What is a…
Mede

Hebrew: מָדַי —transliteration: Madai or Maday —meaning: an inhabitant of Media

A Mede is a Median (an inhabitant of Media) (Dan. 11:1).

Madai

“Madai,” the 3rd son of Japheth, and grandson of Noah (Genesis 10:2)

Biblical scholars have generally identified Madai with the Medes. The ancient Jewish historian Flavius Josephus1 and most subsequent ancient historians indicate that the Medes are descendants of Madai, as do ancient Assyrian and Hebrew sources. The Kurds, Balochs, Azeris maintain traditions of descent from Madai.2

  1. Flavius Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, (2011), 1.122–1.153. “Now as to Javan and Madai, the sons of Japhet; from Madai came the Madeans, who are called Medes, by the Greeks; but from Javan, Ionia, and all the Grecians, are derived.”
  2. Mahir A. Aziz, The Kurds of Iraq: Ethnonationalism and National Identity in Iraqi Kurdistan, (2011), p. 47.
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Article Version: February 10, 2026