Lud, son of Shem Lud, son of Shem Lud (Hebrew: ) was a son of Shem and grandson of Noah, according to "Genesis" 10 (the "Table of Nations"). Lud should not be confused with the Ludim, said there to be descended from Mizraim, a son of Ham. The descendants of Lud are usually, following Josephus, connected with various Anatolian peoples, particularly Lydia (Assyrian "Luddu") and their predecessors, the Luwians; cf. Herodotus' assertion ("Histories" i. 7) that the Lydians were first so named after their king, Lydus (Λυδός). However, the chronicle of Hippolytus of Rome (c. 234 AD) identifies Lud's descendants with the "Lazones" or
Japheth as having been composed in stages beginning with the time of Solomon, when the Philistines still existed (they vanish from history after the Babylonian conquest of Canaan). However, Genesis 10:14 identifies their ancestor as Ham rather than Japheth. For those who take the genealogies of Genesis to be historically accurate, Japheth is commonly believed to be the father of Europeans. The link between Japheth and the Europeans stems from Genesis 10:5, which states: According to that book, Japheth and his two brothers formed the three major races: William Shakespeare's play "Henry IV, Part II" contains a wry comment about people