KITTIM kĭt’ ĭm (כִּתִּ֖ים, except Isa 23:12, כִּתִּיִּים, H4183, KJV CHITTIM, except Kittim [Gen 10:4; 1 Chron 1:7], meaning unknown). 1. Third son of Javan, grandson of Japheth, brother of Elishah (Sicily and S Italy?), Tarshish (Spain?), and Dodanim (Rhodes?) (Gen 10:4; 1 Chron 1:7, LXX Κιτιοι).

2. The island of Cyprus. (Note references in lit. of ANE, e.g., the Tale of Wenamon, where Cyprus is called Alishiya [Elishah?].) Josephus (Antiq. I, vi. 1) relates the name to the city Cition on the SE coast of the island. Phoenician inscrs. referring to this city call it כתי. Apparently the city name was extended to the whole island, or perhaps the city was named after an older island name. Herodotus (vii:90) relates that the island was first colonized by Phoenicians (Shem), Ethiopians (Ham), and Greeks (Japheth). This would be similar to the situation on the island of Crete where a Sem. people who had apparently come by way of Egypt (Minoans) were eventually displaced by Indo-Europeans from Greece (Myceneans). Probably a similar situation prevailed on Cyprus, although being nearer the Phoen. homeland, the Gr. influence took longer to become dominant. For those interested in controlling coastal trade, Cyprus was a necessary prize. Records of the Akkad. empire in lower Mesopotamia (c. 2400 b.c.) indicate that Sargon, the founder, stretched his power as far up the Euphrates as the Mediterranean. Recovery of a seal cylinder of Naram-Sin, Sargon’s son, on Cyprus confirms that claim. Later, Cyprus became a tributary of Thutmoses III. (This was by no means Egypt’s first contact with Cyprus since high quality Cypriote pottery was found in the 1st dynasty tombs at Abydos [c. 3000 b.c.].) Later still, Sargon II, conqueror of Samaria, erected a stela on Cyprus, commemorating the island’s vassalage to himself (708 b.c.). This vassalage was renewed by both Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal, the two final noteworthy Assyrian kings.

During the Neo-Babylonian period, the Egyp. Amosis, exercising pretensions toward empire laid Cyprus under tribute. The Persians dashed such pretensions in turn relinquishing their hold to the Greeks about 410 b.c. During most of the first millennium despite nominal political affiliations the dominant cultural and mercantile influence upon Cyprus was Phoen. Thus, Ezekiel, in his dirge over Tyre, tells that Cyprus (Kittim, LXX χεττιιν) supplied decking for Phoen. ships from its pine forests (27:6). Similarly, Isaiah 23:1 and 12 (LXX 1 Κιτιαιοι, 12 Κιτιεοι) report that Cyprus will be intimately related to the downfall of Tyre. Tyre will flee to Cyprus and from Cyprus will come news of its final downfall. This corresponds with the boast of Sennacherib (cf. ANET, p. 288) that Luli, king of Sidon, fled from Sennacherib, to Cyprus, but was killed there.

3. On occasion the name, like Javan, is extended to include the W in general, but esp. the seafaring W. Jeremiah, speaking of the whole world (2:10) uses the isles of Kittim (RSV Cyprus, LXX Χεττιιμ) to symbolize the far W and Kedar the far E. Baalam, forecasting the coming dominance of the W over the Near E (Num 24:24) tells that the ships of Kittim (LXX Κιτιαιοι) will afflict Asshur (Mesopotamia) and Eber (the Levant). Daniel (11:30) apparently uses “ships of Kittim” to represent the Romans, who thwarted Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) in Egypt in 169 b.c. LXX B makes this explicit by reading Romans at this point (̔πωμαιοι, LXX A Κιτια). It has been suggested that Daniel interprets that event as the fulfillment of Numbers 24:24. (Esp. since the Targum of Onkelos reads Romans and the Vul. Italia [24:24]. The Apoc. and Pseudep. contain several references to the Kittim, all of which seem to relate to the Gr. empire. Alexander of Macedon is said to have come from the land of Kittim (1 Macc 1:1, LXX Χεττιιμ). Similarly, Perseus of Macedon is called “king of Kittim” (1 Macc 8:5, LXX Κιτιεοι).

4. The occurrence of numerous references to the Kittim in the DSS has created considerable scholarly controversy over the correct interpretation. These references occurring predominantly in the Commentary on Habakkuk (IQpHab) where the “Chaldeans” of the text are called Kittim in the commentary, and in the War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness (IQM), have provoked suggestions that the Kittim were understood to be the Seleucid Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Crusaders, the Turks or the unspecified eschatological foes of righteousness. In response to the last, it may be pointed out that apocalyptic terms, while they appear to be vague, have specific meaning for the initiate. Lack of specificity would be most unusual. Those who propose peoples after the time of Christ have generally done so because of a conviction that the Scrolls were a medieval production (cf. Poliak, JQR). This point of view seems to have been refuted adequately. The majority of scholars have divided over an identification with the Greeks or with the Romans. H. H. Rowley has been the leading advocate for the Greeks, while F. M. Cross has spoken out for the Romans. Implicit in the controversy has been the problem of dating IQpHab and IQM. A Maccabean or earlier date automatically precludes the Romans. The following references have been significant in the debate: the rulers of the Kittim fell one after another (IQpHab 4:11f.) (Decline of the Seleucid house or Roman civil war?); the Kittim sacrifice to their “signs” (IQpHab 6:3-5) (the deified standards of the Rom. legions?); the Kittim of Egypt and Assyria (IQM 1:2-6, etc.) (the Ptolemies and Seleucids?); the kings of Kittim will arise after the kings of Greece (Commentary on Nahum, 4QpNah 1:3) (a clear reference to Rome?). Perhaps Kittim meant for the Dead Sea Community, as 3 above, simply “Westerners” and could be applied to any particular western people as need arose. See Cyprus.

Bibliography J. A. Montgomery, Daniel (1927), 455, 456; G. Hill, A History of Cyprus, I (1940), 96, 97; H. H. Rowley, The Zadokite Fragments and the Dead Sea Scrolls (1952), xii, 20n, 33f., 43f., 45, 46, 49, 56f., 58, 60, 60ff., 69, 75; “The Kittim and the Dead Sea Scrolls,” PEQ (1956), 92-109; Y. Yadin, The Scroll of the War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness (Heb. 1957), 21-24; A. N. Poliak, “The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Approach,” JQR, XLIX (1958), 89-107; F. M. Cross, The Ancient Library of Qumran, Rev. ed. (1961), 82n, 123, 124n.