Japheth is one of the three sons of Noah in the Book of Genesis, in which he plays a role in the story of Noah's drunkenness and the curse of Ham, and subsequently in the Table of Nations as the ancestor of the peoples of the Aegean Sea, Anatolia, Caucasus, Greece, and elsewhere in Eurasia. In medieval and early modern European tradition he was considered to be the progenitor of the European peoples.
"Japhet third son of Noah", as depicted in Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum (c. 1553)
Noah's Drunkenness, painting by James Tissot (between 1896 and 1902), Jewish Museum (Manhattan, New York). The painting depicts Noah lying in his tent; Shem and Japheth are holding up the cloak with their back to Noah; Ham is standing to the side.
Shem, Ham, and Japheth, painting by James Tissot (between 1896 and 1902). Jewish Museum (Manhattan, New York).
The Generations of Noah, also called the Table of Nations or Origines Gentium, is a genealogy of the sons of Noah, according to the Hebrew Bible, and their dispersion into many lands after the Flood, focusing on the major known societies. The term 'nations' to describe the descendants is a standard English translation of the Hebrew word "goyim", following the c. 400 CE Latin Vulgate's "nationes", and does not have the same political connotations that the word entails today.
Noah dividing the world between his sons. Anonymous painter; Russia, 18th century
