Cave of Treasures

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Peleg was thirty years old when he begot Reu; and all the days of his life were two hundred and thirty-nine years, and he died [and they buried him in the city of Peleg, which he had built after his own name]. The Migration to the land of Séntar And in the days of Peleg all the tribes and families of the children of Noah gathered together, and went up from the East. And they found a [Fol. 22a, col. 1] plain in the land of Sên`ar (Shinar?), and they all sat down there; and from Adam until this time they were all of one speech and one language. They all spake this language, that is to say, SURYAYA (Syrian), which is ARAMAYA (Aramean), and this language is the king of all languages. Now, ancient writers have erred in that they said that Hebrew was the first [language], and in this matter they have mingled an ignorant mistake with their writing. For all the languages there are in the world are derived from Syrian, and all the languages in books are mingled with it. In the writing of the Syrians the left hand stretcheth out to the right hand, and all the children of the left hand (i.e. the heathen) draw nigh to the right hand of God; now with the Greeks, and Romans, and the Hebrews, the right hand stretcheth out to the left. [Both Hebrew and Syriac are written from right to left, but Greek and Latin from left to right.] [Fol. 22a, col. 2.] And in the days of Peleg the Tower which is in Babel was built, and there the tongues of men were confounded. [A marginal note says, "the division of tongues took place at midnight."| And from that place they were scattered over the face of all the earth; and that place was called "Babel," because tongues were confounded there. [Note: The name Babel or Babylon has nothing to do with the Hebrew words "to mix, to confound." "Babel" is a transcription of the Assyrian words "Bab-ilu," which mean "Gate of God," and which are the Semitic translation of the Sumerian words Ka-Dingirra-Ki.] And after the division of tongues Peleg died in great sorrow, and with tears in his eyes and grief in his heart, because in his days the earth was divided. And his son Reu, and Serug, and Nahor buried him in Peleghin, the city which he had built after his own name. And there were seventy-two tongues in the earth, and seventy-two heads of tribes (or families), and each tribe and tongue made unto themselves a chief like a king. The Posterity of Japhet And the seed of Japhet became thirty-seven nations and kingdoms; viz. Gamar (Gomer), and Yawan, and Madhai, and Tabil, and Mashékh [Fol. 22b, col. 1], and Tirés, and all the kingdoms of the Alanayé; all these are the children of Japhet. 60 of 130