1.
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum
–
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum is an iconography book by Guillaume Rouillé. It was published in Lyon, France, in 1553, the work includes portraits designed as medals, and brief biographies of many notable figures. The book includes a total of 950 woodcut portraits, many of the figures portrayed are of English origin. The images begin with Adam and Eve, in the preface, the publisher praises the work. Abhandlungen Der Königlich Preussischen Akademie Der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Classe, verlag der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften,1908. The library of Mary Queen of Scots, a Catalogue of Foreign and English Theology. A Collection of Aristotelic, Scotist, Thomist, and Other Writers from the Twelfth to Eighteenth Century, specimens of Early Typography. and a Few Miscellaneous Works. Media related to Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum at Wikimedia Commons Prima pars Promptuarii iconum insigniorum à seculo hominum, subjectis eorum
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum
–
An image in Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum depicting
Eleazar
2.
Magog (Bible)
–
Magog is the second of the seven sons of Japheth mentioned in the Table of Nations in Genesis 10. In the New Testament, this pairing is found in the Book of Revelation 20,8, josephus refers to Magog son of Japheth as progenitor of Scythians, or peoples north of the Black Sea. According to him, the Greeks called Scythia Magogia, an alternate identification derived from an examination of the order in which tribal names are listed in Ezekiel 38, would place Magog between Cappadocia and Media. According to Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried Magog refers to the Mongols and he cites an Arab writer who refers to the Great Wall of China with the name Magog. Johannes Magnus stated that Magog migrated to Scandinavia 88 years after the flood, and that his five sons were Suenno, Gethar, Ubbo, Thor, and German. Magnus accounts became accepted at the Swedish court for a long time, queen Christina of Sweden reckoned herself as number 249 in a list of kings going back to Magog. Magnus also influenced later historians such as Daniel Juslenius, who derived the roots of the Finns from Magog. According to several medieval Irish chronicles, most notably the Auraicept na n-Éces and Lebor Gabála Érenn, baath mac Magog, Jobhath, and Fathochta are the three sons of Magog. Fenius Farsaid, Partholón, Nemed, the Fir Bolg, the Tuatha de Danann, Magog was also supposed to have had a grandson called Heber, whose offspring spread throughout the Mediterranean. The version of this legend in the 14th century Chronicon Pictum equates this Magor with Magog, Magogs appearance in the Quran and other Islamic sources is chiefly due to his apocalyptic renown as part of the pairing of Gog and Magog. In sura Al-Kahf of the Quran, an individual called Dhul-Qarnayn journeys to a distant land in a pass between two mountains where he finds people who are suffering from the mischief of Gog and Magog. Dhul-Qarnayn then makes a wall of copper and iron to keep Gog and Magog out, according to Islamic tradition, Gog and Magog are human beings, and the city mentioned in sura 21 is Jerusalem. Jocelyn Rochat, George W. Bush et le Code Ezéchiel, Allez savoir
Magog (Bible)
–
The Monster of Gog and Magog, Muhammad ibn Muhammad Shakir Ruzmah-'i Nathani
Magog (Bible)
–
Illustration of Magog as the first king of Sweden, from
Johannes Magnus ' Historia de omnibus gothorum sueonumque regibus, 1554 ed.
3.
Madai
–
Madai is a son of Japheth and one of the 16 grandsons of Noah in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible. Biblical scholars have generally identified Madai with the Iranian Medes of much later records, the Medes, reckoned to be his offspring by Josephus and most subsequent writers, were also known as Madai, including in both Assyrian and Hebrew sources. Some scholars in modern times have also proposed connections with various earlier nations, such as Mitanni, Matiene. In addition, the Kurds still maintain traditions of descent from Madai, another line in Jubilees states that a daughter of Madai named Milcah married Cainan, who is an ancestor of Abraham also mentioned in the Septuagint version of Genesis and in the Gospel of Luke. Medos, and his mother Medea, were reckoned to be the ancestors of the Medes in classical Greek mythical history. Christian scholars have proposed linking Hebrew Madai and Greek Medos since at least the time of Isidore of Seville, Madai is also the name of the deified ancestor of the Kachin people of Myanmar, according to the indigenous Kachin religion
Madai
–
This article is about the Hebrew biblical figure. For the fish, see
Pagrus major.
4.
Javan
–
Javan was the fourth son of Noahs son Japheth according to the Table of Nations in the Hebrew Bible. Flavius Josephus states the belief that this individual was the ancestor of the Greek people. Also serving as the Hebrew name for Greece or Greeks in general, יָוָן Yavan or Yāwān has long been considered cognate with the name of the eastern Greeks, the Greek race has been known by cognate names throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, Near East and beyond—even in Sanskrit. In Greek mythology, the forefather of the Ionians is similarly called Ion. Javan is also found in literature in the Book of Daniel,8, 21-22 and 11,2
Javan
–
The world as known to the Hebrews
5.
Meshech
–
In the Bible, Meshech or Mosoch is named as a son of Japheth in Genesis 10,2 and 1 Chronicles 1,5. Another Meshech is named as a son of Aram in 1 Chronicles 1,17, in Hippolytus of Romes chronicle, the Illyrians were identified as Meshechs offspring. In addition, Georgians have traditions that they, and other Caucasus people as well as Armenians, share descent from Meshech, Tubal, later historians such as Raphael Holinshed identified Samothes as Meshech, and asserted that he first ruled also in Britain. Beginning from the 16th century, some European scholars proposed the idea that the Muscovites had stemmed from Meshech, sir Walter Raleigh attributes this opinion to Philipp Melanchthon and to Benito Arias Montano, and it was also followed later by Jonathan Edwards. Moreover, according to a legend first appearing in the Kievan Synopsis, Moscow was founded by King Mosokh son of Japheth, and was named for him and his wife, Kva. In this legend, they are said to have had a son, Ya, and daughter, Vuza. According to Archibald Sayce, Meshech can be identified with Muska, most reference books since Flavius Josephus generally identify Meshech in Ezekiels time as an area in modern Turkey
Meshech
–
The World as known to the Hebrews. This 1854 map locates Meshech together with Gog and Magog, roughly in the southern Caucasus.
6.
Noah
–
In the Abrahamic religions, Noah was the tenth and last of the pre-flood Patriarchs. The story of Noahs Ark is told in the Bibles Genesis flood narrative, the biblical account is followed by the story of the Curse of Canaan. Noah was the subject of much elaboration in the literature of later Abrahamic religions, the primary account of Noah in the Bible is in the Book of Genesis. Noah was the tenth of the pre-flood Patriarchs and his father was Lamech and his mother is unknown. When Noah was five hundred years old, he begat Shem, Ham, the Genesis flood narrative makes up chapters 6–9 in the Book of Genesis, in the Bible. Thus, the flood was no ordinary overflow but a reversal of creation, and God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. They were also told that all fowls, land animals, furthermore, as well as green plants, every moving thing would be their food with the exception that the blood was not to be eaten. Mans life blood would be required from the beasts and from man, whoso sheddeth mans blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man. Noah died 350 years after the flood, at the age of 950, the maximum human lifespan, as depicted by the Bible, diminishes rapidly thereafter, from almost 1,000 years to the 120 years of Moses. After the flood, Noah became a husbandman and he planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine, and was drunken, and was uncovered within his tent. Noahs son Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his brethren, in Jewish tradition and rabbinic literature, rabbis blame Satan for the intoxicating properties of the wine. In the field of biblical criticism, J. H. Ellens and W. G. Rollins address the narrative of Genesis 9. Because of its brevity and textual inconsistencies, it has suggested that this narrative is a splinter from a more substantial tale. A fuller account would explain what exactly Ham had done to his father, or why Noah directed a curse at Canaan for Hams misdeed, or how Noah came to know what occurred. The narrator relates two facts, Noah became drunken and he was uncovered within his tent, and Ham saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. Thus, these passages revolve around sexuality and the exposure of genitalia as compared with other Hebrew Bible texts, such as Habakkuk 2,15 and Lamentations 4,21. Genesis 10 sets forth the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, among Japheth’s descendants were the maritime nations. Ham’s son Cush had a son named Nimrod, who became the first man of might on earth, a mighty hunter, king in Babylon, from there Asshur went and built Nineveh
Noah
–
Noah's Sacrifice by
Daniel Maclise
Noah
–
12th century Venetian
mosaic depiction of Noah sending the dove
Noah
–
Noah curses Ham by
Gustave Dore
Noah
–
The dispersion of the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth (map from the 1854 Historical Textbook and Atlas of Biblical Geography)
7.
Hebrew language
–
Hebrew is a language native to Israel, spoken by over 9 million people worldwide, of whom over 5 million are in Israel. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, the earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language. Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language somewhere between 200 and 400 CE, declining since the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Aramaic and to a lesser extent Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among elites and it survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, intra-Jewish commerce, and poetry. Then, in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, and, according to Ethnologue, had become, as of 1998, the language of 5 million people worldwide. After Israel, the United States has the second largest Hebrew-speaking population, with 220,000 fluent speakers, Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of the State of Israel, while premodern Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world today. Ancient Hebrew is also the tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Arabic is their vernacular. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Leshon Hakodesh, the modern word Hebrew is derived from the word Ivri, one of several names for the Israelite people. It is traditionally understood to be a based on the name of Abrahams ancestor, Eber. This name is based upon the root ʕ-b-r meaning to cross over. Interpretations of the term ʕibrim link it to this verb, cross over, in the Bible, the Hebrew language is called Yәhudit because Judah was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation. In Isaiah 19,18 it is called the Language of Canaan, Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn, the Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages, according to Avraham ben-Yosef, Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah during about 1200 to 586 BCE. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile. In July 2008 Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa which he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating around 3000 years ago. The Gezer calendar also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic Period, classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew, the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that through the Greeks, the Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places where later Hebrew spelling requires it
Hebrew language
–
Hebrew street sign, above in
Hebrew alphabet, below in
Latin transliteration. Aluf Batslut veAluf Shum (he) ("The Onion Champion and the Garlic Champion") is a
play by
Hayim Nahman Bialik.
Hebrew language
–
Portion of the
Temple Scroll, one of the longest of the
Dead Sea Scrolls discovered at
Qumran
Hebrew language
–
The
Shebna Inscription, from the tomb of a royal steward found in
Siloam, dates to the 7th century BCE.
Hebrew language
–
Hebrew script used in writing a Torah scroll. Note ornamental "crowns" on tops of certain letters.
8.
Greek language
–
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
Greek language
–
Idealized portrayal of
Homer
Greek language
–
regions where Greek is the official language
Greek language
–
Greek language road sign, A27 Motorway, Greece
9.
Latin language
–
Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
Latin language
–
Latin inscription, in the
Colosseum
Latin language
–
Julius Caesar 's
Commentarii de Bello Gallico is one of the most famous classical Latin texts of the Golden Age of Latin. The unvarnished, journalistic style of this
patrician general has long been taught as a model of the urbane Latin officially spoken and written in the floruit of the
Roman republic.
Latin language
–
A multi-volume Latin dictionary in the
University Library of Graz
Latin language
–
Latin and Ancient Greek Language - Culture - Linguistics at
Duke University in 2014.
10.
Sons of Noah
–
The Generations of Noah or Table of Nations is a genealogy of the sons of Noah and their dispersion into many lands after the Flood, focusing on the major societies at the time of its writing. As Christianity took over the Roman world, it adopted the idea all the worlds peoples were descended from Noah. Northern peoples important to the Late Roman and medieval world, such as the Celts, Slavs, Germans and Norsemen were not covered, nor were others of the worlds peoples. A variety of arrangements were devised by scholars, with for example the Scythians, chapters 1–11 of the Book of Genesis are structured around five toledot statements, of which the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, is the fourth. The overall structure of the Table is,1, 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. Portions of the Table itself may derive from the 10th century, while others reflect the 7th century and its combination of world review, myth and genealogy corresponds to the work of the Greek historian Hecataeus of Miletus, active c.520 BCE. I Chronicles 1 includes a version of the Table of Nations from Genesis and 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, 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. Jubilees is considered Pseudepigraphical by most Christian and Jewish sects but thought to have held in regard by many of the Church Fathers. The Hebrew bible was translated into Greek in Alexandria at the request of Ptolemy II, cainan appears again at the end of the list of the sons of Shem. Obal, Joktans eighth son in the Masoretic text, does not appear, 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. Shems name means name or fame, through Eber he became the ancestor of Abraham and thus of the Israelites. In the view of some 17th-century European scholars, the people of China, eastern Persia, both Webb and the French Jesuits belonging to the Figurist school went even further, identifying the legendary Emperor Yao of Chinese history with Noah himself. Ham is the forefather of Cush, Egypt, and Put, the etymology of his name is uncertain, some scholars have linked it to terms connected with divinity, but a divine or semi-divine status for Ham is unlikely. Japheth is apparently the youngest son, although his line is given first and his name is associated with the mythological Greek Titan Iapetos, and his sons include Javan, the Greek-speaking cities of Ionia. In Genesis 9,27 it forms a pun with the Hebrew root yph, May God make room for Japheth, that he may live in Shems tents and Canaan may be his slave. His assignments became the basis for most later authors, and were as follows, Gomer, those whom the Greeks now call Galatians, aschanax, Aschanaxians, who are now called by the Greeks Rheginians. Thrugramma, Thrugrammeans, who, as the Greeks resolved, were named Phrygians, Magog, Magogites, but who are by the Greeks called Scythians
Sons of Noah
–
This
T and O map, from the first printed version of
Isidoor 's
Etymologiae, identifies the three known continents as populated by descendants of Sem (
Shem), Iafeth (
Japheth) and Cham (
Ham).
Sons of Noah
–
The world according to the Mosaic account (1854 map)
Sons of Noah
–
Noah dividing the world between his sons. Anonymous painter; Russia, 18th century
Sons of Noah
–
1823 map by
Robert Wilkinson. Prior to the mid-19th century, Shem was associated with all of Asia, Ham with all of Africa and Japheth with all of Europe.
11.
Book of Genesis
–
The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. The basic narrative expresses the theme, God creates the world and appoints man as his regent. The new post-Flood world is also corrupt, God does not destroy it, instead calling one man, Abraham, to be the seed of its salvation. At Gods command Abraham descends from his home into the land of Canaan, given to him by God, Genesis ends with Israel in Egypt, ready for the coming of Moses and the Exodus. The narrative is punctuated by a series of covenants with God, the books author or authors appear to have structured it around ten toledot sections, but modern commentators see it in terms of a primeval history followed by the cycle of Patriarchal stories. In Judaism, the importance of Genesis centers on the covenants linking God to his chosen people. It is not clear, however, what this meant to the original authors, while the first is far shorter than the second, it sets out the basic themes and provides an interpretive key for understanding the entire book. The primeval history has a symmetrical structure hinging on chapters 6–9, God creates the world in six days and consecrates the seventh as a day of rest. God creates the first humans Adam and Eve and all the animals in the Garden of Eden but instructs them not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. A talking serpent portrayed as a creature or trickster, entices Eve into eating it anyway. Eve bears two sons, Cain and Abel, Cain kills Abel after God accepts Abels offering but not Cains. Eve bears another son, Seth, to take Abels place, after many generations of Adam have passed from the lines of Cain and Seth, the world becomes corrupted by the sin of man and Nephilim, and God determines to wipe out mankind. First, he instructs the righteous Noah and his family to build a huge boat, then God sends a great flood to wipe out the rest of the world. When the waters recede, God promises that he not destroy the world a second time with water with the rainbow as the symbol of his promise. But upon seeing mankind cooperating to build a great tower city, God instructs Abram to travel from his home in Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan. Abrams name is changed to Abraham and that of his wife Sarai to Sarah, because Sarah is old, she tells Abraham to take her Egyptian handmaiden, Hagar, as a second wife. God resolves to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for the sins of their people, Abraham protests and gets God to agree not to destroy the cities if 10 righteous men can be found. Angels save Abrahams nephew Lot and his family, but his wife back on the destruction against their command and is turned into a pillar of salt
Book of Genesis
–
Tanakh (Judaism)
Book of Genesis
–
The Angel Hinders the Offering of Isaac (
Rembrandt, 1635)
Book of Genesis
–
Abram's Journey from
Ur to
Canaan (
József Molnár, 1850)
Book of Genesis
–
Joseph recognized by his brothers (Léon Pierre Urbain Bourgeois, 1863)
12.
Curse of Ham
–
The Curse of Ham is a misnomer for the curse upon Canaan that was imposed by the biblical patriarch Noah. The curse occurs in the Book of Genesis and concerns Noahs drunkenness and the shameful act perpetrated by his son Ham. The controversies raised by this story regarding the nature of Hams transgression, nevertheless, most Christians, Muslims and Jews now disagree with such interpretations, because in the biblical text, Ham himself is not cursed, and race or skin color is never mentioned. However, according to Nahum Sarna, the narrative of the curse upon Canaan is replete with difficulties and it is uncertain what the precise nature of Hams offense is. Verse 22 has been a subject of debate, as to whether it should be taken literally, in verse 25, Noah names Shem and Japheth as the brethren of Canaan, seven verses after indicating that they were Canaans uncles. The Table of Nations presents Canaan and Mizraim among the sons of Ham, in the Psalms, Egypt is equated with Ham. The treatment of Japheth in verses 26–27 raises questions, Why is YHWH named as the God of Shem, what does it mean that God will enlarge Japheth. And why will Japheth dwell in the tents of Shem, further difficulties include Hams being referred to as the youngest son, when all other lists make him Noahs second son. The majority of commentators, both ancient and modern, have felt that Hams seeing his father naked was not a serious crime to explain the punishment that follows. Other ancient commentators suggested that Ham was guilty of more than what the Bible says, ancient commentaries have also debated whether seeing someones nakedness meant to have sex with that person. The same idea was raised by 3rd-century rabbis, in the Babylonian Talmud, the same explanations are found in three Greek translations of the Bible, which replace the word see in verse 22 with another word denoting homosexual relations. In the Book of Jubilees, the seriousness of Hams curse is compounded by the significance of Gods covenant to never again bring a flood on the earth. In response to this covenant, Noah builds an altar to atone for the land. Noah’s practice and ceremonial functions parallel the festival of Shavuot as if it were a prototype to the celebration of the giving of the Torah and his priestly functions also emulate being first priest in accordance with halakhah as taught in the Qumranic works. By turning the drinking of the wine into a religious ceremony, thus, Ham’s offense would constitute an act of disrespect not only to his father, but also to the festival ordinances. There are those of our rabbis who say he emasculated him, Genesis 9,23, And Shem and Japheth. covered their fathers nakedness, their faces were turned backward. Genesis 9,24, his son, הפסול The defective one והבזוי. Similar to Behold, I have made you the smallest among the nations, Genesis 9,25, Cursed is Canaan, Noah said to Ham, You caused me that I should not father a fourth son, another one to serve me
Curse of Ham
–
Noah damning Ham, 19th-century painting by Ivan Stepanovitch Ksenofontov
Curse of Ham
–
Noah curses Ham by
Gustave Dore
13.
Table of Nations
–
The Generations of Noah or Table of Nations is a genealogy of the sons of Noah and their dispersion into many lands after the Flood, focusing on the major societies at the time of its writing. As Christianity took over the Roman world, it adopted the idea all the worlds peoples were descended from Noah. Northern peoples important to the Late Roman and medieval world, such as the Celts, Slavs, Germans and Norsemen were not covered, nor were others of the worlds peoples. A variety of arrangements were devised by scholars, with for example the Scythians, chapters 1–11 of the Book of Genesis are structured around five toledot statements, of which the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, is the fourth. The overall structure of the Table is,1, 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. Portions of the Table itself may derive from the 10th century, while others reflect the 7th century and its combination of world review, myth and genealogy corresponds to the work of the Greek historian Hecataeus of Miletus, active c.520 BCE. I Chronicles 1 includes a version of the Table of Nations from Genesis and 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, 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. Jubilees is considered Pseudepigraphical by most Christian and Jewish sects but thought to have held in regard by many of the Church Fathers. The Hebrew bible was translated into Greek in Alexandria at the request of Ptolemy II, cainan appears again at the end of the list of the sons of Shem. Obal, Joktans eighth son in the Masoretic text, does not appear, 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. Shems name means name or fame, through Eber he became the ancestor of Abraham and thus of the Israelites. In the view of some 17th-century European scholars, the people of China, eastern Persia, both Webb and the French Jesuits belonging to the Figurist school went even further, identifying the legendary Emperor Yao of Chinese history with Noah himself. Ham is the forefather of Cush, Egypt, and Put, the etymology of his name is uncertain, some scholars have linked it to terms connected with divinity, but a divine or semi-divine status for Ham is unlikely. Japheth is apparently the youngest son, although his line is given first and his name is associated with the mythological Greek Titan Iapetos, and his sons include Javan, the Greek-speaking cities of Ionia. In Genesis 9,27 it forms a pun with the Hebrew root yph, May God make room for Japheth, that he may live in Shems tents and Canaan may be his slave. His assignments became the basis for most later authors, and were as follows, Gomer, those whom the Greeks now call Galatians, aschanax, Aschanaxians, who are now called by the Greeks Rheginians. Thrugramma, Thrugrammeans, who, as the Greeks resolved, were named Phrygians, Magog, Magogites, but who are by the Greeks called Scythians
Table of Nations
–
This
T and O map, from the first printed version of
Isidoor 's
Etymologiae, identifies the three known continents as populated by descendants of Sem (
Shem), Iafeth (
Japheth) and Cham (
Ham).
Table of Nations
–
The world according to the Mosaic account (1854 map)
Table of Nations
–
Noah dividing the world between his sons. Anonymous painter; Russia, 18th century
Table of Nations
–
1823 map by
Robert Wilkinson. Prior to the mid-19th century, Shem was associated with all of Asia, Ham with all of Africa and Japheth with all of Europe.
14.
Genesis flood narrative
–
The Genesis flood narrative makes up chapters 6–9 in the Book of Genesis, in the Torah. Thus, the flood was a reversal of creation, although many religious groups consider the story to be largely allegorical, there are still many groups and individuals who believe the story to be literally true. Genesis 6, 1–4 presents the reason for the flood, the Sons of God marry the daughters of men and sire a race of giants, mighty men which of old, men of renown. Genesis continues, And GOD saw that the wickedness of man great in the earth, God decides to destroy the world in a reversal of creation. The flood occurs because God judges humanity, in Genesis 6, 5-8, the LORD judged man for being wicked and evil. In verses Genesis 6, 11-22, God judged all flesh for being corrupt, the judgment in verses 6, 5–8 is thought to have been written earlier and later combined with the second. This element of judgment makes the flood story different from the flood in the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh. In the Gilgamesh story, the flood is mentioned only in passing as part of the Epic tale itself, beginning with Genesis 6,14, God instructed Noah to build an ark to save his immediate family, along with samples of animal life. The ark was to be made of wood covered with pitch inside and outside. The ark was 300 cubits long,50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high, and it had an opening for daylight near the top, an entrance on its side, and three decks. God told Noah that he, his sons, his wife, his sons wives, and two of each kind of beast – male and female – would survive in the ark. The Priestly source, Genesis 7,11,8, 1-2, describes the nature of the waters as a cosmic cataclysm, by the opening of the springs of the deep. This is the reverse of the separation of the waters recounted in the Genesis creation narrative of chapter 1. After Noah and the remnant of animals were secured, the fountains of the great deep, the waters elevated, with the summits of the highest mountains under 15 cubits of water, flooding the world for 150 days, and then receding in 220 days. The Jahwist version of how the waters came to be is indicated in Genesis 7,12. During this time, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat, then he sends out a dove to see if the waters had decreased from the ground, but the dove could not find a resting place, and returned to the ark. He waited another seven days, and again sent out the dove, and he waited another seven days and sent out the dove, and it did not return. When Noah removed the covering of the ark, he saw that the ground was drying, God makes a pledge of commitment to Noah in Genesis 9, 1–17
Genesis flood narrative
–
The Deluge, by
John Martin, 1834. Oil on canvas.
Yale University
Genesis flood narrative
–
A dove with an
olive branch,
Catacombs of Domitilla,
Rome
Genesis flood narrative
–
Landscape with Noah's Thank Offering (painting circa 1803 by
Joseph Anton Koch)
Genesis flood narrative
–
This engraving, made from carved sardonyx and gold, features a line of animals on the gangway to Noah's ark. It is based on a woodcut by the French illustrator Bernard Salomon. The Walters Art Museum.
15.
Ham (son of Noah)
–
Ham, according to the Table of Nations in the Book of Genesis, was a son of Noah and the father of Cush, Mizraim, Phut and Canaan. Hams descendants are interpreted by Moses, Flavius Josephus and others as having populated Africa, the Bible refers to Egypt as the land of Ham in Psalms.78,51,105,23,27,106,22,1 Chronicles 4,40. Since the 17th century a number of suggestions have been made that relate the name Ham to a Hebrew word for burnt, black or hot, to an Egyptian word for servant, or the Egyptian word Kmt for Egypt. Genesis 5,32 indicates that Noah became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth from the age of 500 years old, an incident involving Ham is related in Genesis 9, 20-27. 20And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard,21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken, and he was uncovered within his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father,25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. 26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem,27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant. —Authorized King James Version Ham was blessed in Genesis 9,1 – Noah did not curse him directly, the Talmud deduces two possible explanations, one attributed to Rab and one to Rabbi Samuel, for what Ham did to Noah to warrant the curse. According to Rab, Ham castrated Noah on the basis that, since Noah cursed Ham by his fourth son Canaan, emasculating him thus deprived Noah of the possibility of a fourth son. In Genesis 34,2 it reads, And when Shechem the son of Hamor saw her, he took her and lay with her, according to this argument, similar abuse must have happened each time that the Bible uses the same language. The Talmud concludes that, in fact, both indignities were perpetrated, although the story can be taken literally, in more recent times, some scholars have suggested that Ham may have had intercourse with his fathers wife. Under this interpretation, Canaan is cursed as the product of Hams illicit union, the chronological scheme of the Book of Jubilees has Ham born in the year 1209 A. M. — two years after Shem, three before Japheth, and 99 before the flood. It gives the name of his wife who survived the flood as Naeltamauk. After his youngest son Canaan was cursed in 1321 A. M. he left Mount Ararat and built a city named for his wife on the south side of the mountain. In 1569 A. M. he received a division of the earth along with his two brothers for his inheritance, everything west of the Nile River, and to the south of Gadir. Dwell not in the dwelling of Shem, for to Shem and to his sons did it come by their lot. Cursed art thou, and cursed shalt thou be beyond all the sons of Noah, by the curse by which we bound ourselves by an oath in the presence of the holy judge, and in the presence of Noah our father. But he did not hearken unto them, and dwelt in the land of Lebanon from Hamath to the entering of Egypt, he, and for this reason that land is named Canaan
Ham (son of Noah)
–
Ham (Cham)
Ham (son of Noah)
–
Ivan Ksenofontov. The damnation of Ham
16.
Curse of Canaan
–
The Curse of Ham is a misnomer for the curse upon Canaan that was imposed by the biblical patriarch Noah. The curse occurs in the Book of Genesis and concerns Noahs drunkenness and the shameful act perpetrated by his son Ham. The controversies raised by this story regarding the nature of Hams transgression, nevertheless, most Christians, Muslims and Jews now disagree with such interpretations, because in the biblical text, Ham himself is not cursed, and race or skin color is never mentioned. However, according to Nahum Sarna, the narrative of the curse upon Canaan is replete with difficulties and it is uncertain what the precise nature of Hams offense is. Verse 22 has been a subject of debate, as to whether it should be taken literally, in verse 25, Noah names Shem and Japheth as the brethren of Canaan, seven verses after indicating that they were Canaans uncles. The Table of Nations presents Canaan and Mizraim among the sons of Ham, in the Psalms, Egypt is equated with Ham. The treatment of Japheth in verses 26–27 raises questions, Why is YHWH named as the God of Shem, what does it mean that God will enlarge Japheth. And why will Japheth dwell in the tents of Shem, further difficulties include Hams being referred to as the youngest son, when all other lists make him Noahs second son. The majority of commentators, both ancient and modern, have felt that Hams seeing his father naked was not a serious crime to explain the punishment that follows. Other ancient commentators suggested that Ham was guilty of more than what the Bible says, ancient commentaries have also debated whether seeing someones nakedness meant to have sex with that person. The same idea was raised by 3rd-century rabbis, in the Babylonian Talmud, the same explanations are found in three Greek translations of the Bible, which replace the word see in verse 22 with another word denoting homosexual relations. In the Book of Jubilees, the seriousness of Hams curse is compounded by the significance of Gods covenant to never again bring a flood on the earth. In response to this covenant, Noah builds an altar to atone for the land. Noah’s practice and ceremonial functions parallel the festival of Shavuot as if it were a prototype to the celebration of the giving of the Torah and his priestly functions also emulate being first priest in accordance with halakhah as taught in the Qumranic works. By turning the drinking of the wine into a religious ceremony, thus, Ham’s offense would constitute an act of disrespect not only to his father, but also to the festival ordinances. There are those of our rabbis who say he emasculated him, Genesis 9,23, And Shem and Japheth. covered their fathers nakedness, their faces were turned backward. Genesis 9,24, his son, הפסול The defective one והבזוי. Similar to Behold, I have made you the smallest among the nations, Genesis 9,25, Cursed is Canaan, Noah said to Ham, You caused me that I should not father a fourth son, another one to serve me
Curse of Canaan
–
Noah damning Ham, 19th-century painting by Ivan Stepanovitch Ksenofontov
Curse of Canaan
–
Noah curses Ham by
Gustave Dore
17.
Ashkenaz
–
Ashkenaz is a term found in a number of contexts. It is found in the Hebrew Bible to refer to one of the descendants of Noah as well as to a reference to a kingdom of Ashkenaz, Ashkenaz is the first son of Gomer, and a Japhetic patriarch in the Table of Nations. The intrusive n in the Hebrew form of the name has been explained as a scribal mistake confusing a waw ו with a nun נ, in the genealogies of the Hebrew Bible, Ashkenaz was a descendant of Noah. He was the first son of Gomer and brother of Riphath and Togarmah, according to the Encyclopaedia Biblica, Ashkenaz must have been one of the migratory peoples which in the time of Esar-haddon, burst upon the northern provinces of Asia Minor, and upon Armenia. The region of Ashkenaz was centred on the Rhineland and the Palatinate and its geographic extent did not coincide with the German Christian principalities of the time, and it included northern France. How the name of Ashkenaz came to be associated in the literature with the Rhineland is a subject of speculation. In rabbinic literature from the 11th century, Ashkenaz was considered the ruler of a kingdom in the North and of the Northern, rashi uses leshon Ashkenaz to describe the German language, and Byzantium and Syrian Jewish letters referred to the Crusaders as Ashkenazim. Given the close links between the Jewish communities of France and Germany following the Carolingian unification, the term Ashkenazi came to refer to both the Jews of medieval Germany and France. Ashkenazi Jewish culture later spread into Eastern Europe and then to all parts of the world with the migrations of Ashkenazi Jews, geneticist Eran Elhaik, a proponent of the minoritarian Khazar hypothesis, believes Ashkenazi Jews to originate from north-east Turkey. According to him, four names in that region are derived from the word Ashkenaz, Iskenz, Eskenez, Ashanas. In Armenian tradition, Ashkenaz, along with Togarmah, was considered among the ancestors of the Armenians, koriun, the earliest Armenian historian, calls the Armenians an Askanazian nation. Later Armenian authors concur with this, because of this tradition, Askanaz is a male given name still used today by Armenians. When Askenaz himself was 24 years old, for he lived above 200 years, in the 25th year of his reign, he partitioned the kingdom into Toparchies, Tetrarchies, and Governments, and brought colonies from diverse parts to increase it. He built the city Duisburg, made a body of laws in verse, and invented letters, Askenaz, or Tuisco, after his death, was worshipped as the ambassador and interpreter of the gods, and from thence called the first German Mercury, from Tuitseben to interpret. In the 19th century, German theologian, August Wilhelm Knobel, J. Simons, The Geographical and Topographical Texts of the Old Testament, Leiden 1959, §28
Ashkenaz
–
Ashkenaz is shown in
Phrygia in this 1854 map of "The World as known to the Hebrews" (
Lyman Coleman, Historical Textbook and Atlas of Biblical Geography)
18.
Togarmah
–
Togarmah is a figure in the table of nations in Genesis 10, the list of descendants of Noah that represents the peoples known to the ancient Hebrews. Togarmah is among the descendants of Japheth and is thought to represent some people located in Anatolia, medieval traditions variously claimed Togarmah as the mythical ancestor of peoples in the Caucasus and western Asia, including the Georgians, the Armenians and some Turkic peoples. Togarmah is listed in Genesis 10,3 as the son of Gomer. The name is mentioned in the book of Ezekiel as a nation from the far north. Ezekiel 38,6 mentions Togarmah together with Tubal as supplying soldiers to the army of Gog, Ezekiel 27,14 mentions Togarmah together with Tubal, Javan and Meshech as supplying horses to the Tyrians. Most scholars identify Togarmah with the city called Tegarama by the Hittites. O. R. Gurney placed Tegarama in Southeast Anatolia, others have located it in central Anatolia near the town of Gürün, Sivas about 90 miles east of Kanesh. Several later ethnological traditions have claimed Togarmah as the ancestor of various peoples located in western Asia. Jewish historian Flavius Josephus and the Christian theologians Jerome and Isidore of Seville regarded Togarmah as the father of the Phrygians, several ancient Christian authors, inclcuding Saint Hippolytus, Eusebius of Caesarea, and bishop Theodoret, regarded him as a father of Armenians. Medieval Jewish traditions linked him with Turkic peoples including the Khazars, according to Jewish historian Josephus Magog was the Scythians. Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea linked Magog with the Huns and Gog with Attila the Hun, Armenian Moses of Chorene and Georgian Leonti Mroveli regarded Togarmah as the founder of their nations along with other Caucasian people. He then settled near Mount Ararat and divided his land among his sons, Haik - first son of Thargamos, inherited Mount Ararat, kartlos - settled in north-east from Ararat, founder of Kartli who united other brothers and founded the Georgian nation. The Khazar ruler Joseph ben Aaron writes in his letters, You ask us also in your epistle, Of what people, of what family, know that we are descended from Japhet, through his son Togarmah. I have found in the books of my ancestors that Togarmah had ten sons. He then goes on to enumerate ten names that can be identified as contemporary tribes living near the Black and Caspian Seas, Ujur, Tauris, Avar, Uguz, Bizal, Tarna, Chazar, Janur, Bulgar and Sawir. The medieval Jewish Joseph ben Gorion lists the ten sons of Togarmas in his Josippon as follows, in Arabic records, Togormas tribes are these, Khazar Badsanag Asz-alân Bulghar Zabub Fitrakh Nabir Andsar Talmisz Adzîgher. The Arabic account however, also adds an 11th clan, Anszuh, in the 18th century, the French Benedictine monk and scholar Calmet placed Togarmah in Scythia and Turcomania
Togarmah
–
Thargamos and his sons. The order of the figures from left to right is: Movakan, Bardos,
Kartlos,
Haos,
Lekos, Thargamos, Caucas, Egros. An opening folio of the Georgian Chronicles (
Vakhtangiseuli redaction), 1700s.
Togarmah
–
Red: Son of Japhet, Yellow: Son of Ham. Blue: Son of Shem
19.
Elishah
–
Elishah, or Eliseus was the son of Javan according to the Book of Genesis in the Masoretic Text. The Greek Septuagint of Genesis 10 lists Elisa not only as the son of Javan, scholars have often identified Elishah with Cypriots, as in ancient times the island of Cyprus or part of it was known as Alashiya. Judean historian Flavius Josephus related the descendants of Elishah with the Aeolians, Elishah is also mentioned in the mediaeval, rabbinic Book of Jasher, he is said in Jasher to have been the ancestor of the Almanim, possibly a reference to Germanic tribes. An older and more common traditions refers to him as a settler of Greece, lusitanian mythology traditionally makes Elishah an ancestor and predecessor of Lusus, Lysias own supposed tomb claiming that he was the first cultivator of Lusitania. Lusus reign is placed in the 16th - 15th centuries BC. All this is debated, Lusus has also described as coming before Lysias. Lusus is sometimes called a son of Baccus and of the lineage of Lysias, or the way around. The Portuguese orator and mythographer Father António Vieira refers to Elishah as founder and eponym of Lisbon and Lusitania, Vieira also identified Elishas biblical brother Tarshish as the founder of Tartesos in Andalucia, implying both would have come to Iberia with Tubal. Dodanim Javan Kittim Tarshish Sons of Noah
Elishah
–
The Table of Nations according to the Bible
20.
Kittim
–
Kittim was a settlement in present-day Larnaca on the west coast of Cyprus, known in ancient times as Kition, or Citium. On this basis, the island became known as Kittim in Hebrew. However the name seems to have been employed with some flexibility in Hebrew literature and it was often applied to all the Aegean islands and even to the W in general, but esp the seafaring W. Sometimes this designation was extended to apply to Romans, Macedonians or Seleucid Greeks. The Septuagint translates the occurrence of Kittim in the Book of Daniel 11,30 as ῥωμαῖοι,1 Maccabees 1,1 states that Alexander the Great the Macedonian had come from the land of Kittim. In the War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness from the Dead Sea Scrolls, some authors have speculated that it comes from an Akkadian word meaning invaders. Others have identified Kittim with the land of Hatti, as the Hittite Empire was known, Kittim in the genealogy of Genesis 10 in the Hebrew Bible, is the son of Javan, the grandson of Japheth, and Noahs great-grandson. The mediaeval rabbinic compilation Yosippon contains an account of the Kittim. However, they went to war following the rape of the Sabines by the Kittim. This war was ended when the Kittim showed the descendants of Tubal their mutual progeny and they then built cities called Porto, Albano, and Aresah. Later, their territory is occupied by Agnias, King of Carthage, the first king of Rome, Romulus, is made in this account to be a distant successor of this line. A shorter, more garbled version of story is also found in the later Sefer haYashar. Sons of Noah Javan Elishah Tarshish Dodanim Alashiya Larnaca
Kittim
–
The world as known to the Hebrews
21.
Torah
–
The Torah is the central reference of Judaism. It has a range of meanings and it can most specifically mean the first five books of the twenty-four books of the Tanakh, and it usually includes the rabbinic commentaries. In rabbinic literature the word Torah denotes both the five books and the Oral Torah, the Oral Torah consists of interpretations and amplifications which according to rabbinic tradition have been handed down from generation to generation and are now embodied in the Talmud and Midrash. According to the Midrash, the Torah was created prior to the creation of the world, traditionally, the words of the Torah are written on a scroll by a scribe in Hebrew. A Torah portion is read publicly at least once every three days in the presence of a congregation, reading the Torah publicly is one of the bases for Jewish communal life. The word Torah in Hebrew is derived from the root ירה, the meaning of the word is therefore teaching, doctrine, or instruction, the commonly accepted law gives a wrong impression. Other translational contexts in the English language include custom, theory, guidance, the earliest name for the first part of the Bible seems to have been The Torah of Moses. This title, however, is neither in the Torah itself. It appears in Joshua and Kings, but it cannot be said to refer there to the entire corpus, in contrast, there is every likelihood that its use in the post-Exilic works was intended to be comprehensive. Other early titles were The Book of Moses and The Book of the Torah, Christian scholars usually refer to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible as the Pentateuch, a term first used in the Hellenistic Judaism of Alexandria, meaning five books, or as the Law. The Torah starts from the beginning of Gods creating the world, through the beginnings of the people of Israel, their descent into Egypt, and it ends with the death of Moses, just before the people of Israel cross to the promised land of Canaan. Interspersed in the narrative are the teachings given explicitly or implicitly embedded in the narrative. This is followed by the story of the three patriarchs, Joseph and the four matriarchs, God gives to the patriarchs a promise of the land of Canaan, but at the end of Genesis the sons of Jacob end up leaving Canaan for Egypt due to a regional famine. They had heard there was a grain storage and distribution facility in Egypt. Exodus begins the story of Gods revelation to his people of Israel through Moses, Moses receives the Torah from God, and teaches His laws and Covenant to the people of Israel. It also talks about the first violation of the covenant when the Golden Calf was constructed, Exodus includes the instructions on building the Tabernacle and concludes with its actual construction. Leviticus begins with instructions to the Israelites on how to use the Tabernacle, leviticus 26 provides a detailed list of rewards for following Gods commandments and a detailed list of punishments for not following them. Numbers tells how Israel consolidated itself as a community at Sinai, set out from Sinai to move towards Canaan, even Moses sins and is told he would not live to enter the land
Torah
–
Sefer Torah at old
Glockengasse Synagogue (reconstruction),
Cologne
Torah
–
Silver Torah Case,
Ottoman Empire Museum of Jewish Art and History
Torah
–
Reading of the Torah
Torah
–
Tanakh (Judaism)
22.
Achaemenid Empire
–
The Achaemenid Empire, also called the Persian Empire, was an empire based in Western Asia, founded by Cyrus the Great. The empires successes inspired similar systems in later empires and it is noted in Western history as the antagonist of the Greek city-states during the Greco-Persian Wars and for the emancipation of the Jewish exiles in Babylon. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was built in a Hellenistic style in the empire as well. By the 7th century BC, the Persians had settled in the portion of the Iranian Plateau in the region of Persis. From this region, Cyrus the Great advanced to defeat the Medes, Lydia, Alexander, an avid admirer of Cyrus the Great, conquered the empire in its entirety by 330 BC. Upon his death, most of the former territory came under the rule of the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Seleucid Empire. The Persian population of the central plateau reclaimed power by the second century BC under the Parthian Empire, the historical mark of the Achaemenid Empire went far beyond its territorial and military influences and included cultural, social, technological and religious influences as well. Many Athenians adopted Achaemenid customs in their lives in a reciprocal cultural exchange. The impact of Cyruss edict is mentioned in Judeo-Christian texts, the empire also set the tone for the politics, heritage and history of modern Iran. Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details Due to the duration of their reigns, Smerdis, Xerxes II. The Persian nation contains a number of tribes as listed here, the Pasargadae, Maraphii, and Maspii, upon which all the other tribes are dependent. Of these, the Pasargadae are the most distinguished, they contain the clan of the Achaemenids from which spring the Perseid kings. Other tribes are the Panthialaei, Derusiaei, Germanii, all of which are attached to the soil, the Achaemenid Empire was created by nomadic Persians. The Achaemenid Empire was not the first Iranian empire, as by 6th century BC another group of ancient Iranian peoples had established the short lived Median Empire. The Iranian peoples had arrived in the region of what is today Iran c.1000 BC and had for a number of centuries fallen under the domination of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, based in northern Mesopotamia. However, the Medes and Persians, Cimmerians, Persians and Chaldeans played a role in the overthrow of the Assyrian empire. The term Achaemenid means of the family of the Achaemenis/Achaemenes, despite the derivation of the name, Achaemenes was himself a minor seventh-century ruler of the Anshan in southwestern Iran, and a vassal of Assyria. At some point in 550 BC, Cyrus rose in rebellion against the Medes, eventually conquering the Medes and creating the first Persian empire
Achaemenid Empire
–
Standard of Cyrus the Great
Achaemenid Empire
–
Relief of
Cyrus the Great.
Achaemenid Empire
–
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus one of the
Seven wonders of the ancient world was built by Persian satrap of
Caria,
Mausolus (Scale model.)
23.
Hellenistic period
–
It is often considered a period of transition, sometimes even of decadence or degeneration, compared to the enlightenment of the Greek Classical era. The Hellenistic period saw the rise of New Comedy, Alexandrian poetry, the Septuagint, Greek science was advanced by the works of the mathematician Euclid and the polymath Archimedes. The religious sphere expanded to include new gods such as the Greco-Egyptian Serapis, eastern deities such as Attis and Cybele, the Hellenistic period was characterized by a new wave of Greek colonization which established Greek cities and kingdoms in Asia and Africa. This resulted in the export of Greek culture and language to new realms. Equally, however, these new kingdoms were influenced by the cultures, adopting local practices where beneficial, necessary. Hellenistic culture thus represents a fusion of the Ancient Greek world with that of the Near East, Middle East and this mixture gave rise to a common Attic-based Greek dialect, known as Koine Greek, which became the lingua franca through the Hellenistic world. Scholars and historians are divided as to what event signals the end of the Hellenistic era, Hellenistic is distinguished from Hellenic in that the first encompasses the entire sphere of direct ancient Greek influence, while the latter refers to Greece itself. The word originated from the German term hellenistisch, from Ancient Greek Ἑλληνιστής, from Ἑλλάς, Hellenistic is a modern word and a 19th-century concept, the idea of a Hellenistic period did not exist in Ancient Greece. Although words related in form or meaning, e. g, the major issue with the term Hellenistic lies in its convenience, as the spread of Greek culture was not the generalized phenomenon that the term implies. Some areas of the world were more affected by Greek influences than others. The Greek population and the population did not always mix, the Greeks moved and brought their own culture. While a few fragments exist, there is no surviving historical work which dates to the hundred years following Alexanders death. The works of the major Hellenistic historians Hieronymus of Cardia, Duris of Samos, the earliest and most credible surviving source for the Hellenistic period is Polybius of Megalopolis, a statesman of the Achaean League until 168 BC when he was forced to go to Rome as a hostage. His Histories eventually grew to a length of forty books, covering the years 220 to 167 BC, another important source, Plutarchs Parallel Lives though more preoccupied with issues of personal character and morality, outlines the history of important Hellenistic figures. Appian of Alexandria wrote a history of the Roman empire that includes information of some Hellenistic kingdoms, other sources include Justins epitome of Pompeius Trogus Historiae Philipicae and a summary of Arrians Events after Alexander, by Photios I of Constantinople. Lesser supplementary sources include Curtius Rufus, Pausanias, Pliny, in the field of philosophy, Diogenes Laertius Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is the main source. Ancient Greece had traditionally been a collection of fiercely independent city-states. After the Peloponnesian War, Greece had fallen under a Spartan hegemony, in which Sparta was pre-eminent but not all-powerful
Hellenistic period
–
The
Nike of Samothrace is considered one of the greatest masterpieces of
Hellenistic art.
Hellenistic period
–
Alexander fighting the Persian king
Darius III. From the
Alexander Mosaic,
Naples National Archaeological Museum.
Hellenistic period
–
Alexander's empire at the time of its maximum expansion.
24.
Hasmonean dynasty
–
The Hasmonean dynasty was the ruling dynasty of Judea and surrounding regions during classical antiquity. Between c. 140 and c. 116 BCE the dynasty ruled semi-autonomously from the Seleucids in the region of Judea, some modern scholars refer to this period as an independent kingdom of Israel. In 63 BCE, the kingdom was conquered by the Roman Republic, broken up, the dynasty had survived for 103 years before yielding to the Herodian dynasty in 37 BCE. Even then, Herod the Great tried to bolster the legitimacy of his reign by marrying a Hasmonean princess, Mariamne, the dynasty was established under the leadership of Simon Maccabaeus, two decades after his brother Judah the Maccabee defeated the Seleucid army during the Maccabean Revolt. However, the power vacuum that enabled the Jewish state to be recognized by the Roman Senate c. 139 BCE was later exploited by the Romans themselves. Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II, Simons great-grandsons, became pawns in a war between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. The deaths of Pompey and Caesar, and the related Roman civil wars temporarily relaxed Romes grip on Israel and this short independence was rapidly crushed by the Romans under Mark Antony and Octavian. The installation of Herod the Great as king in 37 BCE made Israel a Roman client state, in AD6, Rome joined Judea proper, Samaria and Idumea into the Roman province of Iudaea. In AD44, Rome installed the rule of a Roman procurator side by side with the rule of the Herodian kings, an alternative view posits that the Hebrew name Hashmonai is linked with the village of Heshbon, mentioned in Joshua 15,27. Gott and Licht attribute the name to Ha Simeon, a reference to the Simeonite Tribe. Between 319 and 302 BC. Under Antiochus III the Seleucids wrested control of Israel from the Ptolemies for the final time and it was in Antioch that the Jews first made the acquaintance of Hellenism and of the more corrupt sides of Greek culture, and it was from Antioch that Judea henceforth was ruled. The books are considered part of the Biblical canon by the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches and apocryphal by most Protestants, the books include historical and religious material from the Septuagint that was codified by Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians. The other primary source for the Hasmonean dynasty is the first book of The Wars of the Jews by the Jewish historian Josephus, Josephus account is the only primary source covering the history of the Hasmonean dynasty during the period of its expansion and independence between 110 to 63 BCE. The books of Maccabees use the names Judea and Israel as geographical descriptors throughout for both the land and people over whom the Hasmoneans would rule, the Talmud includes one of the Hasmonean kings under the description Kings of Israel. Scholars refer to the state as the Hasmonean Kingdom to distinguish it from the kingdoms of Israel. The Hellenization of the Jews in the period was not universally resisted. Generally, the Jews accepted foreign rule when they were required to pay tribute. Nevertheless, Jews were divided between those favoring Hellenization and those opposing it, and were divided over allegiance to the Ptolemies or Seleucids, when the High Priest Simon II died in 175 BCE, conflict broke out between supporters of his son Onias III and his son Jason
Hasmonean dynasty
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Coin of Antigonus, AD 40–37
Hasmonean dynasty
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Coin of Alexander Jannaeus, AD 103–76
Hasmonean dynasty
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Wojciech Stattler 's Machabeusze (Maccabees), 1844
25.
Ptolemies
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The Ptolemaic Kingdom was a Hellenistic kingdom based in Egypt. Alexandria became the city and a major center of Greek culture. To gain recognition by the native Egyptian populace, they named themselves the successors to the Pharaohs, the later Ptolemies took on Egyptian traditions by marrying their siblings, had themselves portrayed on public monuments in Egyptian style and dress, and participated in Egyptian religious life. The Ptolemies had to fight native rebellions and were involved in foreign and civil wars led to the decline of the kingdom. Hellenistic culture continued to thrive in Egypt throughout the Roman and Byzantine periods until the Muslim conquest. The era of Ptolemaic reign in Egypt is one of the most well documented periods of the Hellenistic Era. In 332 BC, Alexander the Great, King of Macedon invaded the Achaemenid satrapy of Egypt and he visited Memphis, and traveled to the oracle of Amun at the Oasis of Siwa. The oracle declared him to be the son of Amun, the wealth of Egypt could now be harnessed for Alexanders conquest of the rest of the Persian Empire. Early in 331 BC he was ready to depart, and led his forces away to Phoenicia and he left Cleomenes as the ruling nomarch to control Egypt in his absence. Following Alexanders death in Babylon in 323 BC, a crisis erupted among his generals. Perdiccas appointed Ptolemy, one of Alexanders closest companions, to be satrap of Egypt, Ptolemy ruled Egypt from 323 BC, nominally in the name of the joint kings Philip III and Alexander IV. However, as Alexander the Greats empire disintegrated, Ptolemy soon established himself as ruler in his own right, Ptolemy successfully defended Egypt against an invasion by Perdiccas in 321 BC, and consolidated his position in Egypt and the surrounding areas during the Wars of the Diadochi. In 305 BC, Ptolemy took the title of King, as Ptolemy I Soter, he founded the Ptolemaic dynasty that was to rule Egypt for nearly 300 years. All the male rulers of the dynasty took the name Ptolemy, while princesses and queens preferred the names Cleopatra, Arsinoe and Berenice. Because the Ptolemaic kings adopted the Egyptian custom of marrying their sisters, many of the kings ruled jointly with their spouses and this custom made Ptolemaic politics confusingly incestuous, and the later Ptolemies were increasingly feeble. The only Ptolemaic Queens to officially rule on their own were Berenice III, Cleopatra V did co-rule, but it was with another female, Berenice IV. Cleopatra VII officially co-ruled with Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator, Ptolemy XIV, and Ptolemy XV, upper Egypt, farthest from the centre of government, was less immediately affected, even though Ptolemy I established the Greek colony of Ptolemais Hermiou to be its capital. But within a century Greek influence had spread through the country, nevertheless, the Greeks always remained a privileged minority in Ptolemaic Egypt
Ptolemies
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Eagle of Zeus
Ptolemies
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Bust of
Ptolemy I Soter, king of Egypt (305 BC–282 BC) and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty
Ptolemies
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A bust depicting King
Ptolemy II Philadelphus 309–246 BCE
26.
Seleucids
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Seleucus received Babylonia and, from there, expanded his dominions to include much of Alexanders near eastern territories. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, Persia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and what is now Kuwait, Afghanistan, and parts of Pakistan and Turkmenistan. The Seleucid Empire was a center of Hellenistic culture that maintained the preeminence of Greek customs where a Greek political elite dominated. The Greek population of the cities who formed the dominant elite were reinforced by immigration from Greece, Seleucid expansion into Anatolia and Greece was abruptly halted after decisive defeats at the hands of the Roman army. Their attempts to defeat their old enemy Ptolemaic Egypt were frustrated by Roman demands, contemporary sources, such as a loyalist degree from Ilium, in Greek language define the Seleucid state both as an empire and as a kingdom. Similarly, Seleucid rulers were described as kings in Babylonia and he refers to either Alexander Balas or Alexander II Zabinas as a ruler. Alexander, who conquered the Persian Empire under its last Achaemenid dynast, Darius III, died young in 323 BC. Alexanders generals jostled for supremacy over parts of his empire, Ptolemy, a former general and the satrap of Egypt, was the first to challenge the new system, this led to the demise of Perdiccas. Ptolemys revolt led to a new subdivision of the empire with the Partition of Triparadisus in 320 BC, Seleucus, who had been Commander-in-Chief of the Companion cavalry and appointed first or court chiliarch received Babylonia and, from that point, continued to expand his dominions ruthlessly. Seleucus established himself in Babylon in 312 BC, the used as the foundation date of the Seleucid Empire. The whole region from Phrygia to the Indus was subject to Seleucus, but Seleucus Nicator gave them to Sandrocottus in consequence of a marriage contract, and received in return five hundred elephants. Following his and Lysimachus victory over Antigonus Monophthalmus at the decisive Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC, Seleucus took control over eastern Anatolia, in the latter area, he founded a new capital at Antioch on the Orontes, a city he named after his father. An alternative capital was established at Seleucia on the Tigris, north of Babylon, Seleucuss empire reached its greatest extent following his defeat of his erstwhile ally, Lysimachus, at Corupedion in 281 BC, after which Seleucus expanded his control to encompass western Anatolia. He hoped further to take control of Lysimachuss lands in Europe – primarily Thrace and even Macedonia itself, nevertheless, even before Seleucus death, it was difficult to assert control over the vast eastern domains of the Seleucids. Seleucus invaded the Punjab region of India in 305 BC, confronting Chandragupta Maurya and it is said that Chandragupta fielded an army of 600,000 men and 9,000 war elephants. Archaeologically, concrete indications of Mauryan rule, such as the inscriptions of the Edicts of Ashoka, are known as far as Kandahar in southern Afghanistan and it is generally thought that Chandragupta married Seleucuss daughter, or a Macedonian princess, a gift from Seleucus to formalize an alliance. In a return gesture, Chandragupta sent 500 war elephants, an asset which would play a decisive role at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC. In addition to this treaty, Seleucus dispatched an ambassador, Megasthenes, to Chandragupta, Megasthenes wrote detailed descriptions of India and Chandraguptas reign, which have been partly preserved to us through Diodorus Siculus
Seleucids
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Tetradrachm of
Seleucus I, the horned horse, the
elephant and the anchor were all used as symbols of the Seleucid monarchy.
Seleucids
Seleucids
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Coin of
Seleucus I Nicator
Seleucids
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In
Bactria, the satrap
Diodotus asserted independence to form the
Greco-Bactrian kingdom c.245 BC.
27.
Philistines
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The Philistines were an ancient people primarily known for their conflict with the Israelites described in the Bible. Assyrian sources also refer to Pilišti and Palaštu, also believed to be cognate with Pléšet, the first reference to Philistines in the Hebrew Bible canon is in the Table of Nations, where they are said to descend from Casluhim son of Mizraim. However, the Philistines of Genesis who are friendly to Abraham are identified by Rabbinic sources as distinct from the people described in Deuteronomistic history. This description portrays them at one period of time as among the Kingdom of Israels most dangerous enemies, in contrast, the canon of Eastern Christianity, the LXX, uses the term allophuloi instead of philistines, which means simply other nations. There are several theories about the origins of the Philistines, in 2016, the discovery of a huge Philistine cemetery, containing more than 150 burials, seems to point toward an Aegean origin of the Philistines. Genetic testing of the remains will provide further information. The English word Philistine and the modern term Palestine come from Old French Philistin, from Classical Latin Philistinus, from Late Greek Philistinoi, from Hebrew Plištim, the Hebrew term pelishtim occurs 286 times in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible. It also appears in the Samaritan Pentateuch, in secondary literature the Aramaic Visions of Amram further mentions Philistia. This is datable prior to Antiochus IV and the Hasmonean revolt, possibly to the term of High Priest of Israel Onias II, Jubilees 46, in the Greek version of the Bible called Septuagint, the equivalent term phylistiim occurs 12 times, again in the Pentateuch. Outside of pre-Maccabean Israelite religious literature, evidence for the name, in the remainder of the Hebrew Bible, ha-pelishtim is attested at Qumran for 2 Samuel 5,17. In the Septuagint however 269 references instead use the term allophylos, the Philistines are the subject of research and speculation in biblical archaeology. While the evidence for connections is etymological and has been disputed. Archaeological research to date has been unable to corroborate a mass settlement of Philistines during the Ramesses III era, a Walistina is mentioned in Luwian texts already variantly spelled Palistina. This implies dialectical variation, a phoneme inadequately described in the script, *Falistina was a kingdom somewhere on the Amuq plain, where the Amurru kingdom had held sway before it. Allen Jones suggests that the name Philistine represents a corruption of the Greek phyle histia and he goes on to suggest that the Philistines introduced the fixed hearth to the Levant. This suggestion was raised before archaeological evidence for the use of the hearths was documented at Philistine sites, literally, it says that those whom Mizraim begat included the Pathrusim, Casluhim, and the Caphtorim. There is some debate among interpreters as to whether this verse was intended to signify that the Philistines themselves were the offspring of the Casluhim or the Caphtorim. While the Casluhim or the Caphtorim origin is widely followed by scholars, other scholars such as Friedrich Schwally, Bernhard Stade
Philistines
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The Biblical description identifies five Philistine cities: Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, and Gath
Philistines
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Peleset, captives of the Egyptians, from a graphic wall relief at
Medinet Habu. In about 1185-52 BC, during the reign of
Ramesses III.
28.
Solomon
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Solomon, also called Jedidiah, was, according to the Bible, Quran, hadith and Hidden Words a fabulously wealthy and wise king of Israel and a son of David, the previous king of Israel. The conventional dates of Solomons reign are circa 970 to 931 BC and he is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, which would break apart into the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah shortly after his death. Following the split, his descendants ruled over Judah alone. According to the Talmud, Solomon is one of the 48 prophets, in the Quran, he is considered a major prophet, and Muslims generally refer to him by the Arabic variant Sulayman, son of David. Solomon was, according to the Quran, a king of ancient Israel as well as the son of David, the Hebrew Bible credits him as the builder of the First Temple in Jerusalem. It portrays him as great in wisdom, wealth, and power any of the previous kings of the country. His sins included idolatry, marrying foreign women, and ultimately turning away from Yahweh, Solomon is the subject of many other later references and legends, most notably in the 1st-century apocryphal work known as the Testament of Solomon. Solomon was born in Jerusalem, the second child of David and his wife Bathsheba. The first child, a son conceived adulterously during Uriahs lifetime, had died before Solomon was conceived as a punishment on account of the death of Uriah by Davids order. Solomon had three named full brothers through Bathsheba, Nathan, Shammua, and Shobab, besides six known older half-brothers through as many mothers, according to the First Book of Kings, when David was old, he could not get warm. So they sought a young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite. The young woman was very beautiful, and she was of service to the king and attended to him, while David was in this state, court factions were maneuvering for power. Solomon greatly expanded his military strength, especially the cavalry and chariot arms and he founded numerous colonies, some of which doubled as trading posts and military outposts. Trade relationships were a focus of his administration, Solomon is considered the most wealthy of the Israelite kings named in the Bible. Solomon also built the First Temple, beginning in the year of his reign. Solomon was the Biblical king most famous for his wisdom, in 1 Kings he sacrificed to God and prayed for wisdom. God personally answered his prayer, promising him great wisdom because he did not ask for self-serving rewards like long life or the death of his enemies. Perhaps the best known story of his wisdom is the Judgment of Solomon, Solomon easily resolved the dispute by commanding the child to be cut in half and shared between the two
Solomon
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The Judgment of Solomon, 1617 by
Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640)
Solomon
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Cornelis de Vos, The Anointing of Solomon. According to 1
Kings 1:39, Solomon was
anointed by
Zadok.
Solomon
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Luca Giordano – Dream of Solomon – God promises Solomon Wisdom.
Solomon
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The judgment of Solomon, painting on ceramic, Castelli, 18th century, Lille Museum of Fine Arts
29.
Hebrews
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Hebrews is a term appearing 34 times within 32 verses of the Hebrew Bible. By the Roman Empire, Greek Hebraios could refer to the Jews in general, as Strongs Hebrew Dictionary puts it any of the Jewish Nation, in Early Christianity, the Greek term Ἑβραῖος refers to Jewish Christians as opposed to the gentile Christians and Judaizers. Ἰουδαία is the province where the Temple was located, the name corresponding for Hebrew is used also in the Kurdish and was once used also in French. With the revival of the Hebrew language and the emergence of the Hebrew Yishuv, the origin of the term remains uncertain. The Biblical term Ivri, meaning to traverse or pass over, is rendered as Hebrew in English, from the ancient Greek Ἑβραῖος. In the plural it is Ivrim, or Ibrim, in Genesis 10,21 Shem, the elder brother of Ham and Japheth, first-born son of Noah, is referred to as the father of the sons of Eber, which may have a similar meaning. Some authors argue that Ibri denotes the descendants of the biblical patriarch Eber, son of Shelah, a grandson of Noah. The hieroglyphic rendering of the Egyptian word š3sw means those who move on foot, the name Shasu of Yhw, e. g. the name rings from Soleb and Amarah-West, corresponds very precisely to the Tetragrammaton in the Hebrew Bible. The Shasu are mostly depicted hieroglyphically with a determinative indicating rather a land than a people, since the discovery of the second millennium inscriptions mentioning the Habiru, there have been many theories linking these to the Hebrews. This is rebutted by others who propose that the Hebrews are mentioned in texts of the 3rd Intermediate Period of Egypt as Shasu of Yhw. According to Anson F. Rainey, modern scholars conclude that the attempts to relate apiru to the Hebrew word ibri are not fruitful. The Jewish historian Josephus maintains that the Hyksos were in fact the children of Jacob who joined his son Joseph in Egypt to escape a famine in the land of Canaan, the Hyksos first appeared in Egypt during the Eleventh Dynasty. They came out of the intermediate period in control of Avaris. Kamose, the last king of the Theban 17th Dynasty, refers to the Hyksos King Apophis as a Chieftain of Retjenu, at the end of the Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt, they were expelled by an ethnic Egyptian pharaoh. The term Hyksos derives from the Egyptian expression heka khasewet, in the Hebrew Bible, the term Hebrew is normally used by Israelites when speaking of themselves to foreigners, or is used by foreigners when speaking about Israelites. In fact, the Torah in parashat Lekh Lekha calls Abraham Avram Ha-Ivri, Israelites are defined as the descendants of Jacob, son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham. Eber, an ancestor of Jacob, is a distant ancestor of many people, by the Roman period, Hebrews could be used to designate the Jews, who use the Hebrew language. The Epistle to the Hebrews was probably written for Jewish Christians, among certain left-wing or liberal circles of Judaic cultural lineage, the word Hebrew is used as an alternatively secular description of the Jewish people
Hebrews
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Egyptian representation of a captive Shasu
30.
Brother
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Brother is a 2000 American-British-Japanese film starring, written, directed, and edited by Takeshi Kitano. Takeshi Kitano plays Yamamoto, a brutal and experienced Yakuza enforcer, whose boss was killed, surviving clan members have a few options, either to join winners, reconciling with shame and distrust, or to die by committing seppuku. Yamamoto, however, decides to escape to Los Angeles along with his associate Kato, there he finds his estranged half-brother Ken, who runs a small-time drug business together with his local African-American friends. At the first meeting, Yamamoto badly hurts one of them, Denny, later, Denny becomes one of the Yamamotos closest friends and associates. Getting used to live in a clan and according to its laws, the new gang quickly and brutally attacks Mexican drug bosses and takes control of their territory in LA. They also form an alliance with Shirase, a leader of Little Tokyo district. As time passes, Yamamoto and his new gang emerge as a formidable force, now everybody respectfully addresses Yamamoto as Aniki. But soon Aniki suddenly loses any interest in their now successful but dangerous business, however, the Mafia ruthlessly strikes back, and soon Yamamoto and his gang are driven into a disastrous situation of no return as they are hunted down one by one. To greater contrast the character against more familiar elements, he set it in a foreign country, when producer Jeremy Thomas asked Kitano if he was interested in foreign productions, Kitano told him about the script. Thomas promised him creative control, which Kitano said he got. Commenting on the styles of filmmaking, Kitano said that American productions are more focused on the business side and are less sentimental. Kitano cited their strong pride in their professionalism as positive aspect, several scenes were censored for the U. S. release. At the time of its release, Brother was hyped as Kitanos vehicle for breaking into the United States film market, the film has a 47% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 73 reviews. Kitano said he had no intention of shooting outside Japan again, Brother at the Internet Movie Database Brother at Rotten Tomatoes Brother at AllMovie Brother at Box Office Mojo Official website
Brother
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Brother
Brother
"Japheth". Encyclopædia Britannica. 15 (11th ed.). 1911.
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