ASCENZE (e.br. 'Aškenas'; Septuagint 'Ašyavāk'). — Son of Gomer, grandson of Japheth (Gen. 10:3), he designates a branch of the Japhetic stock. Many connect with A. the Aškuza of the cuneiform inscriptions, transcribed by the Greeks as Σωδωτ, Scythians, nomads, distinct from the sedentary Cimmerians (Gomer?).
Esarhaddon states in Prism B that he fought against Manna and Aškuza, and Jer. 51:27 calls against Babylon “Ararat, Minni and A.,” then Media. From this it might be inferred that the two peoples, Minni and A., dwelt northwest of Media, in regions contiguous to Armenia (Ararat), and A. more particularly to the north of that country. Subsequently it is possible that the Scythians moved further west, toward the Black Sea, and left the name of Ascania, mentioned by ancient geographers, to a district of Bithynia on the Euxine (Axenos).
Medieval and modern rabbis (Gomer: “Germania”), followed by A. Knobel (Die Völkertafel der Genesis), Giessen 1850, regard A. as the ancestor 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.