ETHNOGRAPHIC TABLE. - A name derived from Gen. 10, because in the form of a grandiose genealogical tree, whose progenitors are the three sons of Noah, the principal peoples or nations known to the Hebrews are there indicated.
To Japheth are attributed 7 descendants, for whom the most probable identifications are: Gomer = Cimmerians, Madai = Medes, Javan = Ionians, Tubal = Tubalu or Tiberani, Meshech = Mosku or Moschoi, Ashkenaz = Scythians, Tarshish = Tartessos (Spain), Kittim = Cypriots, Rodiani (corrected from Dodanim) = Rhodians, Elishah, an island or a promontory of the continent (Peloponnese? Southern Italy?) in the Mediterranean. The other names represent peoples or tribes of Asia Minor around the Black Sea.
To the Hamitic group or descendants of Ham are ascribed: Cush (= Ethiopians), Mizraim (= Egyptians), Put (= Punt, along the African coast of the Red Sea) and Canaan (= Canaanites, ancient inhabitants of Palestine). To Cush, moreover, are linked Arab tribes between the Persian Gulf and the African coast. From the same Cush, through Nimrod (= Sumerian Ninurta or Akkadian Gilgamesh?) would derive the kingdoms and cities of ancient Babylonia and Assyria. Egyptian offspring are considered the Ludim, the Laabim (= Libyans) and other more or less neighboring groups, among which also the Cretans (Cophocria) and the Philistines. Canaan, finally, is held to be the progenitor of the various clans dwelling between Sidon, Gaza and the Dead Sea.
To Shem are traced first of all the Hebrews; then the Ebanites, the Assyrians, the Arameans, and not a few Arab tribes.
The term "t. c." must not lead one to suppose in the text a modern scientific concept. The classification does not follow somatic or color reasons, nor linguistic or cultural comparisons. The geo-
(de Anthropologie) Essays presented to Edward Burnett Tylor in honour of his 12th birthday act. 2. 1888. Oxford 1887. ETHNOLOGY - Portrait of E. B. Tylor (1832-1917), founder of evolutionary religious e.
graphic element seems to have been the most decisive for certain groupings; while that of commercial relations (Egypt-Crete) or a satirical note (the Canaanites, certainly Semites, are included among the Hamites!) explains other associations. One should note the dominant idea of the unity of the human race, considered all descended from Noah, the only one saved from the flood.
For many exegetes the text, very ancient, would be the compilation of the Yahwist and Priestly documents. Others, instead, explain its strange peculiarities (some Arab tribes are said to be simultaneously descended from Japheth and from Shem) by possible subsequent reworkings.