Rodanim
RODANIM
RODANIM (Heb. רוֹדָנִים; possibly Rhodians, inhabitants of the island of Rhodes), descendants of Javan (Gen. 10:4). In i Chronicles 1:7 and in the Samaritan, Syriac, and Septuagint versions of Genesis 10:4 they are called Rodanim, while in the Masoretic Text of Genesis 10:4 they are called Dodanim. It is likely that this is the result of an onomastic-ethnographic or epigraphic (between r and d) confusion. It is possible that the Rodanim should be equated with the Dananians (?) who are mentioned in the *El-Amarna letters (J.A. Knudtzon, Die El-Amarna Tafeln, 1 (1907), 151, lines 48–58, letter from Tyre) and in the Karatepe Inscriptions (see Donner and Roellig, in bibl.) or with Yadnâna, perhaps Cyprus (cf. *Elishah). However, the most plausible, although not entirely satisfactory, explanation remains that the Rodanim were inhabitants of Rhodes.
bibliography:
H. Winckler, Altorientalische Forschungen, 2 (1900), 422; E. Dhorme, in: Syria, 13 (1932), 48; J.L. Myres, Geographical History in Greek Lands (1952), 308ff; R.O. Calaghan, in: Orientalia, 18 (1949), 193; W.F. Albright, in: American Journal of Archeology, 54 (1950), 170ff.; H. Donner and W. Roellig, Kanaanaeische und aramaeische Inschriften, 2 (1964), 39; U. Cassuto, From Noah to Abraham (1964), index.
[Pinhas Artzi]