Togarmah

Thargamos and his sons.
The order of the figures from left to right is: Movakan, Bardos, Kartlos, Haos, Lekos, Thargamos, Caucas, Egros. An opening folio of the Georgian Chronicles (Vakhtangiseuli redaction), 1700s.

Red: Son of Japhet, Yellow: Son of Ham. Blue: Son of Shem

Togarmah (Hebrew: תּוגרמה/Togarmah ; Armenian: Թորգոմ/T’orgom ; Georgian: თარგამოს/T’argamos; also Togarma) third son of Gomer, and grandson of Japheth, brother of Ashkenaz and Riphat (Genesis 10:3). He is held to be the ancestor of the peoples of the South Caucasus: (the Georgians, the Armenians) and some Turkic peoples.

Togarmah's descendants

Hittite kingdom of Tegarama

Togarmah is sometimes identified with the Anatolian kingdom called Tegarama by the Hittites and Til-Garimmu by the Assyrians. O.R. Gurney placed Tegarama in Southeast Anatolia. Others have located it in central Anatolia near the town of Gürün, Sivas about 90 miles (140 km) east of Kanesh.

Caucasian and Armenian history

Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (37 – c. 100 AD), Roman Catholic priest Jerome (c. 347 – 420 AD) and Isidore of Seville (c. 560 – 636 AD) regarded Togarmah as the father of the Phrygians.

Saint Hippolytus (c. 170-c. 236 AD), the Father of the Church History Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 263 – c. 339 AD), and the Christian bishop Theodoret (c. 393 – c. 457 AD) regarded him as a father of Armenians.

Armenian Moses of Chorene (c. 480) and Georgian Leonti Mroveli also regarded Togarmah as the founder of their nations along with other Caucasian people.

Armenians call themselves Hayer and their county Hayastan (the land of the Hayasa) after their founder Haik, who according to Moses of Chorene was son of Togarmah. In the past the country was historically called by natives Metz Hayk/Hayq (Greater Armenia) and Poqr Hayk/Hayq (Lesser Armenia).

In Georgia names such as (Kartlos/Sakartvelo) are found, and other Peoples of the Caucasus like Kakheti (after Kakhos — son of Kartlos) or Leketi (after Lekos son of Togarmah) according to Leonti Mroveli.

Other names were either changed or replaced by Greek, French or English descriptions, but the native language and self-designation in Caucasus preserve some historical facts and figures reflecting the recorded history of Georgian and Armenian people.

According to the Fausset's Bible Dictionary:

"Togarmah son of Gomer, brother of Ashkenaz and Riphat answering to Armenia. From Toka, Sanskrit for tribe or race and Armah (Armenia)². The Armenians represent Haik to be their founder and son of Thorgau (Moses Choren i. 4,9-11). The Phrygians, the race that overspread Asia Minor, probably migrated from Armenia, their language resembled Armenian (Eudoxus, in Steph. Byz on Armenia). The Phrygian is Indo-Germanic as inscriptions prove, and resembled Greek (Plato, Cartyl). In Ezekiak xxvii 14 Togarmah appears trading with Tyre for horses and mules; so Strabo (xi 13,9) makes Armenians famous for breeding horses. In xxxviii 6 Togarmah comes with Gomer from the north against Palestine, this and Genesis x.3 imply Togarma's connection with the Japhetic races, which modern researches confirms to as Armenia. The Armenian connection with the Celts (Gomer i.e Cimbri, Cimmerians, Crimea, Cymry) implies in Togarmah being Gomer's son, is not unlikely. The Imperial Dictionary makes Togarmah to mean the Torkomans who have always joined the Turks, i.e Gog (Ezk. xxxviii 1-6) or the king of the north (Daniel xi 40); Bochart makes Goghasan the original form, among the Colchians, Armenians, and Chaldeans, for which the Greeks gave Caucasus."

According to The Georgian Chronicles and The History of Armenia Togarmah lived in Babylon who received the land between two Seas (Black Sea and Caspian Sea) and two Mountains (Mount Elbrus and Mount Ararat) in his possession when people started division of lands and migration in different parts of the world. He then settled near Mount Ararat and divided his land among his sons:

1. Haik (Հայք) - first son of Togarmah, inherited Mount Ararat and founded the Armenian nation.
2. Kartlos (ქართლოსი) - settled in north-east from Ararat, founder of Kartli (Sa'kartvelo) who united other brothers and founded the Georgian nation.
3. Bardos
4. Movakos (Movkans)
5. Lekos (Lak) - Lak people settled in Caucasus Mountains
6. Heros (Herans) - settled in the eastern part of Ararat
7. Caucas (Kovkases) - settled beyond the Caucasus Range
8. Egros (Egers) - settled between the Black Sea and Likhi Range (Western Georgia)

Turkic history

According to other records, Togarmah is regarded as the ancestor of the Turkic peoples. For example, The French Benedictine monk and scholar Calmet (1672–1757) places Togarmah in Scythia and Turcomania (in the Eurasian Steppes and Central Asia). Also in his letters, King Joseph ben Aaron, the ruler of the Khazars (ca. 960), writes:

"You ask us also in your epistle: "Of what people, of what family, and of what tribe are you?" Know that we are descended from Japhet, through his son Togarmah. I have found in the genealogical books of my ancestors that Togarmah had ten sons. These are their names:

the eldest was Ujur (Agiôr - Uyghur),

the second Tauris (Tirôsz - Tauri),

the third Avar (Avôr - Avar),

the fourth Uauz (Ugin - Oghuz),

the fifth Bizal (Bizel - Pecheneg),

the sixth Tarna,

the seventh Khazar (Khazar),

the eighth Janur (Zagur),

the ninth Bulgar (Balgôr - Bulgar),

the tenth Sawir (Szavvir/Szabir - Sabir)."

This similarity might confirm a connection of origins between Anatolian and Caucasus peoples. In Jewish sources too Togarmah is listed as the father of the Turkic peoples. The medieval Jewish scholar: Joseph ben Gorion lists in his Josippon the ten sons of Togarma as follows:

1. Kozar (the Khazars)
2. Pacinak (the Pechenegs)
3. Aliqanosz (the Alans)
4. Bulgar (the Bulgars)
5. Ragbiga (Ragbina, Ranbona)
6. Tarqi (possibly the Koktraks)
7. Buz (the Oghuz)
8. Zabuk
9. Ungari (either the Hungarians or the Oghurs/Onogurs)
10. Tilmac (Tilmic/Tirôsz - Tauri)."

In the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, they are listed as:

1. Cuzar (the Khazars)
2. Pasinaq (the Pechenegs)
3. Alan (the Alans)
4. Bulgar (the Bulgars)
5. Kanbinah
6. Tarq (possibly the Koktraks)
7. Buz (the Oghuz)
8. Zakhukh
9. Ugar (either the Hungarians or the Oghurs/Onogurs)
10. Tulmes (Tirôsz - Tauri)

Another medieval rabbinic work, the Book of Jasher, further corrupts these same names into:

1. Buzar (the Khazars)
2. Parzunac (the Pechenegs)
3. Elicanum (the Alans)
4. Balgar (the Bulgars)
5. Ragbib
6. Tarki (the Koktraks)
7. Bid (the Oghuz)
8. Zebuc
9. Ongal (Hungarians or Oghurs/Onogurs)
10. Tilmaz (Tirôsz - Tauri).

In Arabic records, Togorma's tribes are these:

1. Khazar (the Khazars)
2. Badsanag (the Pechenegs)
3. Asz-alân (the Alans)
4. Bulghar (the Bulgars)
5. Zabub
6. Fitrakh (Kotrakh?) (Ko-etrakh. Etrakh means trak [possibly Goktraks])
7. Nabir
8. Andsar (Ajhar)
9. Talmisz (Tirôsz - Tauri)
10. Adzîgher (Adzhigardak?).

The Arabic account however, also adds an 11th clan: Anszuh.

Biblical mention

Togarmah is mentioned as being a nation from the "far north" in the Bible. Ezekiel 38:6 - "There will also be Kimer with all its troops and the house of Togarmah from the far north with all its troops-many nations with you."

In Ezekiel 27:14 Togarmah is mentioned after Tubal, Javan, and Meshech as supplying horses and mules to the Tyrians, and in Ezekiel 38:6 it is said to have supplied soldiers to the army of Gog.

References

Jon Ruthven. The Prophecy That Is Shaping History: New Research on Ezekiel's Vision of the End. Fairfax, VA: Xulon Press, 2003.[1]. A major study on the historical geography of Togarmah, Rosh, Meshech, Tubal and the other northern nations listed in Ezekiel 38-39 and elsewhere.