Thank you for your kind words, and thanks for asking such fascinating questions. There is a lot to be said about all that you asked. As you know, Jacob had 12 sons: Reuben, Shimon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Joseph and Benjamin. Jacob blessed Joseph's sons that they should be like Reuben and Shimon, meaning Ephraim and Menashe were elevated to the status of Tribes. Thus, there were a total of 13 tribes but only 12 inherited the Land, since the tribe of Levi was given special Levite cities scattered throughout the rest of the tribes. Around 1000 BCE, Saul, David, and Solomon reigned. Two hundred years later around 800 BCE, the Kingdom split in two. The Northern Kingdom was ruled by Yerovam of Ephraim, and contained 9 tribes. The Southern Kingdom was ruled by Rehavam of Judah, and contained the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Shimon.
The Tribes of the Northern Kingdom were exiled in three stages. In approximately 600 BCE, Pekach who ruled the northern kingdom invited Rezin, the non-Jewish King of Aram, to wage war against Achaz, who ruled the Southern Kingdom. Achaz then aligned with Tiglat-pileser of Assyria who defeated Rezin and invaded the northernmost part of Israel, exiling Dan, Naphtali, Asher and Zebulon (II Kings 16:1-9). At that time, Hoshea killed Pekach and ruled the remaining tribes of the north for ten years until a new king of Assyria, Shalmanesser, invaded the tribes east of the Jordan River, exiling half of Menashe, Gad and Reuben (ibid 17:1-3). After another ten years, Hoshea rebelled against Assyria and Shalmanesser invaded a second time, exiling the rest of Menashe, Issachar and Ephraim (ibid 17:4-6). [Some of Levi was exiled with the northern Kingdom; while Judah, Benjamin, Shimon and some of Levi were exiled to Babylon some 130 years later.]
Where were the Tribes exiled? "The King of Ashshur (Assyria) carried Israel away into Ashshur, and placed them in Chalach [Iraq] and in Chavor by the river of Gozan [Syria] and in the cities of the Maday [Iran]" (II Kings 17:6). In addition to Assyria, they were also exiled through Egypt to Patros on the southern Nile, and Cush [Ethiopia] (Isaiah 11:11). The Talmud also says the tribes were exiled to both Africa and to the mountains of selug (snow), quite possibly referring to Ethiopia and to the mountains of western Iran (Sanhedrin 94b). Similarly, the famous Jewish historian of Roman times, Josephus Flavius wrote, "The Ten Tribes are beyond the Euphrates until this day, and are an immense multitude whose numbers cannot be estimated" (Antiquities 11:33).
The Midrash (Breishet Rabba 73:6) says the tribes were exiled beyond the River Sambatyon. Sambatyon in Greek means the River of Shabbat, since all week it flows with tremendous turbulence, and on the Sabbath it rests. Turnus Rufus once asked Rabbi Akiva, "How do you know your reckoning of the Sabbath is correct? Rabbi Akiva answered, "The River Sambatyon proves it (Sanhedrin 65b). A Jewish explorer of the 900's, Eldad of the tribe of Dan, claimed to have seen the Sambatyon: It "still rolls boulders and sand without water, with a great tremor and roar, such that if it collided with a mountain of iron it would pulverize it. The river flows this way all six days of the week, rolling boulders and sand without any water, and on the Sabbath it rests. When the sun sets Friday evening, a cloud descends upon the river, and no man is able to come near it until the end of the Sabbath." Eldad identified the river in Africa between Sudan and Ethiopia, while Rabbi Samuel of Tzangoli said it's in Egypt. Others claimed it's in the East: Rabbi Menashe ben Israel (Mikve Israel) said it's near the Caspian Sea in Iran, while Rabbi Avraham Pritzel (Orchot Olam) said it's the Ganges River in India.
Another Jewish traveler, Benjamin of Tudelo (Spain c. 1165) related, "There are men of Israel in the land of Persia who say that in the
