Arvadite
Ar'vadite (Heb. Arvadi', אִרוָדִי, Sept. Α᾿ράδιος, Ge 10:18; 1Ch 1:16), an inhabitant of-the island Aradus or ARVAD SEE ARVAD (q.v.) (so Josephus explains Α᾿ρουδαῖοι, Ant. i, 6, 2), and doubtless also of the neighboring coast. The Arvadites were descended from one of the sons of Canaan (Ge 10:18). Strabo (xvi, 731) describes the Arvadites as a colony from Sidon. They were noted mariners (Eze 27:8,11; Strabo, 16:754), and formed a distinct state, with a king of their own (Arrian, Exped. Alex. ii, 90); yet they appear to have been in some dependence upon Tyre, for the prophet represents them as furnishing their contingent of mariners to that city (Eze 27:8,11). The Arvadites took their full share in Phoenician maritime traffic, particularly after Tyre and Sidon had fallen under the dominion of the Graeco-Syrian kings. They early entered into alliance with the Romans, and Aradus is mentioned among the states to which the consul Lucius formally made known the league which had been contracted with Simon Maccabaeus (1 Macc. xv, 23).
