's 1823 map of the descendants of Noah's sons, showing Ashkenaz as
France The
Karaite philologist
David ben Abraham al-Fāsi, writing around the turn of the millennium, identified Ashkenaz as the ancestor of the
Khazars.
Rabbinic Judaism In
rabbinic literature, the kingdom of Ashkenaz was first associated with the
Scythian region, then later with the
Slavic territories, and, from the 11th century onwards, with northern Europe and Germany. In rabbinic literature from the 11th century, Ashkenaz was considered the ruler of a kingdom in the North and of the Northern and
Germanic people. (See below.)
Ashkenazi Jews Sometime in the
Early Middle Ages, the Jews east of France came to be called by the name
Ashkenazim, in conformity with the custom of designating areas of Jewish settlement with biblical names, Spain as
Sepharad (), France as
Tzarfat (), and
Bohemia as
Canaan. By the
High Middle Ages, Talmudic commentators like
Rashi began to use
Ashkenaz/Eretz Ashkenaz to designate
Germany, earlier known as
Loter, where, especially in the
Rhineland communities of
Speyer,
Worms, and
Mainz, the most important Jewish communities arose. Rashi uses
leshon Ashkenaz (Ashkenazi language) to describe the German language, and Byzantium and Syrian Jewish letters referred to the
Crusaders as Ashkenazim. Ashkenazi Jewish culture later spread in the 16th century into
Eastern Europe, where their rite replaced that of existing Jewish communities whom some scholars believe to have been larger in demographics than the Ashkenazi Jews themselves, and then to all parts of the world with the migrations of Jews who identified as "Ashkenazi Jews".
Armenian tradition In Armenian tradition, Ashkenaz, along with
Togarmah, was considered among the ancestors of the
Armenians.
Koriun, the earliest Armenian historian, calls the Armenians an "Askanazian (i.e., Ashkenazi) nation". He starts the "Life of Mashtots" with these words: I had been thinking of the God-given alphabet of the Azkanazian nation and of the land of Armenia—when, in what time, and through what kind of man that new divine gift had been bestowed ... Later Armenian authors concur with this.
Hovhannes Draskhanakerttsi (10th century) writes: The sixth son was Tiras from whom were born our very own Ashkenaz [Ask'anaz] and Togarmah [T'orgom] who named the country that he possessed Thrace after himself, as well as Chittim [K'itiim] who brought under his sway the Macedonians. 7. The sons of Tiras were Ashkenaz, from whom descended the Sarmatians, Riphath, whence the Sauromatians [Soramatk'], and Togarmah, who according to Jeremiah subjugated the Ashkenazian army and called it the House of Togarmah; for at first Ashkenaz had named our people after himself in accord with the law of seniority, as we shall explain in its proper place. Because of this tradition,
Askanaz is a male given name still used today by Armenians.
German royal genealogy In 1498, a monk named
Annio da Viterbo published fragments known as "
Pseudo-Berossus", now considered a forgery, claiming that Babylonian records had shown that Noah had more sons than the three sons of his listed in the Bible. Specifically, Tuiscon or
Tuisto is given as the fourth son of Noah, who had been the first ruler of
Scythia and Germany following the dispersion of peoples, with him being succeeded by his son Mannus as the second king. Later historians (e.g.,
Johannes Aventinus and
Johann Hübner) managed to furnish numerous further details, including the assertion by
James Anderson in the early 18th century that this Tuiscon was in fact none other than the biblical Ashkenaz, son of
Gomer. James Anderson's 1732 tome
Royal genealogies reports a significant number of antiquarian or mythographic traditions regarding Askenaz as the first king of ancient Germany, for example the following entry: Askenaz, or Askanes, called by
Aventinus Tuisco the Giant, and by others
Tuisto or Tuizo (whom Aventinus makes the 4th son of Noah, and that he was born after the flood, but without authority) was sent by Noah into Europe, after the flood 131 years, with 20 Captains, and made a settlement near the
Tanais, on the West coast of the
Euxin sea (by some called Asken from him) and there founded the kingdom of the Germans and the Sarmatians ... when Askenaz himself was 24 years old, for he lived above 200 years, and reigned 176. In the vocables of
Saxony and
Hessia, there are some villages of the name Askenaz, and from him the Jews call the Germans Askenaz, but in the Saxonic and Italian, they are called Tuiscones, from Tuisco his other name. In the 25th year of his reign, he partitioned the kingdom into
Toparchies,
Tetrarchies, and Governments, and brought colonies from diverse parts to increase it. He built the city
Duisburg, made a body of laws in verse, and invented letters, which
Kadmos later imitated, for the Greek and High Dutch are alike in many words. The 20 captains or dukes that came with Askenaz are: Sarmata, from whom
Sarmatia; Dacus or Danus – Dania or Denmark; Geta from whom the
Getae; Gotha from whom the
Goths; Tibiscus, people on the river
Tibiscus; Mocia –
Mysia; Phrygus or Brigus –
Phrygia; Thynus –
Bithynia; Dalmata –
Dalmatia; Jader –
Jadera Colonia; Albanus from whom
Albania; Zavus – the river
Save; Pannus –
Pannonia; Salon – the town
Sale, Azalus – the
Azali; Hister –
Istria; Adulas, Dietas, Ibalus – people that of old dwelt between the rivers
Oenus and
Rhenus; Epirus, from whom
Epirus. Askenaz had a brother called Scytha (say the Germans) the father of the
Scythians, for which the Germans have of old been called Scythians too (very justly, for they came mostly from old Scythia) and Germany had several ancient names; for that part next to the Euxin was called Scythia, and the country of the Getes, but the parts east of the
Vistule or Weyssel were called Sarmatia Europaea, and westward it was called
Gallia, Celtica,
Allemania,
Francia and
Teutonia; for old Germany comprehended the greater part of Europe; and those called
Gauls were all old Germans; who by ancient authors were called
Celts, Gauls and
Galatians, which is confirmed by the historians
Strabo and Aventinus, and by
Alstedius in his Chronology, p. 201 etc. Askenaz, or Tuisco, after his death, was worshipped as the ambassador and interpreter of the gods, and from thence called the first German
Mercury, from Tuitseben to interpret. ==References==