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Japhetites

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ThisT and O map,from the firstprintedversion ofIsidore'sEtymologiae(Augsburg1472), identifies the three known continents (Asia,Europe,andAfrica) as respectively populated by descendants ofSem(Shem),Iafeth(Japheth), andCham(Ham).

The termJaphetites(sometimes spelledJaphethites;in adjective formJapheticorJaphethitic) refers to the descendants ofJapheth,one of the threesons of Noahin theBook of Genesis.[1]The term was used inethnologicalandlinguisticwritings from the 18th to the 20th centuries as aBiblically derived racial classificationfor theEuropean peoples,but is now considered obsolete.[2]Medievalethnographersbelieved that the world had been divided into three large-scale groupings, corresponding to the three classical continents: the Semitic peoples ofAsia,the Hamitic peoples ofAfrica,and the Japhetic peoples ofEurope.[3][4]

The term has been used in modern times as a designation inphysical anthropology,ethnography,andcomparative linguistics.In anthropology, it was used in a racial sense forWhite people(theCaucasian race).[2]In linguistics, it referred to theIndo-European languages.[2]Both of these uses are considered obsolete nowadays.[2]Only theSemitic peoplesform a well-defined language family. The Indo-European group is no longer known as "Japhetite", and theHamiticgroup is now recognized asparaphyleticwithin theAfro-Asiaticfamily.

AmongMuslim historians,Japheth is usually regarded as the ancestor of theGog and Magogtribes, and, at times, of theTurks,Khazars,andSlavs.[5][6]

In the Book of Genesis

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Main article:Genesis flood narrative
Noah's Drunkenness,painting byJames Tissot(between 1896 and 1902),Jewish Museum(Manhattan,New York). The painting depictsNoahlying in his tent;ShemandJaphethare holding up the cloak with their back to Noah;Hamis standing to the side.

Japhethfirst appears in theHebrew Bibleas one of the three sons of Noah, saved fromthe Floodthrough theArk.[1]In theBook of Genesis,they are always in the order "Shem, Ham, and Japheth" when all three are listed.[7][8]Genesis 9:24 callsHamthe youngest,[8]and Genesis 10:21 refers ambiguously to Shem as "brother of Japheth the elder", which could mean that either is the eldest.[9]Most modern writers accept Shem–Ham–Japheth as reflecting their birth order, but this is not always the case: Moses and Rachel also appear at the head of such lists despite explicit descriptions of them as younger siblings.[10]However, Japheth is considered to have been the eldest son of Noah inRabbinic literature.[1]

Following the Flood, Japheth is featured in the story ofNoah's drunkenness.[1]Ham sees Noah drunk and naked in his tent and tells his brothers, who then cover their father with a cloak while avoiding the sight;when Noah awakes he curses Canaan, the son of Ham,and blesses Shem and Japheth:[1]"Blessed be the Lord God of Shem andmay Canaan be his slave;and may God enlarge Japheth and may he dwell in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave! "[11]Chapter 10 of Genesis, theTable of Nations,describes how earth was populated by the sons of Noah following the Flood, beginning with the descendants of Japheth:

Japheth
GomerMagogMadaiJavanTubalMeshechTiras
AshkenazRiphathTogarmahElishahTarshishKittimDodanim


Biblical genealogy

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Main articles:Genesis flood narrativeandSons of Noah

Japhethis mentioned as one of the threesons of Noahin theBook of Genesis.The other two sons ofNoah,ShemandHam,are the eponymous ancestors of theSemitesand theHamites,respectively. In the BiblicalTable of Nations(GenesisGenesis 10:2–5), seven sons and seven grandsons of Japheth are mentioned:

The intended ethnic identity of these "descendants of Japheth" is not certain; however, over history, they have been identified byBiblical scholarswith various historical nations who were deemed to be descendants of Japheth and his sons — a practice dating back at least to the classical Jewish-Greek encounters. According to the Roman–Jewish historianFlavius JosephusinAntiquities of the Jews,I.VI.122 (Whiston):

Japhet, the son of Noah, had seven sons: they inhabited so, that, beginning at the mountainsTaurusandAmanus,they proceeded along Asia, as far as the riverTanais(Don), and along Europe toCadiz;and settling themselves on the lands which they light upon, which none had inhabited before, they called the nations by their own names.

Ancient and medieval ethnography

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Ethnogenetic interpretations

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A map showing the distribution of thedescendants of Noahaccording to theTable of Nations.The descendants of Japheth are shown in red.

Japheth (inHebrew:Yā́p̄eṯorYép̄eṯ) may be a transliteration of the GreekIapetos,the ancestor of theHellenic peoples.[12][13]His sons and grandsons associate him with the geographic area comprising theAegean Sea,Greece,theCaucasus,andAnatolia:Ionia/Javan,Rhodes/Rodanim,Cyprus/Kittim,and other places in theEastern Mediterraneanregion.[13][14]The point of the "blessing of Japheth" seems to be that Japheth (aGreek-descended people) andShem(theIsraelites) would rule jointly overCanaan(Palestine).

From the 19th century until the late 20th century, it was usual to see Japheth as a reference to thePhilistines,who shared dominion over Canaan during the pre-monarchic andearly monarchic period of Israel and Judah.[15]This view accorded with the understanding of the origin of the Book of Genesis, which was seen as having been composed in stages beginning with the time ofKingSolomon,when the Philistines still existed (they vanished from history after theAssyrianconquest of Canaan). However, Genesis 10:14 identifies their ancestor asHamrather than Japheth.[12]

Pseudo-Philo

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An ancient, relatively obscure text known asPseudo-Philoand thought to have been originally written ca. 70 AD, contains an expanded genealogy that is seemingly garbled from that of the Book of Genesis, and also different from the much later one found in the 17th-century Rabbinic textSefer haYashar( "Book of Jasher" ):[16]

  • Sons of Japheth: "Gomer, Magog, and Madai, Nidiazech, Tubal, Mocteras, Cenez, Riphath, and Thogorma, Elisa, Dessin, Cethin, Tudant."
    • Sons of Gomer: Thelez, Lud, Deberlet.
    • Sons of Magog: Cesse, Thipha, Pharuta, Ammiel, Phimei, Goloza, Samanach.
    • Sons of Duden: Sallus, Phelucta Phallita.
    • Sons of Tubal: Phanatonova, Eteva.
    • Sons of Tyras: Maac, Tabel, Ballana, Samplameac, Elaz.
    • Sons of Mellech: Amboradat, Urach, Bosara.
    • Sons of Ascenez: Jubal, Zaraddana, Anac.
    • Sons of Heri: Phuddet, Doad, Dephadzeat, Enoc.
    • Sons of Togorma: Abiud, Saphath, Asapli, Zepthir.
    • Sons of Elisa: Etzaac, Zenez, Mastisa, Rira.
    • Sons of Zepti: Macziel, Temna, Aela, Phinon.
    • Sons of Tessis: Meccul, Loon, Zelataban.
    • Sons of Duodennin: Itheb, Beath, Phenech.

Later writers

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Some of the nations that various later writers (includingJeromeandIsidore of Seville,as well as other traditional accounts) have attempted to describe as Japhetites are listed below:

Renaissance to Early Modern ethnography

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Book of Jasher

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TheSefer haYashar( "Book of Jasher" ), written byTalmudicrabbisin the 17th century (first printed in 1625), ostensibly based on an earlier edition of 1552, provides some new names for Japheth's grandchildren:

Anthropology

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Main articles:Caucasian raceandBiblical terminology for race

The term "Caucasian"as a racial label forEuropeansderives in part from the assumption that the tribe of Japheth developed its distinctive racial characteristics in theCaucasusarea, having migrated there fromMount Araratbefore populating theEuropean continent.[2]TheGeorgianhistorian and linguistIvane Javakhishviliassociated Japheth's sons with certain ancient tribes, calledTubals(Tabals,in Greek:Tibarenoi) andMeshechs(Meshekhs/Mosokhs, in Greek:Moschoi), who claimed to represent non-Indo-European and non-Semitic, possibly "Proto-Iberian" tribes that inhabitatedAnatoliaduring the3rd-1st millennia BC.[4]This theory influenced the use of the termJapheticin the linguistic theories ofNikolai Marr(see below).

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Biblical statement attributed to Noah that "God shall enlarge Japheth" (Genesis 9:27) was used by some Christian preachers[23]as a justification for the "enlargement" of European territories throughimperialism,which they interpreted as part of God's plan for the world.[24]The subjugation of Africans was similarly justified by thecurse of Ham.[24]

Linguistics

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Main articles:Japhetic languagesandJaphetic theory

The termJapheticwas also applied by philologists such asWilliam Jones,Rasmus Rask,and others to what is now known as theIndo-Europeanlanguage group. The term was used in a different sense by theSovietlinguistNicholas Marr,in hisJaphetic theory,which was intended to demonstrate that the languages of the Caucasus formed part of a once-widespread pre-Indo-European language group.

See also

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References

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  1. ^abcdeHirsch, Emil G.;Seligsohn, M.;Schechter, Solomon(1906)."Japheth".Jewish Encyclopedia.Kopelman Foundation.Archivedfrom the original on 17 October 2012.Retrieved27 February2024.
  2. ^abcdeAugstein, Hannah F. (2014) [1999]."Shifting ideas on the origin of humankind – Shifting geographies: Blumenbach and the Caucasus".In Ernst, Waltraud; Harris, Bernard (eds.).Race, Science and Medicine, 1700–1960.Routledge Studies in the Social History of Medicine (1st ed.).LondonandNew York:Routledge.pp. 61–74.ISBN9780415757478.
  3. ^Reynolds, Susan(October 1983). "MedievalOrigines Gentiumand the Community of the Realm ".History.68(224).Chichester, West Sussex:Wiley-Blackwell:375–390.doi:10.1111/j.1468-229X.1983.tb02193.x.JSTOR24417596.
  4. ^abJavakhishvili, Ivane(1950),Historical-Ethnological problems of Georgia, the Caucasus and the Near East.Tbilisi,pp. 130–135 (inGeorgian).
  5. ^Heller, B.; Rippin, A. (2012) [1993]. "Yāfith". InBearman, P. J.;Bianquis, Th.;Bosworth, C. E.;van Donzel, E. J.;Heinrichs, W. P.(eds.).Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition.LeidenandBoston:Brill Publishers.doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_7941.ISBN978-90-04-16121-4.
  6. ^Leslie, Donald Daniel (1984). "Japhet in China".Journal of the American Oriental Society.104(3).American Oriental Society:403–409.doi:10.2307/601652.ISSN0003-0279.JSTOR601652.
  7. ^Genesis 5:32,9:18,and10:1.
  8. ^abHaynes 2002,pp. 204, 269.
  9. ^Garcia Martinez 2012,p. 33 fn.7.
  10. ^Greenspahn 1994,p. 65.
  11. ^Genesis 9:20–27.
  12. ^abDay 2014,p. 39.
  13. ^abGlouberman 2012,p. 112.
  14. ^Gmirkin 2006,p. 165 fn.192.
  15. ^Day 2014,pp. 38–39.
  16. ^Pseudo-Philo
  17. ^Parry, J. H. (ed.)."7:3".Book of Jasher.Translated by Moses, Samuel.
  18. ^Parry, J. H. (ed.)."7:4".Book of Jasher.Translated by Moses, Samuel.
  19. ^Parry, J. H. (ed.)."7:6".Book of Jasher.Translated by Moses, Samuel.
  20. ^Parry, J. H. (ed.)."7:7".Book of Jasher.Translated by Moses, Samuel.
  21. ^Parry, J. H. (ed.)."7:8".Book of Jasher.Translated by Moses, Samuel.
  22. ^Parry, J. H. (ed.)."7:9".Book of Jasher.Translated by Moses, Samuel.
  23. ^Meagher, James L. "The Bread, Wine, Water, Oil, and Incense in the Temple"How Christ Said The First Mass.New York: Christian Press Association, 1908.95-96.Internet Archive.Web. 4 Jun. 2017
  24. ^abJohn N. Swift and Gigen Mammoser, "'Out of the Realm of Superstition: Chesnutt's 'Dave's Neckliss' and the Curse of Ham'",American Literary Realism,vol. 42 no. 1, Fall 2009, 3

Bibliography

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