Tubal

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Not to be confused with Tabal.
This article is about the Biblical character. "Tubal" is also a minor character in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.

Tubal, תובל IPA [ tʷu'bal ] or תבל [ tu'bal ], "Thou shalt be brought", in Genesis 10 (the Table of Nations), was the name of a son of Japheth, son of Noah.

Many authors, following the Romanized Jewish author Josephus (1st century AD), related the name to Iber. Concerning the question of the ethnic affinity of the population of Tubal, Josephus wrote: "Tobal gave rise to the Thobeles, who are now called Iberes". This version was repeated by Patriarch Eustathius of Antioch, Bishop Theodoret, and others. However, Jerome, Isidore of Seville, and the Welsh historian Nennius stated another tradition that Tubal was ancestor to the Iberians, 'Italians' [i.e., Italic tribes] and 'Spanish' [who were also called Iberians]. Tubal is also said to be the founder of the Portuguese city of Setubal.

Basque intellectuals like Poza (16th century) have named Tubal as the ancestor of Basques, and by extension, the Iberians. The French Basque author Augustin Chaho (19th century) published The Legend of Aitor, asserting that the common patriarch of the Basques was Aitor, a descendant of Tubal.

The Caucasian Iberians were relatives of modern Georgians. Some modern Georgians also claim descent from Tubal and Meshech; a Georgian historian, Ivane Javakhishvili, considered Tabal, Tubal, Jabal and Jubal to be ancient Georgian tribal designations.

The Tabali (Tibarenoi in Greek) were Luwian tribes of Asia Minor of the 3rd-1st millennias BC. They and other related tribes, the Chalybes (Khalib/Khaldi) and the Mossynoeci (Mossynoikoi in Greek), are sometimes considered the founders of metallurgy.

[edit] Literature

  • Ivane Javakhishvili. "Historical-Ethnological problems of Georgia, the Caucasus and the Near East" (a monograph), Tbilisi, 1950, pp. 130-135 (in Georgian)
  • Giorgi Melikishvili. "About the history of ancient Georgia" (a monograph), Tbilisi, 1959, pp. 9, 13, 14, 18, 72-78, 108-110, 121, 175, 226, 227, 253 (in Russian)
  • Simon Janashia. "Works", vol. III, Tbilisi, 1959, pp. 2-74 (in Georgian)
  • Guram Kvirkvelia. "Foreign scientists about the metallurgy of the ancient Georgian tribes" (a monograph), Tbilisi, 1976, pp. 3-90 (in Georgian, Russian summary).
  • Nana Khazaradze. "The Ethnopolitical entities of Eastern Asia Minor in the first half of the 1st millennium BC" (a monograph), Tbilisi, 1978, pp. 3-139 (in Georgian, Russian and English)
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Descendants of Noah in Genesis 10
Shem and Semitic
Elam · Ashur · Aram · Arpachshad · Lud
Ham and Hamitic
Cush · Mizraim · Phut · Canaan
Japheth and Japhetic
Gomer · Magog · Madai · Javan · Tubal · Meshech · Tiras