Magog

Who is Magog?

Magog is the second of the seven sons of Japheth mentioned in the Table of Nations in Genesis 10. It may represent Hebrew for "from Gog", though this is far from certain.

Magog is often associated with apocalyptic traditions, mainly in connection with Ezekiel 38 and 39 which mentions "Gog of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal"; on the basis of this mention, "Gog and Magog" over time became associated with each other as a pair. In the New Testament, this pairing is found in the Book of Revelation 20:8, in which instance they may merely be metaphors for archetypical enemies of God.

Josephus identified the offspring of Magog as the Scythians, a name used in antiquity for peoples north of the Black Sea. According to him, the Greeks called Scythia Magogia. An alternate identification derived from an examination of the order in which tribal names are listed in Ezekiel 38, "would place Magog between Cappadocia and Media."

Jordanes' Getica mentions Magog as ancestor of the Goths, as does the Historia Brittonum, but Isidore of Seville asserts that this identification was popular "because of the similarity of the last syllable". Johannes Magnus stated that Magog migrated to Scandinavia 88 years after the flood, and that his five sons were Suenno, Gethar, Ubbo, Thor, and German. Magnus' accounts became accepted at the Swedish court for a long time, and even caused the dynastic numerals of the Swedish monarchs to be renumbered accordingly. Queen Christina of Sweden reckoned herself as number 249 in a list of kings going back to Magog. Magnus also influenced several later historians such as Daniel Juslenius, who derived the roots of the Finns from Magog.