Extract from http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v4/n1/josephus-and-genesis-chapter-ten
Appendix
The following are excerpts from Josephus’s Antiquity of Jews as translated by William Whiston and adapted in the Online Bible. The names of Noah’s grandsons are numbered, and his great-grandsons have a letter associated with their father’s number, etc.
Now they were the grandchildren of Noah, in honour of whom names were imposed on the nations by those who first settled them.
Japheth
Japheth, the son of Noah, had seven sons: they inhabited so, that, beginning at the mountains1. Gomer founded those whom the Greeks now call Galatians (Gauls / Celts), but were then called Gomerites.
2. Magog founded those who from him were named Magogites, but who are by the Greeks called Scythians (Moldova/Ukraine/Kazakhstan).
3. Now as to Javan and Madai, the sons of Japheth; from Madai came the Madeans, who are called Medes (Aryans), by the Greeks;
4. but from Javan, Ionia, and all the Greeks, are derived.
5. Thobel or Tubal founded the Thobelites, who are now called Iberes (Georgia);
6. and the Mosocheni were founded by Mosoch or Meshech ; now they are Cappadocians. There is also a mark of their ancient name still to be shown; for there is even now among them a city called Mazaca, which may inform those who are able to understand, that so was the entire nation once called.
Identified by many also with the Moscow River and the city of Moscow Click here.
7. Thiras or Tiras also called those whom he ruled over, Thirasians; but the Greeks changed the name into Thracians. And so many were the countries that had the children of Japheth for their inhabitants.
1A. Of the three sons of Gomer, Ashkenaz founded the Ashkenazians [Germany], who are now called by the Greeks Rheginians.
1B. So did Riphas or Riphath found the Riphasians, now called Paphlagonians; and
1C. Togarmah the Togarmans [Turkey], who, as the Greeks resolved, were named Phrygians.
4A. Of the three sons of Javan also, the son of Japheth, Elishah gave name to the Eliseans, who were his subjects; they are now the Aeolians.
4B. Tarshish or initially Tharshish to the Tarshians; for so was Cilicia of old called; the sign of which is this, that the noblest city they have, and a metropolis also, is Tarsus, the τ tau, pronounced "t" (in Hebrew the Mark of life see
Click here re later sailings — west into Tartessos (Cadiz) in southern Spain and east into Asia (possibly Japan and even Java).
4C. Cethimus or Kittim/Chittim possessed the island Cethima; it is now called Cyprus; and from that it is that all islands, and the greatest part of the sea
coasts, are named Cethim by the Hebrews; and one city there is in Cyprus that has been able to preserve its name; it has been called Citius by those who use the language of the Greeks, and has not, by the use of that dialect, escaped the name of Cethim. And so many nations have the children and grandchildren of Japheth possessed.
Ham
The children of Ham possessed the land from Syria and Amanus, and the mountains of Libanus; settling all that was on its sea coasts, and as far as the ocean, and keeping it as their own. Some indeed of its names are utterly vanished away; others of them, being changed, and another sound given them, are hardly to be discovered; yet a few there are which have kept their names entire.
1. For of the four sons of Ham, time has not at all hurt the name of Cush; for the Ethiopians, over whom he reigned, are even at this day, both by themselves and by all men in Asia, called Cushites.
2. The memory also of the Mesraites is preserved in their name, for all we who inhabit this country [of Judea] called Egypt Mestre [Mizraim], and the Egyptians Mestreans.
3. Phut also was the founder of Libya, and called the inhabitants Phutites, from himself; there is also a river in the country of Moors which bears that name; where it is that we may see the greatest part of the Greek historiographers mention that river and the adjoining country by the appellation of Phut;
but the name it has now, has been by change given it from one of the sons of Mizraim, who was called Lybyos. We will inform you presently what has been the occasion why it has been called Africa also (ie from Epher, son of Midian and grandson of Abraham
4. Canaan, the fourth son of Ham, inhabited the country now called Judea, and called it from his own name Canaan.
The children of these were these:
1A. Sabas Seba, who founded the Sabeans (Yemen);
1B. Evilas or Havilah, who founded the Evileans, who are called Getuli;
1C. Sabathes or Sabtah, founded the Sabathens—they are now called by the Greeks, Astaborans;
1D. Sabactas or Sabtechah settled the Sabactens; and
1E. Ragmus or Raamah the Ragmeans; and he had two sons, the one of whom, Judadas or Dedan, settled the Judadeans, a nation of the Western Ethiopians, and left them his name; as did Sabas Sheba to the Sabeans.
Josephus Book 2 Chapter 10 Paragraph 2 states that this Sheba, spelled differently from Seba (Yemen), was a royal city of Ethiopia, which Cambyses (circa 440 BC) afterwards named Mero, after the name of his own sister.
1F. But Nimrod, the son of Cush, stayed and tyrannized at Babylon, as we have already informed you.
Now all the children of Mizraim, being eight in number, possessed the country from Gaza to Egypt, though it retained the name of one only,
2A. the Philistim for the Greeks call part of that country Palestine.
2B. As for the rest, Ludicim or Ludim, and
2C. Enemim or Anamim, and
2D. Labim or Lehabim, who alone inhabited in Libya, and called the country from himself,
2E. Nedim or Naphtuhim and
2F. Phethrosim or Pathrusim, and
2G. Chesloim or Casluhim, and
2H. Caphthorim or Caphtorim; we know nothing of them besides their names; for the Ethiopic war, which we shall describe hereafter, was the cause that those cities were overthrown.
4A. The sons of Canaan were these: Sidonius, who also built a city of the same name—it is called by the Greeks, Sidon;
4B. Amathus or Hamath inhabited in Amathine, which is even now called Amathe by the inhabitants, although the Macedonians named it Epiphania, from one of his posterity Antiochus Epiphanes;
4C. Arudeus or Arvadite possessed the island Aradus;
4D. Arucas or Arkite possessed Arce, which is in Libanus — Lebanon; but for the seven others,
4E. Chetteus — or Heth,
4F. Jebuseus or Jebusite,
4G. Amorreus or Amorite,
4H. Gergesus or Girgasite,
4I. Eudeus or Hivite,
4J. Sineus — or Sinite,
4K. Samareus or Zemarite we have nothing in the sacred books but their names, for the Hebrews overthrew their cities; and their calamities came upon them on the occasion following.
Now, while Josephus was unfamiliar with the outcome of Heth (i.e. the Hittites), the following extract comes from www.wikinoah.org/index.php?title=The_Geography_of_the_Seventy_Nations:
Heth (Hittites) and Sin (Sinites) are believed by many to be the progenitors of the families of China and Mongolia. "Hittite" in Cuneiform appears as Khittae, representing a once powerful nation from the Far East, preserved through the centuries in the more familiar Chinese term, Cathay. "Sin", a brother of Heth, has many occurrences in variant forms in the Far East. Many believe the reference to the Sinim in Isaiah 49:12 is a reference to China. Those who came from the Far East to trade with the Scythians were called Sinae (Sin). Ptolemy, a Greek astronomer, referred to China as the land of Sinim or Sin. Arabs called China Sin, Chin, Mahachin, or Machin. The Ch'in (from which the name "China" is taken) were spoken of as a people in the remotest parts of Asia. Their most important town was Xian (pronounced Shee-an), a great trading emporium in the province of Shensi. The Ch'in became independent in Western China, their princes reigning there for some 650 years before they finally gained dominion over the whole land. In 217 B.C., Prince Cheng unified China and took the title of Shih Hwang-ti (First Emperor). Shih Hwang-ti built much of the Great Wall of China, and a network of roads and canals that converged on his capital, near modern Xian, in Shensi province.
With respect to the Cathay people of historical reference, it would make sense to suppose that the remnants of the Hittites, after the destruction of their empire, travelled towards the east and settled among the Sinites who were relatives, contributing to their civilization, and thus becoming the ancestors of many Asian people groups in Asia and the Americas.
Click here for a recent article on ancient Chinese history by Hieromonk Damascene.
Shem
Shem, the third son of Noah, had five sons, who inhabited the land that began at Euphrates, and reached to the Indian Ocean.
1. For Elam left behind him the Elamites, the ancestors of the Persians (Iran).
2. Ashur lived at the city of Nineveh; and named his subjects Assyrians (north Iraq), who became the most fortunate nation beyond others.
3. Arphaxad named the Arphaxadites, who are now called Chaldeans (south Iraq).
4. as Laud or Lud founded the Laudites, which are now called Lydians (west Turkey).
5. Aram had the Aramites, which the Greeks called Syrians;
Of the four sons of Aram,
5A. Uz founded Trachonitis and Damascus; this country lies between Palestine and Coelosyria.
5B. Ul or Hul founded Armenia; and
5C. Gather or Gether the Bactrians (Pakistan/Afghanistan); and
5D. Mesa or Mash the Mesaneans; it is now called Characene (Kuwait).
3A. Sala or Salah was the son of Arphaxad;
3A1. and his son was Heber, from whom they originally called the Jews Hebrews.
3A1A. Heber begat Joktan and Peleg: he was called Peleg, because he was born at the dispersion of the nations to their various countries; for Peleg among the Hebrews signifies Division.
Now Joktan, one of the sons of Heber, had these sons: Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. These inhabited from Cophen, an Indian river, and in part of Asia adjoining to it. And this shall suffice concerning the sons of Shem.
Note, in Genesis 2:10-12 we are told that
"a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good;"
Now, Josephus declared that this Pishon River that encompassed the land of Havilah was in fact the River Ganges click here for this reference. And so this land, later renamed as India (literally, The River), was settled by these 13 sons of Joktan, as it says in Genesis 10:30 "The territory they occupied extended from Mesha (thought by many to be close to Mashhad in Iran, the start of the Silk Road) all the way to Sephar in the eastern mountains" (i.e. the Himalayas).
The land was famous for its gold: as well as the reference in Genesis 2 to Havilah, there are also numerous references to the gold of Ophir. Sadly however, used to build numerous idols, as it says in
** End of Extract