Map of Dispersion of the Sons of Noah


Geographic identifications of dispersal of sons of Noah
according to Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, c. 100 AD

SHEM      HAM      JAPHETH 


         The names of the nations have changed since their early tribal formation. Nevertheless we can get an idea of their roots and their locale when trying to identify them in prophecy. This will be especially important in the last days as the drama of redemption plays out on the world stage. (Particularly important are the original names of the nations when deciphering the prophecy of Ezekiel 38 & 39.) Of course these tribes became somewhat mingled within their respective families: Japheth, Ham and Shem. What these names do tell us however is what locale they have resided in giving us a geographical identification by their known migrations over the many centuries. Tarshish and Ashkenaz, for example, seemed to be the intrepid ones of Japheth who was the intrepid one of the three sons. These two tribes went out as far west as they could, probably to what is North and South America today, for the continents were not yet split apart and the oceans were no barrier to migration and settlement. Though we cannot identify conclusively a ‘Tarshite’ or ‘Ashkenazite’ we can get the idea that when the scriptures refer to these names they are referring to the people who inhabit those places settled by them and not exclusively to a pure race or ethnicity of the people or government of that nation. But it does tell us a modern location.      

       The 1st century Jewish-Roman historian Flavius Josephus, in Antiquities of the Jews Book 1, chapter 6, was among the first of many who attempted to assign known ethnicities to some of the names listed in Genesis chapter 10. His assignments became the basis for most later authors, and were as follows:

In Hippolytus

The chronicle of Hippolytus of Rome (c. 234), existing in numerous Latin and Greek copies, make another attempt to assign ethnicities to the names in Genesis 10, in some cases similar to those of Josephus, but with many differences, which are: