Patriarchs (Bible) the patriarchs or their descendants. This list, taken from the Book of Genesis, gives the details of that genealogy. Noah, father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth... Shem [was] an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood ... Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah ... Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber ... Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg ... Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu ... Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug ... Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor ... Nahor lived nine and twenty
Ethnic groups in Europe Japheth from early times, corresponding to the division of the known world into three continents, the descendants of Shem peopling Asia and those of Ham peopling Africa. Identification of Europeans as "Japhetites" is also reflected in early suggestions for terming the Indo-European languages "Japhetic". In this tradition, the "Historia Brittonum" (9th century) introduces a genealogy of the peoples of the Migration period (as it was remembered in early medieval historiography) as follows, The text goes then on to list the genealogy of Alanus, connecting him to Japheth via eighteen generations. European culture is largely rooted in what is often referred