Historical race concepts Classical ideas with the notion that humanity as a whole was descended from Shem, Ham and Japheth, the three sons of Noah, producing distinct Semitic (Asiatic), Hamitic (African), and Japhetic (Indo-European) peoples. This theory dates back to the Babylonian "Talmud", which states, "the descendants of Ham are cursed by being black, and [it] depicts Ham as a sinful man and his progeny as degenerates." In the 9th century, Al-Jahiz, an Afro-Arab Islamic philosopher, attempted to explain the origins of different human skin colors, particularly black skin, which he believed to be the result of the environment. He cited a stony
Shinar the Tower of Babel after the Great Flood. After the Flood, the sons of Shem, Ham, and Japheth stayed first in the highlands of Armenia and then migrated to Shinar. In "Genesis" 14:1,9, King Amraphel rules Shinar. Shinar is further mentioned in "Joshua" 7:21; "Isaiah" 11:11; "Daniel" 1:2; and "Zechariah" 5:11, as a general synonym for Babylonia. "Jubilees" 9:3 allots Shinar (or, in the Ethiopic text, "Sadna Sena`or") to Ashur, son of Shem. "Jubilees" 10:20 states that the Tower of Babel was built with bitumen from the sea of Shinar. David Rohl theorized that the Tower was actually located in