The Table of Nations part 3

The Nations of Shem

Shem  The father of all the Semitic nations.

Sons of Shem

• Elam  The founder of the Elamites, who were known to the Babylonians as the Elamtu, to the Greeks as Elymais, and whom the Romans knew as the Elymaei.  The Elamites recorded their own name as the Haltamti.  Subsequently, in the Old Persian inscriptions their name is rendered (h)uju, and huz in the Middle Persian, which is the archaic form of the modern Persian name of Khuzistan, which now covers what used to be the land of Elam.
• Asshur  The founder of the nation to whom he gave his name, Assyria.  It may be possible to identify Asshur in the early king-lists of Assyria as Puzur Asshur I.  According to these lists, Puzur Asshur I would have lived and reigned ca 1960 BC, which accords rather well with the biblical chronology.  Asshur was one of the earliest men to be deified and worshipped by his descendants.  Indeed, as long as Assyria lasted, that is until 612 BC, accounts of battles, diplomatic affairs and foreign bulletins were daily read out to his image and every Assyrian king held that he wore the crown only with the express permission of Asshur’s deified ghost.
• Arphaxad  He was the progenitor of the Chaldeans, his name, apparently, corresponding to that of arp-keshed, the border marches of Chaldea.  That he was indeed the forebear of the Chaldeans is confirmed by the Hurrian (Nuzi) tablets, which render the name as Arip-hurra—the founder of Chaldea.  The name was also known to the Akkadians as Arraphu.  The Assyrians knew his descendants as the Kaldu, who were adept astrologers, magicians, and mathematicians.  Ptolemy recorded the name of their land as Arrapichitis, known to others as Arphaxitis.  Their very earliest settlement, however, would appear to be what is today a 2½ acre ruin that still bears the name Aspachiya.  It lies some four miles to the east of ancient Ninevah, and is the remains of a very early farming community.
• Lud  The early descendants of Lud, the Ludim, were known to both the Assyrians and Babylonians as the Ludu.  Josephus tells us that their land was later known as Lydia (a Greek derivation of the name Lud) which lay in western Asia Minor.  (Josephus rendered the name Laud.)  The Lydians were famed in the old world for the skill of their archers.  They spoke an Indo-European (Japhetic) language, examples of which are to be found on certain Egyptian monuments.  The land of Lydia was finally conquered by Cyrus, king of Persia, in the year 546 BC.
• Aram  He was the founder of the Aramaeans, known to the Akkadians as the Aramu, but who were later known to the Greeks as the Syrians.  In an Assyrian inscription of Tiglath-pileser I, from ca 1100 BC, the Aramaeans are depicted as living to the east of the river Tigris.  By the time of Tiglath-pileser III, however, some 400 years later, they were living all over Mesopotamia.  After this they settled to the west, occupying roughly the same area that makes up modern Syria.  A clay tablet from Ur bears the name of Aramu, and it is of interest to note that Aramaic is still spoken today.

Son of Arphaxad

• Shelah  This name has not yet been located in secular sources, although Josephus renders the name Sala.

Sons of Aram

• Uz  There is still considerable disagreement as to the precise area in which the descendants of Uz settled, and given the somewhat nomadic nature of the Aramaeans, this is hardly surprising.  Northern Arabia, between Babylon and Edom, seems to be the most likely area of settlement.  Josephus identifies it as the classical Trachonitis.
• Hul  His descendants settled to the north of the Sea of Galilee, where they gave their name to the lake and vale of Huleh (the biblical Waters of Merom, which were known to Josephus as Ul).  The modern Israelis know the place under its ancient name of the vale of Hula.  The lake of Hula is formed by the accumulation of water from the two sources of the Jordan before beginning their descent to Galilee.
• Gether  His descendants settled to the south of Damascus.  Known to Josephus as Gather, he identifies them as the latter-day Bactrians, famous amongst other things for a breed of camel.  Whether this identification is correct or not cannot now be determined.  It should, however, be noted that Bactria was populated by Aryan, or Japhetic, tribes in late Assyrian times.
• Mash  The Akkadians rendered the name Mashu, which in turn was known to the Egyptians as Mshr.  It was also rendered Mishal, all of which names referred to a people that dwelt in Lebanon.  However, in 1 Chronicles 1:17, the name is rendered Meshech, and this should not be confused with the Japhitic Meshech, as did Josephus.

Son of Shelah

• Eber  Known to Josephus as Heber, he gave his name to the Hebrew race.  Some have tried to identify him with Ebru, king of Ebla, but this is unlikely on both chronological and ethnic grounds.  The attempt to identify the children of Eber with the Habiru of the Egyptian chronicles may also be somewhat forced, although it is fair to add that, although we tend today to think only of the Jewish nation as Hebrews, in fact all of Eber’s descendants, technically speaking, would have been Hebrew also, the Joktanite Arabs included.

Sons of Eber

• Peleg  Genesis tells us that in his day the earth was divided.  The meaning of his name, as rendered in Hebrew, corresponds exactly with the Akkadian noun pulukku, which means a dividing up of territory by means of boundaries and borders (the Akkadian verb for ‘to divide’ is palaku).  Likewise, the Assyrian word, palgu, refers to the dividing up of land by canals and irrigation systems.  It is in this sense that the Hebrew word peleg is used in Job 29:6 and 38:5.  The man named Peleg (whose name is Phaleg in Josephus), was so named , however, after the division and scattering of the nations from Babel.  In fact, one of the ancient names of Babylon (Babel) is nowadays translated as ‘the place of canals’, or ‘the place of division’, or even the place of Peleg.  There is an ancient city that bore the name of Peleg, the Akkadian town of Phalgu, whose ruins lie at the junction of the Euphrates and Chaboras (Chebar) rivers.
• Joktan  The progenitor of no less than thirteen southern Arabian tribes, he is remembered amongst modern Arabs as Yaqtan.  Only the purest Arabs, it is still maintained, are those Semitic Arabs descended from Joktan; while Hamitic Arabs are referred to somewhat disdainfully as Musta’rabs, pretended Arabs.  Joktan’s name is preserved in that of the ancient town of Jectan near present-day Mecca.  Josephus knew him is Joctan.

Son of Peleg

• Reu  This name appears as a personal name in Akkadian records where it is rendered Ra’u.  The early Greeks knew it a Ragau, as did Josephus.  Reu was to give his name to an island in the Euphrates that lies just below the city of Anat, and which the Akkadians knew as Ra’ilu.  It was known to the Greeks as Ragu.

Sons of Joktan

• Almodad  Some give Almodad’s name as meaning ‘the agitator’, which, if correct, hides what is mo doubt a most interesting background.  The name is certainly Arabic, his descendants being known to early Arab historians as the al-Morad tribe, who are seemingly to be identified with the Gebonites.  The name is rendered Elmodad in Josephus.  Their precise area of settlement cannot now be determined.
• Sheleph  Rendered Saleph in Josephus, the name is that of a southern Arabian tribe who were known to the pre-Islamic Arabs as the Salif.  They were a Yemeni tribe whose capital, Sulaf, lay some sixty miles north of present-day San’a.
• Hazarmaveth  Known as Asermoth in Josephus, his descendants populated the 200 mile long valley that runs parallel to the southern coast of Arabia.  It is known to this day as the Hadramaut, a direct transposition into Arabic of the name Ahzarmaveth.  In pre-Islamic inscriptions, the name is variously rendered hdrmt and hdrmwt.  Strabo tells us that the tribe of Hazarmaveth was one of the four main tribes of Arabs in his day.  The name seems to mean ‘town of death’, although we can now only ponder the possible tragedy that lies behind it.
• Jerah  There lies, on the shores of Galilee, a ruined mound that is named Beth-Yerah, the house of Jerah, although this may not refer to the subject here.  It is more likely that his descendants migrated into the southern regions of Arabia.  Indeed, the Arab city that bore Jerah’s name, and which was rendered by Ptolemy as Jerakon Kome, lay on the Mara coast close to the Hadramaut.  The name appears as Jera in Josephus and as Yarki in the inscriptions of Ashurbanipal.
• Hadoram  Rendered Adoram in Josephus, it is that of a southern Arabian tribe, the name of whose town appears a s Hurarina (Haroram) in the inscriptions of Ashurbanipal.  It lay close to Yarki.
• Uzal  Arab historians render the name as Azal, Josephus gives Aizel, and it is the ancient, pre-Islamic name for the city of San’a, the modern capital of the Yemen.  Uzal’s descendants are still doubtless thriving in the area.  The Assyrians knew the tribe of Uzal as the Azalla.
• Diklah  The name Diklah appears in Akkadian records as Diklat, the Aramaeans knew it as Diklath, and the Assyrians gave it as Idiklat, all of which transpose into Greek as Tigris, the name of the valley and river that cuts through Mesopotamia.  Josephus renders it Decla.  This would give a clear indication as their place of settlement, either north of the Persian Gulf or in the north-east extremity of the Arabian peninsula. 
• Obal  A southern Arabian tribe whose name was rendered by Arab historians, as well as by Josephus, as Ebal.  Ancient inscriptions from the Yemen give it as Abil, which elsewhere appears as Ubal.  The location of this tribe’s place of settlement lies between the ancient Yemeni cities of Hadeida and San’a.
• Abimael  His descendants settled in southern Arabia, where their existence is known from ancient Sabean inscriptions.
• Sheba  There are no less than three Shebas in the Table of Nations!  Due to the presence in Arabia of bothe the Cushite and Jokshanite tribes of Sheba, it is impossible to determine where this particular patriarch’s descendants settled.  Josephus may give a clue in rendering the name as Sabeus.
• Ophir  Its existence being noted in the pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions, this tribe’s area of settlement is given by them as lying between Saba in the Yemen and Hawlan, or Havilah.  The name has been preserved in that of the coastal town of Ma’afir in southwest Arabia.
• Havilah  There were two Arabian tribes known under the name of Havilah, the other being a descendant of Ham.  This Semitic tribe, however, remained distinct, and occupied areas on the opposite side of the peninsula from the Hamitic tribe.  In Strabo’s day, they were still occupying areas of northern Arabia, their name being recorded by him as the Khaulotaei.  Josephus knew them as the Euilat.  The Arabian cosmographer, Yakut, informs us that their dialect, Hawil, was spoken by ‘the descendants of Midian, the son of Abraham’.  This Semitic tribe of Havilah also occupied the southernmost tip of the Arabian peninsula, crossing from there the Bab-el-Mandeb to the African coast.  Here, both Ptolemy and Pliny refer to their city of Aualis on the Red Sea coast of Africa, which lay next to the modern state of Djibouti.  This city is known today as Zeila.
• Jobab  His descendants were known to the Akkadians as the Iabibi.  They settled in the town that has long borne their founder’s name, Juhaibab, which, according to Sabean inscriptions, lay close to modern Mecca.

From this point forward, the descendants are not listed in the table of nations, but are given to include what nations were derived from Peleg after the dispersal from Babel.

Son of Reu

• Serug  He gave his name to the city and district that was known to the Akkadians as Sarugi.  This lay to the west of Haran.  It is normally assumed that the name of the land of Syria came about because the Greeks confused it with Assyria.  But it is more likely that Syria is merely a transposition into Greek of the name of Serug, who settled in that part of the world.

Son of Serug

• Nahor  There seems to be no secular record that mentions him as an individual.  He does have a descendant by the same name.

Son of Nahor

• Terah  The father of Abraham, he later settled in Haran, where he died.  The name Terah is associated in Jewish literature with the moon-god, and there seems to be a direct etymological link between his name and the teraphim, small idolatrous images that were kept in most households.  In this context, it is interesting to note that Joshua 24:2 describes Terah as an idolater.  Near to the city of Haran, there was a place that bore Terah’s name, known to the Assyrians as Turahi and to the Akkadians as Truahu, the ruins of which were later known to them as Til-Sa-Turahi.

Sons of Terah

• Abraham  The well-known founder of the Jewish people.  There exists from Babylonia an early clay tablet that bears the name of a man called Abi-ramu, which is rendered Abarama in the Eblaite tablets.  Another bears the name of Sarai.  Josephus quotes the Babylonian historian, Berosus, as saying, ‘In the tenth generation after the Flood, there was a man among the Chaldeans who was righteous and great…’  Josephus regarded this remark as a direct reference to Abraham, even though Berosus didn’t name him.  Josephus tells us also that Hecataeus and Nicolaus of Damascus both mention Abraham in their own histories.
• Nahor  The name Nahor is known from Babylonian inscriptions, and from the clay tablets of Mari, which render the name Nahur.  He settled in Haran which was later to become known as the town of Nahor.  This appears in inscriptions from the reign of Ashurbanipal as Nahuru, the ruins being known to the Assyrians as til-Nahiri, the mound of Nahor.
• Haran  Haran was the youngest of Terah’s sons.  He was born at Ur and died there at a young age.  To his father is attributed the building of the city of Haran, Terah naming the place in his son’s memory and honor.  The city lay of the main highway to Ninevah from Carchemish, and it is interesting to note in this context that the Assyrian noun for main road is harranu.  From its earliest days, Haran was one of the chief centers of moon-worship, and we frequently read of its temple being restored and embellished by successive kings of Assyria.  Its temple was, indeed, every bit as famous and well-subscribed as that at Ur, where the family originated.  Nimrod was also worshipped here, being referred to in inscriptions as the ‘prince of the men of Haran’.

Sons of Abram

• Ishmael  Among the Babylonian documents that have come down to us from the days of Hammurabi, there is a list of witnesses to certain documents, one of whom is ‘Abuha, son of Ishmael’.
• Isaac  No mention of him is found thus far in extra-biblical sources.
• Zimran  The chieftain and founder of an Arab tribe whose chief city lay to the west of Mecca.  Ptolemy recorded its name as Zabram, the letters ‘m’ and ‘b’ being interchangeable in Arabic.
• Jokshan  Seemingly unknown outside the biblical records, he appears to have settled with his descendants in northern Arabia.
• Medan  He founded various northern Arabian tribes, and his name is still preserved in the modern family name of Abd-al-Madan.  His descendants settled in the town of Madan, which is mentioned in the inscriptions of Tiglath-pilesar III that date to the year 732 BC.  He renders the name as Badan, but the letters ‘m’ and ‘b’ are interchangeable in Arabic.  The town lay to the west of Tema.
• Midian  The founder of the Midianite tribe of Arabs.  The Arabian historian, Yakut, tells us that they spoke the Hawil dialect of Arabic.  He also confirms the fact that Midian was the son of Abraham.  The tribes of Midian are also known from Egyptian and other sources.  Ptolemy records the name as Modiana, while the ancient pre-Islamic Arab city of Madyan is today known as Magha’ir Shu’aib.
• Ishbak  He was the progenitor of a tribe who seem to have settled to the east of Canaan.  Otherwise, secular records seem to be silent concerning them.
• Shuah  The founder of the biblical Shuites, one of whose descendants (Bildad) counseled Job.  The Assyrians knew Shuah’s descendants as the Suhu, and describe their land as lying adjacent to the Euphrates, south of Carchemish, between the Balikh and Khabur (recorded by Ptolemy as the Chaboras, by Ezekiel as the Chebar) rivers.

Son of Haran

• Lot  No secular references to him have yet been found, save that the Dead Sea has always been known to the Arabs as the Sea of Lot.

Sons of Ishmael

• Nebaioth  He settled with his descendants to the south of the Dead Sea, where they were known to the Chaldeans as the Nabat, and to the Assyrians as the Nabaiate.  Their own inscriptions render the name as ‘nbtw’.  The Greek historian, Diodorus, mentions them, and Ptolemy knew them as the Nabatei.  The Nabataeans’ final demise was brought about by Augustus Caesar, who cut off the trade routes of Arabia.  By the time of Tiberius Caesar, all the land east of Judea was known as Nabataea.
• Kedar  Known to the Hebrews as the Qedar, and the Assyrians as the Qidri, his descendants became the great tribe of Arabs who settled in the northwest Arabian peninsula, and whose black tents were to become proverbial in the ancient world.  We are informed in Babylonian sources that the armies of Nebuchadnezzar confronted the tribe of Kedar in a major skirmish of the year 599 BC, an incident that was foretold by Jeremiah (49:28-29).  The tribe of Kedar is also mentioned in the annals of Ashurbanipal, with whom they clashed, and in various other Assyrian documents.  In these, the men of Kedar are mentioned in close association with the men of Nebaioth.  The founder of Islam, Mohammed, was to trace his own direct descent from Kedar.
• Adbeel  The founder of a tribe known to the Akkadians as the Idibilu.  This same people were subsequently mentioned in the annals of Tiglath-pileser III, who tells us how he conquered the Idiba’leans and employed them to guard the approaches to Egypt’s borders.  Their area of settlement was in northwest Arabia, close to the lands of Kedar and Nebaioth.
• Mibsam  An otherwise unknown Bedouin chieftain.
• Mishma  He settled with his descendants in what is known today as Jebel Mishma in the vicinity of Tema.
• Dumah  The Assyrians and Babylonians knew Dumah’s descendants as the Adammatu.  Nabonidus later tells us how he conquered the Adummu.  Ptolemy referred to them as the Domatha; and Porphyry recorded their name as the Dumathii.  We know them today as the Idumaeans.  The name of Dumah is still preserved in the modern Arab city of Dumat-al-Jandal, the capital of this tribe.
• Massa  The descendants of Massa were known to the Assyrians as the Mas’a, who with the tribe of Tema, were forced to pay tribute to Tiglath-pileser III.  He tells us how he conquered them along with the peoples of Haiappa, the Idiba’leans, and others.  Ptolemy knew the tribe as the Masanoi, who lived to the northeast of Dumah.  Josephus records their name as the Mesanaeans, and that in his day their lands were known to the Romans as Charax Spasini.
• Hadad  The name is rendered as Haddu in Akkadian inscriptions as the name of a pagan god.  Hadad himself, however, seems to be unknown in extra-biblical sources.
• Tema  Still known by today’s Arabs as Taima’, the city of  Tema’s descendants lise some 70 miles northeast of Dedan.  Nabonidus, king of Babylon (556-539 BC), passed his years of exile in this city, which he also knew as Tema.  Along with Dedan and Dumah, it formed stages in the caravan route from Babylon to Sheba.
• Jetur  He was the progenitor of the Ituraeans, who were known to the Greeks as the Itouraia.  The Ituraeans are mentioned in the works of Dio Cassius, Josephus, Pliny, Strabo, and others; and were known to the Roman authorities as a tribe of robbers.  The descendants of Jetur perpetrated a massacre of Lebanese Christians in AD 1860.
• Naphish  He and his lineage are variously known in the biblical records as Nephish, the children of the Nephusim, and the Nephishesim.  They are seemingly unknown from extra-biblical sources.
• Kedemah  He and his descendants settled in what was later known as the Wilderness of Kedemoth.  The tribe dwelt in the city that is known today as es-Za’feran.

Sons of Jokshan

• Sheba  This people seemingly made up the Semitic Arabs who were to supersede the earlier Hamitic tribe of Sheba.
• Dedan  Like Sheba, this Semitic tribe seemingly superseded the Hamitic tribe of Dedan.  We should at this time note the derivation of the Hebrew word ’rab (Arab) from ereb, which means a mixed multitude.  The city of Dedan (modern Daidan) is mentioned in the inscriptions of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, who spent his years of exile at Tema.  There are some ruins west of Tema called Daidan, that lie in an area known today as Medain Salih.

Sons of Midian

• Ephah  His descendants settled in what is now Ghuwafa, to the southwest of Tebuk in the northwest Arabian peninsula.  They are known to us in the annals of Tiglath-pilesar III, who refers to them as the Hayapa.  They are last heard of in an inscription of Sargon II that dates to the year 715 BC.
• Epher  Known to Arab cosmographers as ‘ofr, Ashurbanipal of Assyria recorded the name of Epher’s descendants and the Apparu.  The city in which they settled still bears the name of their founder, Ghifar.  It lies close to Medina.
• Henoch  He founded the famous Kenite tribe of Midianite Arabs.  They were coppersmiths who settled to the southwest of the Gulf of Aqaba.
• Abidah  Minean inscriptions from the Yemen record the name of Abidah’s descendants as the Abiyadi’.  Their precise area of settlement is unknown, although it must have been in the southwest regions of the Arabian peninsula.
• Eldaah  His descendants are known to us from ancient Sabean inscriptions, which refer to them as the Yada’il.  We do not know their precise area of settlement, although it was certainly within the Yemen.

Sons of Lot

• Moab  He was the founder of the Moabite nation.  This nation was known as Mu’abu to the Akkadians, and in the Egyptian inscriptions as M-‘-b.
• Benammi  He founded the Ammonite nation, and his name is still perpetuated in the modern city of Amman that lies some 25 miles north-east of the Dead Sea.  It was, in fact, the capital of the Ammonite nation, and was known in the old world as Rabbath-ammon.  We know from the first book of Maccabees that the nation was still in existence in the 2nd century BC.  However, in the next century their lands were occupied by the Nabataeans and it is here that the Ammonites disappear from the historical scene.  The personal name of Benammi is known from certain clan-lists of Ugarit.  There also survives from Nimrud in Assyria an inscription bearing the name of banu Ammanaia.  The Assyrians generally knew the Ammonite nation as bit-Am-ma-na-aia, or the house of Ammon.

Sons of Dedan 

• These founded the three tribes of Dedanite Arabs, of whom nothing further is learned from extra-biblical sources save that in later Jewish literature we learn: the Asshurim were described as traveling merchants; the Letushim were those who sharpened weapons and cutlery; and the Leummim were somewhat enigmatically described as the ‘chief of those who inhabit the isles’, the significance of which is lost to us today.

The Table of Nations part 2

The Nations of Japheth

Japheth  The father of all the Indo-European peoples, it would be surprising indeed if his name had gone unremembered among them.  As it is, we find that the early Greeks worshipped him as Iapetos, or Iapetus, whom they regarded as the son of heaven and earth, the father of many nations.  Likewise, in the ancient Sanskrit Vedas of India he is remembered as Pra-Japati, the sun and ostensible Lord of Creation.  As time went by, his name was further corrupted, being assimilated into the Roman pantheon as Iupater, and eventually Jupiter.  None of these names are of Greek, Indian, or Latin origin, but are merely corruptions of the original name of Japheth.  Both the early Irish Celts and the early Britons traced the descent of their royal houses from Japheth, as did also the early Saxons, who corrupted his name to Sceaf (pronounced shaif).

The sons of Japheth

• Gomer  He was the founder of the Cimmerians who settled originally on the shores of the Caspian Sea.  They were later driven away by the Elamites.  At the time of the Babylonian exile, the Jews knew them as the tribes that dwelt in the ‘uppermost parts of the north’ (Ezekiel 38:6).  The Assyrians referred to them as the Gimirraya.  Esarhaddon (681-668 BC) records his defeat of the Gimirrai; while King Ashurbanipal tell us in his records of the Cimmerian invasion of Lydia in the days of the Lydian King Gugu around 660 BC.
• Magog  His immediate descendants were known as the Magogites, being later known to the Greeks as the Scythians, according to Josephus.  However, given the subsequent history of the peoples of Ashkenaz, who are far more certainly identified as the later Scythians, it is more likely that the early Magogites were assimilated into the peoples of Ashkenaz, thus making up a part of the Scythian hordes.  The early Irish Celts traced their own lineage from Japheth through the line of Magog.
• Madai  His descendants were the Madaeans, who are better known to us as the Medes.  The Assyrians recorded the name as Amada; the Greeks as the Medai; and the Old Persion inscriptions speak of them as the Mada.  The earliest surviving reference to the Medes that is found in secular documents appears in the inscriptions  of Shalmaneser III, king of Assyria from ca 858-824 BC, in which he tells us that he invaded the land of the Medes to plunder them of their fine horses.  Both Strabo and Herodotus conform the fact that the Medes were of Indo-European (Japhetic) origin, and we know also that their language was of this group.  After 631 BC, the Medes joined with the people of the Askuza (or the Ashkenazim) and those of Gomer (the Cimmerians) in an attempt to throw off the Assyrian yoke.
• Javan  The name of Javan’s descendants appears in Assyrian documents as the Iamanu, where we are told that they engaged the Assyrians in a major sea battle during the reign of Sargon II (725-705 BC).  The Archaemenian inscriptions refer to them as the Yauna.  Homer tells us in the Iliad that Iawones (Hebrew Iawan) was the progenitor of the Ionians, while the Hebrews knew the Greeks as the Jevanim (Iewanim).  Pre-Islamic Arab cosmographers gave the name as Yuban.
• Tubal  The descendants of Tubal first come to our notice in the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser I, king of Assyria in about 1100 BC.  He refers to them as the Tabali whose original area of settlement (Tabal) was adjacent to that of Tegarama.  Subsequently, Josephus recorded the name of Tubal’s descendants as the Thobelites, who were later known as the Iberes.  Their land, in Josephus’ day, was called by the Romans Iberia, and covered what is now the former Soviet state of Georgia whose capital to this day bears the name of Tubal as Tbilisi.  From here, having crossed the Caucasus mountains, this people migrated due north-east, giving their tribal name to the river Tobol, and hence to the famous city of Tobolsk.
• Meshech  The descendants of Meshech are often spoken of in close association with those of Tubal, the Assyrians mentioning Tabal and Musku, while Herodotus writes of the Tiberanoi and Moschoi.  A very much earlier reference to the peoples of Meshech is an inscription of ca 1200 BC which tells us how they overran the Hittite kingdom; and an inscription of Tiglath-pileser I of Assyria of ca 1100 BC who tells us that the Mus-ka-a-ia were able to put into the field an army of 20,000 men.  The activities of this same people are also subsequently reported by Tukulti-ninurta II, Ashurnasibal II, Sargon, and Shalmaneser III, the last of whom refers to them as the Mushki.  Josephus knew them as the Mosocheni, who were known in his own day as the Cappadocians.  Some later writers have pointed out that the name of Meshech is preserved in the old tribal name of the Muscovites of Russia, after whom Moscow is named.  Such an identification is not at all unlikely, especially when we consider the subsequent history of their historically close associates, the people of Tubal, and the fact that the city is still known today in the Russian tongue as Moskva, very close to the Assyrian form, Musku.
• Tiras  Merenptah of Egypt, who reigned in the 13th century BC, provides us with what is so far our earliest reference to the people of Tiras, recording their name as the Tursha, or Turusha, and referring to them as invaders from the north.  The Greeks later knew them as the Tyrsenoi, a nation of marauding pirates.  Josephus identifies them as the tribe who were known to the Romans as the Thirasians and who we now know as the Thracians.  They were a ‘ruddy and blue-eyed people’, who spent most of their time in state of ‘tipsy excess’, as one authority put it.  Tiras himself was worshipped by his descendants as Thuras (Thor), the god of war.  The river Athyras was named after him, and it is not at all unlikely that the Etruscans, a nation of hitherto mysterious provenance, owe to him both their name and descent.  The ancient city of Troas (Troy) appears to perpetuate his name, as does also the Taurus mountain range.

The sons of Gomer

• Ashkenaz  The descendants of Ashkenaz first settled in what is today Armenia, although in later Jewish writings he was associated, with his father Gomer, with the Germanic races.  Hence, Germanic Jews are still known as Ashkenazim.  More immediately, the Assyrians tell us in their inscriptions of the Askuza, a tribe who allied themselves with the Mannai in a revolt of the 7th century BC, an event that is also mentioned in Jeremiah 51:27.  Indeed, it is in this statement the Jeremiah incidentally confirms the identity of the Ashkenazim with the Askuza.  This name, the Askuza of the Assyrian records, later became the Skythai (Scythians) of Herodotus.  Other early sources confirm their place of settlement to be the areal later known as Pontus and Bythinia, where the peoples of Ashkenaz gave their name to the lake and harbor of Ascanius, and to the land of Ascania.  Josephus tells us that they were subsequently known to the Greeks as the Rheginians.
• Riphath His descendants gave their name to the Riphaean mountains, which early cosmographers thought of as constituting the then northernmost boundary of the earth.  Pliny, Melo, and Solinus record the name of Riphath as that of the Riphaei, Riphaces, and Piphlataei, who were later known to history as the Paphlagonians, the descent and identification of which is confirmed by Josephus.
• Togarmah  His earliest descendants settled in Armenia.  We know from certain Hittite documents that in the 14th century BC, the then region of Tegarama, which lay between Carchemish and Haran, was sacked by the ‘enemy from Isuwa’, that is, the enemy from beyond the Euphrates.  The records of both Sargon II and Sennacherib mention the city of Til-gari-manu, the capital of Kammanu which lay on the border of Tabal.  Til-gari-manu lay some thirty miles due east of present-day Malatya, and was not finally destroyed until 695 BC.  It was after the destruction of this city that the descendants of Togarmah became lost in obscurity.  In line with the Assyrian policy of that time, the survivors were uprooted and transported to other lands in the empire.  Josephus renders the name Thrugramma.

The sons of Javan

• Elishah  He was the ancestor of the Aeolians, his name being frequently referred to in Greek history and mythology.  Two Greek cities were named after him, these being Elis and Elissus.  Likewise, an entire area was named Ellas in his memory.  His name lies behind the origin of the term Hellenic, and there is every reason to believe that his name is also perpetuated in the Greek paradise, the Elysian Fields.  The Armana tablets referred to his descendants as the Alashia, the Hittites knew them as the Alasiya, and the Egyptians as A-ra-sa.  Josephus rendered the name as Elisa.  The name also appears in the Ugaritic inscriptions.
• Tarshish  The father of the peoples of Tarshish, or Tartesis, who are thought by most to have settled in Spain.  The Mediterranean Sea was once known as the Sea of Tarshish, and it is known that the Phoenecians built a class of vessel called a ship of Tarshish.  It was in one of these that Jonah tried to flee from Joppa in the 8th century BC.  Phoenecian inscriptions found on Sardinia, and dating to the 9th century BC, mention Tarshish without providing us with a positive identification of its geographical location.  Josephus records the name as Tharsus, and tells that it used to be the name under which Cilicia was known, the chief and noblest city of which was Tarsus.  However, for various reasons this identification is unlikely, and the matter remains unresolved.
• Kittim  This is a collective name of a people who are spoken of in the Old Phoenician inscriptions as the kt or tky, and who settled on the island of Cyprus.  They were to give their name to the ancient Cypriot city of Kition (modern-day Larnaka).  The Romans preserved the name when they named the city Citium, and Josephus gave the name as Cethimus.
• Dodanim  This also is a collective name of a people descended from Dodan, who were known to the Greeks as the Dardani, and the Dardanians of Asia Minor.  They settled initially around the area of Troy whose coastal regions are known to this day as the Dardanelles.  The founder of this people was deified by his descendants and worshipped under the name of Jupiter Dodonaeus (a mingling of the names of Japheth and Dodan).  The propagators of this cult built the city of Dadona as the chief seat of his worship.  Egyptian records refer to the drdny who were allied to the Hittites at the battle of Kadesh.  The early Britons were to trace their descent from Dardanus.

The Table of Nations part 1

Genesis 10 lists the names of the leaders of groups who went out from the tower of Babel.  Scripture doesn't tell us a lot about these people, except some of the listings are obviously individuals' names, and some of them are people groups. 

In After the Flood, the author gives extensive detail as to who was who in this group of peoples.  I am including that in its entirety here.

The Table of Nations—Genesis 10

The following information on the tribes and nations listed in Genesis 10 lists details about the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth from secular historical sources.  It includes places of settlement following the confusion of languages and dispersion of nations from Babel, some of the names by which these nations have been known, records of the existence of these tribes from other nations, and any other interesting information that can be extracted from these records.  This information was compiled from After the Flood—The early post-flood history of Europe traced back to Noah by Bill Cooper, and the original sources for this information are listed here:

• The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. Four volumes with supplement.  Abingdon Press. NY. 1962
• The New Bible Dictionary. InterVarsity Press. London. 1972
• Josephus. The Antiquities of the Jews. Translated by William Whiston
• Poole, Matthew. Commentary on the Holy Bible.  Three volumes. 1685. Facsimile published by Banner of Truth Trust. London. 1962

All of these sources (except Josephus) provide the original sources for the information included in their books.  Josephus is valuable because he provides the names of the nations as they were known in the classical world.  Included in this collection are genealogical charts and maps showing the places of settlement for all of the nations.

(See following posts for the remainder of the material)

History of Man: Beginnings of Civilization part 4

What are the oldest civilizations and where are they located?

The four major civilizations that show the earliest records are:

• Yellow River valley in northeast China
• Indus/Sarasvati River valley region in Pakistan
• Nile River valley in Egypt
• Tigris/Euphrates River valley region in Iraq

These four major civilizations were likely the larger groups with more variety of skills represented in their populations.  There are records of more "primitive" groups in other areas, and these were probably ones that had more difficulty getting established and beginning the lifestyle that they had left behind.  Some groups may have been absorbed by others, or may have died out.  There is evidence for this in the Table of Nations in Genesis 10.

Civilizations that began shortly after these are:

• Minoans on Crete
• Southwestern Sahara
• Central America
• West coast of South America
• Hittites in Anatolia

How do we put these civilizations into a biblical date context since all we have for them is a secular time frame?

We will look at this more in a later lesson, but there is one key to this problem.  Today, archaeologists rely heavily on the Egyptian timeline as a key to dating many of the civilizations.  This is because the kings of Egypt corresponded with kings of other countries.  They kept records of their vassals (as did other countries), recording the names of their kings.  There are many artifacts from Egypt in other regions, indicating extensive trade. 

But the Egyptian timeline is based primarily on listings of dynasties by a historian named Manetho.  At the current time, based on those histories, Egyptian dynastic rule began shortly before 3100 BC.  This is simply too early for the biblical timeline, where we have established a date of about 2200 BC for the beginnings of civilizations after the dispersion from Babel.  The difference is 900 years, a substantial change!  And since we rely on our presupposition that the Bible is true, we must shorten that Egyptian history.

Surprisingly, secular historians agree.  They are aware that the current timeline for Egypt is too long.  In fact, when Manetho's writings were first translated, the Egyptian timeline they laid out was nearly 2000 years longer.  They had realized, after additional study of inscriptions, that some of Manetho's dynasties actually overlapped.  Today these historians recognize several places where further overlap is likely, but haven't stepped out and actually challenged the status quo.  This is particularly the case in the second intermediate period.

A personal note...For many years I have searched for someone, or for several someones, who were willing to step out and challenge the Egyptian timeline.  Over that time, I have found several authors who would make changes to that timeline, but none were successful at reducing it far enough to match a biblical timeline.  About 8 or 10 years ago, I found what I was looking for.  James Reilly of Ontario, Canada published his thesis on the 26th and 27th dynasties.  It is a large book, and requires a tremendous amount of concentration to absorb, but it is successful at beginning the reduction of time needed.  His further three books take that reduction all the way back to the 3rd dynasty, based entirely on inscriptions found in the records of Egypt.  While he did not focus at all on the biblical timeline and attempting to make his history match, he was successful in accomplishing it. 

If you are interested in reading Reilly's books, they are available online at http://www.displaceddynasties.com/  Please be aware that they are manifestly technical in their material.

History of Man: Beginnings of Civilization part 3

How were dates for the dispersion at Babel estimated?

In our timeline, we have used an approximate date for the dispersion from Babel of 2200 BC.  How is that date derived?  A lot of factors go into the establishment of that date.

1.  In Genesis 10:25, we see that the division of mankind took place in the lifetime of Peleg.  We have already established that Peleg lived from 2418 to 2179 BC. 

2.  From the descendants names listed in Genesis 10, who were the leaders of the various groups that were dispersed from Babel, it appears that some in the generation below Peleg (contemporary with his son, Reu) were leaders of people groups.  Therefore, the dispersion could not be early in the life of Peleg or even early in the life of his son Reu.  It would have to have occurred at a time when those in Reu’s generation were old enough to be leaders. 

3.  Ancient witnesses give us dates for the beginnings of some early civilizations that are surprisingly close to each other.  Secular historians consider these dates to be grossly in error, because of their presuppositions of long ages for man, that man went from primitive to advanced over those long periods of time, among others.  Babylon, in Sumer, is the only civilization in existence before the dispersion from the Tower of Babel.  All the other civilizations began after that time.  Our last post covered these witnesses.

4.  The book of Jubilees (holy to Jews, considered pseudopigrapha to Christians) records the building of the tower for 43 years.  It also records the size of the tower…with measurements converted from cubits and stadia, it would be 8450 feet square, and had been built to 8150 feet high when abandoned.  The size of the sun-baked bricks would be 13 feet thick and 42 feet wide.  Quite an undertaking!  We talked about the tower itself a couple of posts back.

5.  Population figures dramatically into this estimate.  If one were to use an early date (perhaps 2375 BC), then the population figures, using the chart below would only be about 666,000.  Divided into the approximately 50 groups that were dispersed, each would be only about 13,000 people.  Whereas, a later date of 2200 BC gives a potential population of at least 666,000,000 people, or about 13 million people per group of 50.  (these are maximum potential population counts)  Jewish writings place the dispersion from Babel in 2179 BC.

 

6.  Finally, we notice a dramatic decrease in the lifespan of the patriarchs and 4 generations dying off in a short period of time right about 2200 BC.  The dispersion would be a physically stressful event that could have precipitated the shortened lifetimes.

Please realize that the choice of the date of the dispersion from Babel is based mostly on logic.  A definitive date cannot be established beyond question.

 

History of Man: Beginnings of Civilization part 2

Here are some records from various ancient historians.

EGYPT

...Constantinus Manasses (died in 1187)

• wrote a chronology of the Byzantine Emperors.
• states that the Egyptian state lasted 1663 years.  There are two possible dates that could be used for the end of Egypt.  One is the first Persian occupation in 525 BC.  After the end of that occupation, native Egyptians were on the throne for only a short time before Alexander the Great conquered Egypt. 
• The earlier date would give us a beginning of Egypt in 2188 BC, the later would give 2000 BC.

BABYLON

...Simplicius

• records that the Babylonians (Chaldeans) gave Callisthenes (one of Alexander the Great's entourage) the astronomical records of 1903 years in Babylon.  These records were later given to Aristotle. 
• records that Nimrod was the builder of Babylon and the instigator of the tower of Babel.
• 1903 years before 331 BC (time Alexander was in Babylon) gives a date of 2234 BC.

...Ctesius of Cnidus

• physician to Artaxerxes II of Persia until 396 BC.
• wrote 2 histories: Persika (23 volumes 6 on Assyria, 17 on Persia) and Indika.  Neither are extant, but are extensively quoted by other historians.
• records the founding of Babylon by Belus, the first king, in 2286 BC.

...Berossus

• records the beginning of Babylon as 490 years before Phoroneus
• 490 years before 1753 BC gives a date of 2243 BC.

...Stephanus of Byzantium

• records the beginning of Babylon as 1002 years before the siege of Troy
• 1002 years before 1229 BC, gives 2231 BC.
• However, Eusebius says Troy was destroyed 408 years before the 1st Olympiad which would be 1184 BC
• 1002 years before 1184 BC is 2186 BC.

ASSYRIA

...Ctesius of Cnidus

• physician to Artaxerxes II of Persia until 396 BC.
• wrote 2 histories: Persika (23 volumes 6 on Assyria, 17 on Persia) and Indika. Neither are extant, but are extensively quoted by other historians.
• records the founding of Assyria by Ninus (Nimrod) in 2189 BC.

...Aemelius Sura quoted in Velleius Paterculus

• Sura was a historian writing before 171 BC
• Velleius was a Roman historian in 1st century AD.  He wrote a summary of Roman history.  In it he recorded five cultures had successively held world power: Assyria, Media, Persia, Macedonia, Rome.
• Roman power came shortly after 1)  the fall of Carthage in 146 BC and 2)  Philip and Antiochus were overthrown in Macedonia in 197 and 168 BC.
• records that Roman power came 1995 years after the reign of Ninus. 
• 1995 years before 146 BC is 2141 BC.
• 1995 years before 197 BC is 2192 BC.

...Ctesius of Cnidus

• physician to Artaxerxes II of Persia until 396 BC.
• wrote 2 histories: Persika (23 volumes 6 on Assyria, 17 on Persia) and Indika. Neither are extant, but are extensively quoted by other historians.
• records Assyria as beginning 1306 years before the start of the reign of Ashurbanipal II. 
• 1306 years before 883 BC is 2189 BC

...Chronicle of Eusebius

• dates the accession of Ninus to 2057 BC or 2116 BC depending on the translation used.

...Excerpta Latina Barbari

• dates the founding of Assyria under Belus to 2206 BC.

GREECE
Now, you need to keep in mind that Greece wasn't a single civilization.  It was an area made up of many city states.  So more than one person will be named here.

...Castor of Rhodes quoted by Eusebius

• the Argives, under King Inachus, began to reign in the Peloponnesus 1080 years before the first Olympiad. 
• 1080 years before 776 BC gives 1856 BC.

...Eusebius

• Egialeus begins his reign in the Peloponnesus 1313 years before the 1st Olympiad.
• 1313 years before 776 BC gives 2089 BC.

...Castor of Rhodes quoted by Eusebius

• A colony of Sais (from Egypt) were transported into Attica and set up the kingdom of Athens 780 years before the 1st Olympiad
• 780 years before 776 BC gives 1556 BC

ROME

...Varro

• cited by Gellius, Macrobius, and Castor of Rhodes
• From the beginning of Inachus' reign (in Greece) to the beginning of the reign of Romulus is 1102 years.
• 1102 years after 1856 (see above in Greece) gives 754 (the founding of Rome).

So, we have remarkable agreement between historians about the timeframe that these civilizations began.  We'll see how this figures in our decisions about an approximate date for the tower of Babel in our next post.

History of Man: Beginnings of Civilization part 1

In a secular, naturalistic worldview, we see a picture of mankind and the beginnings of civilization like this:

• Man began as a primitive brute.
• He lived in caves.
• He used stone tools.
• He was nomadic
• He was a hunter-gatherer.
• He learned to use metals over time, by experimentation and by chance.
• He developed agriculture (probably because of drought conditions) and settled down.
• As populations grew, villages developed.
• Later, villages became towns, towns became cities.
• Whole cultures developed as cities united in rule.

The biblical picture is much different.  Civilizations began after the dispersion of people from the tower of Babel.  They developed quickly because people were building what they had before.  However, people may have had to live "primitively" for a number of years until they could get back to what they were used to.  Also, some of the dispersed groups may not have been as fortunate where they settled to be able to recreate their culture as quickly...and may have even died out or been merged with other groups. 

Many civilizations have evidence for their beginnings that show a much different picture than the secular view.  They show dates for the beginnings of those civilizations at times that agree with our biblical timeline.  (We'll look at dating the tower of Babel in a future post.)

Now, secular historians consider recent dates for the beginnings of human history to be grossly in error.  In their view, since man is obviously going from primitive to advanced, then any records that we might find...like ancient histories...were created by more primitive men and so they cannot be taken seriously.

But we understand differently.  In fact, ancient chroniclers, being closer to the events and having a greater innate intelligence, should be able to give us more information to help us construct an accurate framework of ancient history.

Are there ancient historians whose records verify a biblical framework?  Yes!