Madai

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Madai, Greek: Μηδος according to the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible, was a son of Japheth and one of the 16 grandsons of Noah. Biblical scholars have identified Madai with various nations, from the Mitanni of early records, to the Medes of much later records. The Medes, reckoned to be his offspring, were also known as Madai in Assyrian sources, as well as in Hebrew ones. The Kurds still maintain traditions of descent from Madai, as well as the Medes.

According to the Book of Jubilees (10:35-36), Madai had married a daughter of Shem, and preferred to live among Shem's descendants, rather than dwell in Japheth's allotted inheritance beyond the Black Sea; so he begged his brothers-in-law, Elam, Asshur and Arphaxad, until he finally received from them the land that was named after him, Media.

Both the Mitanni and the Medes are thought by scholars to have been Indo-Aryan peoples. In the oldest writings of the Zoroastrian religion of the Medes, the earliest homeland of the Aryan race had been a legendary place called "Airyanem Vaejah" — traditionally (eg., in the Bundahish 29:12) associated with Arran and the valley of the Araxes river, which rises next to Mount Ararat.

Another line in Jubilees (8:5) states that a daughter of Madai named Milcah married Cainan, who is an ancestor of Abraham also mentioned in older versions of Genesis.

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Last updated on Thursday January 17, 2008 at 12:37:53 PST (GMT -0800)
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