ARPHAXAD. - Two biblical figures.
1. A. (Heb. 'Arpahšad), son of Shem, born 2 years after the flood (Gen. 10:22; 11:10), grandfather or great-grandfather of Heber (v.). The name seems also to be an ethnic designation, like Elam, Asshur, Aram, Lud. Perhaps it indicates Arrapachitis (Ptolemy, Geogr., VI, 1, 2; Assyrian Arrapha), in the mountainous region northeast of Mesopotamia; more probably it indicates the Chaldeans (Kaidim) of lower Mesopotamia, whence came Abraham.
2. A. king of Media (Jdt. 1:1 and 5), defeated by Nebuchadnezzar of Nineveh; of neither the one nor the other is there any trace in other ancient documents. The name, altered, seems to correspond to Phraortes, Median Fravartish or Parruvartis. It does not here indicate Phraortes I (ca. 647-625 B.C.), successor of Deioces, who founded the Median dynasty (Herodotus, I, 102); but rather Phraortes II, who, according to the Behistun inscription (Bisutûn), was defeated by Darius I (522-485) in the region of Raga (cf. Jdt. 1:5, 15). Others suppose another personage from the times of Artaxerxes II (404-358) or of Artaxerxes III (358-337), not yet identifiable.
Giuseppe Prieto