Dodanim

Last updated

Dodanim (דֹּדָנִים‎Dōḏānīm) or Rodanim, (רֹדָנִים‎Rōḏānīm, Greek : Ρόδιοι, Ródioi) was, in the Book of Genesis, a son of Javan (thus, a great-grandson of Noah). Dodanim's brothers, according to Genesis 10:4, were Elishah, Tarshish and Chittim. [1] He is usually associated with the people of the island of Rhodes as their progenitor. "-im" is a plural suffix in Hebrew, and the name may refer to the inhabitants of Rhodes. [2] Traditional Hebrew manuscripts are split between the spellings Dodanim and Rodanim [3] — one of which is probably a copyist's error, as the Hebrew letters for R and D (ר‎ and ד‎ respectively) are quite similar graphically. The Samaritan Pentateuch, as well as 1 Chronicles 1:7, have Rodanim, [4] while the Septuagint has Rodioi. The Dodanim were considered either kin to the Greeks [5] or simply Greeks. [6] [7]

The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan calls his country Dordania, while the Targum Neofiti names it Dodonia. [8]

Connections have been suggested with Dodona in Epirus [9] [10] and Dardania in Illyria [9] (as in Genesis Rabbah ), [11] as well as with the island of Rhodes. [8] [10] Samuel Bochart associated the form Rodanim with the river Rhone's Latin name, Rhodanus. [8] Franz Delitzsch identified the figure of Dodanim with the Dardanus of Greek mythology, [12] while Joseph Mede equated him with the Jupiter Dodonaeus who had an oracle at Dodona. [8]

Kenneth Kitchen discusses two additional possible etymologies. [13] One possibility he suggests is that "both Dodanim and Rodanim have been reduced from Dordanim -- by loss of medial r in Gen. 10:4 (Dordanim > Dodanim) and of an initial d in 1 Chron. 1:7 (<Do>rdanim > Rodanim). The Dardanayu occur in an Egyptian list of Aegean names under Amenophis III ... and among the Hittite allies against Ramesses II at the Battle of Qadesh in 1275; some would link these with the classical Dardanoi." [13] He also suggests that the name Dodanim may be an altered form of Danunim, an ancient Near Eastern people mentioned in the Amarna letters whose origin and identity is still surrounded by "considerable doubt". [14]

In Pseudo-Philo (c. 70), Dodanim's sons are Itheb, Beath, and Phenech; the last of these is made prince of the Japhethites at the time of the Tower of Babel. [15]

Related Research Articles

In the Hebrew Bible, Amraphel was a king of Shinar in Book of Genesis Chapter 14, who invaded Canaan along with other kings under the leadership of Chedorlaomer, king of Elam. Chedorlaomer's coalition defeated Sodom and the other cities in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim.

Tarshish occurs in the Hebrew Bible with several uncertain meanings, most frequently as a place far across the sea from Phoenicia and the Land of Israel. Tarshish was said to have exported vast quantities of important metals to Phoenicia and Israel. The same place name occurs in the Akkadian inscriptions of Assyrian king Esarhaddon and also on the Phoenician inscription of the Nora Stone in Sardinia; its precise location was never commonly known, and was eventually lost in antiquity. Legends grew up around it over time so that its identity has been the subject of scholarly research and commentary for more than two thousand years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Generations of Noah</span> Genealogy of the sons of Noah in Genesis

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enoch</span> Biblical figure prior to Noahs flood

Enoch is a biblical figure and patriarch prior to Noah's flood, and the son of Jared and father of Methuselah. He was of the Antediluvian period in the Hebrew Bible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philo</span> Hellenistic Jewish philosopher (c. 20 BCE – c. 50 CE)

Philo of Alexandria, also called Philō Judæus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jochebed</span> Mother of Aaron, Miriam, and Moses in the Bible

According to the Bible, Jochebed was a daughter of Levi and mother of Miriam, Aaron and Moses. She was the wife of Amram, as well as his aunt. No details are given concerning her life. According to Jewish legend, she is buried in the Tomb of the Matriarchs, in Tiberias. In the New Testament, she is praised for her faith in God.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nephilim</span> Beings from the Hebrew Bible

The Nephilim are mysterious beings or people in the Bible traditionally imagined as being of great size and strength, or alternatively beings of great power and authority. The origins of the Nephilim are disputed. Some, including the author of the Book of Enoch, view them as the offspring of fallen angels and humans. Others view them as descendants of Seth and Cain.

Pseudo-Philo is the name commonly used for the unknown, anonymous author of the Biblical Antiquities. This text is also commonly known today under the Latin title Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum, a title that is not found in the Latin manuscripts. Although probably originally written in Hebrew, it is preserved today only through a Latin translation found in 18 complete and 3 fragmentary manuscripts that date between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries CE. In addition, material paralleling that in the Biblical Antiquities is also found in the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 14th-century Hebrew composition. The Latin text of the Biblical Antiquities circulated alongside Latin translations of the authentic writings of Philo of Alexandria. Scholars have long recognized the pseudonymous character of the text now known as the Biblical Antiquities. Primary in this regard is a vastly differing approach to and use of the Jewish scriptures. For the sake of convenience, scholars continue to follow the lead of Leopold Cohn in calling the unknown author "Pseudo-Philo".

Biblical Aramaic is the form of Aramaic that is used in the books of Daniel and Ezra in the Hebrew Bible. It should not be confused with the Targums – Aramaic paraphrases, explanations and expansions of the Hebrew scriptures.

Joktan was the second of the two sons of Eber mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. He descends from Shem, son of Noah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Javan</span> Son of Japheth and father of the Greeks according to the Bible

Javan was the fourth son of Noah's son Japheth according to the "Generations of Noah" in the Hebrew Bible. Josephus states the traditional belief that this individual was the ancestor of the Greeks.

Tiras is, according to the Book of Genesis and 1 Chronicles, the seventh and youngest son of Japheth in the Hebrew Bible. A brother of biblical Javan, its geographical locale is sometimes associated by scholars with the Tershi or Tirsa, one of the groups which made up the Sea Peoples "thyrsenes" (Tyrrhenians), a naval confederacy which terrorized Egypt and other Mediterranean nations around 1200 BCE. These Sea People are referred to as "Tursha" in an inscription of Ramesses III, and as "Teresh of the Sea" on the Merneptah Stele.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kittim</span> Biblical term

Kittim was a settlement in present-day Larnaca on the east coast of Cyprus, known in ancient times as Kition, or Citium. On this basis, the whole island became known as "Kittim" in Hebrew, including the Hebrew Bible. However the name seems to have been employed with some flexibility in Hebrew literature. It was often applied to all the Aegean islands and even to "the W[est] in general, but esp[ecially] the seafaring W[est]". Flavius Josephus records in his Antiquities of the Jews that

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japhetites</span> Outdated grouping of human beings

The term Japhetites refers to the descendants of Japheth, one of the three sons of Noah in the Book of Genesis. The term was used in ethnological and linguistic writings from the 18th to the 20th centuries as a Biblically derived racial classification for the European peoples, but is now considered obsolete. Medieval ethnographers believed that the world had been divided into three large-scale groupings, corresponding to the three classical continents: the Semitic peoples of Asia, the Hamitic peoples of Africa, and the Japhetic peoples of Europe.

Havilah refers to both a land and people in several books of the Bible; one is mentioned in Genesis 2:10–11, while the other is mentioned in the Generations of Noah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melchizedek</span> Biblical Figure

In the Hebrew Bible, Melchizedek, also transliterated Melchisedech, Melchisedec or Malki Tzedek, was the king of Salem and priest of El Elyon. He is first mentioned in Genesis 14:18–20, where he brings out bread and wine and then blesses Abram, and El Elyon or "the Lord, God Most High". Abram was returning from pursuing the kings who came from the East and gave him a "tenth of everything".

Isaiah 19 is the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. This chapter focuses on Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ezekiel 27</span> Book of Ezekiel, chapter 27

Ezekiel 27 is the twenty-seventh chapter of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet/priest Ezekiel, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. This chapter contains a lamentation for the fallen city of Tyre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biblical terminology for race</span> Terms for races in the Bible

Since early modern times, a number of biblical ethnonyms from the Table of Nations in Genesis 10 have been used as a basis for classifying human racial and national identities. The connection between Genesis 10 and contemporary ethnic groups began during classical antiquity, when authors such as Josephus, Hippolytus and Jerome analyzed the biblical list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tribe of Issachar</span> One of the twelve Tribes of Israel

According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Issachar was one of the twelve tribes of Israel and one of the ten lost tribes. In Jewish tradition, the descendants of Issachar were seen as being dominated by religious scholars and influential in proselytism. The sons of Issachar, ancestors of the tribe, were Tola, Phuvah, Job and Shimron.

References

  1. ↑ Historical Origins by Robert Shaw [ permanent dead link ]
  2. ↑ The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
  3. ↑ Biblica Hebraica by Rudolf Kittel (1905) gives דודנים in Genesis 10:4 with רודנים listed as a textual variant in the accompanying critical apparatus.
  4. ↑ Thomson, J.E.H. (1919). The Samaritans: Their Testimony to the Religion of Israel. Edinburgh and London: Oliver and Boyd. p. 292.
  5. ↑ The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament
  6. ↑ HistoricalOrigins [ permanent dead link ]
  7. ↑ The western paradise: Greek and Hebrew traditions by James E. Miller, 1996, "The four sons of Javan, Kittim, Elisha, Tarshish and Dodanim, do not divide the Greeks along the lines they divided themselves,"
  8. 1 2 3 4 Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible, Gen 10:4
  9. 1 2 Barnes' Notes on the Bible Gen. 10:4
  10. 1 2 Clarke's Commentary on the Bible Gen 10:4
  11. ↑ Paul and the nations
  12. ↑ Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament Gen 10:4
  13. 1 2 Kitchen, Kenneth A. (2003). On the Reliability of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids and Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 593. ISBN   9780802849601.
  14. ↑ Boardman, John (1982). The Cambridge Ancient History: Volume 3, Part 1. Cambridge University Press. p. 430. ISBN   9780521224963.
  15. ↑ Philo V:1 "Then came the sons of Cham, and made Nembroth a prince over themselves: but the sons of Japheth made Phenech their chief: and the sons of Sem gathered together and set over them Jectan to be their prince.", Philo VI:14
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.