Haplogroup J2(b2) and Romans.
The small hotspot in North West Europe on the left in the J2b2 map seems to be situated around the now French town of Bologne-Sur-Mer, in Roman times known as Gesoriacum, the port Portus Itius was believed to be situated there. The bigger hotspot on the right seems to have its center between the river Meuse and the Rhine. This area was heavily Romanized with dozens of fortresses and/or towns (many are not shown on this map), most notably the Dutch city of Nijmegen (In Roman times called Noviomagus), the German city of Koln in Roman times know as Colonia Agrippina (which was the largest Roman city north of the Alps), the Belgian town of Tongeren in Roman times called Atuatuca, the modern German city of Xanten with its fortress Castra Vetera and the modern German City of Neuss in Roman times called Novaesium. The last 2 seems to be right in the center of the J2b2 Hotspot.
J2a members with Xanten derived surnames like Santen are also reported in these areas. While most agree that the name of the city is derived from an executed Roman soldier from the Theban legion who later became a saint, there are those who connect its name to the river god Scamandros/Xanthos who dwelled near the river Scamander in the vicinity of Troy. There is also a river named Xanthus in Anatolia.
All major Roman settlements north of Mainz (Britain excluded) are located in the 2 J2b2 areas. Many Roman legions were stationed in this area over the years, for instance; Legio V Alaudae, Legio XX Valeria Victrix, Legio X Gemina, Legio IV Macedonica and Ala I Thracum an auxiliary unit with Thracian Horsemen. It is known that the Romans used the Balkans as a major recruiting area for legionnaires and there are artifacts known that suggest some of these legionairs settled in the Rhineland after their military service was completed. Interesting also are the references to Troy in this region which include; The Trojan heritage claimed by the Dukes of Kleve, The Roman history writer Tacitus who tells of Greek inscriptions at the fortress of Asciburgium connected to Odysseus (just like the Portuguese city Lisbon), and the Frankish Trojan origin myth regarding the Sicambri tribe.
"De R1b-Nederlanders zijn waarschijnlijk vanuit het Iberisch schiereiland (Spanje/Portugal) in ons land terechtgekomen, terwijl haplogroep I Scandinavisch (Noormannen of Friezen?) bloed in de aderen heeft. Nog een aardigheidje voor Oost-Brabant: daar is een relatieve concentratie van haplogroep J gevonden. Volgens genetisch genealogen zijn die mensen waarschijnlijk nazaten van de oude Romeinen, gelegerd in Noviomagus (Nijmegen) of rond Locus Paludosus (De Peel)."
Artikel/Boekrecensie "Zonen van Adam in Nederland", Eindhovens Dagblad dinsdag 03 februari 2009.
"R1b3 komt vooral voor op de zandgronden in het binnenland en I aan de kust. Het voorkomen van J houdt mogelijk verband met de Romeinse tijd. Zij komen m.n. voor in Noord-Oost Brabant, waar het Romeinse leger nog lang aanwezig is geweest. Wellicht dat ook het voorkomen van de haplogroepen G en E hiermee verband houden."
Project Genetische Genealogie 2008, Website Nederlandse Genealogische Vereniging 2011.
"„Ceterum et Ulixen quidam opinantur longo illo et fabuloso errore in hunc Oceanum delatum adisse Germaniae terras, Asciburgiumque, quod in ripa Rheni situm hodieque incolitur, ab illo constitutum nominatumque; aram quin etiam Ulixi consecratam, adiecto Laertae patris nomine, eodem loco olim repertam, monumentaque et tumulos quosdam Graecis litteris inscriptos in confinio Germaniae Raetiaeque adhuc extare.“
Tacitus, Germania.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niederrheinischer_Trojamythos
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanten
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limes
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skamandros
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Ancient Tartessos was an old harbor city/trading post mentioned first in Greek sources from about the middle of the first millennium BC. Greeks and Phoenicians competed to gain influence in the Tartessos region. The area was rich in metals. A Tartessian king with the name Arganthonios is known to have invited a Greek group of Phocaeans (close to Troy, Xanthus and Phrygia) to settle in his city. He also gave them large amounts of silver to pay for defensive measures for the Phocaeans homeland in Asia Minor. Greek trading posts are believed to have existed in this region, like Portus Menesthei which surprisingly enough is linked to a Trojan myth regarding the settlement of the Trojan king Menestheus in Iberia. Lisbon on the edge of the J2b2 heatmap area in Portugal has an origin myth connected to Odysseus, just like the Rhineland fortress of Asciburgium. Tartessos is believed by some to be the legendary city of Atlantis. It is in this region that the Pillars of Hercules are located and here Hercules/Heracles stole the Cattle of Geryon as one of his Ten Labours. It is the home of the Spanish cult of the Bull as much as Knossos, was the home of the Minoan cult of the Bull. Tartessos was probably destroyed by Cathagians, but recent finds also show a flood event at the time of its disappearance from history. The Conii or Cynetes are a group of people we find in the Algarve region in Roman times after the fall of Tartessos. While they lived in Celtic areas it is Herodotus who distinguished them from the Celts. The Conii were allied to Rome. Several Roman cities existed in the region. A retirement settlement for Roman legionnaires from the Legions V Alaudae (also present in Xanten, Rhineland and Dacia, Balkans) and X Gemina (also present in the Rhineland and the Balkans) was built at Merida (Emerito Augusta). Biblical archeologists often identify the place-name Tarshish in the Hebrew Bible with Tartessos, though others connect it to Tarsus in Anatolia (see Anatolia/Asia Minor Cluster) or other places as far as India. (See entry for Jonah in the Jewish Encyclopedia.) Tarshish, like Tartessos, is associated with extensive mineral wealth (Iberian Pyrite Belt)." While the origins of the Tartessians remains unknown, it is known they were in contact with ancient Greeks (Phocaeans) who even seem to have settled in the region, based on that fact it seems possible for the J2b2`s in the Portugal region to have Greek ancestry. Another origin possibility for the J2b2s in this region would be the settlement of Roman legionnaires with Thracian, Macedonian or Greek ancestry, from the same stock that would populate the Rhineland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartessos
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartessian_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lissabon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerita_Augusta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynetes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phocaea
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odysseus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arganthonios
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legio_V_Alaudae
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legio_X_Gemina
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The Northern hotspot in Anatolia on the J2b2 heatmap corresponds to the territory of the ancient Bithynians and Phrygians. The Bithynians are immigrants to Asia Minor from the Balkans, their original homeland is situated in Thrace were they were called the Thyni. Phrygians (ca. 1200 - 700 BC) are also ancient immigrants to Anatolia from the Balkans (Macedonia) were they were originally known as the Bryges. The Phrygians were allied to Troy and participated in the Trojan wars. Phrygians are also known for the Gordian Knot legend which together with their Macedonian ancestry links them to Alexander the Great and for their Phrygian Cap which would be the hat the god Mithras (popular with Roman Legionnaires) is wearing. Herodotus claims the Phrygians founded the Armenian Nation. Both areas were also Roman provinces. The origin history of the people/region in the south of Asia Minor is slightly harder to connect directly to the Balkans/Greece but it is situated roughly were we find the Hellenized Armenian Seleucid Kingdom(s) of Commagene and Sophene, and on a side note the ancient site of Gobekli Tepe wich by some is believed to be the original garden of Eden. The Commagene dynasty claimed ties with Alexander the Great (Macedonia) and Antiochus I Theos of Commagene was allied to the Roman general Pompey. Anatolia in general is also the place where we find the city of Troy, the river Xanthus and the city of Tarsus. Anatolia was part of the Roman empire for about 15 centuries. (Roman Empire + Byzantium) While it’s possible that the J2b2`s found in Anatolia, immigrated to Asia minor as Roman Soldiers (recruited from Thrace and/or Macedon) or have some form of Greek heritage, they seem to be especially linked to Bithynians and Phrygians whose origins are documented by Greek historians like Herodotus to be situated in the Balkans (Macedonia & Thrace).
"Several authors have proposed that the Indo-European language presently spoken by Armenians arose during the Bronze Age, when Indo-European speaking tribes from the Balkans and Greece invaded Anatolia and Transcaucasia, leading to the subsequent spread of their culture and language. In this study, we have detected a number of lineages that are prominent in the Balkans (I2*, I2b*, J2b1 and J2b2) at low levels throughout Ararat Valley, Gardman and Lake Van, the latter of which also contains haplogroups commonly associated with Bronze Age Greece (ie, J2a8-M319 (4.9%), and E1b1b1-M78 and its sublineages (3.9%)). While this may suggest genetic input from early Greek or Phrygian tribes, it is also possible that these low levels of Balkan lineages arrived in Armenia at a later time, such as during one of the many incursions into the area during the reign of the Macedonian, Roman and Byzantine empires."
Neolithic patrilineal signals indicate that the Armenian plateau was repopulated by agriculturalists.
http://www.nature.com/ejhg/journal/v20/n3/full/ejhg2011192a.html
"I-P37 and J-M12 are dated to 1,100BC and 1,200BC, at around the time that e.g. the Phrygians from the Balkans are believed to have migrated to Asia Minor. I-P37 and J-M12 reach their maxima in areas north of Greece where the Phrygians are said to have originated."
How Y-STR variance accumulates: a comment on Zhivotovsky, Underhill and Feldman (2006)
http://dienekes.blogspot.nl/2008/07/how-y-str-variance-accumulates-comment.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygians
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bithynia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seleucid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commagene
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophene
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scamander
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarsus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthus