The Phoenicians part 1

The Phoenicians are complicated , interesting , and important . History has a strange way of repeating itself , the Phoenician system of commerce is very similar to the current world system . The Phoenicians with the best naval in the world at the time ,  had colonies with Carthage (their most important colony) ultimately becoming more powerful than the Phoenician mainland (sound familar?) . The best way to study the Phoenicians through the Bible would be to look at what the scriptures say about Tyre , it's chief city.  In Isaiah 23 Tyre is called both the daughter of Sidon ( verse 12) and daughter of Tarshish (verse 10) :

Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish: there is no more strength.
He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the LORD hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof.
And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest. 
                                                                                                Isaiah 23 : 10 -12

This is really a major clue as to why Tyre and the ships of Tarshish are often linked together in the Bible , when looking at secular sources you come across this :

The Phoenicians called themselves Canaanites, and modern researchers tell us they were the descendants of two groups, the early Canaanites who inhabited the coast of Lebanon, and the Sea People who invaded Lebanon about l200 B.C. The early Canaanites had a limited ship building technology, sailing only flat bottomed barges that hugged the shore. The invading Sea People, some of whom stayed on, introduced among other things, a much more sophisticated maritime technology. Thus their descendants, the Phoenicians, appeared on the scene with an established maritime tradition, and the technology to build ships with a keeled hull. This allowed them to sail the open seas, and as a result, the Phoenicians developed a flourishing sea trade. They settled along the coast of Lebanon, in a loose federation of city states that were built on islands of rocky promontories which provided natural harbors for ship building and trade. The cities, Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, Arqad, studded the seacoast like jewels, and their wealth became legendary. At the height of their trading empire, they imported copper from Cyprus; linen from Egypt; ivory from India; tin from Spain; horses from Anatolla; and peacocks from Africa. They became famous for their highly prized purple dye extracted from the murex snail, and for the fine timber cut from their forests. - Pat Remler.


How interesting how this sounds identical to Isaiah 23 : the daughter of Sidon (Canaanite) and the daughter of Tarshish (sea peoples). Thomas Jefferson's YDNA group is Haplogroup T (formerly K2) , this would best be described as Tarshish , and than E-V22 would best be described at Sidon . Here is a map of the Phoenician colonies , the yellow is Phoenician : 

Japheth/Gomer : Togarmah

²The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, 
and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.
 ³And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, 
and Togarmah                                                        Genesis 10 : 2-3

Now we are going to look at Gomer's 3rd son Togarmah , it should be noted that Gomer's second son Riphath is not mention anywhere else in scripture beside in the table of Nations listing that can be found in both Genesis 10 and 1 Chronicles 1.

They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules.  
                                                                  
                                                                                                                   Ezekiel 27:14




Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.
                                                                                                                   Ezekiel 38 :14

So in these two verses we can see that Togarmah has horses , horsemen , and mules . This fits steppes peoples which is interesting because in the Ashkenaz series we saw that he had horses as well and more than likely was the Scythians . We also see  in Ezekiel 38 Togarmah is in the north quarters and he is alot of people as it says house of Togarmah and also says all his bands and many people. Let's look at DNA in the north quarters and see what we might be able to come up with :

Haplogroup N is the most dominant Northern DNA group in Eurasia , let's look at the others :

Haplogroup Q does not seem to be the dominant north quarter at all.

Haplogroup R which apears to be the one that Togarmah's brother Ashkenaz came from .

The DNA maps don't give a completely clear image , but we do know that Togarmah is associated with horses . This disqualifies Haplogroup Q since most of it is Amerindian and they didn't have the Horse domesticated. The culture credited with the first domestication of the horse is the Botai Culture in Kazakhstan.(Botai Culture and Horse Domestication)

Well haplogroup N seems to be the most north quartered based so if we look for a link we come up with : Seima-Turbino_Phenomenon  . There could be a circumstancial case made that Togarmah is Haplogroup N.

Now there have been a few people that have long wanted to link Togarmah to the Turks , this actually could be possible even within this hypothesis. Check out this link , this one points to a possible Uralic and Central Asian connection to the Turkish people and then also the Yakuts peoples are the highest level of Haplogroup N in the world and they are a Turkish people who ironically live in the Sakha Republic in Siberia. Sakha sounds similar to Scythia and thus Ashkenaz the brother of Togarmah . So there is a circumstansial case for Togarmah being Haplogroup N in the far north who's houses or descendants swept through Central Asia with there hordes of horses.

Japheth/Gomer : Ashkenaz

The sons of Japheth:

Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras.

The sons of Gomer:

Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.                       Genesis 10 : 2-3

  Today we are going to look at Gomer's first son Ashkenaz , he is only mentioned once in the scriptures outside of the Table of Nations so let's take a look at it :

²⁷ “Lift up a banner in the land!  Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations for battle against her;
   summon against her these kingdoms: Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander against her;
   send up horses like a swarm of locusts. 

                                                                                                 Jeremiah 51 : 27

Here Ashkenaz one of the children of Gomer is listed with Ararat and Minni . We know that Ararat was a kingdom called  Urartu .

So we know where Ararat was . Minni sounds similar to Mitanni

The problem would be that Mitanni was around before Urartu. So Mitanni can't be the Minni talked about , but a couple of interesting things come from Mitanni : 1 . It is linked to the same language group ar Urartu and that is Hurro-Urartian  But looking at the time period of Jeremiah which would be roughly from 640 ad to 580 bc , one interesting name that comes up for Minni is Mannea .Perhaps the most interesting part of this kingdom is that it was defeated for good about 585 bc this would fit the time frame and located on lake Van it is near Ararat . So now we have Ararat and Minni most likely. What we learn about Minni is that they eventually fell to both the Assyrians and the Scythians. The Scythians are interesting because the Jews have long held that Ashkenaz is modern Germany , hence the name Ashkenazi Jews for Jews from there . What's real interesting about all this is that R1a is the Haplogroup most linked with the Scythians , this group has members of German , Slavs , Iranians , and Aryans of the Indo-European language group within it's ranks. Anciently the Scythians ruled the Eurassian steppes thanks to domestication of the horse. Ashkenaz's brother Togarmah is mentioned  in the scripture as handling horses : Ezekiel 27:14 We also see in the verse in Jeremiah that mentions Ashkenaz that horses are contained in the verse as well .Years later the Turks would replace the Scythians on the steps , it might be noted that the Turk's DNA group is next to impossible to find and usually they seem to be Haplogroup R1a the same group as the Scythians. All this circumstancial evidence could point to Ashkenaz actually being German Peoples, reading through the DNA paragraph
you will notice that R1a makes up 60 to 70% of modern German males , this is the same Haplogroup that makes up a good portion of Slavic peoples , Iranian peoples , Indo-Aryans , and many Turks along the steppes here is a map of distribution of 1 of it's subclades :

One final potential link of Ashkenaz with Indo-Iranian Peoples is that the Kingdom of Mitanni (the olderone) has evidence that it was ruled by a Indo-Iranian class over the common people that had the Hurro-Uratu languages


So in conclusion the evidence points most likely to Ashkenaz being R1a , but there is a possibility that he may have been the Hurro-Uratu language family , however the use of Horses by his brother and the geography just make it very difficult to view Ashkenaz as any group other than Scythians.

DNA Haplogroups breakdown

quick Haplogroup summaries (these are summaries and not meant to be a complete description of each)

Haplogroup A is found mainly among the Khoi-San people of Africa , as well as in Sudan(specifically Nilotic Tribes in South Sudan) , and at small amounts throughout Africa .

Haplogroup B is found mainly among Pygmy and Hadzabe populations in Africa and interesting up to 50 % of the Nuer people of Sudan which is another Nilotic Language group.

Haplogroup DE is honestly an imagined Haplogroup due to Hap D and Hap E being YAP + they are the first example of "twin" groups so to speak in that a person could test DE and would later be found to be either D or E.

Haplogroup D is found mainly among Tibetans , some Japanese , and the Andaman Islanders

Haplogroup E is a majority of Africans , African Americans , Semetic peoples (North Africans , middle East) , as well as some in the Mediternean World and Europe

Haplogroup C is a real diverse Haplogroup as it makes up a good percentage of Mongols , Ainu , Na-Dene Amerindians , some other Amerindians , Australian Aborigines , also some found in India , Southeast Asia , China , and Polynesia

Haplogroup F is almost non-existant on it's own , but has been found in the Lahu people of China , as well as obscure traces throughout Eurasia and Oceania

Haplogroup G is found mainly among the Caucasians but also in Europe

Haplogroup H is found in the Roma people of Europe and India as well as traces throughout south Asia

Haplogroup I is almost exclusive to Europe and is closely related to Haplogroup J

Haplogroup J is found throughout the Mediternean world and in India , it mainly seems to be the haplogroup of Semitic peoples

Haplogroup K can be found in Polynesia and among Australian Aborigines

Haplogroup L is found mainly in India , among Dravidian peoples , but also among Aryans of India

Haplogroup T is widespread being found in South Europe , Egypt , Middle East , and India , this is the group that was believed to be the Phoenician group.

Haplogroup M is found in Melanesia
 

Haplogroup N is found for the most part among Uralic speaking peoples in North Eurasia

Haplogroup O is found among Han Chinese , East Asians , Austro-Asian speakers , Austronesian speakers

Haplogroup P is like Haplogroup DE in that it is kind of a "fake" group as it's members are really either Q or R

Haplogroup Q is the Amerindian Haplogroup in the main , also found in Siberia and Scandinavia

Haplogroup R is the Indo-European Haplogroup and it has been found in every continent of the World

Haplogroup S is found in Melanesia

The problem with Tradition

The problem with the Japheth tradition is that it says that Japheth was the father of the Indo-European peoples and because he is the father of these people this is why they have "expanded" over the Earth . The problem with this is that the Indo-European people are one haplogroup (Hap R) of the NOP peoples or the North Peoples , and if you throw K into that equation then Haplogroup R is one Haplogroup of  9 or 10 Haplogroups. Either way to say that Japheth and his descendants are just one haplogroup is not realistic and doesn't make any sense. There is a similar problem with Shem where they say that he is just the Afro-Asian or Semitic Language family and peoples , there are SEVERAL problems with that belief , the first one would be that the Egyptians , Ethiopians , and Canaanites all spoke the Semitic language in very ancient times and they were Hamite groups , and secondly Afro-Asian language family has DNA members from both Haplogroup J and Haplogroup E which are on two different sides of the YAP mutation (i.e. different families). Also Haplogroup I and Haplogroup J are close , if this was a family tree they would be twins and Haplogroup I is in Europe not in the middle East and doesn't speak the Afro-Asian Languages. The biggest problem with the traditional view is that they are saying that Japheth was one DNA haplogroup and Shem was one DNA haplogroup and then Ham was the other 18 , this just doesn't make sense.

Noah's sons , grandsons, and DNA

Y Chromosome DNA is the Chromosome passed down by males only and has been studied for years now to seperate all the men on Earth into what they call Haplogroups , but to use plain language "Genetic families". A few things they have found that surprised them (but not anyone that believes the Bible) is that we all come from one male that they call Y Chromosome Adam and regardless of differences in appearance our genetic differences are minor. What I have found of more interest is when you line up Noah , his sons , and grandsons with the Haplogroups  you get an interesting chart :


Descendant        Haplogroup
Noah                 A
Japheth              B
Ham                  C
Shem                 D
Gomer               E
Magog               F
Madai                G
Javan                 H
Tubal                  I
Meshech            J
Tiras                  K
Cush                  L
Mizraim             M
Put                    N
Canaan             O
Elam                 P
Asshur             Q
Arphaxad         R
Lud                  S
Aram               T

Now this list is not meant to be viewed the way it is written , this is just to show how remarkable it matches up . DNA is a major area of study , although it is plagued by the dogmatic intent that it has to be out of Africa no matter what it still does more to prove Genesis than to disprove it . In fact I believe because they interepet it as out of Africa that this is why they have to insert a bunch of hypothesized or "fake" groups into there tree . Examples are the group "BT" which doesn't exist and the group CT which doesn't exist because they are convinced that we came out of Africa . Only time will tell what they unravel about DNA Haplogroups.

Genesis 10 Introduction

Genesis 10

 ¹Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.
 ²The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.
 ³And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.
 ⁴And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
 ⁵By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.
 ⁶And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
 ⁷And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.
 ⁸And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
 ⁹He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
 ¹⁰And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
 ¹¹Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,
 ¹²And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.
 ¹³And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,
 ¹⁴And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.
 ¹⁵And Canaan begat Sidon his first born, and Heth,
 ¹⁶And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,
 ¹⁷And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,
 ¹⁸And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
 ¹⁹And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.
 ²⁰These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.
 ²¹Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.
 ²²The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.
 ²³And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.
 ²⁴And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber.
 ²⁵And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan.
 ²⁶And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,
 ²⁷And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah,
 ²⁸And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,
 ²⁹And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan.
 ³⁰And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the east.
 ³¹These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.
 ³²These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.


Genesis 10 gives the list of the descendants of Noah . Chapter 11 then tells how they came to be seperated : 

Genesis 11

 ¹And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
 ²And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
 ³And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
 ⁴And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
 ⁵And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
 ⁶And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
 ⁷Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
 ⁸So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
 ⁹Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Now many "scholars" including Bible ones would try to tell you that the Genesis 10 list is incomplete even my own Archaeological Bible made this claim. The problem with that claim is that it is calling God a liar because chapter 11 makes it clear that they were scattered over the whole Earth. They say this because they believe they can trace most if not all the names to the region of the Middle East but honestly if you use logic that makes sense the families would first settle by each other and Genesis 11 makes it clear that they were trying not to be seperated. We also know in more than one spot that the Nations in Genesis 10 have spread out over the Earth for example in Ezekiel 38 Togarmah is said to be from the "far North". Also in the book of Kings it took the ships of Tarshish 3 years to return from Ophir (1 Kings 9 and 10) .