Javan
Easton's Bible Dictionary
The fourth “son” of Japheth (Gen 10:2), whose descendants settled in Greece, i.e., Ionia, which bears the name of Javan in Hebrew. Alexander the Great is called the “king of Javan” (rendered “Grecia,” Dan 8:21; 10:20; comp. 11:2; Zech 9:13). This word was universally used by the nations of the East as the generic name of the Greek race.
A town or district of Arabia Felix, from which the Syrians obtained iron, cassia, and calamus (Ezek 27:19).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
ja'-van (yawan, meaning unknown):
(1) In Gen 10:2; Gen 10:4 = 1 Chr 1:5; 1 Chr 1:7 Septuagint Iouan); Isa 66:19; Ezek 27:13 Septuagint Hellas, Greece); Dan 8:21 m; 10:20; 11:2; Zech 9:13; Joel 3:6 (Hebrew 4:6) Septuagint hoi Hellenes, i.e. "Greeks"), "son" of Japheth, and "father" of Elisha, Tars, Kittim, and Rodarim, i.e. Rhodes (incorrectly "Dodanim" in Gen 10:4). Javan is the Greek Iaon or Ia(v)on, and in Ge and 1Ch = the Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor, probably here = Cyprus. The reference in Ezek 27:13 (from which that in Isa 66:19 is copied) is the country personified. In Joe the plural yewanim, is found. In Da the name is extended to the Greeks generally. Corroboration of the name is found in Assyrian (Schrader, editor, Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek, II, 43). "The Persian Yauna occurs in the same double reference from the time of Darius; compare Aesch. Persian., 176, 562" (Skinner, Gen, 198). In Egyptian the word is said to be yevan-(n)a; in the Tell el-Amarna Letters Yivana is mentioned as being in the land of Tyre. See HDB, II, 552b.
(2) Place (Ezek 27:19); the name is missing in Septuagint.
David Francis Roberts
See also
Kilde: Easton's Bible Dictionary (M.G. Easton, 1897) og International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (red. James Orr, 1915/1939), public domain. Translated into Danish with AI and not yet proofread (fully or partially). Links to people and places: Theographic Bible Metadata (CC BY-SA 4.0).