{{Short description|Ancient Egyptian people mentioned in the Bible and related literature}} [[File:Noahsworld map Version2.png|thumb|right|250px|One reconstruction of the [[Generations of Noah]], placing the "Casluhim" in the western [[Nile Delta]].]] The '''Casluhim''' or '''Casluhites''' ({{langx|he|כסלחים}}) were an ancient Egyptian people mentioned in the Bible and related literature.
==Biblical accounts== According to the [[Book of Genesis]] ({{bibleverse||Genesis|10:14|HE}}) and the [[Books of Chronicles]] ({{bibleverse|1|Chronicles|1:12|HE}}), the Casluhim were descendants of [[Mizraim]] (Egypt) son of [[Ham (son of Noah)|Ham]], out of whom originated the [[Philistines]].
==Archaeology== In the Aramaic ''[[Targum]]''s their region is called ''Pentpolitai'' understood to be derived from the Greek ''[[Pentapolis (North Africa)|Pentapolis]]'' which locates the area as the north west in what is now the [[Cyrenaica]] region of [[Libya]].<ref name="ORT">''Navigating the Bible'', World ORT, 2000, commentary ''Pathrusim'', ''Casluhim''</ref> Another name for their region is ''Pekosim'' used in [[Bereshit Rabbah]] 37.<ref name="ORT"/>
==Identifications== [[Josephus]] mentions the Casluhim in his ''[[Jewish Antiquities]]'' I, vi, 2 as one of the Egyptian peoples whose cities were destroyed during the [[Ethiopic War]] and who thus disappeared from history. Arab historian [[Ibn Khaldun]] (1332–1406), citing [[Abu Bakr bin Yahya al-Suli]], wrote that the [[Berbers]] of North Africa were descended from Casluhim, the son of [[Mizraim|Mizraïm]] (قبط بن مصر).<ref>{{cite book|last=Ibn Khaldun|author-link=Ibn Khaldun|title=Histoire des Berbères et des dynasties musulmanes de l'Afrique septentrionale |translator=[[Baron de Slane]] |publisher=P. Geuthner|volume=1 |year=1925|location=Paris|page=176|language=fr|oclc=556514510}}</ref>
In [[Saadia Gaon]]'s [[Judeo-Arabic]] translation of the [[Pentateuch]], the ''[[Sa'idi people]]'' (i.e. the people of Upper Egypt) are listed in the position of the Casluhim in {{bibleverse||Genesis|10:14|HE}},<ref>{{cite book |last=Saadia Gaon |title=Rabbi Saadia Gaon's Commentaries on the Pentateuch |publisher=[[Mossad Harav Kook]] |year=1984 |editor=Yosef Qafih |editor-link=Yosef Qafih |edition=4 |location=Jerusalem |page=33 (note 37) |language=he |oclc=232667032 |author-link=Saadia Gaon}}</ref> while ''Albiyim'' is listed in the position of [[Pathrusim]], however the ordering of Casluhim and Pathrusim sometimes vary in translations <ref name="ORT" /> and the mainstream understanding is that it is the Pathrusim who are the Sahidic people and the Casluhim the people of eastern Libya.
[[Matthew Poole]] suggests that Casluhim and Caphtorim were brother tribes who lived in the same territory, presumably in [[Crete]]. <ref>{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=Genesis 10 Matthew Poole's Commentary |url=https://biblehub.com/commentaries/poole/genesis/10.htm |website=Biblehub}}</ref>
However, others (including [[Samuel Bochart]]) have identified Casluhim with the [[Colchis|Colchians]], noting that ancient sources including [[Herodotus]] and [[Jerome]] described the Colchians as being of Egyptian origin.{{sfn|Hendel|2024|p=371}} However, claims from antiquity positing an Egyptian origin of the Colchians have been rejected by modern scholars.{{sfnm|Fehling|1994|Marincola|2001|1p=13|2p=34}}
==See also== * [[Generations of Noah]]
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==Sources== {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last=Fehling |first=Detlev |year=1994 |chapter=The art of Herodotus and the margins of the world |editor=von Martels, Z.R.W.M. |title=Travel Fact and Travel Fiction: Studies on fiction, literary tradition, scholarly discovery, and observation in travel writing |place=Leiden, NL |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |series=Brill's Studies in Intellectual History Volume 55 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/travelfacttravel0000unse/page/1 1–15] |isbn=978-90-04-10112-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/travelfacttravel0000unse/page/1}} * {{Cite book |last = Hendel |first = Ronald |title = Genesis 1-11: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary |publisher = Yale University Press |series = The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries |year = 2024 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tacXEQAAQBAJ&pg=PA358 |isbn = 978-0-300-14973-9 }} * {{cite book |last=Marincola |first=John |year=2001 |title=Greek Historians |place=Oxford, UK |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-922501-9}} {{refend}}
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[[Category:Casluhim| ]] [[Category:Noach (parashah)]] [[Category:Mizraim]]