Riphath

Riphath (Hebrew: ריפת) was Gomer's second son according to the Table of Nations in the Hebrew Bible (Gen. 10:3, 1 Chronicles 1:6). The name appears in some copies of 1 Chronicles as "Diphath", due to the similarities of the characters resh and dalet in the Hebrew and Aramaic alphabets.

He was supposed by Flavius Josephus to have been the ancestor of the "Riphatheans, now called Paphlagonians". Hippolytus of Rome made him the ancestor of the "Sauromatians" (as distinct from the "Sarmatians", whom he called descendants of Riphath's elder brother, Ashkenaz).

Riphath has often been connected with the Riphean Mountains of classical Greek geography, in whose foothills the Arimaspi (also called Arimphaei^[1] or Riphaeans^[2]) were said to live.^[3] These were usually identified with the Ural Mountains in authors such as Pliny the Elder.

August Wilhelm Knobel proposed that Riphath begat the Celtic peoples, who according to Plutarch had crossed from the Riphaean Mountains while en route to Northern Europe.^[4]

Some versions of the Middle Irish work Lebor Gabála Érenn give as an alternate name "Riphath Scot" son of Gomer, in place of Fenius Farsa, as a Scythian ancestor of the Goidels.

References

1. Pliny, Nat. Hist. l.6.c.2.
2. Mela, De Situ Orbis, l.1.c.2.
3. Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible, Genesis 10:3.
4. Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Genesis 10:3.