The Table of Nations part 4

The Nations of Ham

Ham  The father of the Hamitic nations.  A historian of several hundred years ago commented that Ham and his family were nomads, and that they ignored the true worship of God and invented heathenism, worship of false gods and of Satan.

Sons of Ham

• Cush  The name of Cush (rendered Chus in Josephus) is preserved in Egypt’s hieroglyphic inscriptions as Kush, and refer to the country that lays between the 2nd and 3rd cataracts of the Nile.  Josephus notes that Cush ruled over the Ethiopians and that they are called Cushites.  The land was later known as Nubia.  Additional information on this location is gleaned from the records of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria (681-668 BC), who tells us that he made himself king of Musur, of Paturisi, and of Cush.  Some have claimed also that the name of Cush was perpetuated in that of the Babylonian city of Kish, one of the earliest cities to be built after the Flood.
• Mizraim  A collective name, these people settled in Egypt.  Modern Israelis still use the name for that country.  It is preserved as Msrm in the Ugaritic inscriptions; as Misri in the Amarna tablets; and in the Assyrian and Babylonian records as Musur and Musri respectively.  Modern Arabs still know it as Misr.  Josephus (rendering the name Mesraites) relates that in the Ethiopic War, a well-known incident of the ancient world, some six or seven nations descended from the Mizraim were destroyed.  He lists these as the Ludim, the Anamim, the Lehabim, the Naphtuhim, the Pathrusim, the Casluhim, and the Caphtorim.
• Put  The country where his descendants settled lies in the proximity of Cyrenaica, on the North African coast west of Egypt.  An inscription in the archives of Darius the Great, king of Persia (522-486 BC) confirms their location.  Egyptian records render the name Put or Punt; Josephus renders it Phut.  This land was known as Puta to the Babylonians and as Putiya in Old Persian inscriptions.
• Canaan  The descendants of Canaan settled in the land that was later to be given to Israel.  At the time of the Israelite conquest of Canaan, the population consisted of all the tribes descended from Canaan.  The Greeks and Phoenicians rendered the name Kna’an, the Egyptians Kn’nw and Kyn’n.w. The Assyrians rendered the name Kinnahu and the Hurrians described certain dyed cloths as Kinahne or Canaanite cloth.  In spite of their Hamitic descent, however, the Canaanites spoke a Semitic language.

Sons of Cush

• Sebah  He founded the nation that was later known as the Sabaeans.  Strabo writes of their city of Sabai along with its harbour of Saba, which lay on the west coast of the Arabian peninsula.  Josephus has the same spelling.
• Havilah   This is the Hamitic tribe of Havilah, not to be confused with the Semitic Havilah.  His descendants settled on the east coast of Arabia looking out onto the Persian Gulf.  Their land was known to the pre-Islamic writers as Hawlan, and to Josephus as Evilas.  Kautsch renders the name as Huwailah, and confirms the location of settlement.
• Sabta  Josephus records the name of his descendants as the Sabteni or Sabathes.  Ptolemy knew them as the Saptha, and Pliny called them the Messabathi.  They settled on the eastern side of the Arabian peninsula.  Sabta’s name is also preserved in that of the ancient city of Shabwat (modern Sabota), the capital of the Hadramaut.
• Raamah  We know from the inscriptions of ancient Sheba that Raamah’s descendants settled near to the land of Havilah, and to the east of Ophir.  They are known from other sources to have traded with the children of Zidon in the city of Tyre.  Ptolemy agreed with the Septuagint in the name Ragma, which Josephus rendered Ragmas.  There is still a place called Raamah near Ma’in in southwest Arabia.
• Sabtecha  Identified by Josephus s the Sabactens or Sabactas, his descendants appear to have settles in southern Arabia, the modern Yemen.
• Nimrod  Nimrod was undoubtedly the most notorious man in the ancient world who is credited with instigating the Great Rebellion at Babel, and of founding the very worst features of paganism, including the practice of magical arts, astrology, and even human sacrifice.  Moreover, there is much evidence to suggest that he himself was worshipped from the very earliest times.  His name, for example, was perpetuated in those of Nimurda, the Assyrian god of war; Marduk, the Babylonian king of the gods; and the Sumerian deity Amar-utu.  Nimrod was also worshipped by the Romans under the name of Bacchus, this name derived from Bar-Cush, the son of Cush.  A mountain not far from Ararat has been called Nimrud Dagh (Mount Nimrod) from the earliest times and the ruins of Birs Nimrud bear the remains of what is commonly reputed to be the original Tower of Babel.  The Caspian Sea was once called the Mar de Bachu, or Sea of Bacchus.  One of the chief cities of Assyria was named Nimrud, and the Plain of Shinar was itself known as the Land of Nimrod.  Iraqi and Iranian Arabs still speak his name with awe.

Sons of Mizraim

• Ludim  Seemingly known in later records as the Lubim (which Josephus rendered Ludieim) this people settled on the north coast of Africa and gave their name to the land of Lybia.  They are known to have provided Egypt on more than one occasion with mercenary troops.  The records that tell us this give the Ludim’s name as Lebu.  Otherwise, Josephus records their defeat in the Ethiopic War.
• Anamim  Few occurrences of this name can now be found in the surviving records.  This may be due to the devastations of the Ethiopic War.  However, the Assyrian king, Sargon II, does tell us in his inscriptions of the land of the A-na-mi which lay adjacent to that of Kaptara.  Josephus rendered the name Enemim.
• Lehabim  The Egyptians recorded this name as  ’rbw’ and Josephus as Lybyos, although it is uncertain where they settled.  Some authorities give Lybia as their country.  This people were destroyed in the Ethiopic War.
• Naphtuhim  This people are known to have settled in the Nile delta and the western parts of Egypt, where early records refer to them as the p’t’mhw—literally, they of the delta or marshland.  Their name also appears as Na-patoh-im in the same records.  Their destruction in the Ethiopic War is also recorded by Josephus.
• Pathrusim  The people of this name migrated to Upper Egypt, where the Egyptians recorded their name as the p’t’rs or Ptores.  Josephus records their name as Phethrosim.  The district of Pathros thus bears their name.  Esarhaddon, king of Assyria (681-668 BC) records his conquest of the Paturisi, thus showing that this particular tribe at least were not totally destroyed in the Ethiopic War as asserted by Josephus.
• Casluhim  The precise whereabouts of their country is uncertain, although Genesis records that the Philistines came from this people.  Come cite Crete as their possible place of settlement, others the northern areas of Egypt.  The latter seems more likely in that this tribe is reported destroyed in the Ethiopic War by Josephus.  Josephus gives their name as the Chesloim.
• Caphtorim  Some disagreement has also reigned over this tribe’s location as well.  This is due to the modernist efforts to identify Caphtor as Crete.  Genesis gives their place of settlement as Egypt, where their name is rendered Keftiu in a record dated 2200 BC.  Josephus relates their involvement and defeat (he names them Cephtorim) in the Ethiopic War.  Jeremiah 47:4 describes the Philistines as the ‘remnant of the country of Caphtor’ thus implying that by his own day the Caphtorim were a depleted nation.  There is also a strong link between this ai-Kaphtor of the Old Testament and the Aiguptos (Egypt) of ancient Greek literature.  They are called Kaptara by the Assyrians, and ’kptr’ by Ugaritic inscriptions.  Later Egyptian records speak of the ’kftyw’ or Kaphtur, a term used in relation to Phoenicia, not Crete.  Intriguingly, the Septuagint translates the name Kaphtoriim in Genesis 10:14, while Deuteronomy 2:23 renders the name Kappadokes or Cappadocians.  The Latin Vulgate does the same.  Cappadocia refers to mainland Asia Minor.

Sons of Canaan

• Zidon  He settled, with his descendants, on the Mediterranean coast of Canaan, where his name is still perpetuated in the modern-day city of Sidon.  Originally known as Zidonians, his descendants were later known as Phoenicians.  They are known to us from many and various inscription of the old world, the Akkadians rendering the name as Sidunu, the Armana tablets as Sa’idunu.  Josephus rendered the name Sidonius.
• Heth  Heth was the progenitor of the Hittite nation, whose name was known to the Assyrians as the Khatti.  The Hittites were apparently the first nation to smelt iron on any appreciable scale.  The Armana tablets contain letters that were sent between the Hittite emperor Subbiluliuma and Amenhotep IV of Egypt.  Rameses II tells us how he engaged the Hittites in what was the earliest recorded battle involving massed battle chariots.  This was the famous battle of Kadesh, and it appears that the Hittites got the better of the Egyptian forces.  Heth’s name was perpetuated in the Hittite capital of Hattushash, modern Boghazkoy in Turkey.
• Jebusite  The descendants of Jebus (whom Josephus knew as Jebuseus) settled in the mountainous regions of Judea where, due to their strong and natural fortifications, they were able to withstand the armies of Israel.  Their chief city was later known as Jerusalem, the Urusalimmu of the Armana tablets.
• Amorite  Known to the Sumerians as the Martu, and to the Akkadians as the Amurru, this people settled in the land of Canaan.  They appear to have initially adopted a nomadic way of life, although they were soon to organize themselves into a very powerful and aggressive nation.  Indeed, the Amorites were later to conquer Babylonia, subsequently producing one of the most famous of Babylonian kings, Hammurabi.  Josephus knew the name as Ammorreus.
• Girgashite  Their name has been discovered in the Ugaritic inscriptions as ’grgs’ and ’bn-grgs’, or Girgash and the sons of Girgash.  They are also known to us in Hittite documents as the Karkisa or Qaraqisha; and in Egyptian records as the Kirkash.  They settled to the east of the river Jordan, between Galilee and the Dead Sea, and their descendants are probably to be identified with the Gadarenes of the New Testament.  Josephus rendered the name Gergesus.
• Hivite  Known to the ancient Greeks as the Heuaios, and to Josephus as Eueus, this people moved from Canaan to the foothills of Lebanon during the Israelite conquest under Joshua.  King Solomon later used Hivites as builders.
• Arkite  These people come to our notice in the inscriptions of Shalmaneser II and Tiglth-Pileser III, both kings of Assyria, and both of whom describe the Arkites as ‘rebellious’.  The Arkites were known also to the Egyptians and are mentioned in the Armana tablets as the Irkata.  They were known for their worship of Astarte.  Their city is known to this day as tel-Arqa, a place known to Thutmose III of Egypt as Arkantu.  Josephus calls it Arucas, and it was known to the Romans as Caesari Libani.
• Sinite  The name of this people is still to be found in the modern-day towns of Nahr as-Sinn and Sinn addarb, which are both in close prozimity to Arqa.  The Phoenicians knew the Sinites as the Usnu; the Assyrians called them the Usana and Siannu; and the Ugaritic tablets refer to them as ’sn’.  Strabo called their town Sinna, Heironymous rendered it civitas Sini, and Josephus as Sineus.
• Arvadite  This people settled on the island that bore their founder’s name, Arvad.  Today it is called Ruad and lies north of the bay of Tripoli about two miles out to sea.  The Arvadites were famed in the old world for their skillful seamanship, drawing for this even the grudging admiration of the Assyrians.  Later the Arvadites were to play an important part in the conquests of Alexander the Great.  The Arvadites were known in the Armana tablets as the Arwada or Aruadi, to the Akkadians as the Aruda, and to Josephus as Arudeus.
• Zemarite  The descendants of Zemar were known to the Assyrians as the Simirra, and to the Egyptians as the Sumur.  The name is still perpetuated in the modern city of Sumra, just north of Tripoli.
• Hamathite  The city where this people settled lay on the Orontes, and was named after their forbear, Hamath.  Sargon II of Assyria tells us how he conquered the city, and it was at Hamath that Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Egyptian armies in 605 BC.  The city was known to the Akkadians as Amatu, to the Egyptians as Hmtu, and to the Arabs as Hamat.  The Greeks and Romans later knew the city as Epiphaneia, although today it has reverted to its ancient name, Hamah.  In 853 BC the men of Hamath were able to successfully defeat Assyrian advances in the west by mobilizing an army of 63,000 foot, 2,000 light horse, 4,000 battle chariots and 1,000 camels!

Sons of Raamah

• Sheba  Minaean inscriptions from the north Yemen, and which date to the 9th century BC, tell us that Sheba was that kingdom’s southern neighbor.  The land of Sheba is also known to us from Assyrian inscriptions of the 8th century BC.  Sheba was famous as the Land of Spices (it was one of four ‘spice kingdoms’, with Minaea, Kataban, and Hadramaut).  We know from the vast archaeological ruins that the land was extremely fertile, being watered by ingenious irrigation systems controlled by a great dam that once spanned the river Adhanat.  In the year 542 BC, the dam collapsed after more than a thousand years of service.
• Dedan  His descendants are known to have traded with the Phoenicians.  Identified from various cuneiform inscriptions, their main place of settlement was the city that is known today as Al-ula, and which lies 70 miles southwest of modern Taima.

Son of Casluhim

• Philistim  Better known to us as the Philistines, they were known to the Assyrians as the Palashtu and the Pilisti, and to the Greeks as the Palastine—hence the later name of Palestine.  After the Assyrian conquests of the 8th century BC, they effectively disappear as a coherent nation.  Genesis states that they occupied parts of Canaan at least as early as the time of Abraham and is likely that their origin is northern Egypt.  This would be in opposition to the view of some historians that they did not appear until much later and that they are the ‘Sea People’ whose origin is Crete.