The first of the sons is named Elishah, often identified with the Island of “Alashya”, commonly known by the modern name “Cyprus”. According to historians such as Flavius Josephus, Elishah is affiliated with the Aeolians, one of the previously mentioned main branches of Greeks. Another identification comes from the Jewish Encyclopedia which purports him to have links to Magna Graecia, and the Sicels1 from whom we get the modern name “Sicily”. Yet again a combination of factors is likely, and many if not all of these identifications are correct. As shown in the previous map, the island of Cyprus was subsumed inside the “Central group” with none other than the Aeolians, confirming a link even in Greek and academic records.

A moment must be taken to discuss the context of “Magna Graecia”, literally “Greater Greece” or more accurately ‘Wider’ Greece as it was known to the Greeks. Like mainland Greece, no single tribe of Greeks controlled Magna Graecia. Even in Homer’s Odyssey the ruler of the “Aeolian Islands” north of Sicily is called “Aeolus” indicating an Aeolian presence in the region. The other three tribes, Doric, Ionic, and Achaeans dominated nearly all of the region. 

While Elisha is easily identified with the Aeolians, in a much more tentative link given to use by Herodutus the Aeolians were previously called Pelasgians.2 While it may be enticing to call the Aeolians the Pelasgians, given many other sources in Greek stating the Pelasgians were a sort of “Proto-Greek” peoples inhabiting the regions prior to the arrival of the Greeks proper, it is more accurate to view the Pelasgians having assimilated into the culture of the Aeolian, Elishah-ian elite. This would be similar for many of the Greek tribes who also assimilated Pelasgian identities. Of other interest in that authors often identify them as being natives of Crete, implying a connection to the original Mycenaean inhabitants.

The Pelasgians were said to have been driven out of the Thessalian plain, and most, if not all of the Greek writers state the “seat of the Pelasgians”3 was in Dodona in central Epirus. Later, according to Dionysus of Halicarnassus, the remaining Pelasgians were driven out from Dodona, arriving at the Etruscan city of Spina on the Po river in Italy.4 Next Dionysus records they crossed the Apennine mountains into Umbria where they formed a treaty with the Aborigines settling in Velia. Velia was founded by the Greeks as the city “Hyele” showing a closer etymological link to the name “Eli-shah” than Velia first implies. Interestingly enough in February of 2022, archeologists found bronze Greek helmets of Etruscan design5, linking this city and the Greek colonists. What is clear from all these stories is that Elishah represents the collective traditions of the Aeolian Greeks. If these Pelasgians were the “first son of Javan” it would make sense given their pre-Greek origin for their primary placement on the list of Javan’s children

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Esarhaddon, Aššur Babylon E (AsBbE)6 preserves "All the kings from the lands surrounded by sea – from the country Iadanana (Cyprus) and Iaman, as far as Tarsisi (Tarshish) – bowed to my feet." Immediately clear from this text is that each of these three countries is “surrounded by sea” implying seafaring people who live on islands. This piece of strong archaeological evidence helps to piece together the disparate links of Javan and his children. The clearest piece of evidence is actually the least obvious point, “Iaman” is likely some sort of corruption of Javan being only a single letter off. Previously it was mentioned these people were called “Iawones”, and it is phonologically possible for a ‘W’ to morph to a ‘M’ sound in such a word, further giving credence to this theory.

What is less clear is how Elishah represents Cyprus in this context if Cyprus is named Iadanana. The Ya>Ia morphology is clear, but the Danana part less so, potentially coming from Javan’s fourth son, Dodanim. While Dodanim certainly leaves his mark on the region as we will later see, the principal consonants used would be “D-N-N” for Danana, and “D-D-N” for Dodanim showing a critical flaw in this reasoning. There is however an incredibly strong potential for where this D-N-N sequence originates. We must turn to the Greeks and their epic poems in order to clarify their own origins.

Hopefully this section was less daunting than some of the previous, which will continue to be the trend for most of Javan’s children. The familiarity of Greek myths in our culture should help make many of these events and peoples become contextualized a little easier than before, and might actually serve as a strong starting point for those unfamiliar with Scythians entirely. Id be curious for feedback regarding this, and if others find this to be true as well, since ideally the Greeks would actually be the best place to begin reading about the Table of Nations, and Japheth’s children.

Once again, I thank you for reading, and encourage comments/suggestions from readers. Please share the work with anyone you think might enjoy history, or Judaic studies regarding history, as they should enjoy this sort of work if they have any background in the subject.

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