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The Generations of Noah or Table of Nations (Genesis 10 of the Hebrew Bible) is a traditional ethnology representing the expansion of humankind from the descendants of Noah and their dispersion into many lands after the Flood.[1] The 70 names in the list express symbolically the unity of the human race, corresponding to the 70 descendants of Israel who go down into Egypt with Jacob at Genesis 46:27, and the 70 elders of Israel who visit God with Moses at the covenant ceremony in Exodus 24:1-9.[2] The term "nations" to describe the descendants is a standard English translation of the Hebrew word "goy", following the c.400 CE Latin Vulgate's "nationes" / "nationibus", and does not have the same political connotations that the word entails today.[3]
The list introduces for the first time a number of well known ethnonyms and toponyms important to biblical geography[4] such as Noah's three sons Shem, Ham and Japheth, from which is derived Semitic, Hamitic and Japhethic, certain of Noah's grandsons including Elam, Ashur, Aram, Cush, and Canaan, from which Elamites, Assyrians, Arameans, Cushites and Canaanites, as well as further descendants including Eber (from which Hebrew), the hunter-king Nimrod, the Philistines and the sons of Canaan including Heth, Jebus and Amorus, from which Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites.
As Christianity took over the Roman world, it adopted the idea that all the world's peoples were descended from Noah. But the tradition of Hellenistic Jewish identifications of the ancestry of various peoples, which concentrates very much on the Mediterranean world and the Near East and is described below, became stretched. Northern peoples important to the Late Roman and medieval world, such as the Celts, Slavs, Germans and Norse were not covered, nor were others of the world's peoples. A variety of fanciful arrangements were devised by scholars, with for example the Scythians, who do feature in the tradition, being claimed as the ancestors of much of northern Europe.[5]
Chapters 1-11 of the Book of Genesis are structured around five toledot statements ("these are the generations of..."), of which the "generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth," is the fourth. Events before Noah's Flood, the central toledoth, correspond to those after: the post-Flood world is a new creation corresponding to the Genesis creation narrative, and like Adam, Noah has three sons who will populate the world. The correspondences extend forward as well: there are 70 names in the Table, corresponding to the 70 Israelites who go down into Egypt at the end of Genesis and to the 70 elders of Israel who go up the mountain with Sinai to meet with God in Exodus. The symbolic force of these numbers is underscored by the way the names are frequently arranged in groups of seven, suggesting that the Table is a symbolic means of implying universal moral obligation.[6]
The overall structure of the Table is:
The overall principle governing the assignment of various peoples within the Table is difficult to discern: it purports to describe all humankind, but restricts itself to the Egyptian lands of the south, the Mesopotamian lands, and Asia Minor and the Ionian Greeks, and the "sons of Noah" are not organised by geography, language or ethnic groups within these regions.[8] The Table is in fact filled with difficulties: for example, the names Sheba and Havilah are listed twice, first as descendants of Cush the son of Ham (verse 7), and then as sons of Joktan, the great-grandsons of Shem, and while the Cushites are African in verses 6-7 they are Mesopotamians in verses 10-14.[9]
The date of composition of Genesis 1-11 cannot be fixed with any precision, although it seems likely that an early brief nucleus was later expanded with extra data.[10] Portions of the Table itself may derive from the 10th century, while others reflect the 7th century and priestly revisions in the 5th century.[1] Its combination of world review, myth and genealogy corresponds to the work of the Greek historian Hecataeus of Miletus, active c.520 BCE.[11]
I Chronicles 1 includes a version of the Table of Nations from Genesis, but edited to make clearer that the intention is to establish the background for Israel. This is done by condensing various branches to focus on the story of Abraham and his offspring. Most notably, it omits Genesis 10:9-14, in which Nimrod, a son of Cush, is linked to various cities in Mesopotamia, thus removing from Cush any Mesopotamian connection.[12]
The Table of Nations is expanded upon in detail in chapters 8-9 of the Book of Jubilees, sometimes known as the "Lesser Genesis," a work from the early Second Temple period.[13] Jubilees is considered Pseudepigraphical by most Christian and Jewish sects but thought to have been held in regard by many of the Church Fathers.[14] Its division of the descendants throughout the world are thought to have been heavily influenced by the "Ionian world map" described in the Histories (Herodotus),[15] and the anomalous treatment of Canaan and Madai are thought to have been "propaganda for the territorial expansion of the Hasmonean state".[16]
The Hebrew bible was translated into Greek in Alexandria at the request of Ptolemy II, who reigned over Egypt 285-246 BCE.[17] Its version of the Table of Nations is substantially the same as that in the Hebrew text, but with the following differences:
The Flood story tells how Noah and his three sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, together with their wives, were saved from the Deluge to repopulate the Earth.
The 1st-century Jewish-Roman historian Flavius Josephus, in Antiquities of the Jews Book 1, chapter 6, was among the first of many who attempted to assign known ethnicities to some of the names listed in Genesis chapter 10. His assignments became the basis for most later authors, and were as follows:[25]
Hippolytus of Rome, in his Diamerismos (c. 234, existing in numerous Latin and Greek copies),[26] made another attempt to assign ethnicities to the names in Genesis 10. It is thought to have been based on the Book of Jubilees.[27]
Its differences versus that of Josephus are shown below:
The Movses Kaghankatvatsi (7th century), and the Synopsis of Histories by John Skylitzes (c. 1057) follow the identifications of Hippolytus.
Jerome, writing c. 390, provided an 'updated' version of Josephus' identifications in his Hebrew Questions on Genesis. His list is substantially identical to that of Josephus in almost all respects, but with the following notable differences:
The scholar Isidore of Seville, in his Etymologiae (c. 600), repeats all of Jerome's identifications, but with these minor changes:[28]
Isidore's identifications for Japheth's sons were repeated in the Historia Britonum attributed to Nennius. Isidore's identifications also became the basis for numerous later mediaeval scholars, remaining so until the Age of Discovery prompted newer theories, such as that of Benito Arias Montano (1571), who proposed connecting Meshech with Moscow, and Ophir with Peru.
While Genesis 10 was covered extensively by numerous Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars over many centuries, the phrase "Table" of nations only appeared and became popular in English from the 1830s.
The Greek Septuagint (LXX) text of Genesis includes an additional son of Japheth, "Elisa", between Javan and Tubal; however, as this name is found in no other ancient source, nor in I Chronicles, he is almost universally agreed to be a duplicate of Elisha, son of Javan. The presence of Elisa and of Cainan son of Arpachshad (below) in the Greek Bible accounts for the traditional enumeration among early Christian sources of 72 names, as opposed to the 70 names found in Jewish sources and Western Christian sources.
Beginning in the 9th century with the Jewish grammarian Judah ibn Quraysh, a relationship between the Semitic and Cushitic languages was seen; modern linguists group these two families, along with the Egyptian, Berber, Chadic, and Omotic language groups into the larger Afro-Asiatic language family. In addition, languages in the southern half of Africa are now seen as belonging to several distinct families independent of the Afro-Asiatic group. Some now discarded Hamitic theories have become viewed as racist; in particular a theory proposed in the 19th century by Speke, that the Tutsi were supposedly of some Hamitic ancestry and thus inherently superior.[48]
The 17th-century Jesuit, Athanasius Kircher, thought that the Chinese had also descended from Ham, via Egyptians.
There exist various traditions in post-biblical sources claiming that Noah had children other than Shem, Ham, and Japheth — born variously before, during, or after the Deluge.
According to the Quran (Hud v. 42–43), Noah had another unnamed son who refused to come aboard the Ark, instead preferring to climb a mountain, where he drowned. Some later Islamic commentators give his name as either Yam or Kan'an.[54]
According to Irish mythology, as found in the Annals of the Four Masters and elsewhere, Noah had another son named Bith, who was not allowed aboard the Ark, and who attempted to colonise Ireland with 54 persons, only to be wiped out in the Deluge.
Some 9th-century manuscripts of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle assert that Sceafa was the fourth son of Noah, born aboard the Ark, from whom the House of Wessex traced their ancestry; in William of Malmesbury's version of this genealogy (c. 1120), Sceaf is instead made a descendant of Strephius, the fourth son born aboard the Ark (Gesta Regnum Anglorum).
An early Arabic work known as Kitab al-Magall or the Book of Rolls (part of Clementine literature) mentions Bouniter, the fourth son of Noah, born after the flood, who allegedly invented astronomy and instructed Nimrod.[55] Variants of this story with often similar names for Noah's fourth son are also found in the c. 5th century Ge'ez work Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan (Barvin), the c. 6th century Syriac book Cave of Treasures (Yonton), the 7th century Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius (Ionitus'[56]), the Syriac Book of the Bee 1221 (Yônatôn), the Hebrew Chronicles of Jerahmeel, c. 12th–14th century (Jonithes), and throughout Armenian apocryphal literature, where he is usually referred to as Maniton; as well as in works by Petrus Comestor c. 1160 (Jonithus), Godfrey of Viterbo 1185 (Ihonitus), Michael the Syrian 1196 (Maniton), Abu Salih the Armenian c. 1208 (Abu Naiţur); Jacob van Maerlant c. 1270 (Jonitus), and Abraham Zacuto 1504 (Yoniko).
Martin of Opava (c. 1250), later versions of the Mirabilia Urbis Romae, and the Chronicon Bohemorum of Giovanni di Marignola (1355) make Janus (i.e., the Roman deity) the fourth son of Noah, who moved to Italy, invented astrology, and instructed Nimrod.
According to the monk Daniel A. Machiela (2009). "A Comparative Commentary on the Earths Division". The Dead Sea Genesis Apocryphon: A New Text and Translation With Introduction and Special Treatment of Columns 13-17. BRILL. Jacques T. A. G. M. Ruiten (2000). Primaeval History Interpreted: The Rewriting of Genesis 1-11 in the Book of Jubilees. BRILL. Categories Articles to be expanded from February 2015 All articles to be expanded All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from February 2015 Articles with unsourced statements from April 2011 Articles with unsourced statements from July 2014 Torah people Bible genealogy Hebrew Bible topics Noah Japhetic people Ham (son of Noah) Book of Genesis Noah's Ark Noach (parsha) People and things in the Quran Characters God in Islam (Allah) Names of God found in the Quran Angels Israfil Izra'il/Azrael (Malak al-Mawt) Jibra'il/Gabriel (Al-Ruh al-Amin) and Holy Spirit (Al-Ruh al-Qudus) and Al-Ruh (The Spirit) Maalik Mika'il/Michael Harut and Marut Jinns Iblīs/Devil or Shaitan/Satan Ifrit In Heaven (Jannah) Ghilman and Wildan Houri Prophets and apostles (messengers) of God Mentioned Ādam/Adam Alyasa'/Elisha Ayyub/Job Dawud/David Dhul-Kifl/Ezekiel? Harun/Aaron Hud/Eber? Ibrahim/Abraham (Khalilullah) Idris/Enoch? Ilyas/Elijah Imran/Joachim (father of Maryam) Isa/Jesus Isḥaq/Isaac Isma'il/Ishmael Dhabih Ullah Isma'il the Truthful (Sadiq-al-Wa'd) Lut/Lot Muhammad or Ahmad/Paraclete Musa/Moses (Kalimullah) Nuh/Noah Saleh/Shelah? Shu'aib/Jethro (Reuel, Hobab)? Sulayman/Solomon Uzair/Ezra? Yahya/John the Baptist Yaqub/Jacob (Israel) Yunus/Jonah (Dhul-Nun, Sahib al-Hut) Yūsuf/Joseph Zakariya/Zechariah Implied Ermia/Jeremiah Samuel Yusha' ibn Nūn/Joshua Good people (before Islam) Mentioned Dhul-Qarnayn Luqman Maryam/Mary (mother of Isa) Talut/Saul Implicitly mentioned Asiyah bint Muzahim/Bithiah? (wife of Fir'aun) Asif ibn Barkhiya Bilquis (Queen of Saba/Sheba) Believer of Fir'aun Family (Hizbil/Hizqil ibn Sabura) Beniamin/Benjamin Habib the Carpenter (believer of Ya-Sin) Kaleb/Caleb Khidr Magicians of Fir'aun Simon Cephas/Simon Peter Other people (before Islam) Mentioned Āzar (uncle of Ibrahim) Fir'aun/Pharaoh Haman Jalut/Goliath Qarun/Korah Sāmiri/Zimri? Implicitly mentioned Abraha Bal'am/Balaam Barsisa Nebuchadnezzar II Nimrod Potiphar (Al-Aziz) Shaddad Simeon (son of Ya'qub) Slayers of Saleh's she-camel (Qaddar ibn Salif and Musda' ibn Dahr) Valid ibn Rayyan (king of Egypt in the account of Yūsuf) Zuleika (wife of al-Aziz) Mentioned people (after Islam) Abū Lahab Zayd ibn Harithah Relatives of prophets Specified good relatives Daughters of Lut/Lot (Ritha, Za'ura, et al.) Elizabeth or 'Ishā' (wife of Zakariya) Habil/Abel (son of Adam) Hawwa'/Eve (wife of Adam) Kulthum/Miriam (sister of Musa) Saffurah/Zipporah (wife of Musa) and Layya (Saffura's sister) Sarah (wife of Ibrahim, mother of Isḥaq) Yukabed/Jochebed (mother of Musa) Non-specified good relatives Abiona/Amtelai daughter of Karnebo (mother of Ibrahim) Bathsheba (wife of Dawud) Muhammad's wives Daughters of Muhammad Hājar/Hagar (wife of Ibrahim, mother of Isma'il) Hannah/Anne daughter of Faquz (mother of Maryam) Imran/Amram (father of Musa) Lamech (father of Nuh) Rāhil/Rachel (wife of Ya'qub) Rahma/Dinah (wife of Ayyub) Shamkha bint Anush/Betenos (mother of Nuh) Son of Luqman Other relatives Brothers of Yūsuf Children of Ayyub Dead son of Sulaiman Qabil/Cain? (son of Adam) Tārah/Terah (father of Ibrahim) Umm Jamil (wife of Abu Lahab) Wali'ah or Wa'ilah/Waala? (wife of Nuh) Walihah or Wahilah (wife of Lut) Yam or Kan'an (son of Nuh) Groups and tribes Tribes and ethnicities Mentioned 'Ād (people of Hud) Arab and Ajam Children of Israel/Israelites Companions of the Rass People of Saba'/Sheba People of Shu'aib (people of Madyan and people of Aykah/Wood) People of Tubba' Quraysh Romans Thamud (people of Saleh, companions of Hijr) Ya'juj and Ma'juj/Gog and Magog Implicitly mentioned Ahl al-Bayt Amalek Banu Hashim Banu Nadir Banu Qaynuqa Banu Qurayza Iranian people Umayyad Dynasty Groups Mentioned Christian apostles Disciples of Jesus Companions of Noah's Ark Companions of Sabbath (Aşḥāb al-Sabt) Companions of the Cave/Seven Sleepers and Companions of al-Raqaim Companions of the Elephant People of al-Ukhdūd People of the City (People of Ya-Sin) People of the Burned Garden (Aşḥāb al-Jannah) Ulu'l azm prophets Implicitly mentioned Ahl al-Suffa (People of the Verandah) Aus and Khazraj Copts Hezbollah Muhajirun (The emigrants) and Ansar (The helpers) Ummah of Islam (Ummah of Muhammad) Religious groups Ahl al-dhimmah (Dhimmi) Christians (People of Injil) Jews Kafir (Infidels) Majus Zoroastrians Munafiq Hypocrites Mushrik Polytheists Muslims People of the Book (′Ahl al-Kitāb) Sabians Ahbār (Jewish scholars) Qissis (Christian priest) Rabbani/Rabbi Ruhban (Christian monks) Locations, entities and events Locations Mentioned Ahqāf Al-Aqsa Mosque Arafat and Mash'ar al-Harām Bābil/Babylon Badr Door of Hittah Hijr/Hegra Holy Land (Palestine and Levant) Hunayn Iram Ka'bah/Kaaba (Bayt al-Harām/Sacred House, Bayt al-'Atīq/Ancient House) Madyan/Midian Madinah/Medina (formerly Yathrib) Majma' al-Bahrain Makkah/Mecca (Umm al-Qura, Balad al-Amin, Bakkah) Maqām Ibrahim Masjid al-Dirar Masjid al-Haram Mount Judi Mu'tafikat (Sodom) Rass Saba'/Sheba Al-Safa and Al-Marwah Tur Sinā' /Mount Sinai and Jabal al-Tur Egypt Valley of Tuwa Implicitly mentioned Antioch Antakya Ayla Barrier of Dhul-Qarnayn Bayt al-Muqaddas and 'Ariha Black Stone (Al-Ḥajar al-Aswad) and Al-Hijr of Isma'il Canaan Cave of Hira and Cave of Thawr Cave of Seven Sleepers Dār al-Nadwa Hudaybiyyah Jordan River Ma'rib Dam Masjid al-Nabawi (Prophet's Mosque) Mesopotamia Nile River Nineveh Palestine River Paradise of Shaddad Quba Mosque Sinai Desert and Tīh Desert Ta'if Religious locations Bay'a (Church) Mihrab Monastery Mosque Salat (Synagogue) Non-human physical entities Religious texts Injil/Gospel Quran Suhuf-i Ibrahim (Scrolls of Abraham) Tawrat/Torah, Suhuf-i-Musa (Scrolls of Moses) and Tablets of Stone Zabur Related animals Cow of Israelites and Golden calf Dog of Seven Sleepers Fish of Yunis Hoopoe of Sulayman She-Camel of Saleh Related objects Forbidden fruit of Adam Heavenly Food of Christian Apostles Noah's Ark Staff of Musa Tabut al-Sakina (Casket of Shekhinah) Throne of Bilqis Trumpet of Israfil Mentioned idols (cult images) Baal Lāt, 'Uzza and Manāt Wadd, Suwa', Yaghuth, Ya'uq and Nasr (Jibt and Taghut Ansāb) Events Battle of Badr Battle of Hunayn Battle of Khaybar Battle of Tabouk Battle of the Trench (Battle of the Confederates) Battle of Uhud Occupation of Mecca Hadith of the pond of Khumm Incident of Ifk Layla al-Mabit Mubahala The Farewell Pilgrimage (Hujja al-Wada') Treaty of Hudaybiyyah Umrah al-Qaza Yawm al-Dār Note: The names are sorted alphabetically. Standard form: Islamic name / Bibilical name (title or relationship) Religious family trees Biblical Book of Genesis Descendants of Adam and Eve Descendants of Noah Abraham's family tree Book of Ruth Naomi to David Books of Kings Kings of Israel and Judah New Testament Genealogy of Jesus Islamic Muhammad Patrilineal ancestry Direct relatives Rashidun Caliphs Abu Bakr Umar Uthman Ali (Immediate descendants Dynastic descendants The Fourteen Infallibles) Caliphal Dynasties Umayyads Abbasids Polytheistic Babylonian gods Greek gods Agamemnon Māori gods Norse gods Noah's Ark media Source Genesis flood narrative in the Book of Genesis Characters Noah Shem Ham Japheth Wives aboard Noah's Ark Television Captain Noah and His Magical Ark (1967) Noah's Island (1997) Noah's Ark (1999) The Ark (2015) Film Noah's Ark (1928) The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966) O Trapalhão na Arca de Noé (1983) La Biblia en pasta (1984) Father Noah's Ark (1993) Genesis: The Creation and the Flood (1994) Noah (1998) Raining Cats and Frogs (2003) Noah's Ark (2007) Evan Almighty (2007) 40 Days and Nights (2012) Noah (2014) All Creatures Big and Small (2015) Stage The Flowering Peach (1954 play) Two by Two (1970 musical) Opera Il diluvio universale (1830) Le Déluge (1875) Noé (1885) Noye's Fludde (1958) Songs Captain Noah and His Floating Zoo (1970) "The Prophet's Song" (1975) "Animals" (1980) "Forever Not Yours" (2002) Games Noah's Ark Noah's Ark (1992) Super 3D Noah's Ark (1994) Literature The Moon in the Cloud (1969) Noah's Ark (1977) Not Wanted on the Voyage (1984) Not the End of the World (2004) Other cultures Gilgamesh flood myth Noah in Islam Noah in rabbinic literature Science Black Sea deluge hypothesis Flood geology Searches for Noah's Ark Geography In Search of Noah's Ark Mountains of Ararat Mount Judi Mosque of Ibn Tulun Theories Ararat anomaly Durupınar site Story within a story Angel's Egg Doctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake Fantasia 2000 "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass" "This Is the Way the World Ends" Exclusions "The Unicorn" Peluda Related theology Book of Noah Generations of Noah Gopher wood Noah's wine Seven Laws of Noah Other Noah's Brother List of replicas of Noah's Ark Boner's Ark Noah's Ark silver coins Descendants of Noah in Genesis 10 Shem and Semitic Elam Ashur Arpachshad Lud Aram Ham and Hamitic Cush Mizraim Phut Canaan Japheth and Japhetic Gomer Magog Madai Javan Tubal Meshech Tiras Latin Vulgate and English Douay-Rheims English Septuagint King James Version and Revised Standard Version Jewish Encyclopedia: Entry for "Genealogy" .The Roots of the NationsCustance, Arthur C., A more standard creationist account that associates Japheth with Europe. External links Sadler, Rodney Steven, Jr. (2009). Can a Cushite Change His Skin?: An Examination of Race, Ethnicity, and Othering in the Hebrew Bible. A&C Black. Sailhamer, John H. (2010). The Meaning of the Pentateuch: Revelation, Composition and Interpretation. InterVarsity Press. Scott, James M. (2005). Geography in Early Judaism and Christianity: The Book of Jubilees. Cambridge University Press. Strawn, Brent A. (2000a). "Shem". In Freedman, David Noel; Myers, Allen C. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Amsterdam University Press. Strawn, Brent A. (2000b). "Ham". In Freedman, David Noel; Myers, Allen C. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Amsterdam University Press. Thompson, Thomas L. (2014). "Narrative reiteration and comparative literature: problems in defining dependency". In Thompson, Thomas L.; Wajdenbaum, Philippe. The Bible and Hellenism: Greek Influence on Jewish and Early Christian Literature. Routledge. Towner, Wayne Sibley (2001). Genesis. Westminster John Knox Press. Uehlinger, Christof (1999). "Nimrod". In Van der Toorn, Karel; Becking, Bob; Van der Horst, Pieter. Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible. Brill. Wajdenbaum, Philippe (2014). Argonauts of the Desert: Structural Analysis of the Hebrew Bible. Routledge. Matthews, K.A. (1996). Genesis 1-11:26. B&H Publishing Group. McEntire, Mark (2008). Struggling with God: An Introduction to the Pentateuch. Mercer University Press. Pietersma, Albert; Wright, Benjamin G. (2005). A New English Translation of the Septuagint. Oxford University Press,. Rogers, Jeffrey S. (2000). "Table of Nations". In Freedman, David Noel; Myers, Allen C. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Amsterdam University Press.
The sons of Noah are not expressly mentioned in the Qur'an, except for the fact that one of the sons was among the people who did not follow his own father, not among the believers and thus was washed away in the flood. Also the Qur'an indicates a great calamity, enough to have destroyed Noah's people, but to have saved him and his generations to come.[58]
[57]
Islam, Hadith, Islamic philosophy, Quranism, Muhammad
Noah, Ham (son of Noah), Hebrew language, Arabic language, Hebrew Bible
Abraham, Quran, Islam, Noah's Ark, Jesus
Shem, Noah, Book of Genesis, Ancient Egypt, Pakistan
Book of Genesis, Hebrew language, Moscow, Japheth, Aram, son of Shem
British Museum, Lamassu, Iraq, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Ashurnasirpal II
Gomer, Hebrew language, Hebrew Bible, Plutarch, Hebrew alphabet
Book of Genesis, Tibareni, Meshech, Tuscany, Campania