Robert Filmer and model of all government. In the beginning God gave authority to Adam, who had complete control over his descendants, even over life and death itself. From Adam this authority was inherited by Noah. Here Filmer is most likely to be quoting the legend of Noah sailing up the Mediterranean and allocating the three continents of the Old World to the rule of his three sons. This assumes that from Shem, Ham and Japheth the patriarchs inherited the absolute power which they exercised over their families and servants, and that it is from these patriarchs that all kings and governors
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