Bible Dictionary
Javan
Javan was a son of Japheth whose descendants were associated with the Greeks, especially the Ionians. Scripture also names Javan as a trading place or people connected with goods supplied to Tyre.
Definition
Javan was a son of Japheth and the ancestor or representative of peoples associated with the Greeks, especially the Ionians. The name also denotes a people or place connected with trade in goods supplied to Tyre.
Biblical Usage
In Daniel, Javan represents the Greeks and Alexander is called king of Javan. In Ezekiel, Javan is associated with commerce involving Tyre; in Isaiah and Joel the name likewise refers to Greek peoples or lands.
Historical Background
Javan corresponds to the Greek name Ion and was used in the East as a general designation for the Greek race. The supplied material connects the name with Ionia, Asia Minor, and possibly Cyprus, and notes parallels in Assyrian, Persian, Egyptian, and Amarna evidence.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(1.) The fourth “son” of Japheth (Gen. 10:2), whose descendants settled in Greece, i.e., Ionia, which bears the name of Javan in Hebrew. Alexander the Great is called the “king of Javan” (rendered “Grecia,” Dan. 8:21; 10:20; comp. 11:2; Zech. 9:13). This word was universally used by the nations of the East as the generic name of the Greek race. (2.) A town or district of Arabia Felix, from which the Syrians obtained iron, cassia, and calamus (Ezek. 27:19).
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(clay).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>ja'-van (yawan, meaning unknown):</p><p>(1) In Ge 10:2,4 = 1Ch 1:5,7 Septuagint Iouan); Isa 66:19; Eze 27:13 Septuagint Hellas, Greece); Da 8:21 m; 10:20; 11:2; Zec 9:13; Joe 3:6 (Hebrew 4:6) Septuagint hoi Hellenes, i.e. "Greeks"), "son" of Japheth, and "father" of Elisha, Tars, Kittim, and Rodarim, i.e. Rhodes (incorrectly "Dodanim" in Ge 10:4). Javan is the Greek Iaon or Ia(v)on, and in Ge and 1Ch = the Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor, probably here = Cyprus. The reference in Eze 27:13 (from which that in Isa 66:19 is copied) is the country personified. In Joe the plural yewanim, is found. In Da the name is extended to the Greeks generally. Corroboration of the name is found in Assyrian (Schrader, editor, Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek, II, 43). "The Persian Yauna occurs in the same double reference from the time of Darius; compare Aesch. Persian., 176, 562" (Skinner, Gen, 198). In Egyptian the word is said to be yevan-(n)a; in the Tell el-Amarna Letters Yivana is mentioned as being in the land of Tyre. See HDB, II, 552b.</p><p>(2) Place (Eze 27:19); the name is missing in Septuagint.</p><p>David Francis Roberts</p>