2. The children of Ham possessed the land from Syria and Amanus, and the
mountains of Libanus; seizing upon all that was on its sea-coasts, and
as far as the ocean, and keeping it as their own. Some indeed of its
names are utterly vanished away; others of them being changed, and
another sound given them, are hardly to be discovered; yet a few there
are which have kept their denominations entire. For of the four sons of
Ham, time has not at all hurt the name of Chus; for the Ethiopians, over
whom he reigned, are even at this day, both by themselves and by all men
in Asia, called Chusites. The memory also of the Mesraites is preserved
in their name; for all we who inhabit this country [of Judea] called
Egypt Mestre, and the Egyptians Mestreans. Phut also was the founder of
Libya, and called the inhabitants Phutites, from himself: there is also
a river in the country of Moors which bears that name; whence it is that
we may see the greatest part of the Grecian historiographers mention
that river and the adjoining country by the appellation of Phut: but the
name it has now has been by change given it from one of the sons of
Mesraim, who was called Lybyos. We will inform you presently what has
been the occasion why it has been called Africa also. Canaan, the fourth
son of Ham, inhabited the country now called Judea, and called it from
his own name Canaan. The children of these [four] were these: Sabas, who
founded the Sabeans; Evilas, who founded the Evileans, who are called
Getuli; Sabathes founded the Sabathens, they are now called by the
Greeks Astaborans; Sabactas settled the Sabactens; and Ragmus the
Ragmeans; and he had two sons, the one of whom, Judadas, settled the
Judadeans, a nation of the western Ethiopians, and left them his name;
as did Sabas to the Sabeans: but Nimrod, the son of Chus, staid and
tyrannized at Babylon, as we have already informed you. Now all the
children of Mesraim, being eight in number, possessed the country from
Gaza to Egypt, though it retained the name of one only, the Philistim;
for the Greeks call part of that country Palestine. As for the rest,
Ludieim, and Enemim, and Labim, who alone inhabited in Libya, and called
the country from himself, Nedim, and Phethrosim, and Chesloim, and
Cephthorim, we know nothing of them besides their names; for the
Ethiopic war17 which we shall describe hereafter, was the cause that
those cities were overthrown. The sons of Canaan were these: Sidonius,
who also built a city of the same name; it is called by the Greeks Sidon
Amathus inhabited in Amathine, which is even now called Amathe by the
inhabitants, although the Macedonians named it Epiphania, from one of
his posterity: Arudeus possessed the island Aradus: Arucas possessed
Arce, which is in Libanus. But for the seven others, [Eueus,] Chetteus,
Jebuseus, Amorreus, Gergesus, Eudeus, Sineus, Samareus, we have nothing
in the sacred books but their names, for the Hebrews overthrew their
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