Rodanim

רדנים


Genesis 10:4 and 1 Chronicles 1:7 name the sons of Yavan ( יָוָן) as Elishah (אֱלִישָׁה), Tarshish (תַרְשִׁישׁ) - Tarshishah (תַרְשִׁישָׁה) in the Chronicles version - Kittim (כִּתִּים) and Dodanim (דֹדָנִים) - Rodanim (רוֹדָנִים) in the Chronicles version.

This clearly defines them as a Greek nation, Yavan being the Yehudit name for Ionia, meaning both the inhabitants of the Greek archipelago and the worshippers of the principal goddess of that region: Io, the moon-goddess in cow disguise who we know from the Bible, and especially from the Psalms, as Yah (יה).

Elishah was probably the island of Elis, today's Iliá.

Tarshish is the name also given to Tartessus in Spain, though this is not that Tarshish; nor is it Tunis or Carthage, though both of these have been mooted as candidates by scholars down the years. The reason for the error is probably the same one that caused the confusion between Rodanim and Dodanim in the two texts cited above, and of which the Genesis is almost certainly wrong. Dodanim is likely a misreading of Dardanim (דרדנים) = Dardanians = Troy, and it was the Trojans who founded Carthage, which lies just along the coast from Tunis - all Greek colonies, in the broadest sense, but still not Ionian, and still not the correct atlasing of the places. Epiphanius, himself of Yehudan origin though his bishopric was in Cyprus, claimed that the people of Tarshish were Hittites, which is entirely plausible, multiple generations back.

Kittim or Chittim is usually taken to be the Citienses or Cyprians, from the Phoenician colony of that name on Cyprus; but the name was used generally for the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean, especially those in the Aegean, and in all likelihood it was a dialect variation of the Chitim, or Hittites.

Rodanim logically suggests the island of Rhodos, also called Rhodes in English.

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