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192 Ashkenaz Ashkenazi

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

the district of ancient Assyria), with which the Talmud and Midrash connect Riphath (apparently ac-

cording to marginal reading Diphath in Chron. i. 6). While in the Targum, Talmud, and Midrash, Togar-

mah

is

identified

with Germauia

(the identification,

three instances in all, being clearly based on similarity of sound), the medieval Jews (as, for example, Yosippon) understood by Ashkenaz the Teutons. Eusebius had also made this identification, while, ac-

192

spread through Mysiaand Phrygia, and subsequently settled in western Armenia (Ashkhen is an Armenian proper name). Assyriologists identify Ashkenaz with a people named Ashguza whose aid was sought by the Mannai when they revolted from Esarhaddon; both were settled near Lake Urumiyeh. This view agrees better with the passage in Jeremiah. Bibliography 327



Ashkelon Besieged by Rameses



C. I. 0.

Dillmann, T.

293

ii.

Gomm. on

see

also

Gen., Engl,

transl., p.

the commentaries

of

(See p. 190.)

II.

(After Lepsius, "Denkmaler.")

cording to Saadia, the Slavs are meant. Joseplms Ashkenaz with the Rhegines, a people otherwise unknown. Modern scholars since Bochart have connected Ashkenaz with Ascanius, which occurs as the name of a Mysian and of a Phrygian prince, and in Homer as the name of a river also; there was likewise a district Ascania inhabited by Phrygians and Mysians and an Ascanian lake was Accordingly, located in Phrygia and in Bithynia. Ashkenaz is said to be the old name of a people who identifies



Gunkel, Strack, Franz

La

bauer.

Delitzscn,

Delitzscn, etc., on Gen. x.; NeuGengraphie du Talmud, p. 433; Friedrich Lay das Paradies % p. 246 Jastrow, DM.

IFo



p. 270.

M. L. M.

J. sit.

ASHKENAZ erally

in

country.



Germany

medieval Its origin



rabbinical

name applied literature

to

genthat

particular is obscure. Among the sources quoted by Zunz ("Ritus," p. 66) the ritual of Amhaii Gaon (about 850) is perhaps the oldest. Its mention there proves nothing, as the in

this