Copper and Iron

© Daniel Frese/BiblePlaces.com

The image shows piles of copper slag, a waste material in ancient Edom, indicating large-scale royal mining operations there.


Alice C. Linsley

Copper and iron were the first metals to be used in the fabrication of artifacts. Copper beads found in 8,500-year-old graves at Catalhöyük were made by hammering native metal found in nature. Similarly, hammered iron beads have been found at el Gerzah in northern Egypt where 300 graves were discovered in 1911-1912. Tombs 67 and 133 contained a total of nine iron beads. Analysis of the beads indicates that they were formed from surface iron deposited by meteorites. Both tombs are securely dated to Naqada IIC–IIIA, c 3400–3100 BC (Adams, 1990: 25; Stevenson, 2009: 11–31), so the beads predate the emergence of iron smelting by nearly 2000 years, and other known meteoritic iron artifacts by 500 years or more (Yalçın 1999).

Çatalhöyük was a large Neolithic and Chalcolithic (Copper Age) settlement in southern Anatolia (Turkey). Photo Credit: Omar Huftun

Copper is not mentioned in the earliest of the Vedas (Rig-Veda), but it is mentioned in the White Yajurveda and in the last of the Vedas, the Atharva-Veda (composed c. 1000).

The oldest proven smelting remains are in Belovode, Serbia, from around 7,000 years ago. There scientists have identified intentionally-produced copper slag, which has been analytically confirmed as the source for at least 16 heavy copper implements found across the Balkans.

Copper mines were worked at Rudna Glava (Serbia), Aibunar (Bulgaria), and Ross Island (Ireland, 2400 BC).

A copper awl was unearthed in Tel Tsaf, near the Jordan River at Israel's border with Jordan. The area was a village from c. 5100 BC to 4600 BC. The awl was found in the grave of a woman of high rank. She wore a belt made of 1,668 ostrich-egg shell beads and her grave was covered by several large stones. Analysis of the copper indicates that it came from the Caucasus.


The Copper-Cyprus Connection

The term "copper" comes from the Latin word cuprum, referring to the island of Cyprus. Early references to Cypriot copper exports were found in cuneiform tablets from the ancient kingdom of Mari (modern-day Syria) and are dated to the 18th century BC.

Tablets excavated at El Amarna, Egypt provide another significant source of information and describe in great detail the export of copper to Egypt by the kings of Cyprus during the 14th century BC.

The abundance of copper votive figures and statuettes found in mines and temples at the archaeological sites of Kition and Engomi on Cyrpus reflects the significance of copper to the Cypriot economy and religious culture.

Copper Work on the Nile

Copper and gold artifacts appeared in the region between the First and Second Cataracts in graves of the Middle A Group. These are dated from ca. 3600–3300 BC (Killick 2014). 

Around 3,200 B.C. copper balances and weights were used at Nile shrines to determine cargo taxes and for trade.


Copper Work Among the Akkadians

The copper statue show above is from the Akkadian period (2350–2100 BC). This was found in the 1960's near the village of Bassetki in northern Iraq. The Bassetki Statue shows a seated, nude human figure on a round pedestal and was cast of pure copper. The pedestal contains an Akkadian inscription indicating that the statue once stood in the doorway of a palace of the Akkadian ruler Naram-Sin.

Sites of Copper Mining

Copper (Cu) was mined in Cappadocia, Mesopotamia, Media, and Persia.

Copper was called "red" metal versus iron which was called "black" metal.

Archaeologists have found evidence of mining and annealing of copper in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (Isle Royale) dating to around 5,000 B.C.

Related reading: Ancient Copper Mining in the Upper Peninsula; Miners Venerated Hathor; V. Kassianidou and A. Bernard Knapp, Archaeometallurgy in the Mediterranean: The Social Context of Mining, Technology and Trade; Afro-Asiatic Metal Workers

Miners Venerated Hathor

Faynan Copper mine in present-day Jordan, ancient Edom.
This site is the Jordanian counterpart of the copper works at Timna.

Mohammad Najjar and Thomas Levy have been excavating at an ancient copper mine site in the Faynan district of Jordan for more than 20 years. Copper has been mined here for 12,000 years, and the copper smelting here has been done since 4,500 years ago.

This area was part of Edom, a land ruled by the Horites listed in Genesis 36. They are described as having a red skin tone and the ancient Greeks called Edom "Idumea" which means "land of red people." Edom was part of the Nabatean kingdom and the Nabatean warriors resembled the red Nubian warriors with their long wavy hair and the wearing of feathers on their legs.

Nabataean warriors had long wavy hair and wore feathers.
They appear to be related to the red Nubian warriors shown below.

The Horites were devotees of Re, Horus and Hathor. Hathor was venerated as the patroness of miners. Petra reflects Horite beliefs.

Faynan’s twin is the site of Timna in the Negev desert of Israel. In 1934 the area was surveyed by the American archaeologist Nelson Glueck. The area was also surveyed by Beno Rothenberg of Hebrew University between 1959 and 1961. Professor Rothenberg discovered a temple dedicated to Hathor at the southwest edge of Mt. Timna. The smelting works, slag and flints at Timna were found to be identical to those discovered near Beersheba where the elderly Abraham lived with his cousin wife, Keturah. In his book Timna, Rothenberg concluded that the peoples living in the area were "partners not only in the work but in the worship of Hathor." (p. 183)

Beersheba is at the southern boundary of ancient Edom. Both Edomite and Midianite pottery have been discovered at Beersheba. A four-horned brazen altar identical in structural to the altar used later by the Israelites was uncovered in 1973. This discovery was made by a team under the direction of Yohanan Aharoni and Ze'ev Herzog of Tel Aviv University. The team first encountered an ancient storage wall that contained the stones of the altar. Three of the stones still had large horns projecting from them, but the horn of the fourth stone had been broken off. Yet still another stone had the carved image of a serpent, probably indicating Kenite construction. The stones, which had been incorporated into a wall, were reassembled to assume their former shape and dated to the time of the Patriarchs. The altar may have been destroyed during Hezekiah’s attempts to eradicate all shrines outside Jerusalem.

Beersheba had strategic importance because it was the largest settlement in the Negev. It guarded the trade routes between Mesopotamia and Egypt and between the Nile Delta and Southern Arabia. Its fortifications in the late Iron Age were impressive and included a moat that encircled the city and a steeply-sloped earthen rampart. Beyond the rampart the city was surrounded by thick stone walls. The gate was a chambered type, and inside the gate archaeologists found an incense altar at the high place, just as described in II Kings 23:8.

Related reading: V. Kassianidou and A. Bernard Knapp, Archaeometallurgy in the Mediterranean: The Social Context of Mining, Technology and Trade; Red and Black Smiths; The Edomites and the Color Red; Afro-Asiatic Metal Workers; The Re-Horus-Hathor Narrative; Edom and the Horites

Red and Black Smiths

Alice C. Linsley

This bronze figure of a blacksmith (7th-8th century B.C.) was discovered by a farmer in Vranište, Serbia. This figure is likely a proto-Celt and the reference to "black" smith may pertain to more than the soot from the forge. It may indicate a genetic stock that today is identified as "black Irish", a reference to dark or black hair. Vran in Serbian means "black". 

The blacksmiths among the Y-DNA haplogroup R1b had an ancestral point of origin in the Ancient Fertile Crescent. Early Nilotic, Mesopotamian, and Anatolian smiths were the first to manipulate native copper and gold, eventually developing smelting techniques by the 6th millennium B.C.

In the ancient world royal metal smiths were found in many regions of the world. They were in the service of rulers who had widely dispersed out of the Nile Valley and Mesopotamia. They lived among the Hittites of Anatolia and among the Horite Hebrew living in the Central Zagros Mountains. There is evidence that some Croats came from western Iran. 

The Varn smiths worked copper and gold, but they were especially fond of gold because it was associated with divine power.  Grave 43 from the Varna cemetery, the "golden grave" contained more gold than has been found at any other archaeological site from that epoch.

Or/oro are words for gold and are probably related to the name Horus, the Golden One of Nekhen (Hierakonpolis). The connection between gold and Horus is rooted in ancient concepts of kingship.

The oldest metalwork in Africa dates back to around 5000 B.C. Excavations at Hierakonpolis (Nekhen) have revealed some of the earliest and most crucial evidence of metallurgical development in the Ancient Nile Valley Civilization (ANVC) before Egypt emerged as a political entity.

From the earliest times, populations in the Upper Nile included people of red and black skin. This image shows red and black Nubian captives. 

Drawing done by Ippolito Rosellini during the 1828 Franco-Tuscan expedition to Egypt.

The regional names for the Croats appear to be are linguistically related to the words Horite, Horim, Har, Hor, and Hur. In Iran and Afghanistan, they were called Harahvaiti and Harauvati. In Armenia and Georgia, they were called Hurravat and Hurrvuhe. In Azova and the Black Sea region they were called Horoouathos. Present day Croats along the Adriatic are called Horvati and Hrvati.

A territory in Eastern Ukraine was known as "Red Croatia", and its inhabitants were called "Sarmatian" Horites. Their red skin tone and their description as metal craftsmen suggests that they might be related to the Horite Hebrew of Edom. Esau of Edom is described as "red" in Genesis 26. The Greeks called Edom Idumea, meaning "land of red people". 

Abraham's territory was in the land of Edom. Some of his ancestors are described as red: Adam and Seth. At the oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship at Nekhen on the Nile red figurines of Seth have been found that show him with a man's body and the head of hippo. The oldest know decorated tomb was found at Nekhen (3500-3200 BC). One of the more intriguing discoveries at Nekhen was the redheaded man in burial no. 79. (The ancient Greeks and Romans described the Celts as redheads.)

Horite Hebrew ruler-priests were famous for their metal work. Aaron forged the golden calf, a representation of the youthful Horus, and Moses forged the bronze serpent, a symbol of deliverance and healing. 

Copper mine at Faynan

Edom and Timna were famous for their ore deposits. The Horite Hebrew rulers of Edom were experienced at mining operations. The copper-rich region of the Faynan is in ancient Edom. Mining operations have run here and at Timna for 12,000 years. At both sites smelting of the extracted copper has been done since 2,500 BC.  

The Horite and Sethite Hebrew were devotees of God Father, Horus, and Hathor, the mother of Horus. The term "Horite" is derived from the word Horus who was called "son" of God. Messianic expectation appears to have originated among their Nilotic ancestors. Horus is the Greek for the ancient Egyptian HR, meaning Most High One.

A temple dedicated to Hathor was discovered at the southwest edge of Mt. Timna by Professor Beno Rothenberg of Hebrew University. The smelting works, slag and flints at this site were found to be identical to those discovered near Beersheba where Abraham spent much of his time.  In his book Timna, Rothenberg concluded that the peoples living in the area were "partners not only in the work but in the worship of Hathor." (p. 183)

Lidar Sapir-Hen and Erez Ben-Yosef draw a social distinction between the low-class miners and the higher-class smelters: “The people engaged in smelting were actually highly skilled crafts persons and were treated as such. This fundamental observation stems from the inherent complexity of the technology that demanded and created an idiosyncratic class of workers.”

Related reading: Early Smiths and Masons; The Sethites and the Red Hippo; The Obed-Edom Connection; Adam Was a Red Man; Afro-Asiatic Metal Workers; Edo, Edom, Idumea; Vinča Metal Workers; The Priesthood in England - Part 3; Miners Venerated Hathor

Mother and Son Pierced: Image of Intimacy

But he was pierced [sti] for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; Yes, a sword shall pierce [τρύπημα στο- puncture] your own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. (Luke 2:34,35).

Alice C. Linsley

An exploration of the theme of being pierced reveals the spiritual and emotional connection between Mary and Jesus. On the cross, His side was pierced, and at His Presentation in the Temple the aged priest Simeon told Mary that her mother's heart would be pierced by sorrow.

The oldest Hebrew copy of the Psalms from the Dead Sea Scrolls, dating to the century before Christ reads the verb in this verse as ka’aru. The passage is a Messianic reference:

 ...a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce my hands and my feet.
All my bones are on display;
people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.
The Hebrew ka'aru suggests more than a superficial wound. It suggests boring a hole. The term relates to the leather workers (tahash) who bore holes in their materials. They are called karmaara, a word related to the Hindi lohakara, meaning copper smith. The term loha refers to copper in Sanskrit. It is derived from the word lohita, meaning red. (Copper was regarded as red metal and iron as black metal.)

There is a linguistic connection to the biblical word ka-aru. The word appears to be of Nilotic origin. Among the Luo of the Upper Nile ka-Aru means "the place of the one who pierces."

These craftsmen were sea-faring merchants and who moved out of the Nile Valley in a rather militant fashion and founded the maritime civilization of Southern India (Sarasvati civilization). What we seem to have here is language related to the tools of trade of the ancient Horite metal workers. These were the ancestors of Jesus and Mary.

Egyptian boring a hole

In Isaiah 1:6 the King James Version has the word "bruises" using chabbarah. Chabbarah is linguistically related to the Luo chaddho, meaning to cut out, to pluck out, or to bruise the skin. A wound of this type is called chaddhoreh in Luo.

In Isaiah 53:5, "He was bruised [dakha'] for our iniquities" repeats the use of dakah/daqah in Isaiah 28:28. But the piercing of Mother and Son is a different word and the difference is significant.

In the ancient Egyptian the verb to pierce/kill is an interesting reduplication: bbbb, suggesting a set that is intimately related. (Reduplication serves to enhance the meaning.) There is an Egyptian story that treats this in the context of the struggle between Horus and Seth. Horus agreed to do battle, but his mother Hathor-Meri fell to the ground and wept, fearing that her son would be killed. In combat, both Horus and Seth fell into the depths of the Nile and the battle raged for days. The mother's heart suffered bitterly until she could no longer stand by without acting. She made a harpoon from twine and copper and threw the weapon into the water. The harpoon struck her son's side. He surfaced and roared, "Mother! Thy spear hath pierced me!"

Abraham's ancestors who mined copper at Timnah regarded Hathor as their patroness. A temple dedicated to Hathor was discovered at the southwestern edge of Mt. Timnah by Professor Beno Rothenberg of Hebrew University.

The relationship between Mary and her divine Son was and is intimate. The piercing correspondence expresses one aspect of that intimacy. Jesus wants us to honor his blessed mother. Mary wants us to honor and worship the Son of God.

Related reading: Who is Jesus?; The Virgin Mary's Horite Ancestry; The Urheimat of the Canaanite Y; The Ancient Afro-Asiatic Metal Workers; Is Hebrew an African Language?; The Afro-Asiatic Dominion

The Peoples of Canaan

Alice C. Linsley

The term "Canaanite" can refer to many different peoples, some of whom were ethnically Nilotic. Most of the high places of the Judean hills, for example, were under Egyptian control from about 2000 to 1178 BC. Through biblical archaeology and biblical anthropology, we have come to know a great deal about the peoples who lived in the land of Canaan. Their shrines were built at high elevations near water systems and they were later fortified. They were masters of stone work and left behind standing stones of monumental proportions.

Photo: Dennis Cole

These standing stone at Tell Gezer date to the period of the standing stones erected on Salisbury Plain in England around 2500 BC.

The high places and fortified mounds are called "ophel" (Hebrew עֹ֫פֶל). The root of the word ophel is OP and pertains to a complex of interrelated ideas: seeing (optic); armed guards (opiltes); walled towns (oppida), and sun shrines (O'piru) served by a caste of priests known in the ancient world as Ha'piru, Ha'biru (Hebrew) and 'Apiru.

The oldest elevated settlements were near water sources. The oldest ophel in Jerusalem is near the Gihon Spring. Similar sites include Deir Tasi in Egypt; Jarmo in Iraq, and Tell Hassuna in Iraq. Of particular interest is the Paleolithic population that lived near the ravine or wadi known as Wadi-en-Natuf near Jerusalem. The Natufian population employed micro-flints, weapons, stone tools, and primitive agriculture. Artistic expressions included rock drawings and wall paintings, and they were sea travelers between 12,000 and 10,000 B.C. There are about 40 Paleolithic sites in the hills surrounding Jerusalem, many of them near Bethlehem. Surrounding Jerusalem, there are at least 28 Neolithic sites that fit the same description: elevated shelters near a water source.

Evidence of human habitation in the area of Bethlehem between 100,000-10,000 BC is well-attested along the north side of Wadi Khareitun where there are three caves: Iraq al-Ahmar, Umm Qal’a, and Umm Qatafa. These caves were homes in a wooded landscape overlooking a river. At Umm Qatafa archaeologists have found the earliest evidence of the domestic use of fire in Palestine.

The Canaanites in retrospect

Bible passages that speak about “the Canaanites” reflect authors who lived well after the time of the Patriarchs. The Canaanites are viewed by these later write, especially the Deuteronomist Historian, as decadent, idolatrous and deserving of being displaced from the land, even exterminated.

In Genesis 10 the peoples who descend from Noah through his grandsons Sidon and Het (Heth) are said to be the original inhabitants. This is supported by evidence from many disciples, including linguistics, archaeology, anthropology and genetics.

In II Chronicles 8:7 and I Kings 9:20 the term “Canaanite” is used to distinguish the Israelites from the other clans living in the land. However, it is clear from Genesis 10 that the Israelites were related to these Canaanite clans. The so-called Canaanites were blood-related Afro-Arabian peoples whose ancestry can be traced back to the Nile Valley and ancient Kush.

It is clear from analysis of the Genesis genealogical data that the ruling lines descending from Noah intermarried. This was the custom among the ancient Kushite rulers.  This means that it is impossible to say that the descendants of Ham and the descendants of Shem are different and unrelated peoples. Genesis 10 acknowledges this fact by listing the people as descendants of the same Patriarch, Noah and by designating the lines of descent as “clans.”  We are not talking about different ethnic groups.

Further, the Genesis 10 record tells a story of dispersal across the ancient Afro-Asiatic world. This too is fully supported by findings in linguistics, archaeology, anthropology and genetics. The Kushite migration has been well established. Nimrod (Sargon the Great) ruled over a great empire in Mesopotamia yet Genesis 10:8 states that he was one of Kush’s sons.

The list of “Canaanite” peoples in Genesis 10 attempts to reconstruct the confederation of peoples living in Palestine before the Israelites arrived after wandering in the wilderness. The difference between the lists is telling. Genesis 10 is much longer and more descriptive. Genesis 10: 15-19, traces the Canaanite peoples to an otherwise unknown descendant of Noah named "Canaan."

Canaan fathered the Sidon his first-born, then Heth, and the Jebusites, the Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites. Later Canaanite clans spread out.  The Canaanite frontier stretched from Sidon all the way to Gerar near Gaza and all the way to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim near Lehsa.

In II Chronicles and I Kings 9:20 only the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites are identified as still living in the land, and they are identified as non-Israelite. So what happened to all the other clans? Many intermarried with the Israelites, though the priestly lines of Israel intermarried exclusively with other priestly lines (not all of which were Israelite).

Genesis tells us that these are clans, not ethnic groups. That’s important because all the clans listed in Genesis 10 are blood related. They are classified linguistically as Afro-Asiatics and their ethnicity is Kushite. They spread across the ancient Afro-Asiatic Dominion, taking their language and religious practices with them.

Confusion has arisen because in Genesis 10 the Hebrew word goy has been translated “nation” and goyim as “nations.” The Greek Septuagint renders goy as “ethnos” and goyim as “ethne” in the plural. Both translations are misleading. Genesis 10 says that all these peoples are descendants of the same Patriarch, Noah, and are therefore related. They do not represent different nations in the modern sense. Nor do they represent different ethnic groups. They are related clans which recognized their blood ties and which performed work which was expected of their caste. Some of the occupations involved metal work and scribal expertise.

Once we set aside the misconception that Genesis 10 is a “Table of Nations” we are able to explore the relationship of the clans and to reconstruct the confederations based on what is known about the Proto-Saharan languages spoken by Abraham's ancestors.

Reconstruction of the Kushite Confederations

Confederations of peoples listed in Genesis 10 are based on kinship and occupation, which indicates a caste structure. Castes are characterized by endogamy. Priestly lines intermarried exclusively. Metalworkers intermarried exclusively. Scribes intermarried exclusively. Merchants of purple dye (murex) intermarried exclusively. This was the caste structure of the ancient Afro-Asiatic Dominion.

It is possible to reconstruct the Genesis 10 confederations using what is known about the Proto-Saharan languages spoken by Abraham's ancestors. These languages were characterized by two-consonant roots (a “biconsonantal” system).  So we begin by eliminating the vowels and searching for the most basic consonantal unit in each of the names. To illustrate the method we will use the names Hittite and Hivite. The most basic root for these names is HT and is the same as the name Het (Heth). Genesis 10 tells us that these two clans are of Heth and a confederation. The name HT appears in the Hebrew and Arabic world for copper - nahas-het. Nahash means serpent. As an adjective it means shining bright, like burnished copper. So the evidence suggests that the clans of HT were Bronze Age coppersmiths. The serpent image was sacred for them, just as it was for Moses and the people of Israel in the wilderness. It was as they looked upon the bronze coiled serpent (a solar image) that the people were saved.

Genesis 23:3-20 tells us that the descendants of Heth were living in the land of Canaan where Abraham lived.  He bought a burial site from them. They considered Abraham “a prince of God” among them (Gen. 23:6)

The Hittites spread into Anatolia and introduced iron work there. They didn’t call themselves “Hittites” (an anachronism) but Nes or Nus (Nuzi), and their language was called Nesli. They were Afro-Asiatic metal workers and the root of their original name is NS. As the letter N remains unchanged in the older Proto-Saharan languages we can be fairly certain that this was the name of the Anatolian Hittites. They are the likely source of over 5000 Horite texts found in Nuzi in Mesopotamia. These are written using the Akkadian script.

The Clans of Het and the Clans of Ar were related 

The Arkites and the Arvadites were another two-clan confederation. The word “Arvadites” refers to residents of the Mediterranean island-city of Arvad (Arpah or Arphad in other ancient sources). Arvad is an extremely ancient city. Before the Phoenicians, it was populated seasonally by peoples passing from north Africa to Asia. Some of these were Netufians.

The Arvadites had close ties the Egyptians, and paid tribute to the Kushite Pharaohs for protection from the Assyrians. The Kushite Pharaoh Tahar-qo called the land of Canaan and Syria “Khor” which is a compound of K for Kush and Hor for Horus. (Kash, Kwash, Akwanski and Kush are cognates referring to the First People, who were considered deified ancestors.)  In 2010, the 4400 year old tomb of a Kushite priest was found at Giza. The tomb belongs to a priest named Rudj-Ka (or Rwd-Ka) and dates to the 5th Dynasty, between 2465 and 2323 B.C.

In a message sent to the King of Tyre Tahar-qo wrote, “Oh Amun, what I did in the land of Nubia, let [ … … ], let me do it with your tribute (inw) of Khor (Syria-Palestine) which has been turned aside from you.” (http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/gdc/ssea/vol31/kahn%20article.pdf, p. 115)

The older root of the names Arkite and Arvadite is AR and its origin is likely Proto-Saharan. Among the Igbo of Nigeria, the scribe clans were called Ar or Aro. The word Ar-ab means “father is scribe.” The earliest known writing originated in Canaan among the coastline peoples of the Red Sea and Phoenicia. The Arabic word for throne is aarsh/ash and likely related to the scribal function attached to rulers.

The Egyptian Asa-ar means the Serpent of Asa (Deity). The peoples living in Arvad, Tyre and Sidon employed serpent imagery in their temples.

There are Israelites who were associated by their names with the Ar patrimony. They are Aroch (1 Chr 7:39, Ezr 2:5, Neh 6:18, Neh 7:10) and Ariel (Ezr 8:16, Isa 29:1, Isa 29:1, Isa 29:2, Isa 29:2, Isa 29:7). Ariel means “Scribe/Messenger of God.” So it appears that the Ar clans were scribes or messengers. This is further suggested by the name Ar-vad. Vad means “to speak” in Sanskrit. The association of the name Ar with the scribal caste is further demonstrated by the discovery of Aramaic scrolls from Arsames, the satrap, to his Egyptian administrator Psamshek and to an Egyptian ruler named Nekht-hor. (A.T.Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire, Chicago, 1948, pp.116-117) Some variations of the name Ar include Ar-Shem, Arsames, Artix, and Araxes, and all of these are figures named in historical texts.

Related reading: The Religion of Archaic Rulers; Some Marks of Prehistoric Religion; The Gezer Calendar Reflects Nilotic Farming Practices; Who Were the Canaanites?; The Genesis King Lists; The Origins of Written Communications; The World's Oldest Books