ASCENEZ (Heb. Aškenaz; Septuagint Ašqaváč). - Son of Gomer, grandson of Iafet (Gen. 10:3), he designates a branch of the Japhetic stock. Many connect A. with the Aškuza of the cuneiform texts, transcribed by the Greeks as Σκύθαι, Scythians, nomads, distinct from the sedentary peoples or Cimmerians (Gomer?).
Esarhaddon states in prism B that he fought against Manna and the Aškuza, and Ier. 51:27 summons against Babylon “Ararat, Menni and A.,” then Media. From this it might be inferred that the two peoples, Menni and A., dwelt northwest of Media, in regions adjacent to Armenia (Ararat), and A. more particularly north of that country. Subsequently it is possible that the Scythians moved farther west, toward the Black Sea, and left the name Ascania, mentioned by ancient geographers, to a district of Bithynia, on the Pontus Euxinus (Axenas).
Medieval and modern rabbis (Gomer: “Germany”), followed by A. Knobel (Die Völkertafel der Genesis, Giessen 1850), consider A. the progenitor of the Germans (v. AŠKENAZ). Much has also been written to identify A. now with the Phrygians, now with the Celts, now with the Britons, now with the Bruttii.