In the Bible, Meshech or Mosoch ( he, ''Mešeḵ'' "price" or "precious") is named as a son of Japheth in

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

10:2 and 1 Chronicles 1:5. Another Meshech is named as a son of Shem in 1 Chronicles 1:17 (corresponding to the form ''Mash'' in Genesis 10).

Historical interpretations

Meshech is mentioned along with Tubal (and Rosh, in certain translations) as principalities of " Gog, prince of Magog" in Ezekiel 38:2 and 39:1, and is considered a

Japhetite The term Japhetites (in adjective form Japhethitic or Japhetic) refers to the descendents of Japheth, one of the three sons of Noah in the Bible. The term has been adopted in ethnological and linguistic writing from the 18th to the 20th century ...

tribe, identified by Flavius Josephus with the

Cappadocia Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Revo ...

n "Mosocheni" ( Mushki, also associated with

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empir ...

ns or Bryges) and their capital Mazaca. In Hippolytus of Rome's chronicle (234 AD), the "

Illyrians The Illyrians ( grc, Ἰλλυριοί, ''Illyrioi''; la, Illyrii) were a group of Indo-European-speaking peoples who inhabited the western Balkan Peninsula in ancient times. They constituted one of the three main Paleo-Balkan populations, a ...

" were identified as Meshech's offspring. In addition, Georgians have traditions that they, and other Caucasus people such as

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...

, share descent from Meshech (Georgian: Meskheti), Tubal, and

Togarmah Togarmah (Hebrew: ''Tōgarmā'') is a figure in the "table of nations" in Genesis 10, the list of descendants of Noah that represents the peoples known to the ancient Hebrews. Togarmah is among the descendants of Japheth and is thought to repre ...

. In 1498, Annio da Viterbo published fragments known as ''Pseudo-Berossus'', now considered a forgery, claiming that Babylonian records had shown a son of Japheth called

Samothes The following list of legendary kings of Britain derives predominantly from Geoffrey of Monmouth's circa 1136 work ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' ("the History of the Kings of Britain"). Geoffrey constructed a largely fictional history for the B ...

had begun settling what later became

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

in the 13th year of

Nimrod Nimrod (; ; arc, ܢܡܪܘܕ; ar, نُمْرُود, Numrūd) is a biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush and therefore a great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of ...

. Later historians such as Raphael Holinshed (1577) identified Samothes as Meshech, and asserted that he first ruled also in Britain. Beginning from the 16th century, some European scholars proposed the idea that the Muscovites had stemmed from Meshech. Sir Walter Raleigh (c. 1616) attributes this opinion to Philipp Melanchthon (1497–1560) and to Benito Arias Montano (1571), and it was also followed later by Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758). Moreover, according to a legend first appearing in the '' Kievan Synopsis'' (1674),

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

(''Moskva'') was founded by King Mosokh son of Japheth (i.e. Meshech), and was named for him and his wife, Kva. In this legend, they are also said to have had a son, Ya, and daughter, Vuza, who gave their names to the nearby Yauza River. According to Archibald Sayce, Meshech can be identified with Muska, a name appearing in Assyrian inscriptions, and generally believed to refer to the Mushki. Most reference books since Flavius Josephus generally identify Meshech in Ezekiel's time as an area in modern Turkey.''International Dictionary of Historic Places: Southern Europe'' Trudy Ring, Robert M. Salkin, Sharon La Boda - 1994 - Page 288 1884964028 "The Hebrew Bible also mentions both Tubal (Tabal) and Meshech (Muski)"

References

{{Authority control Hebrew Bible nations Book of Genesis people Japheth Noach (parashah)

Historical interpretations

See also

References