Tubal
Linking Tubal with the eponymous founder of the Tabalian Syro-Hittite city state
The most commonly associated place of origin for Tubal, or “Tuval” in Hebrew, would be the etymologically linked ‘Tabal’ in the south eastern Anatolian Syro-Hittite states. These Tabalians first arose sometime after the fall of the Hittite empire, and before their first recorded mention in the Assyrian records of Shalmaneser III in 837 BCE. By the time of the reign of Sargon, Tabal entered an alliance with Mushki and Carchemish, the two other major regional powers, in order to counter the power of Assyria to the east. However this decision goes poorly and by the end of the 8th century they are wiped out and integrated into the Assyrian empire.1 For such a minor state to be mentioned as a son of Japheth would be awfully strange, indicating more to the puzzle.
What is unclear is the origin of the Tabalians prior to their state, but inscriptions of Luwian dated to the 9th century would imply an ethno-genesis related to Luwians, or at least Luwian operating as a lingua franca of the region. By the 10th century after the collapse of the Hittites, much of Luwian stretched all the way from old Arzawa in the west, the traditional homeland of the Luwians, through the southern half of Anatolia into Syria. The language was primarily used by all the Syro-Hittite states in the 9th century, but it is unclear why, or how these people are related to “Luwians''. The most notable “Luwian” to readers is actually one named “Pari-Zitis”, from the Indo-European root “foremost man”. While there were scribes named Pari-Zitis, the most famous among them is Paris of Troy. Fittingly, Paris is depicted in a Phrygian cap, but it is unclear if he was Luwain or Phrygian. It is possible the elite were Luwian rulers, or simply the language had become so dominant. What is clear from a map of the languages influence is that it did operate as a lingua franca for the Hittites, especially in the Syro-Hittite states.
Included in this region alongside Tabal are states such as Hamath, Kammanu, Carchemish, Que, and even the location of the aforementioned minor city of Tegaramah. As previously mentioned during the discussion of Togarmah, the name has some connection to the Syro-Hittite city of Tegaramah possibly indicating that Togarmah and Tubal are linked, which squares away with them being positioned as brothers.
Another people possibly connected to the state of Tubal are the Nairu of the Nairi lands. Some of the earliest Assyrian records are from King Tukulti-Ninurta between the year's 1243–1207 BCE who claims to have exacted tribute from over fourty Nairi kings.2 We actually have the names of twenty three Nairi lands who were recorded by Tiglath-Pileser I circa 1114–1076 BCE, including Tumme, Tuali, Uirum, and Daiaeni3, with possibly up to sixty4 total lands supporting that this region was composed of dozens of varying ethnic groups and tribes. Tumme was the southernmost tribe located around lake Urmia in what is Armenia proper, while the Daiaeni are likely identified with the later Diaeuhi in southern Colchis/western Georgia.
Not referred to as Nairi in Hittite records, they are likely called “Hayasa-Azzi”, and are located in the same lands as the Nairi. These Azzi are major thorns in the side of the Hittite rulers, and eventually their coalition is defeated and never mentioned again. These Hayasa are most likely related in some form to the Armenians who inhabited those lands, as the Armenian ethnonym - the native name a group calls themselves - is “Hayastan”, coming from the Indo-European root “heyos” meaning metal; a connection to these peoples strong metallurgic traditions. The origin of Armenian is uncertain, but some scholars posit a connection between them and the Phrygians, with a proposed hypothetical “Armeno-Phrygian” language and culture having developed in Thrace, invading Anatolia around the 13th century; a connection we will soon explore.
Many of these kingdoms in the coalition of Nairi form the eventual Urartian Kingdom, which operates as a major geopolitical rival of Assyria, and as the ethnogenesis for the Armenian nation. Based on reconstruction of the language it is likely the Nairi were speakers of a form of proto Armenian, giving credence to the theory that the Nairi tribe Tuali, a proto Armenian peoples, may have moved west and formed Tubal, but this is unclear.5 While we can be certain these Nairi, or Hayasa-Azzi, are clearly related to the Urartu Empire, and Armenians, their connection to Tubal is much less clear.
There is a tradition that associates the ‘Tabal’ of the Syro-Hittites states to the Tibereni of the Pontic Sea.6 According to Georgian scholar Cyril Toumanoff these Tabalians make their way north with the Mushki, becoming the Tibereni and Moschoi of ancient Greek sources.7 In these same sources, the Tibereni are noted to be Scythians by a variety of authors.8 These Moschoi are clearly the same people as the Mushki of Assyrian records, however they may not represent the entirety of the group. The Mushki had a Western and Eastern branch, with the Western branch being identified as the Phyrigians, a group frequently mentioned in Greek tales, and the eastern branch being less clear but somewhere near the Euphrates both supporting an origin around the Syro-Hittite states. Interestingly neither of these groups are mentioned in Hittites records, and likely engage in the sack of the Hittite empire, supporting a post Hittite origin for these ethnic groups.
In Greek sources the Phrygians and Moschoi are clearly distinguished from each other, but show a shared common, Indo-European origin. The most notable Phrygian ruler is that of Midas, known to this day for his golden touch. This mythological Midas supposedly existed sometime around the 2nd millennium BCE, prior to the majority of the Anatolian events mentioned so far, and before the rise of the Hittite empire. He was said to be the son of Gordias, who gave his name to Gordium, the capital city of the Phrygians, and known also from mythology as the location of the Gordian Knot. Whether or not this Midas is a historical figure I will leave up to an expert in Greek historicity, but there is a historically attested “Midas” in the 8th century, who may, or may not be related to the previous Midas. This Midas is almost certainly the same figure as the Assyrian regional rival in Anatolia during the 8th century named “Mita”. In these same Assyrian texts referring to King Mita, he is named as “King of the Mushki”, the smoking gun for the Mushki equating to Phrygian theory.
However, this tale of Midas doesn’t end here, and instead we must look toward Greek legends of Midas’s background. In most Greek tales Midas’s origin is located somewhere in Thracian Mygdonia, later known as “Macedon”, near a Mount Bermion. While unclear if Midas himself is a Phrygian, Herodotus mentions that when living in Europe, in Thrace, the Phrygians would have been known as “Bryges”.9 Also unclear where the term ‘Bryges’ originates, it is possibly related to the root “Berg” meaning mountain, indicating an ethnogenesis around Mount Bermion. This is shockingly similar to the Riphatheans who potentially also got their name from the mountain they dwelled near.
I would support the theory that these Bryges have an etymological, or ethnic link to the Germanic tribe “Burgundians” - from where we get the Burgundy color and wine - as well as the Celtic tribe “Brigantes” who are prominently featured in later European history.10 These Bryges who moved into Anatolia eventually change their name to “Phyrges”, and these Phrygians are wrapped up into the Anatolian Greek identity. However some branch of the Phrygians doesn’t stay in Anatolia, and instead splits off forming the “Moschoi” proper, with the Moschoi fusing into modern Georgians; some branches representing the Georgian tribe of Meshki and giving their name to the major Georgian city of Mtskheta capital of the Iberians.11
Deviating for a moment, we must discuss where these “Moschoi” and Tubalians are said to have migrated between the 8th and 5th centuries following the collapse of the Syro-Hittite states, which is “north” according to both Assyrian, Greek, and even Hebrew sources. These Tibareni and Moschoi are likely recorded in the Hellenic Epic of Jason and the Argonauts, both located next to the Mossynoeci along the Pontic Sea. Clearly by the 4rd century BCE these groups made their way to Georgia, and the Tibareni gave their name to the Kingdom of T’Iber’ia. In both Roman and Greek sources, the region of Georgia, both Colchis and Iberia and the general eastern Black Sea were inhabited by between 70 and 300 different languages.12 This supports that language, ethnicity, and culture are not the critical elements that define a ‘lineage’, or make two tribes the ‘sons’ of a father within the table of nations. These up to 300 different tribes all came from different genetic fathers, but at some point fused their identity into a single cohesive whole, or at the very least two distinct major branches.
Further supporting the claim that there was a Tubal located north and not merely a Syro-Hittite state we can look to the Torah as a primary source for the geographic context of that generation. When discussing refugees of a prophesied war Isaiah 66:19 states:
And I will place a sign upon them, and I will send from them refugees to the nations, Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, the distant islands, who did not hear of My fame and did not see My glory, and they shall recount My glory among the nations.
As established Tarshish would be far off lands associated with the western mediterranean, by the 7th century during Isaiah’s prophecy these lands would be mostly Phoenecian controlled, without much direct Greek control. In connection with earlier passages in Isaiah regarding the destruction of Tyre this would make sense given our earlier association with the lands of Asher in Phoenicia and Tarshish. While Tarshish is fairly clear as a reference to the Phoenician, now Carthaginian lands of the west, where many Northern Israelites would have felt comfortable living alongside Phoenicians just like Solomon and Hiram; Pul is a more complex and less certain reference.
Most minimalist biblical scholars have a tendency to reduce uncertain etymology to “textual errors”, where they assume some later scribe messed up something in Hebrew. This is absurd, and without some indication of that theory holding true there is no indication the text has any errors. Keeping with the text, “Pul” is not the same as the later Put. Offering up an alternative I would suggest the island of “Philae” in upper egypt, close to the location of Elephantine. At the time, elephantine would hardly have been a notable place to mention as the Jewish presence well documented by the 5th century had yet to exist. Thus it is more probable that Philae, extremely close to Elephantine, would have been the obvious location for these refugees. If they were related to the northern kingdom, it would make sense why Elephantine’s “Judaism” devolved into paganism, with the worship of foreign gods eventually reinstituted.13
Next comes Lud in this reference, which is arguably the most difficult name to place in all of the table of nations. The reason for this is that Ludim is a son of Mizraim, a son of Ham, as well as Lud being a son of Shem. We will come to possible locations and ethnic identifications for these groups later in our discussions of Ham’s descendants, but for now in the 7th century milieu of Isaiah this “Lud” is clearly referenced with a note they were those “who draw the bow”, making their identification with Lydia clear due to the famous Lydian archers used as mercenaries around the near east. I would also like to note here the original Hebrew for the term Lud: “ל֛וּד” which is pronounced “Lee-ood”, a clear etymological link to Lyd-ia.
Next comes the eponymous Tubal, mentioned next to Javan who is from the “distant islands”, obviously the Greeks. Whether or not Tubal is among these islands, we have seen all four of the names in this reference are Greek, Indo-European speaking areas who would not have “heard Hashem's name”, at least in a Semitic form. It is crucial to understand Isaiah’s prophecy as absolutely being a prophecy of a period coming AFTER Isaiah, meaning sometime between 700-500, and possibly in reference to either the Medians or Persians of the 600s and 500s respectively. Combining this knowledge with what we discussed regarding the Tibareni and Colchis, both 6th century kingdoms, it is likely that this Tubal is a reference to a distant land and certainly not a kingdom located so close to the destruction of Tyre, north in the Syro-Hittite lands. Especially not since in this period, Tubal would have been destroyed and not a significant kingdom, while the Colchis/Georgia/Iberians would have been an older Kingdom with major trade contacts.
Likewise, in this period Lydia would be more closely associated to the aforementioned pseudo-Greco-Phrygian culture, giving support that the lands mentioned are Anatolian kingdoms, both coastal Greco-Phoenician Javan and Tarshish; and inland nations, such as the T(iber)eni, Phrygians, and Lydians. Regardless of the exact origin and divisions of these people it is clear that all of them fall under an Indo-European, and thus Japhethite lineage.
However, Tubal is not the only Tubal in the Torah. There is the eponymous “Tubal-cain”, son of Lamech, and not the Lamech that is Noah’s father, but the Lamech from the lineage of Cain. How, or in what ways Cain and Seth’s line is related is for another time, but this Lamech is important due to having three sons: Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal. It should be mention that the “B”, or Bais letter in Hebrew alternatively would have been pronounced with a “V” or “Vais” in this case, as with Tubal’s, and the J sound being obviously a “Y” making their names Yaval, Yuval, and Tuval.
Jabal is the founder of shepherding, and livestock, or general agriculture, while Jubal is the father of music, particularly inventing certain instruments namely those with strings and pipes. Tubal on the other hand is interestingly the father of metallurgy, being the father of ‘smithing’ as a profession, potentially showing a link to the Armenian metallurgists of Hayasa. If the Torah did not intend for some lineage of these craftsmen to be related, they would not have mentioned them and taken the time to deviate to their stories. Whether or not the genetics of these figures pass down, their crafts are continued and been passed down to groups in later centuries. It would be helpful to turn to where the Greeks saw these crafts originating.
Greek traditions of music are extremely wide, with many figures being associated with the origin of different instruments. Pan was a god of both rustic music and shepherding, and Apollo was the god of music and flocks. Neither of these gods are uniquely rulers of one, indicating that while they “ruled over” these realms of craft they didn’t necessarily create those crafts, meaning some other more human figures must be associated with these crafts origin.
The most stunning association of music would be in the traditions of Orpheus, Thracian bard during Jason’s journey of the Golden Fleece. Orpheus was a renowned musician, with the ability to ‘charm beasts’ with his music. The identification with him as “Thracian” would be less ethnographic and more geographic, and it’s very possible Orpheus was a descendent of Phrygians, who, as mentioned previously, had come from Thracian Mygdonia around Mount Bermion. The Phrygians were associated with music traditions, with many modern musical terms such as “Phrygian mode”, an entirely musical sound, originating in Phrygia. We find that the Greeks more often associated these traditions of music to Phrygians, and only later do natively Greek musical traditions begin to heavily develop, after the 8th century BCE.
Moving onto metallurgy we find in Greek sources that the land of Colchis was fabulously rich, owing to its material wealth in minerals and metals.14 They were also skilled craftsmen, well advanced of the Greek world15 who produced a number of advanced farming tools.16 In Assyrian texts, Colchis is most likely referred to as Qulha, possibly being the origin of the name Colchis entirely.17 While unclear exactly where metallurgy “originated”, there is a clear tradition of material mineral wealth coming from Colchis. The story of Jason and the Golden Fleece might be some telling of bringing methods of ‘gold washing’ using wool, a casual reference to shepherding and husbandry, or even a reference to the Tyrian dying process.18 We cannot be sure since there are over 18 different possible interpretations for the Golden Fleece, but all of these things have strong associations with Colchis by the 5th century, when the story of Jason first begins.
While we have not necessarily identified a specific nation, or ethnic group, as “Tubal” we will see in our discussion of Meshech where Tubal slots into the broader picture. Since both of these groups are affiliated with the Armenians and Georgians, there has been a concerted effort from the Turkish archeology community to avoid uncovering anything that would confirm, or deny most of these theories. Indeed you will see many of the records of these groups are from Hittite, or Assyrian, or even Greek myth rather than cities being dug out of the ground, and being ethnically identified.
Oftentimes Tubal and Meshech are mentioned together, and associated, which follows our understanding of the Tibereni and Moschoi. However, there is no requirement that these groups are meant to be the same, and it is only by coincidence that these two groups, potentially branching off from Thraco-Phrygians emerging out of the Balkans and merging with Urartu Armenians, are later linked together. Indeed, most of the references of these two groups together come from later 8th, 7th, and 6th century prophecies, which do indeed fit with the Moschoi and Tibereni, but do not identify where, or who, either the Moschoi or Tibereni came from initially.
We are entering the home stretch for Japheth and his final two sons. Next week is of course Meshech, and finally Tiras, but there will be a final section dealing with the identity of Japheth to wrap everything up. Much of this weeks information will be circumstantially important in our analysis next week. While Tubal and Meshech may seem obscure, their frequency being mentioned together makes them quite an interesting duo.
Once again, I hope you learned something from this section, and if you’ve read this far and haven’t subscribed I’d be incredibly shocked. Please make sure to like the post, and leave a quick comment since that helps the Substack grow.
Lorenzo D'alfonso. "Tabal, an 'out-group' definition in the first Millennium BCE." 2012. p. 186. https://www.academia.edu/2951102/Tabal_an_out_group_definition_in_the_first_Millennium_BCE
Bryce, Trevor (2012). The World of The Neo-Hittite Kingdoms: A Political and Military History. Oxford University Press. p. 199. ISBN 978-0199218721.
Luckenbill, Daniel David (1926). Breasted, James Henry (ed.). Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia (PDF). Vol. I. University of Chicago Press. p. 81.
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Lorenzo D'Alfonso. "Tabal, an 'out-group' definition in the first Millennium BCE." 2012. p. 177.
Toumanoff, Cyril (1963). Studies in Christian Caucasian History. Georgetown University Press. p. 56.
Lorenzo D'alfonso. "Tabal, an 'out-group' definition in the first Millennium BCE." 2012. p. 185.
Herodotus 7.73
Kluge, Etymologisches Wörterbuch, Berlin: de Gruyter 1995, v. Berg.
Toumanoff, Cyril (1963). Studies in Christian Caucasian History. Georgetown University Press. pp. 56–57
Rayfield 2012, p. 14.
Botta, Alejandro (2009). The Aramaic and Egyptian Legal Traditions at Elephantine: An Egyptological Approach. T&T Clark. pp. 15–116. ISBN 978-0567045331.
Nigel Wilson, Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece, p. 149
Erb-Satullo, Nathaniel L.; Gilmour, Brian J. J.; Khakhutaishvili, Nana (2014-09-01). "Late Bronze and Early Iron Age copper smelting technologies in the South Caucasus: the view from ancient Colchis c. 1500–600BC". Journal of Archaeological Science. 49: 147–159.
Erb-Satullo, Nathaniel L.; Gilmour, Brian J. J.; Khakhutaishvili, Nana (2017-09-01). "Copper production landscapes of the South Caucasus". Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. 47: 109–12
O, Lordkipanidze. (1991). Archeology in Georgia, Weinheim, 110.
Silver, Morris (1992), Taking Ancient Mythology Economically, Leiden: Brill "Document Title". Members.tripod.com. Retrieved 26 May 2012.
As always, very informative and well done.