RODANIM

RODANIM (Heb. רוֹדָנִים; possibly Rhodians, inhabitants of the island of Rhodes), descendants of Javan (Gen. 10:4). In I Chronicles 1:7 and in the Samaritan, Syriac, and Septuagint versions of Genesis 10:4 they are called Rodanim, while in the Masoretic Text of Genesis 10:4 they are called Dodanim. It is likely that this is the result of an onomastic-ethnographic or epigraphic (between r and d) confusion. It is possible that the Rodanim should be equated with the Dananians (?) who are mentioned in the el-amarna letters (J.A. Knudtzon, Die El-Amarna Tafeln, 1 (1907), 151, lines 48–58, letter from Tyre) and in the Karatepe Inscriptions (see Donner and Roellig, in bibl.) or with Yadnâna, perhaps Cyprus (cf. elishah ). However, the most plausible, although not entirely satisfactory, explanation remains that the Rodanim were inhabitants of Rhodes. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Winckler, Altorientalische Forschungen, 2 (1900), 422; E. Dhorme, in: Syria, 13 (1932), 48; J.L. Myres, Geographical History in Greek Lands (1952), 308ff; R.O. Calaghan, in: Orientalia, 18 (1949), 193; W.F. Albright, in: American Journal of Archeology, 54 (1950), 170ff.; H. Donner and W. Roellig, Kanaanaeische und aramaeische Inschriften, 2 (1964), 39; U. Cassuto, From Noah to Abraham (1964), index. (Pinhas Artzi)