30 THE POSTDILUVIAN TERRITORIES. [ c h a p . II.
Extension of
Noah’s sons.
One section
spreads towards
Europe,
and the other
towards Centra
l Asia.
Three races
of mankind.
and Shinar. But it will be seen, that the countries into which
these branches are about to be followed, embrace very extensive
territories, which, although they were peopled by numerous
ramifications from the original stocks, contained comparatively
few nations. These territories formed a belt, which extended
nearly round half the globe, and comprised the middle region
of the world, within about 115° of longitude ; namely, from the
western shores of Europe to the borders of Sinae,1 in the far
east. Of this extensive tract, which may be considered the
historical zone, Armenia occupies the centre ; and from hence
the migrations necessarily extended westward and eastward.
Those who took the former course, having almost in the outset
the chain of the Hsemus (Balkan) on the one side, and the
river Danube on the other, would, as they proceeded westward
between the Alps and the B,hine, eventually reach the western
shores of Europe; originating during their progress, the different
tribes or nations of this continent. The other section, by
taking an opposite direction, would, whilst peopling Media and
Persia, have as limits the two great chains8 at the northern and
southern borders of these kingdoms; from whence again, the
migratory band would eventually be conducted along the
Caucasian chain and the slopes of the Himalaya, originating, as
they spread towards China, the Hindu and Mongol nations ;
whose ramifications, in the process of time, probably included
the earliest tribes of America.
At the period described near the close of the last Chapter,
namely, about the 140th year of Faleg (Phaleg), when the
abandonment of the great work which had been contemplated
was attended by a separation of the people into seven different
nations,3 the human race consisted of three great divisions under
the sons of Noah: this arrangement will now be followed,
although it is obvious that the divisions must have in some
measure commingled in Armenia; and the subsequent interi
: China is called the Land of Sinim, Isaiah, chap. X L IX ., v. 12.
! Vol. I . pp. 64, 67, 73, 74, and 189.
3 These, according to ’Abu-l-Faraj, Hist. Dynast., p. 2-18, were the
Persians, Chaldeans, Greeks, Egyptians, Turks (Tartars), Indians, and
Chinese.
CHAP. I I .] TRIBES OF BABYLONIA. 31
course in Babylonia must have tended to increase their amalgamation.
The Shemitic branch appears to have regained part of its The "h u-
original allotment, about the beginning of the dispersion. For,
besides those who occupied a portion of Syria and Arabia, as
far as Hadramaút and ’Omán,1 we find that the followers of
Elam inhabited the country eastward of the river Tigris; and
those of his four brothers had possessions north-westward of
Babel, where Nimrfid appears to have remained ;8 some being
in Assyria, near Nineveh, others under Arphaxad settled at
Háran, which he called after his son ;3 and the remainder in The . p Nabatheans Mesopotamia, where they bore indifferently the names ot supposed to
n r , • t i - Arameans, Mesopotamians, and thei cSiy*ri ans or Aa ssyr•i ans; b^e tthhee same
also the Kadhani, Kelání, or Chaldeans, who were, according ChaldeaDS>
to some, the same people as the Nabatheans.4 The two first
were interchangeable, and had been, as well as the other appellations,
at one period, in common use for the people living
between Babylon and the gulf of Issus.
Moreover, it appears that the Suriani or Syrians, and the and Syrians
Athuri or Assyrians, were identical with the last, being mixed; or Assyr,ans'
and Mas’údí adds, that they inhabited Trák Arabi, where they
were divided into several tribes, such as Yununni or Ninavi
(Ninevites), the Gordyae or Gordyans, Aram or Arameans, and
Nabt el Trák, the Nabatheans of Trák; in short, all the
dependencies of the Chaldean empire spoke a language approaching
the Syriac.6 The latter appears to have- been
derived from that of the Chaldeans, who, as a people, will be
noticed more at large, after having followed the sections of the
line of Ham, spreading westward as well as eastward.
The earliest migrations of the postdiluvian people are stated
in the book of Genesis, and have been particularly noticed by
1 Golden Meadows of Mas’údí, p. 9, Arabic MSS. in the British Museum.
! Jackson’s Antiquities, &c., vol. I ., p. 229.
8 ’Abú-1-Faraj, Hist. Dynast., p. 16, and Chron. Syr. p. 7.
4 Mas’údí, Extraits des MSS. du Boi, tome V I I I ., p. 141, &c. par Sylvestre
de Saci; also Golden Meadows of Mas’údí, Arabic MSS.in the British Museum.
5 Compare Strabo, lib. X V I., p. 756, with Herod., lib. V II. c. 63, and
Mas’údi, Golden Meadows, chap. IV . ; also Extraits des MSS. du Hoi,
tome V I I I ., p. 141., par Sylvestre de Saci.