Chronicles of Jerahmeel, by M. Gaster [1899], at sacred-texts.com
XXXI. (1) These are the generations of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Children were born to them after the flood, for from Noah there came forth 72 families—from Japheth, 15; from Ham, 30; and from Shem, 27. And these 72 families were separated each according to his lineage in his own land, with their several nations, into 72 languages, the Hebrew language in Eber, the Egyptian in Egypt, the Greek in Greece, Latin in Rome, the Aramean in Syria, the Chaldean in Chaldea, etc. The nations which descended from Shem were 406, Briṭania, Qalabra, Tosqana, Luqa, Piqe.nsa, etc. The whole earth was divided into three parts. (2) Shem, the eldest, chose his portion in the land of ‘Asya (###), that is, the land of Persia, from Baqṭris to Endiana, from the Persian River until the Ocean in the west and the whole Rinds. They numbered 27 languages, and 406 peoples. Ham took his portion in the land of Afriqia, which comprises Aram, Hamath, and the mountain of Lebanon, in a well-watered land, until the Red Sea and the Sea of Philistia, from Rīnôs as far as Gadaira. The number of their languages was 22, and that of the peoples 394. (3) Japheth chose his portion in the land of Eoropa (###), that is, in the south from Media to Bodeā (###), and their boundaries extended from the mountains
of Ṭaôrô (###) and Manô (###), in Syria and Siṣilia, until the river Ṭanais (###), until Gadaira, that is, the land of Eoropa (###, Europe). The number of their languages was 23, and that of their peoples 300. The land of Shem contained the river Euphrates; Ham, G(iḥôn) which is called the Nile; Japheth, Hiddeqel (Tigris), in Media and Babylon. (4) The children of Japheth are Gomer, i.e., Gavathi (or Gālāthi, ###) and Regini; Magog, i.e., Sqitē (###) (Scythes), from whom arose Gog and Magog. These were the peoples which Alexander of Macedon enclosed in the Caspian Mountains; and from them arose the Guti (Goths), Pirāṭi (###), Nordmani (###), Bauvēri (###), Langobardi, Saqsonēi, Gasgonēi. Madai are: Mēdi, Yavan-Greṣi (###), Armenēi (###), and Franṣi (###). The river of the Greṣi (###) is called Yoniū. Tubal are Ibēri and Ispamia; Mēsech are the Qapadôṣes (###). The name of the city was formerly Mesekhah (###), and the royal city was Qapadoqia (###), now called Cæsarea (Kesari, ###), in the land of Kaftor; Tiras are Trâṣes (###). The children of Gomer were Ashkenaz, in the land of the Greeks, or Greṣi (###), Rifath (###) is Paflagronas (Paphlagonians) (###). Togarmah are the Frēzes (Phryges, ###). The children of Yavan were Elisa‘ (###), i.e., Eōlides (###), and they are one-fifth of the Greek tongue. Tarshish is Sīlīṣīa (###)—this is the Tarshish in the Book of Jonah—Kittim are Qipres (###), Dodanim are Rodiē (###). All these live from the mountain Amone (###) and Ṭaôrô (###), in Brittania, as far as the sea Oqeanôs. [Eliezer the Levite thought fit to add here the chapter, from the beginning of Jossipon the Great's work, because it is similar to the above; and this is the very beginning of the Book of Jossipon.]
(6) And the children of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Yavan, Tubal, Mesekh, and Tiras; and these are the names of the countries of the children of Yapheth who were scattered at the time of the dispersion. The children of Gomer were the Frankos (###), who inhabited the
country of the Frankos (###), in the land of Franselni (###), on the river Segna (###). Riphath are the Britanos (###), who inhabit the land of Riphtania (###), on the river Lira (###). The Segna and Lira both flow into the Ocean. Togarmah branched into ten families, who are the Cuzar (###), Paṣinaq (###), Alan (###), Bulgar (###), Kanbina (###), Turq (###), Buz (###), Zakhukh (###), Ugar (###), and Tulmeṣ (###). All of these dwell in the North, and the names of their lands are taken from their own names, and they live by the river Hetel (###); but Ugar, Bulgar, and Paṣinaq live by the great river called Danube (###), i.e., the Dunai (###). (8) The children of Javan are the Greeks, who dwell in the land of Nsā (###) 1-2 and Macedonia. (9) Madai, that is, Edalus (###), dwell in the land of Turkhan (### or Kurasan ###). 1-2 (10) Tubal are the Tuscans (###), who dwell in the land of Tuscania, by the river Pisa (###); Mesech, i.e., the Saqsoni (###). (11) Tirus, i.e., the Rossi (###); the Saqsni (###) and the Iglesusi (###) dwell by the river of the great sea. The Rossi dwell by the river Kiô (or Kiva, ###), which flows into the Gergan (###) Sea. (12) Elisa, i.e., Alamania (###), inhabit the mountains of Iov and Septimo (###); and from them arose the Lungobardi (###), who came from the other side of the mountains of Iov and Septimo (###), and having conquered Italia, dwelt in it until this very day on the river Pao (###), and Tiṣio (###); and from them again arose the Borgonia (###), who dwell by the river Rodano (###), and the Bidria (###), dwelling by the river Rinos (###), which flows into the Great Sea. And the rivers Tiṣio and Pio (###) flow into the sea Venitiqia (###). (13) Tarshish, i.e., the Trkisiani (###), who accepted the law of the Macedonians; and from them come Trasos (###). And it came to pass, when the Ishmaelites captured the land of Trasos, that its inhabitants fled to the land of Greece, and fought hence with the Ishmaelites in Trasos. (14) Kittim, i.e., the
[paragraph continues] Romans, who dwell in the valley Kapania (###), by the river Tiberio. Dodanim (###), these are the Danisqi (###), who dwell in the midst of the tongues of the sea, in the land of Danemarka (###) and Aṣidania (###), in the Great Sea, who swore not to serve the Romans, and they hid themselves in the midst of the waves of the sea; but they could not (withstand) them, for the power of Rome extended as far as the end of the isles of the sea. (15) And thus the Moraia (###), Bruti (###), Sorbin (###), Lusinin (###), Liumin (###), Krākar (###), and Bazimin (###) are reckoned among the descendants of the Dodanim. They dwell by the seashore, from the border of Bulgar (###) until Venitiqia (###) on the sea, and from there they spread as far as the border of Saqsni (###) to the Great Sea; they are called Isqlabi (###). Some say they are descendants of Canaan, but they trace their descent to the Dodanim (###). [Thus far the Hebrew of Josippon; from the next sentence beginning, 'And it came to pass when the Lord scattered,' etc., I shall copy in connection with Esau and the kings of Edom later on. Let us now return to the narrative of Jeraḥmeel.]
(16) The children of Shem were Elam ‘Elamitēṭ (###), Ashur, i.e., Assyria ###); Arpachshad, i.e., Qaldea (###); Lud, i.e., Lydia (###); and Aram, i.e., Syria (17). The children of Aram were ‘Uṣ, where Job was born, Geter (###), Qarnâni (###), Menes (###). These dwell from the Persian Gulf until the Ocean. (17) The children of Haul were Cush, Misraim, Phut, and Canaan. Cush is called Ethiopia (###); Miṣraim, Egypta (###), Phut, Libia (###); and Canaan the Land of Israel. The children of Cush were Saba, Havilah, Sabta, Ra‘amah, and Sabtecha. The children of Ra‘amah were Sheba and Dedan. Sheba comprises the Sabeans, Arabians, and Indians (###); Havilah, i.e., Getili (###); Sabta, i.e., Asṭabari; Sabtecha and Ra‘amah I have not been able to find. From the children of Ra‘amah (###) the Queen of Sheba, and Dedan is a nation to the east of Cush. (18) And Cush begat Nimrod. The beginning
of his kingdom was Babylon and Erekh, i.e., Edessa (###); Accad, i.e., the city of Nisibis (###), Kalnah, Selevqos gave to the city of Kalna the name of Selevqia (###); from this land came Ashur, i.e., Bel, the son of Nimrod. And Bel begat Ninus, who built the great city of Nineveh; and Reḥoboth, i.e., the wide city; and Misraim begat Ludim, and ‘Anamim, and Lehabim, and the rest I do not know, for a war broke out between Ethiopia and Egypt, and all these nations were ultimately merged into one, so that they could no longer be distinguished. [And I, Eliezer, the scribe, have heard that the Lehabim are the Flaminga (###), and their appearance is like blazing fire, as it is said, 'And their faces are the faces of torches.'] And Canaan begat Sidon, his firstborn, by whose name the city of Sidon is called; it is in the land of Phēniṣe (###). The Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, and Girgashites and Hivites were destroyed by the Israelites. ‘Arqi, the city of ‘Arqes (###), near Tripolis; Arvadi is the name of an island, Arvodios (###); Ṣemari, i.e., Edessa, in the land of Syria; Ḥamathi built Ḥamath, i.e., Antochia. And the Canaanite boundary extended from Sidon, reaching as far as ‘Azzah, and as far as Lesha, i.e., Qaliron (###). Its waters are warm, and flow into the Salt Sea. These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, their tongues, in their countries and provinces. (20) And Cush, the son of Ham, begat Nimrod, who was a mighty hunter in the land before the Lord. He caught men through his strength, and forced them to bow down to him, to make him a god, and to worship him. He therefore counselled the people to erect the city and the tower of Babel, where he established his kingdom, in order to rebel against God; and therefore, according to an ancient proverb, whosoever rebelled against the Lord was compared to Nimrod, the mighty hunter before God.
Footnotes
67:1-2 N.B.—These words scarcely legible in the MS.