Kittim

Kittim


Kittim (or Chittim) in the genealogy of Genesis 10 in the Hebrew Bible, is the son of Javan, the grandson of Japheth, and Noah's great-grandson.

The city of Larnaca, (Greek: Λάρνακα, Turkish: Larnaka) on the west coast of Cyprus, was known in ancient times as Kition, or (in Latin) Citium. On this basis, Flavius Josephus (c. 100 AD) identified the Kittim with Cyprus, however the name seems to have been employed with some flexibility in Hebrew literature, and was sometimes used to apply to the Romans, Macedonians or Assyrians. Some authors[citation needed] have speculated that it comes from an Akkadian word meaning "invaders". Others (following Max Müller) have identified Kittim with the land of Hatti (Khatti), as the Hittite Empire was known.

The world as known to the Hebrews

According to The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, the name Kittim "is extended to include the W[est] in general, but esp[ecially] the seafaring W[est]."

The 'New International Version' Bible renders the expression "ships of Kittim" (appearing in the Book of Daniel 11) as "ships of the western coastlands."

In the War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Kittim are referred to as being "of Asshur".

The mediaeval rabbinic compilation Yosippon contains a detailed account of the Kittim. As the peoples spread out, it says, the Kittim camped in Campania and built a city called "Posomanga", while descendants of Tubal camped in neighboring Tuscany and built "Sabino", with the Tiber river as their frontier. However, they soon went to war following the rape of the Sabines by the Kittim. This war was ended when the Kittim showed the descendants of Tubal their mutual progeny. They then built cities called Porto, Albano, and Aresah. Later, their territory is occupied by Agnias, King of Carthage, but the Kittim end up appointing Zepho, son of Eliphaz and grandson of Esau, as their king, with the title Janus Saturnus. The first king of Rome, Romulus, is made in this account to be a distant successor of this line. A shorter, more garbled version of this story is also found in the later Sefer haYashar

See also



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  • KITTIM — (Heb. כִּתִּיִּים ,כִּתִּים, the final mem possibly a suffix and not a plural ending), the name of a place and its inhabitants. In the table of nations Kittim is mentioned among the sons of Javan and the brothers of elishah (Gen. 10:4). Josephus… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Kittim — est un nom qui figure dans la liste des quatre fils de Yavane bien qu il se présente toujours au pluriel dans les écritures bibliques (Genèse 10:4). Il s agit de Tarshish et des îles de la Méditerranée. La ville de Larnaca, (en grec: Λάρνακα, en… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Kittim — Kittim,   im Alten Testament erwähntes Volk (z. B. 1. Mose 10, 4), das in Jesaja 23, 1.12 mit (seinem Mutterland ?) Tyrus in Verbindung gebracht wird. Wie Funde aus Arad im südlichen Palästina erkennen lassen, wurden als Kittim auch griechische… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • KITTIM — regnavit apud Ianigenas, relicto in Celtiberis Rege filio Sicoro, quem Kittim Ianigenae suâ linguâ ob mentis excellentiam vocavêrunt Italum Atlanta. Hic filiam suam Electram Camboblasconi, Ianigenarum Principi dedit coniugem, et Romam filiam suam …   Hofmann J. Lexicon universale

  • Kittim — Die biblische Bezeichnung Kittim wird meist als das Königreich Kition auf der Mittelmeerinsel Zypern gedeutet.[1] Der Begriff scheint jedoch auch allgemein den Westen bezeichnet zu haben. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Hebräische Quellen 1.1 Bibel …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Kittim — A son of Javan (Gen. 10:4), whose supposed descendants settled in Cyprus and became sea traders (Num. 24:24). In the Dead Sea scrolls the Chaldeans (Kittim) are named as the last of the oppressing gentile [[➝ Gentiles]] powers against whom the… …   Dictionary of the Bible

  • Kittim Silva — es un pastor neopentecostal. Prologuista de unos 100 libros. Autor de una cincuentena de libros sobre la pastoral, el liderazgo, la homilética y otros temas. Ha ministrado en cinco continentes y en 40 países. Fundador y Director de la Clínica… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Kittim —    (Gen. 10:4). (See Chittim.) …   Easton's Bible Dictionary

  • PESHER — (Heb. פֵּשֶׁר), word meaning interpretation. It occurs only once in the Hebrew Bible: Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? (Eccl. 8:1). However, the Aramaic word peshar occurs 31 times in the Aramaic portion of… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Sons of Noah — This T and O map, which abstracts that society s known world to a cross inscribed within an orb, remakes geography in the service of Christian iconography and identifies the three known continents as populated by descendants of Shem (Sem), Ham… …   Wikipedia

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