Magog, Hebrew

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

 מגוג, Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 Μαγωγ, [ ma'gog ], is the second of the seven sons of Japheth

Japheth

Japheth is one of the sons of Noah in the Abrahamic tradition...

 mentioned in the Table of Nations in Genesis 10. It may represent Hebrew for "from Gog

Gog

Gog, Gogg or Gogs may refer to:Biblical:* Gog and MagogPeople:* Anikó Góg, Hungarian triathlete* Gog or "gogledd", a person from North Wales from the Welsh word for "north"...

", though this is far from certain.

Magog is often associated with apocalyptic traditions, mainly in connection with Ezekiel 38 and 39

War of Ezekiel 38-39

The War of Ezekiel 38–39 or The War of Gog and Magog is an episode in the Book of Ezekiel.The Book of Ezekiel was written in the first half of the 6th century BC by Ezekiel, a former priest of the Temple in Jerusalem...

 which mentions "Gog

Gog

Gog, Gogg or Gogs may refer to:Biblical:* Gog and MagogPeople:* Anikó Góg, Hungarian triathlete* Gog or "gogledd", a person from North Wales from the Welsh word for "north"...

 of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech

Meshech

In the Bible, Meshech is named as a son of Japheth in Genesis 10:2 and 1 Chronicles 1:5.Another Meshech is named as a son of Aram in 1 Chronicles 1:17 .-Interpretations:...

 and Tubal

Tubal

Tubal, תובל or תבל , in Genesis 10 , was the name of a son of Japheth, son of Noah.Many authors, following the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus , related the name to Iber- Caucasian Iberia...

" (Ezek 38:2 NIV); on the basis of this mention, "Gog and Magog

Gog and Magog

Gog and Magog are names that appear primarily in various Jewish, Christian and Muslim scriptures, as well as numerous subsequent references in other works. Their context can be either genealogical or eschatological and apocalyptic, as in Ezekiel and Revelation...

" over time became associated with each other as a pair.

Josephus

Josephus

Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...

 identified the offspring of Magog as the Scythians, a name used in antiquity for peoples north of the Black Sea

Black Sea

The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

. According to him, the Greeks called Scythia Magogia (Ant., bk. I, 6).
Jordanes

Jordanes

Jordanes, also written Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th century Roman bureaucrat, who turned his hand to history later in life....

' Getica (551) mentions Magog as ancestor of the Goths, as does the Historia Brittonum, but Isidore of Seville

Isidore of Seville

Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...

 (c. 635) asserts that this identification was popular "because of the similarity of the last syllable" (Etymologiae

Etymologiae

Etymologiae is an encyclopedia compiled by Isidore of Seville towards the end of his life. It forms a bridge between a condensed epitome of classical learning at the close of Late Antiquity and the inheritance received, in large part through Isidore's work, by the early Middle Ages...

, IX, 89). Johannes Magnus

Johannes Magnus

Johannes Magnus was the last functioning Catholic Archbishop in Sweden, and also a theologian, genealogist, and historian.-Life:Johannes Magnus was born in Linköping, son of the burgess Måns Pedersson and his wife Kristina...

 (1488–1544) stated that Magog migrated to Scandinavia (via Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

) 88 years after the flood, and that his five sons were Suenno (ancestor of the Swedes), Gethar (or Gog, ancestor of the Goths), Ubbo (who later ruled the Swedes and built Uppsala

Uppsala

- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...

), Thor

Thor

In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing, and fertility...

, and German. Magnus' accounts became accepted at the Swedish court for a long time, and even caused the dynastic numerals of the Swedish monarchs to be renumbered accordingly. Queen Christina of Sweden

Christina of Sweden

Christina , later adopted the name Christina Alexandra, was Queen regnant of Swedes, Goths and Vandals, Grand Princess of Finland, and Duchess of Ingria, Estonia, Livonia and Karelia, from 1633 to 1654. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustav II Adolph and his wife Maria Eleonora...

 reckoned herself as number 249 in a list of kings going back to Magog. Magnus also influenced several later historians such as Daniel Juslenius

Daniel Juslenius

Daniel Juslenius was a Finnish writer and bishop. He was a professor of Hebrew, Greek and theology at the Royal Academy of Turku....

 (1676–1752), who derived the roots of the Finns from Magog.

According to several mediaeval Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 chronicles, most notably the Auraicept na n-Éces

Auraicept na n-Éces

Auraicept na n-Éces is claimed as a 7th century work of Irish grammarians, written by a scholar named Longarad....

and Lebor Gabála Érenn

Lebor Gabála Érenn

Lebor Gabála Érenn is the Middle Irish title of a loose collection of poems and prose narratives recounting the mythical origins and history of the Irish from the creation of the world down to the Middle Ages...

, the Irish race

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 are a composite including descendants of Japheth's son Magog from "Scythia". Baath (Boath), Jobhath, and Fathochta are the three sons of Magog. Fenius Farsaid, Partholón

Partholón

Partholón, in medieval Irish historical tradition, was the leader of the second group of people to settle in Ireland, supposedly first to arrive after the biblical Flood. They arrived in 2680 BC according to the chronology of the Annals of the Four Masters, 2061 BC according to Geoffrey Keating's...

, Nemed

Nemed

Nemed , meaning "holy" or "privileged" is a figure of Irish mythology who features in The Book of Invasions...

, the Fir Bolg

Fir Bolg

In Irish mythology the Fir Bolg were one of the races that inhabited the island of Ireland prior to the arrival of the Tuatha Dé Danann.-Mythology:...

, the Tuatha de Danann

Tuatha Dé Danann

The Tuatha Dé Danann are a race of people in Irish mythology. In the invasions tradition which begins with the Lebor Gabála Érenn, they are the fifth group to settle Ireland, conquering the island from the Fir Bolg....

, and the Milesians

Milesians

Milesia, Milesian, Milesians, or Miletans may refer to:* In Irish mythology, the Milesians were the descendants of Míl Espáine, the final invaders of Ireland who defeated and displaced the semi-divine Tuatha Dé Danann...

 are among Magog's descendants. Magog was also supposed to have had a grandson called Heber

Heber

Heber may be:-Religious traditions:*One of the Minor characters in the Book of Genesis*Heber the Kenite, mentioned in the Book of Judges 4:17 of the Hebrew Bible as Jael's husband...

, whose offspring spread throughout the Mediterranean

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

.

There is also a medieval Hungarian legend that says the Huns

Huns

The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...

, as well as the Magyars, are descended from twin brothers named Hunor and Magor

Hunor and Magor

Hunor and Magor were, according to a famous Hungarian legend, the ancestors of the Huns and the Magyars. The myth was promoted by the medieval historian Simon Kézai in his Gesta Ungarorum . Kézai's aim in providing a common ancestry for the Huns and the Magyars was to suggest historical continuum...

 respectively, who lived by the sea of Azov

Azov

-External links:** *...

 in the years after the flood, and took wives from the Alans

Alans

The Alans, or the Alani, occasionally termed Alauni or Halani, were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.-Name:The various forms of Alan —...

. The version of this legend in the 14th century Chronicon Pictum

Chronicon Pictum

The Chronicon Pictum Pictum, Chronica Picta or Chronica de Gestis Hungarorum) is a medieval illustrated chronicle from the Kingdom of Hungary from the fourteenth century...

equates this Magor with Magog, son of Japheth.

In Islam

Magog's appearance in the Quran and other Islamic sources is chiefly due to his apocalyptic renown as part of the pairing of Gog and Magog

Gog and Magog

Gog and Magog are names that appear primarily in various Jewish, Christian and Muslim scriptures, as well as numerous subsequent references in other works. Their context can be either genealogical or eschatological and apocalyptic, as in Ezekiel and Revelation...

 (Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

: Yajuj Majuj). In sura

Sura

A sura is a division of the Qur'an, often referred to as a chapter. The term chapter is sometimes avoided, as the suras are of unequal length; the shortest sura has only three ayat while the longest contains 286 ayat...

 Al-Kahf

Al-Kahf

Sura al-Kahf "The Cave" is the 18th surah of the Qur'an with 110 ayat. It is a Meccan sura.-People of the Cave:Verses 9 – 26 of the chapter tell the story of the People of the Cave . Some number of young monotheistic men lived in a time where they were persecuted. They fled the city together, and...

 ("The Cave", 18:83–98) of the Quran (early 7th century CE), a mysterious individual called Dhul-Qarnayn

Dhul-Qarnayn

Dhul-Qarnayn , literally "He of the Two Horns" or "He of the two centuries" is a figure mentioned in the Qur'an, the sacred scripture of Islam, where he is described as a great and righteous ruler who built a long wall that keeps Gog and Magog from attacking the people who he met on his journey...

 ("The Two-horned One") journeys to a distant land beyond the sunrise where he finds people who are suffering from the mischief of Gog and Magog. Dhul-Qarnayn then makes a wall of copper and iron to keep Gog and Magog out, but warns that it will be removed in the Last Age. In sura 21, Al-Anbiyā

Al-Anbiya

Sura Al-Anbiya is the 21st sura of the Qur'an with 112 ayat. It is a Meccan sura. Its principal subject matter is prophets of the past, who also preached the same faith as Muhammad...

 (The Prophets), the wall is mentioned again: there Allah

Allah

Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...

 tells his Prophet (Mohammed) that there is a "prohibition upon [the people of] a city which We have destroyed that they will [ever] return, until [the dam of] Gog and Magog has been opened and thou shall see them, from every higher ground, descending." According to Islamic tradition (in Saḥīḥ al-Bukhāri

Sahih al-Bukhari

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī , as it is commonly referred to, is one of the six canonical hadith collections of Islam. These prophetic traditions, or hadith, were collected by the Persian Muslim scholar Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari, after being transmitted orally for generations. Muslims view this as one of...

), Gog and Magog are human beings, and the city mentioned in sura 21 is Jerusalem.