After the flood, the entire earth was split into three portions. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by undefined Gaster in 1899, each of Noah's sons claimed a continent. Shem took Asia—the land of Persia, stretching from Bactria to India, with 27 languages and 406 peoples. Ham took Africa, from Aram and Lebanon to the Red Sea, with 22 languages and 394 peoples. Japheth chose Europe, extending from Media to the river Tanais, with 23 languages and 300 peoples.
The chronicle then maps biblical names onto medieval geography in extraordinary detail. The compiler, Eliezer the Levite, wove together material from the Book of Josippon (a 10th-century Hebrew chronicle of Jewish history) with Jerahmeel's own genealogies. Magog became the Scythians, from whom arose Gog and Magog—the peoples that Alexander of Macedon enclosed behind the Caspian Mountains, and from them descended the Goths, Normans, Bavarians, Lombards, and Saxons. Tubal became the Iberians and Spaniards. Ashkenaz was placed in Greece. The Dodanim were identified as the Danes, dwelling in "Danemarka."
Among Ham's descendants, Cush was Ethiopia, Misraim was Egypt, and Canaan was the Land of Israel. Nimrod, son of Cush, established his kingdom in Babylon and became the first man to force others to worship him as a god. His son Bel gave his name to all idols—Ba'al Pe'or, Ba'al Zebub. The chronicle draws a direct line: Nimrod counseled the people to build the Tower of Babel. Anyone who rebelled against God was compared to "Nimrod, the mighty hunter before God."
Shem's descendants traced through Aram to Syria, through Elam to Persia, and through Arpakhshad to Chaldea. The text identifies the birthplace of Job in the land of Us. Each river marked a boundary—the Euphrates for Shem, the Nile for Ham, the Tigris for Japheth. The whole known world had its origins in three brothers stepping off an ark.