THE

BIBLICAL

ATLAS.

No. I.

THE WORLD, AS KNOWN TO THE ANCIENTS.

Ir was the opinion of the ancient fathers, that the distribution of mankind was not left to be settled at random, or according to the exigencies of the moment; but that a distribution of the world, as known to the patriarch Noah, was made by him among his three sons before any actual migrations from the first settlement, which was in Armenia, took place. Probability is in favour of this hypothesis; and Dr. Hales, who adopts it, quotes the striking passages, Deut. xxxii. 7-9, and Acts xvii. 26, as tending strongly to support it. He adduces in its favour, also, an Armenian tradition, quoted by Abulfaragi, which states, that Noah distributed the habitable part of the globe from north to south between his sons, giving to Ham the region of the blacks; to Shem the region of the tawny; and to Japheth the region of the ruddy. How the world was actually divided among the three primitive families is recorded in that most venerable and inspired geographical chart, if it may be so called, Gen. x.; in which it is both interesting and profitable to observe, how long the names of the first settlers have been preserved, even to the present day.

I. Japheth, the eldest son of Noah, (as appears from ver. 21,) and his family are first noticed. See verses 2-5.

1. Gomer, his eldest son, was the father of the Gomerians. These, spreading from the regions north of Armenia and Bactriana, extended themselves westward over nearly the whole continent of Europe, retaining, with some slight variation, their paternal denomination; as Cimmerians, in Asia; Cimbri and Umbri, in Gaul and Italy; and Cymri, Cambri, and Cumbri, in Wales and Cumberland. Ancient authors identified them also with the Galatæ of Asia Minor, who were called, according to Josephus, Gomariani, from their ancestor Gomer-the Gæls, Gauls, and Celta of Europe, who spread from the Euxine Sea to the Western Ocean. The descendants of Gomer are mentioned among the northern nations, which should accompany Gog in his conquests in the latter days, Ezek. xxxviii. 6.

Ashkenaz, the eldest son of Gomer, appears to have settled on the coasts of the Euxine Sea, which from him received its primary denomination, Axenus, resembling Ashkenaz. His precise settlement is represented in Scripture as contiguous to Armenia, westward, answering to Bithynia; for the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz are mentioned together, Jer. li. 27. Riphath, the second son of Gomer, appears to have given name to the Riphean mountains, north of Asia; and it is natural from hence to suppose that the descendants of Riphath were spread over the northern coasts of the Black Sea. Togarmah, the third son, is traced in the Trocini of Strabo, the Trogmi of Cicero, and Trogmades of the

council of Chalcedon, inhabiting the confines of Pontus and Cappadocia. Togarmah is mentioned with Gomer, Ezek. xxxviii. 6; and with Meshech and Tubal, Ezek. xxvii. 13, 14.

2. Magog, Tubal, and Meshech, sons of Japheth, are noticed by Ezekiel, (xxxviii. 2, 14, 15,) as settled in the north; that is, the space between the Black Sea and the Caspian, and the borders of Scythia. The first of these may be traced in the Mongogians, Monguls, and Moguls; the second in Tobolski of Siberia; and the third in the Moschici, Moscow, and Muscovites. Reference is made to their descendants, Ezek. xxvii. 13; xxxii. 26; xxxix. 1.

3. Madai was the father of the Medes, who are thus denominated in Scripture. See 2 Kings xvii. 6; Isa. xiii. 17; Jer. li. 11; Dan. v. 28.

4. Javan, the fourth son of Japheth, was the father of the Javanians, or Jaones of the Greeks, and the Yavanas of the Hindus. The prophet Daniel calls Greece itself Javan, (xi. 2;) and the people are denominated Jaones by Homer.

Javan had four sons, by whom the different portions of Greece Proper were peopled. Thus Elishah and Dodanim may be recognised in Elis and Dodona, the oldest settlements of Greece; Kittim may be discovered in the Citium of Macedonia and Chittim, Numb. xxiv. 24, or maritime coasts of Greece and Italy; and Tarshish in the Tarsus of Cilicia, and Tartessus of Spain.

Thus did Providence literally fulfil the remarkable prediction which the patriarch Noah uttered: "God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant," Gen. ix. 27.

II. Ham and his descendants are next mentioned, Gen. vi. 6—20. The name of this patriarch is preserved in the title frequently given to Egypt, "The land of Ham," Psa. cv. 23, etc. Ham had four sons, Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan.

1. Cush, who appears to have been the most celebrated, gave name to the land of Cush both in Asia and Africa. The former is now called Chusistan by Arabian geographers, Susiana by the Greeks, and Cusha Dwipa Within by the Hindus: the latter is called Cusha Dwipa Without.

The sons of Cush-Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Sabtacha, and Raamah—and the sons of the latter, Sheba and Dedan, seem to have settled in Idumea and Arabia. Nimrod, the mighty hunter, his descendant also, first founded the kingdom of Babylon, thus invading the settlements of the Shemites, contrary to the Divine decree.

2. Misr, or Mizraim, the second son of Ham, settled in Egypt, whence the Egyptians are commonly styled in Scripture, Mizraim, or Mizraites in the plural form. The country of Egypt is called in the East to this day, "The land of Misr."

Of the sons of Misr, or Mizraim, Ludim and Lehabim, were probably the Copto Libyans. They are joined by Isaiah (lxvi. 19) with Pul, whose settlement is supposed to have been about the island Philoe, near the first cataract of the Nile; by Jeremiah (xlvi. 9) with the Ethiopians and Libyans; by Ezekiel (xxvii. 10) with Phut, as the mercenary soldiers of Tyre; and (xxx. 5) with the Ethiopians and Libyans; all plainly denoting their African position. Naphtuhim occupied the sea-coast, which was called by the Egyptians Nephtus. The descendants of Pathrusim occupied a part of Lower Egypt, called from them Pathros, Isa. xi. 11; and those of Casluhim and Caphtorim, the district which lies between the delta of the Nile and the southern extremity of Palestine. The descendants of these latter people were the Philistim of Palestine.

3. Phut was the third son of Ham, and his posterity are supposed to have peopled

that part of Africa called Mauritania, which answers nearly to the modern Barbary or Morocco. Pliny mentions a city in this region called Putea, and Ptolemy, a river bearing the actual name of Phut. This is also mentioned by Jerome, who says that the adjacent country was called Regio Phutensis, or "the land of Phut."

4. Canaan, the youngest son of Ham, gave name to the land of Canaan, and it was first peopled by his offspring. Sidon, the eldest, occupied the north-west corner, and built the town of that name, so early celebrated both in sacred and profane history for her luxury and commerce: see Judg. xviii. 7; 1 Kings v. 6. Heth, the second son of Canaan, and the Hittites, his descendants, appear to have settled in the south, near Hebron, Gen. xxiii. 3-7; and Jebus, and his posterity the Jebusites, at Jerusalem, where they remained till the days of David, 2 Sam. v. 6-9. Beyond these latter, the Emorites, or Amorites, settled, Numb. xiii. 29, extending themselves beyond Jordan, until they were destroyed by Moses and Joshua, according to the Divine will, for their iniquities, Gen. xv. 16; Numb. xxi. 21-31.

III. Shem and his family are noticed last, Gen. x. 21-30. His posterity were confined to Middle Asia.

1. Elam appears to have settled in Elymais, or Southern Persia, contiguous to the maritime tract of Chusistan, Dan. viii. 2.

2. Ashur peopled the land called Assyria, which became a province of the Cushite empire, founded by Nimrod.

3. Arphaxad, through his grandson Eber, was the original of the two houses of Peleg and Joktan. Peleg probably remained in Chaldea at the time of the dispersion; for his grandson Terah, and his family, settled at Ur of the Chaldees, Gen. xi. 31. Of the descendants of Joktan, Moses said that "their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar, a mount of the east," Gen. x. 30. Faber conjectures that they were the ancestors of the great body of the Hindus, who still retain a lively tradition of the patriarch Shem.

4. Lud, according to a tradition of the Lydians, as quoted by Josephus, was the father of that people, who dwelt in Asia Minor.

5. Aram, by his descendants, planted the fertile country north of Babylonia, called Aram Naharaim, or "Aram between the two rivers," the Euphrates and Tigris, which the Greeks from thence denominated Mesopotamia, Gen. xxiv. 10; and Padan-aram, or "the level country of Aram," Gen. xxv. 20. In Scripture, this country is frequently rendered Syria: see Judg. x. 6; Hos. xii. 12; which must not be understood as Palestine Syria.

No. II.

CANAAN, WITH MESOPOTAMIA AND THE ADJACENT COUNTRIES, IN THE TIME OF THE PATRIARCHS.

CANAAN. This country, as we have seen, was peopled by Canaan, the offspring of Ham, and his posterity. It was about 160 miles in length, and 80 in breadth, having Lebanon and Syria on the north and north-east; Arabia Deserta and the land of the Ammonites and Moabites on the east; the country of the Midianites on the south-east; that of Edom on the south; Egypt on the south-west; and the Mediterranean Sea on the west. In the days of the patriarchs the land was occupied by ten nations: the Kenites, Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, eastward of Jordan;

and westward, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaims, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites, Gen. xv. 18-21. These were the "devoted nations," who were in after ages expelled from thence, that God's peculiar people might dwell therein, according to his promise to their ancestor, the faithful Abraham, Gen. xii. 1—8; Deut. ix. 4-6. See Map of Canaan, illustrating the Books of Joshua and Judges.

PHENICIA. This country extended from the Gulf of Issus, where it bounded Cilicia on the north, along the coast southwards to the termination of the ridges of Libanus and Anti-Libanus, near Tyre, where it met the border of Palestine. The coast abounded in bays and harbours, and its breadth, which did not exceed eight or ten leagues, was traversed by mountains branching from Libanus, several of which advanced their promontories into the sea. In this tract of country the great city of Sidon was founded, which owed its origin, according to the common opinion, to Sidon, the eldest son of Canaan. The greatness of Sidon was the result of its skill in manufactures and its attention to commerce. In the book of Joshua, (xi. 8; xix. 28,) it is called "great Sidon ;" and Homer notices its manufactures, its "embroidered female dresses," "silver cups curiously wrought," and terms the Sidonians," skilled in many arts." But Sidon was eventually eclipsed in all its characteristics by Tyre, which is called in the Bible, the "daughter of Sidon," Isa. xxiii. 12, it having been a settlement of the Sidonians. Tyre was one of the most celebrated cities of antiquity, for wealth, strength, population, and commerce. In Josh. xix. 29, it is called, "the strong city Tyre ;" and in 2 Sam. xxiv. 7, "the stronghold of Tyre." It was one of those ancient cities which formed the subject of prophecy, and against which the vengeance of God was denounced for the pride, impiety, and cruelty of its inhabitants. See Isa. xxiii. 1—11, 15, 17; Ezek. xxvi. 2-14; xxviii. 2-8, 16-19. The predictions contained in these passages were fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar, who captured the old city, after a thirteen years' siege; and by Alexander, who destroyed the new city, or Insular Tyre, which arose from its ashes. No trace of the former can now be discovered, and the latter is literally a rock for fishers to dry their nets on, Ezek. xxvi. 14.

ASSYRIA. This country, in its most extensive signification, comprehended,

1. Assyria Proper, eastward of the Tigris, and south of Taurus. It was called in Scripture, Kir, 2 Kings xvi. 9; Amos i. 5; ix. 7; which name is still traceable in that country. Thus the Kar-duchian, or Kurdistan mountains; Kiare, the name of the loftiest ridge; and the large town of Kerhook, evidently retain the original word, Kir, with some slight variation. This was a rich and fertile, though mountainous region, finely watered by the springs of the Tigris, the greater and lesser Zab, the Diali, and the Mendeli. Its capital was Nineveh, celebrated both in sacred and profane history, and which is said, in the book of Jonah, (iii. 3,) to have been "an exceeding great city, of three days' journey," which probably refers to its circuit. It is in vain to search for this once powerful city; so completely has prophecy been fulfilled. See Nah. i. 1, 8; iii. 17.

2. Aram, or Syria, eastward of the Euphrates. This was divided into two districts, the northern and the southern. The upper is denominated in the sacred writings, Aram Naharaim, "Aram between the two rivers," and by the Greeks, Mesopotamia, having the same import. This was the country of Nahor, Gen. xxiv. 10; of Laban, Gen. xxxi. 20; and of Balaam the diviner, Numb. xxiii. 7; Deut. xxiii. 4. The lower part of this division was called Padan-aram, or "the champaign Aram," Gen. xxv. 20. In this region was Haran, Gen. xi. 31; called Charran,