know from my own intuitive experiences that more of the story of Scota and the Egyptian connection to the Celts will indeed by revealed. On the Summer Solstice of 2006, I had this dream about Tara and its importance as a sacred site to the healing of our world, of finding unity amongst our current state of chaos.

I had no interest in reading about Ms. Adams' dream. I'm looking for actual historical evidence. Earlier, though, she talks about 1950s archeologist Dr. Sean O’Riordan who found the skeleton of young prince at Tara in Ireland. On the body, he found a necklace with "faience beads". The following year, they were carbon-dated to 1350 BC, and J. F. Stone and L. C. Thomas (she doesn't explain who they are), stated that the beads were Egyptian, "identical" to the type of beads found on King Tut.

2. My next hit was this forum for fans of a paranormal radio station. The highlights I noticed were mentions of the Berbers, who were apparently fair-skinned and fair-haired, connected to the Scottish, and (at some point) kings (pharaohs, maybe?) in Egypt.

3. Then I found this blog by Walter Bower, who keeps calling us "Earth Pilgrims". I have no idea what those are, but it gave me the same vibe as the previous two paranormal sites. He mentions Ralph Ellis, who is apparently a real expert on Egypt without being a stuffy actual historian. Maybe he's credible. Maybe he's not. I don't know. But Bower cites Ellis' work with more mentions of the special beads and the same quote from Stone and Thomas, but without the citation.

4. Next was this site which opened with these two sentences:

It has not gone unnoticed that the history of the Celtic and Gaelic races is replete with motifs of magic and mysticism. But those who are conversant with the various myths have been significantly more hesitant to accept that there are, behind the façade of faerie folklore, evidences of super-technologies which would, if existent, have rivaled and even surpassed anything manufactured in our own Silicon Age.

Maybe I'm too entrenched in limits of historical academia, but I'm pretty much gave up on this one when I got to "super-technologies." But there is this short bit regarding the actual Irish-Egyptian connection:

After the legendary [Tuatha] de Danaans [basically, the Irish Olympians] came the Milesians headed by king Mil. His consort was Scota, daughter of an Pharaoh Akhenaton. Her name is commemorated in Scotland. The connection between Ireland and Egypt has been consciously avoided by most modern historians. Ireland was, in fact, the destination of first of Pharaoh of the first dynasty, King Menes, whose grave was found, strangely enough, in Derry.

Again, more mention of Scota and more mention of real historians being jerks who won't think outside the box.

5. The last site I wasted my time on was pretty much more of the same. Ralph Ellis pops up again. We hear again that Menes, the first pharaoh, was buried in Ireland. I did also see the name Thoth cited. The very first site is "book-of-thoth.com", but I kind of breezed by that. I guess The History of Thoth: The Atlantean is a collection of ancient tablets. I'm not sure how credible they are, though.

And that's as far as I got before my toddler woke up from her nap. :) I think there's some decent evidence to support a connection. I'm not sure how much truth exists in the story of Scota, but it sounds like there's at least a grain of it. Too bad you have to sift through a lot of crap to find much hard evidence.

Answer 2

In "Ptolemy's map of Ireland: a modern decoding,"* R. Darcy and William Flynn discuss Claudius Ptolemy's Geographia, a map (among many other things) mentioning what is believed to be Ireland, dating back to the early second century. Wiki says 140 AD but I could find no other source to corroborate that claim-- but logic suggests Ptolemy made Geographia in his life time, roughly AD 90 to AD 168. Note that although Claudius Ptolemy was of Greek origin, he lived and wrote in Egypt.

Based on these examples, the earliest documented connection between Egypt and Ireland is the early second century. Darcy and William make the point that because there is documentary evidence, including a map, that that knowledge would take time to acquire-- so the first connection between Ireland and Egypt may stretch closer to the first century.

_{*(Irish Geography, Vol. 41, No. 1 March 2008, pp. 49-69)}

Answer 3

The Faddan More Psalter, dating from around 800 AD, found in a bog in Ireland, is lined with papyrus, leading to suggestions of links between the early Irish Christian Church and the Middle Eastern Coptic Church.