Esther Eshel
apparently a reference to future violent acts, but no violent invasion is re
corded in the Genesis Apocryphon's actual account of the division of the
world. A different approach is documented in Jubilees, which reports inva
sions conducted by Canaan, the son of Ham, and negotiations for land by
Madai, the son of Japheth.
- The most crucial difference lies in the actual lots given to each son
and in the prominence Jubilees ascribes to Jerusalem. According to Jubi
lees, Shem received all of Asia Minor, together with Syria, Phoenicia, and
Palestine, whereas according to the Genesis Apocryphon, the region of
Asia Minor belonged to Japheth. Genesis Apocryphon agrees here with the
map of Shem's lot according to Josephus (Antiquities). Moreover, the sur
viving text of the Genesis Apocryphon documents no concept of Jerusa
lem's superiority. Indeed, on the basis of the mention of "the Sea of the
East" (NrUTft D'; 17:10) in Lud's allotment, I maintain that the Genesis
Apocryphon did not share this bias. The "Sea of the East" can be identified
as Jubilees' Mauq Sea, the present-day Sea of Azov. This reference to the
Sea of the East reflects the orientation from Greece, namely, with Delphi at
the center. Thus, as opposed to Jubilees, which converts the Ionic map to a
Jewish perspective, placing Jerusalem at the center of the world, the Gene
sis Apocryphon retains the focus of the original Ionic map. Only someone
using Greece as a reference point could refer to the Sea of Azov as "the Sea
of the East."
Furthermore, closer examination of the parallels between these two
works enables the identification of three mistakes in Jubilees. These mistakes
indicate Jubilees' knowledge of, and reliance on, the Genesis Apocryphon:
- One mistake relates to the portion allotted to Aram, where Jubilees
reads "the entire land of Mesopotamia between the Tigris and the Euphrates
to the north of the Chaldeans"; on the basis of the Genesis Apocryphon's de
scription, it should read "to the east!'
- Another obvious mistake in Jubilees results from a misreading in
Lud's allotment. The Genesis Apocryphon reads, "for Lud it fell the Taurus
mountains" (Klin T1D, 17:10), while Jubilees has "for Lud these emerged as
the fifth share the mountain range of Asshur" (9:6). The Asshur Mountains
are unknown from the Bible or any other Jewish source; on the basis of the
Genesis Apocryphon, I submit that this reflects a scribal misreading: T113
TinK instead of XTin "110.
- According to Jubilees, the Kamaturi Islands belong to Shem's son
Arpachshad; they were, however, mistakenly appended to the portion of
Japheth's sons, after Tiras's portion (9:13b). Even though the possible parallel
