The Sons of Noah, or the Table of Nations - an extensive list of descendants of Noah, described in the book of "Genesis" of the Old Testament and representing traditional ethnology.
According to the Bible, God, saddened by the evil deeds that humanity does, sent a great flood, known as the Flood, to Earth to destroy life. But there was one person who was distinguished by virtue and righteousness, whom God decided to save with his family so that they would continue the human race. It was the tenth and last of the antediluvian patriarchs named Noah. The ark, which he built at the direction of God to save himself from the flood, was able to accommodate his family and animals of all kinds that remained on Earth. He had three sons born before the flood.
After the water left, they settled on the lower slopes of Mount Ararat, on the north side. Noah began to cultivate the land, planted a vineyard and invented winemaking. Once the patriarch drank a lot of wine, got drunk and fell asleep. While he was lying drunk and naked in his tent, the son of Noah Ham saw this and told the brothers. Shem and Japheth entered the tent, turning their faces away, and covered their father. When Noah woke up and realized what had happened, he cursed the son of Ham Canaan.
For two millennia, this biblical story has caused much controversy. What is its meaning? Why did the patriarch curse his grandson? Most likely, it reflected the fact that in the days when she recorded, the Canaanites (descendants of Canaan) were enslaved by the Israelites. In the Middle Ages, Europeans interpreted this story as the fact that Ham was the ancestor of all Africans, pointing to racial signs, in particular, to dark skin. Later, slavers in Europe and America used the biblical story to justify their activities, allegedly the son of Noah Ham and his offspring were damned as a degenerate race. Of course, this is wrong, especially since the compilers of the Bible did not consider him or Canaan as black Africans.
In almost all cases, the names of Noah’s descendants represent tribes and countries. Shem, Ham and Japheth represent the three largest groups of tribes that were known to the authors of the Bible. Hama is called the ancestor of the southern peoples who lived in the region of Africa that adjoined Asia. The languages they spoke were called Hamitic (Coptic, Berber, and some Ethiopian).
According to the Bible, the son of Noah Shem is the first-born, and he is especially honored, as he is the ancestor of the Semitic peoples, including Jews. They lived in Syria, Palestine, Chaldea, Assyria, Elam, Arabia. The languages they spoke included the following: Jewish, Aramaic, Arabic, and Assyrian. Two years after the flood, he had a third son, Arfaxad, whose name is mentioned in the genealogical tree of Jesus Christ.
The son of Noah Japheth is the forefather of the northern peoples (in Europe and northwest Asia).
Until the mid-nineteenth century, the biblical story of the origin of peoples was perceived by many as a historical fact, and even today Orthodox Jews, some Muslims and Christians, still believe in it. While some people think that the table of peoples refers to the entire population of the Earth, others perceive it as a guide for local ethnic groups.
