Jafet

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Jafet , Japheth or Japhet ( Hebrew יָפֶת, Latin Iafeth , Arabic يافث بن نوح, DMG Yāfat bin Nūḥ  'Yafet, Son of Noah') is one of the three sons of Noah in the Old Testament , along with Sem and Ham, and one of the eight survivors of the Flood .

The Old Testament Bible formulates a theory of origin for all peoples in the Genesis table of people who, due to the flood disaster, can only descend from the survivors. Jafet is assigned the role of the ancestor of the peoples north of Israel.

Geographical distribution of the sons of Noah according to Flavius ​​Josephus , c. 100 AD; Japhet's sons shown in red

Genesis 10.2  EU and 1 Chr 1.5  EU lead Jafets as children:

  1. Gomer , described as a people from midnight, that is, from the north, "from the ends of the earth".
  2. Magog
  3. Madai
  4. Jawan
  5. Tubal
  6. Mesech
  7. Tiras

The equation of the descendants of Japhet with different ancient peoples is controversial and is discussed under the respective lemma.

Jafet was also seen as the forefather of the Jafetites in Europe , Asia Minor and the Caucasus in the 19th century . However, this is a now outdated theory of linguistics.