I hear what you're saying, but I doubt they were the first. Most widespread and longest lasting.. For sure!!

@scurry Their whole story sounds like a cover-up for what we would call terrorism today.

I don't think they were an army, were they??

@scurry Even the army they had (which had been wiped out by the Assyrians) was a disorganized mob.... The Jews (who weren't even Jews yet) who were ejected from Palestine in 722 BCE weren't even a mob so they had to invent their new religion in order to gain some kind of social cohesion. I guess worshipping stone fertility symbols just wasn't cutting it for them....

@Lizard_of_Ahaz.." I actually got left behind by the group because I went to take a shortcut as a kid in Yosemite Park and had to walk 10 miles back to camp... "

Aka... You were lost

@Cutiebeauty No I knew exactly where I was at all times.... I was blocked by a canyon and climbing down a few hundred feet then back up the other side would have taken longer than backtracking .... I wasn't lost I was merely separated from the group.... I even made it back to camp without asking for directions after riding most of those 10 miles in a car. If the canyon hadn't been in my path the direct path I was planning I would have arrived at least 30 minutes before the rest of the group at the parking lot. Keep in mind I was about 10 at the time.

@Lizard_of_Ahaz "I wasn't lost I was merely separated from the group.... I even made it back to camp without asking for directions"

So clueless...

@Cutiebeauty "So clueless..."
At this time I will have to agree that you are.... Being lost means you don't know where you are or how to get where you are going.... I knew both those things so technically I was NOT lost...

@Cutiebeauty lost adjective

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\ ˈlȯst
\
Definition of lost

1 : not made use of, won, or claimed a lost opportunity
2a : no longer possessed a lost reputation
b : no longer known a lost tunnel
3 : ruined or destroyed physically or morally : desperate a lost soul
4a : taken away or beyond reach or attainment : denied regions lost to the faith
b : insensible, hardened lost to shame
5a : unable to find the way
b : no longer visible lost in the crowd
c : lacking assurance or self-confidence : helpless lost without his glasses
6 : rapt, absorbed lost in reverie
7 : not appreciated or understood : wasted their jokes were lost on me
8 : obscured or overlooked during a process or activity lost in translation
9 : hopelessly unattainable : futile a lost cause

[merriam-webster.com]

@Lizard_of_Ahaz typical man explanation...

Duh.. Honey, I ain't lost... It's just over the next mountain top...

@Cutiebeauty If that was what I said at any time in my life it would have been absolutely correct... With most people male or female it would have been 3000 miles in the other direction....