Dodanim
Do'danim (Hebrews Dodanim', דֹּדָנַים, deriv. unknown; Sept. ῾Ρόδιοι, Vulg. Dodanim), a family or race descended from (the fourth son of) Javan, the son of Japheth (Ge 10:4). The authorities vary as to the form of the name: the Hebrew text has Dodanim in Genesis, but RODANIM (רוֹדָנַים) in the text of the parallel passage (1Ch 1:7, margin דּוֹדָנַים, Sept. again ῾Ρόδιοι [v.r. Δωδανάμ], and Vulg. Dodanim, A.V. "Dodanim"); Dodanim appears in the Syriac, Chaldee, Vulgate, Persian, and Arabic versions, and in the Targum of Onkelos; Rodanima is supported by the Sept., the Samaritan version, and some early writers, as Eusebius and Cosmas. The weight of authority is in favor of Dodanim; the substitution of ῾Ρόδιοι, Rhodians, in the Sept. may have arisen from familiarity with that name (compare Eze 27:15, where it is again substituted for Dedan). Dodanim is regarded as identical with Dardani (Gesenius, Thesaur. page 1266), the latter, which is the original form, having been modified by the change of the liquid r into o, as in Barmilcar and Bomilcar, Hamilcar and Hamlilco (Hall. Lit. Zeit. 1841, No. 4). Thus the Targum of Jonathan, that on Chronicles, and the Jerusalem Talmud, give Dardania for Dodanim. The Dardani were found in historical times in Illyricum and Troy: the former district was regarded as their original seat. They were probably a semi-Pelasgic race, and are grouped with the Chittim in the genealogical table, as more closely related to them than to the other branches of the Pelasgic race (Knobel, Volkertafel, page 104 sq.). The similarity of the name Dodona in Epirus (Strabo, 7:327 sq.) has led to the identification of Dodanim with that place (Michaelis, Spicileg. 1:120); but a mere local designation appears too restricted for the general tenor of Genesis 10. SEE ETHNOLOGY. Kalisch (Comm. on Gen.) identifies Dodanim with the Daunians, who occupied the coast of Apulia: he regards the name as referring to Italy generally. The wide and unexplained difference of the names, and the comparative unimportance of the Daunians, form objections to this view. Those who prefer the reading Rodanim refer it to the Greek inhabitants along the river Rhone (Bochar Phaleg, 3:6), from the original Rhodus (Tuch, Genesis page 216).
