Editing Gog and Magog (section)

==Identifications==

=== Barbarian and nomadic identifications ===
Throughout [[Classical antiquity|classical]] and [[late antiquity]], Christian and Jewish writers identified Gog and Magog with a wide diversity of groups:

* '''Romans'''. This identification was made by [[Eusebius]].{{sfn|Lust|1999b|p=375}}
* '''Goths'''. Gog and Magog were connected to the [[Goths]] by [[Ambrose]] (d. 397) and [[Jordanes]] (d. 555). The latter believed that the Goths, Scythians, and [[Amazons]] were all the same.{{sfn|Bietenholz|1994|p=125}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The idea that Gog and Magog were connected with the Goths was longstanding; in the mid-16th century, Archbishop of Uppsala [[Johannes Magnus]] traced the royal family of [[Sweden]] back to Magog son of Japheth, via Suenno, progenitor of the Swedes, and Gog, ancestor of the Goths).{{r|derry}}}} The Goths also represent Gog and Magog in the ε and γ recensions of the [[Alexander Romance]], where the term "Gog and Magog" forms a portmanteau with "Goth" to form "Goth and Magoth".<ref name=":1" />
* '''Scythians'''. The Scythian identification was made by [[Josephus]], [[Jerome]] (d. 420), [[Jordanes]],{{sfn|Bietenholz|1994|p=125}} [[Theodore of Mopsuestia]], [[Theodoret|Theodoret of Cyrrhus]], [[Isidore of Seville]], [[Joannes Zonaras|John Zonaras]], and [[Otto of Freising]].<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Alemany |first=Agusti |title=Gog and Magog: contributions toward a world history of an apocalyptic motif |date=2023 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=9783110720150 |editor-last=Tamer |editor-first=Georges |series=Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - tension, transmission, transformation |location=Berlin Boston |pages=38–40 |chapter=Beyond the Wall: Eurasian Steppe Nomads in the Gog and Magog Motif |editor-last2=Mein |editor-first2=Andrew |editor-last3=Greisiger |editor-first3=Lutz}}</ref>
* '''Sarmatians and Alans'''. This identification was made in [[Josephus]] (for whom the Scythians were a subgroup of the Alans), [[Pseudo-Hegesippus]], and the [[Chronicon Paschale]].<ref name=":13">{{Cite book |last=Alemany |first=Agusti |title=Gog and Magog: contributions toward a world history of an apocalyptic motif |date=2023 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=9783110720150 |editor-last=Tamer |editor-first=Georges |series=Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - tension, transmission, transformation |location=Berlin Boston |pages=40 |chapter=Beyond the Wall: Eurasian Steppe Nomads in the Gog and Magog Motif |editor-last2=Mein |editor-first2=Andrew |editor-last3=Greisiger |editor-first3=Lutz}}</ref>
* '''Huns'''. The [[Byzantine]] writer [[Procopius]] said it was the Huns Alexander had locked out,{{sfn|Bietenholz|1994|pp=125–126}} and in the [[Syriac Alexander Legend]] the kingdom of the Huns is also used to represent Gog and Magog.<ref name=":1" /> This identification can also be found in [[Andreas of Caesarea]], as well as multiple Syriac and Greek texts which followed the identification found in the Syriac Alexander Legend over the course of the seventh century and beyond: the [[Apocalypse of Pseudo-Ephraem]], the [[Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius]], the ''Vita Alexandri'', and [[Michael the Syrian]].<ref name=":15">{{Cite book |last=Alemany |first=Agusti |title=Gog and Magog: contributions toward a world history of an apocalyptic motif |date=2023 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=9783110720150 |editor-last=Tamer |editor-first=Georges |series=Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - tension, transmission, transformation |location=Berlin Boston |pages=40–42 |chapter=Beyond the Wall: Eurasian Steppe Nomads in the Gog and Magog Motif |editor-last2=Mein |editor-first2=Andrew |editor-last3=Greisiger |editor-first3=Lutz}}</ref>
* '''Haphthalites'''. This identification was made by [[Movses Kaghankatvatsi]].<ref name=":14">{{Cite book |last=Alemany |first=Agusti |title=Gog and Magog: contributions toward a world history of an apocalyptic motif |date=2023 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=9783110720150 |editor-last=Tamer |editor-first=Georges |series=Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - tension, transmission, transformation |location=Berlin Boston |pages=42 |chapter=Beyond the Wall: Eurasian Steppe Nomads in the Gog and Magog Motif |editor-last2=Mein |editor-first2=Andrew |editor-last3=Greisiger |editor-first3=Lutz}}</ref>
* '''Avars and Magyars'''. This identification was made by [[Isidore of Seville]], [[Theodore Synkellos]], the ''Anonymi Bele regis notarii Gesta Hungarorum'', and the ''Chronicon Pictum''.<ref name=":16">{{Cite book |last=Alemany |first=Agusti |title=Gog and Magog: contributions toward a world history of an apocalyptic motif |date=2023 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=9783110720150 |editor-last=Tamer |editor-first=Georges |series=Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - tension, transmission, transformation |location=Berlin Boston |pages=43–44 |chapter=Beyond the Wall: Eurasian Steppe Nomads in the Gog and Magog Motif |editor-last2=Mein |editor-first2=Andrew |editor-last3=Greisiger |editor-first3=Lutz}}</ref>
* '''Turks'''. In Islamic tradition, the following authors identified Gog and Magog as the Turks: [[Abu Hurayra]], [[al-Dahhak ibn Muzahim]], [[Al-Baydawi]], Al-Qazwini, and [[Al-Majlisi]].<ref name=":17">{{Cite book |last=Alemany |first=Agusti |title=Gog and Magog: contributions toward a world history of an apocalyptic motif |date=2023 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=9783110720150 |editor-last=Tamer |editor-first=Georges |series=Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - tension, transmission, transformation |location=Berlin Boston |pages=44–45 |chapter=Beyond the Wall: Eurasian Steppe Nomads in the Gog and Magog Motif |editor-last2=Mein |editor-first2=Andrew |editor-last3=Greisiger |editor-first3=Lutz}}</ref>
* '''Khazars'''. This identification was made by [[Aethicus Ister]], [[Iovane Sabanisje]], [[Christian of Stavelot]], [[Ahmad ibn Fadlan]], and the ''[[Hadith Dhulqarnayn]]''.<ref name=":18">{{Cite book |last=Alemany |first=Agusti |title=Gog and Magog: contributions toward a world history of an apocalyptic motif |date=2023 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=9783110720150 |editor-last=Tamer |editor-first=Georges |series=Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - tension, transmission, transformation |location=Berlin Boston |pages=45–46 |chapter=Beyond the Wall: Eurasian Steppe Nomads in the Gog and Magog Motif |editor-last2=Mein |editor-first2=Andrew |editor-last3=Greisiger |editor-first3=Lutz}}</ref>
* '''Mongols and Tartars'''. This identification was made by the ''[[Historia de Preliis]]'', [[Richer of Senones]], [[Matthew Paris]], [[Marco Polo]], [[Hayton of Corycus]], [[Riccoldo da Monte di Croce]], and the ''Continuation of Barhebraeus''.<ref name=":19">{{Cite book |last=Alemany |first=Agusti |title=Gog and Magog: contributions toward a world history of an apocalyptic motif |date=2023 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=9783110720150 |editor-last=Tamer |editor-first=Georges |series=Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - tension, transmission, transformation |location=Berlin Boston |pages=50–51 |chapter=Beyond the Wall: Eurasian Steppe Nomads in the Gog and Magog Motif |editor-last2=Mein |editor-first2=Andrew |editor-last3=Greisiger |editor-first3=Lutz}}</ref> 
* '''Other'''. A Western monk named Fredegar seems to have Gog and Magog in mind in his description of savage hordes from beyond Alexander's gates who had assisted the Byzantine emperor [[Heraclius]] (610–641) against the Muslim [[Saracens]].{{sfn|Bietenholz|1994|pp=125–126}}

=== Eurasian steppes ===
As one nomadic people followed another on the Eurasian steppes, so the identification of Gog and Magog shifted. In the 9th and 10th centuries these kingdoms were identified by some with the lands of the [[Khazars]], a Turkic people whose leaders had converted to Judaism and whose empire dominated Central Asia–the 9th-century monk [[Christian of Stavelot]] referred to Gazari, said of the Khazars that they were "living in the lands of Gog and Magog" and noted that they were "circumcised and observing all [the laws of] Judaism".{{sfn|Brook|2006|pp=7–8, 96}}{{sfn|Westrem|1998|p=65}} Arab traveler ibn Fadlan also reported of this belief, writing around 921 he recorded that "Khazars are part of the Gog and Magog".{{sfn|Brook|2006|p=8}}

After the Khazars came the [[Mongols]], seen as a mysterious and invincible horde from the east who destroyed Muslim empires and kingdoms in the early 13th century; kings and popes took them for the legendary [[Prester John]], marching to save Christians from the Muslim [[Saracens]], but when they entered Poland and Hungary and annihilated Christian armies a terrified Europe concluded that they were "Magogoli", the offspring of Gog and Magog, released from the prison Alexander had constructed for them and heralding [[Armageddon]].{{sfn|Marshall|1993|pp=12, 120–122, 144}}

[[Europeans in Medieval China]] reported findings from their travels to the [[Mongol Empire]]. Some accounts and maps began to place the "Caspian Mountains", and Gog and Magog, just outside the [[Great Wall of China]]. The ''[[Tartar Relation]]'', an obscure account of [[Giovanni da Pian del Carpine|Friar Carpini]]'s 1240s journey to Mongolia, is unique in alleging that these Caspian Mountains in Mongolia, "where the Jews called Gog and Magog by their fellow countrymen are said to have been shut in by Alexander", were moreover purported by the Tartars to be magnetic, causing all iron equipment and weapons to fly off toward the mountains on approach.{{r|painter}} In 1251, the French friar [[André de Longjumeau]] informed his king that the Mongols originated from a desert further east, and an apocalyptic Gog and Magog ("Got and Margoth") people dwelled further beyond, confined by the mountains.{{sfn|William of Rubruck|Rockhill (tr.)|1900|pp=xxi, fn 2}} In the map of [[Muhammad al-Idrisi|Sharif Idrisi]], the land of Gog and Magog is drawn in the northeast corner (beyond Northeast Asia) and enclosed.<ref>Gow, Andrew. "Gog and Magog on Mappaemundi and early printed world maps: Orientalizing ethnography in the apocalyptic tradition." Journal of Early Modern History 2, no. 1 (1998): 61–88.</ref> Some medieval European world maps also show the location of the lands of Gog and Magog in the far northeast of Asia (and the northeast corner of the world).<ref>Van Duzer, Chet. "The Legends on the Yale Martellus Map." In Henricus Martellus's World Map at Yale (c. 1491), pp. 44–117. Springer, Cham, 2019.</ref>

In fact, Gog and Magog were held by the Mongol to be their ancestors, at least by some segment of the population. As traveler and Friar [[Riccoldo da Monte di Croce]] put it in c. 1291, "They say themselves that they are descended from Gog and Magog: and on this account they are called ''Mogoli'', as if from a corruption of ''Magogoli''".{{sfn|Boyle|1979|p=126}}{{Sfn|Marco Polo|Yule (tr.)|1875|pp=285, fn 5}}{{sfn|Westrem|1998|pp=66–67}} [[Marco Polo]], traveling when the initial terror had subsided, places Gog and Magog among the [[Tartars]] in [[Hohhot|Tenduc]], but then claims that the names Gog and Magog are translations of the place-names Ung and Mungul, inhabited by the Ung and Mongols respectively.{{Sfn|Marco Polo|Yule (tr.)|1875|pp=276–286}}{{r|strickland}}

<!--Even if Gog and Magog were considered ancestors, this location of Gog and Magog seems too far east.-->An explanation offered by Orientalist [[Henry Yule]] was that Marco Polo was only referring to the "Rampart of Gog and Magog", a name for the Great Wall of China.{{sfn|Marco Polo|Yule (tr.)|1875|pp=283, fn 5}} Friar André's placement of Gog and Magog far east of Mongolia has been similarly explained.{{sfn|William of Rubruck|Rockhill (tr.)|1900|pp=xxi, fn 2}}

===The confined Jews===
[[File:Mapa de Borgia XV.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|The [[Borgia map]], copper-engraved world map ({{circa|1430}}). Gog and Magog (identified as confined Jews) are shown on the left, representing the far east.{{sfn|Gow|1998|pp=77–78}}]]
Some time around the 12th century, the [[Ten Lost Tribes]] of Israel came to be identified with Gog and Magog;{{sfn|Gow|1995|pp=23–24}} possibly the first to do so was [[Petrus Comestor]] in ''Historica Scholastica'' (c. 1169–1173),{{sfn|Gow|1995|p=42}}{{sfn|Boyle|1979|p=124}} and he was indeed a far greater influence than others before him, although the idea had been anticipated by the aforementioned Christian of Stavelot, who noted that the Khazhars, to be identified with Gog and Magog, was one of [[Seven chieftains of the Magyars|seven tribes of the Hungarians]] and had converted to Judaism.{{sfn|Brook|2006|pp=7–8, 96}}{{sfn|Westrem|1998|p=65}}

While the confounding Gog and Magog as confined Jews was becoming commonplace, some, like Riccoldo or [[Vincent de Beauvais]] remained skeptics, and distinguished the Lost Tribes from Gog and Magog.{{sfn|Boyle|1979|p=126}}{{sfn|Bietenholz|1994|p=134}}{{sfn|Gow|1995|pp=56–57}} As noted, Riccoldo had reported a Mongol folk-tradition that they were descended from Gog and Magog. He also addressed many minds (Westerners or otherwise{{sfn|Westrem|1998|p=66}}) being credulous of the notion that Mongols might be Captive Jews, but after weighing the pros and cons, he concluded this was an open question.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Riccoldo observed that the Mongol script resembled Chaldean ([[Syriac language|Syriac]],{{Sfn|Marco Polo|Yule (tr.)|1875|pp=58, fn 3}} a form of [[Aramaic]]), and in fact it does derive from Aramaic.{{sfn|Boyle|1979|p=125, note 19}} However, he saw that Mongols bore no physical resemblance to Jews and were ignorant of Jewish laws.}}{{sfn|Westrem|1998|pp=66–67}}{{Sfn|Marco Polo|Yule (tr.)|1875|pp=58, fn 3}}

The Flemish Franciscan friar [[William of Rubruck]], who was first-hand witness to Alexander's [[Fortifications of Derbent|supposed wall]] in [[Derbent]] on the shores of the Caspian Sea in 1254,{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Rubruck refers Derbent as the "Iron Gate", this also being the meaning of the Turkish name (Demir kapi) for the town.{{Sfn|William of Rubruck|Rockhill (tr.)|1900|pp=xlvi, 262 note 1}} Rubruck may have been the only medieval Westerner to claim to have seen it.{{sfn|Westrem|1998|p=66}}}} identified the people the walls were meant to fend off only vaguely as "wild tribes" or "desert nomads",{{efn|Also "barbarous nations", "savage tribes".}}{{sfn|William of Rubruck|Rockhill (tr.)|1900|pp=xlvi, 100, 120, 122, 130, 262–263 and fn}} but one researcher made the inference Rubruck must have meant Jews,{{efn|Based on Rubruck stating elsewhere "There are other enclosures in which there are Jews"}} and that he was speaking in the context of "Gog and Magog".{{efn|Since [[Roger Bacon]], having been informed by Rubruck, urged the study of geography to discover where the [[Antichrist]] and Gog and Magog might be found.}}{{sfn|Westrem|1998|p=66}} Confined Jews were later to be referred to as "[[Red Jews]]" (''die roten Juden'') in German-speaking areas; a term first used in a [[Holy Grail]] epic dating to the 1270s, in which Gog and Magog were two mountains enclosing these people.{{efn|[[Albrecht von Scharfenberg]], ''Der jüngere Titurel''. It belongs in the [[Arthurian cycle]].}}{{sfn|Gow|1995|pp=70–71}}

The author of the ''[[John Mandeville|Travels of Sir John Mandeville]]'', a 14th-century best-seller, said he had found these Jews in Central Asia where as Gog and Magog they had been imprisoned by Alexander, plotting to escape and join with the Jews of Europe to destroy Christians.{{sfn|Westrem|1998|pp=68–69}}

In the [[Borgia map]], a copper-engraved world map probably produced in [[Southern Germany]] {{circa|1430}}, the most eastern part contains two fortified regions depicting Gog and Magog, with the following Latin inscriptions:{{sfn|Gow|1998|pp=77–78}}

*{{lang|la|Provincia gog, in qua fuerunt iudei inclusi tempore artaxersis regis persarum.}}
:The province of Gog, in which the Jews were confined during the time of Artaxerxes, king of the Persians.
*{{lang|la|Magog in istis duabus sunt gentes magni et gigantes pleni omnium malorum morum. Quos iudeos artaxersex collexit de omnibus partibus persarum.}}
:Magog – in these two are large people and giants who are full of all kinds of bad behaviors. These Jews were collected by Artaxerxes from all parts of Persia.

The Persian king Artaxerxes (either [[Artaxerxes I]] or [[Artaxerxes II]], appearing in the [[Book of Ezra]] 7) was commonly confused in medieval Europe with the Neo-Assyrian ruler [[Shalmaneser V]], who according to [[Books of Kings|2 Kings]] 17 drove the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel into exile.{{sfn|Gow|1998|pp=77–78}}

=== Kievan Rus ===
The twelfth-century chronicle ''Primary Chronicle'' posited that the people of [[Kievan Rus']] were descendants of the biblical Japheth, son of Noah, and of the tribe of Magog.<ref name=":0">{{Harvtxt|Marsh|2011|p=254}}.</ref> According to political scientist Christopher Marsh, "the implications" of being descendants of the tribe of Magog, depicted as being thrown out of heaven in the biblical Revelation of John, "apparently didn't matter to those drawing" the connection who believed that "[a]ncestors were found in the Bible, and that was enough", allegedly making the Rus' a chosen people of the Christian God.<ref name=":0" />