1Now this is the history of the generations of the sons of Noah and of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.
2The sons of Japheth were: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3The sons of Gomer were: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4The sons of Javan were: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 5Of these were the islands of the nations divided in their lands, everyone after his language, after their families, in their nations.
6The sons of Ham were: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. 7The sons of Cush were: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah were: Sheba and Dedan. 8Cush became the father of Nimrod. He began to be a mighty one in the earth. 9He was a mighty hunter before Yahweh. Therefore it is said, “like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before Yahweh”. 10The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11Out of that land he went into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, 12and Resen between Nineveh and the great city Calah. 13Mizraim became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 14Pathrusim, Casluhim (which the Philistines descended from), and Caphtorim.
15Canaan became the father of Sidon (his firstborn), Heth, 16the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, 17the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, 18the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad. 19The border of the Canaanites was from Sidon—as you go toward Gerar—to Gaza—as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim—to Lasha. 20These are the sons of Ham, after their families, according to their languages, in their lands and their nations.
21Children were also born to Shem (the elder brother of Japheth), the father of all the children of Eber. 22The sons of Shem were: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. 23The sons of Aram were: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. 24Arpachshad became the father of Shelah. Shelah became the father of Eber. 25To Eber were born two sons. The name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided. His brother’s name was Joktan. 26Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. 30Their dwelling extended from Mesha, as you go toward Sephar, the mountain of the east. 31These are the sons of Shem, by their families, according to their languages, lands, and nations.
32These are the families of the sons of Noah, by their generations, according to their nations. The nations divided from these in the earth after the flood.
Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia and the birthplace of the Apostle Paul, appears five times in the Bible, each reference in the Book of Acts (9:11, 30; 11:25; 21:39; 22:3). In Acts 21:39, Paul accurately described Tarsus as "no mean (literally 'insignificant' or 'undistinguished') city." Paul accurately capsulated the importance of Tarsus in his day, as it was one of three cities (along with Athens and Alexandria) with vaunted medical schools and, according to Strabo, boasted an intellectual climate surpassing even Athens and Alexandria in culture and learning (Geog. 14.5.131).
Tarsus' natural features promoted its commercial growth. Located on both sides of the Cydnus River, twelve miles inland from the Mediterranean Sea, the city was accessible to sea-going vessels, allowing for extensive maritime trade. Located twenty-five miles south of the Cilician Gates, the only major pass through the Taurus mountain range, the city, commercially, was called a place where "east meets west." Although by legend the city was founded by Perseus and Hercules, the site was likely colonized by Ionian Greeks (some surmise that Tarsus is Tarshish, one of the sons of Javan, founder of the Greeks; Gen 10:4). The first written historical record is in the Assyrian annals of Shalmaneser III (859-824 B.C.), who referenced Tarsus on the Black Obelisk as a conquest. The city is also mentioned in the Assyrian annals of Sennacherib (704-681 B.C.) and the Spartan historian-general Xenophon (Anabasis 1.2), who described the city as prosperous. Alexander thwarted the scorched-earth policy of the Persians initiated by Memnon, the Macedonian mercenary, by preventing the Persians from burning the city in 333 B.C., during his march through Asia Minor toward the Battle of Issus. Passing from Alexander's hegemony to the Seleucid dynasty, the city was renamed Antioch on the Cydnus under Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 B.C.).
Pompey annexed the city for Rome in 67 B.C., with the famed Cicero serving as proconsul from 51-50 B.C. In the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey in 47 B.C., Tarsus renamed itself "Juliopolis." As the city sided with Mark Antony over Cassius, Antony rewarded it with "free city" status - exemption from taxation. Here Antony first courted Cleopatra in 41 B.C., where she arrived on her vessel arrayed as Aphrodite.
Tarsus' sophisticated and varied culture provided Paul the rearing and training to have the versatility to reach both Jew and Gentile, both the educated and mean, aristocrat and tradesman, eastern and western, and rich and poor. Tarsus was a center of Greek Stoic philosophy, hosted the latest in the arts, such as Cilician poets, was an east-west crossroads of trade, and whose citizens possessed Roman rights and citizenry. All this, combined with learning Jewish theology and Law at the feet of Gamaliel in Jerusalem (Acts 22:3), meant Paul was uniquely equipped with a level of remarkable versatility, both to comprehend and to communicate the Gospel, fructifying a powerful Apostleship (cf. 1 Cor 15:10).