The
pseudepigraphicalBook of Jubilees provides names for a host of otherwise unnamed biblical characters, including wives for most of the
antediluvianpatriarchs. The last of these is
Noah's wife, to whom it gives the name of Emzara. Other Jewish traditional sources contain many different names for Noah's wife.
The Book of Jubilees says that Awan was
Adam and Eve's first daughter. Their second daughter Azura married
Seth. For many of the early wives in the series, Jubilees notes that the patriarchs married their sisters.
The Cave of Treasures and the earlier Kitab al-Magall (part of
Clementine literature) name entirely different women as the wives of the patriarchs, with considerable variations among the extant copies.
The Muslim historian
Ibn Ishaq (c. 750), as cited in
al-Tabari (c. 915), provides names for these wives which are generally similar to those in Jubilees, but he makes them
Cainites rather than
Sethites, despite clearly stating elsewhere that none of Noah's ancestors were descended from Cain.
Daughter of
Lamech and Zillah and sister of
Tubal-cain (Gen. iv. 22). According to Abba ben Kahana, Naamah was Noah's wife and was called "Naamah" (pleasant) because her conduct was pleasing to God. But the majority of the rabbis reject this statement, declaring that Naamah was an idolatrous woman who sang "pleasant" songs to idols.
See also
Wives aboard the Ark for a list of traditional names given to the wives of Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
The
Mormon Book of Abraham, first published in 1842, mentions Egyptus (
Abraham 1:23) as being the name of Ham's wife; his daughter apparently had the same name (v. 25).
Nimrod's wife
A large body of legend has attached itself to
Nimrod, whose brief mention in Genesis merely makes him "a mighty hunter in the face of the
Lord". (The biblical account makes no mention of a wife at all.) These legends usually make Nimrod to be a sinister figure, and they reach their peak in Hislop's The Two Babylons, which make Nimrod and his wife
Semiramis to be the original authors of every false and
pagan religion.
Source: The Sefer Hayyashar, a book of Jewish lore published in
Venice in 1625.
[1] Also, the Persian mystical poem "
Yusuf and Zulaikha" by
Jami, 15th century.
Pharaoh's daughter, who drew
Moses out of the water, is known as Bithiah in Jewish tradition (identifying her with the "Pharaoh's daughter Bithiah" in
1 Chronicles 4:18).
Source:
Midrash Bereshit Rabba 80:11. After Simeon and Levi slaughtered the men of Shechem, Dinah refused to go with them unless someone married her and raised the child of Prince Chamor she was carrying as his own. Simeon did this.
The names of Jannes and Jambres, or Jannes and Mambres, were well known through the ancient world as magicians. In this instance, nameless characters from the
Hebrew Bible are given names in the
New Testament. Their names also appear in numerous Jewish texts.
Apocryphal Jewish folklore says that Sitis, or Sitidos, was Job's first wife, who died during his trials. After his temptation was over, the same sources say that
Job remarried
Dinah,
Jacob's daughter who appears in Genesis.
According to Ethiopian traditions, the Queen of Sheba returned to Ethiopia pregnant with King
Solomon's child. She bore Solomon a son that went on to found a
dynasty that ruled Ethiopia until the fall of Emperor
Haile Selassie in 1974.
Name: Abim, Antonius, Gurias, Eleazar, Eusebonus, Alimus and Marcellus.
Source: Eastern Orthodox Tradition
The
woman with seven sons is a Jewish
martyr who is unnamed in
2 Maccabees 7, but is named Hannah, Miriam, Shamuna and Solomonia in other sources. According to Eastern Orthodox tradition, her sons, the "Holy Maccabean Martyrs" (not to be confused with the martyrs in the
Ethiopian book of
Meqabyan), are named Abim, Antonius, Gurias, Eleazar, Eusebonus, Alimus and Marcellus. According to the
SyriacMaronite Fenqitho (book of festal offices), the name of the mother is Shmooni while her sons are Habroun, Hebsoun, Bakhous, Adai, Tarsai, Maqbai and Yawnothon.[24]
The Gospel does not state that there were, in fact, three magi or when exactly they visited Jesus, only that multiple magi brought three gifts: gold,
frankincense, and
myrrh. Nevertheless, the number of magi is usually extrapolated from the number of gifts, and the
three wise men are a staple of Christian
nativity scenes. While the European names have enjoyed the most publicity, other faith traditions have different versions. According to the Armenisches Kindheitsevangelium, the three magi were brothers and kings, namely Balthasar, king of India; Melqon, king of
Persia; and Gaspar, king of
Arabia. The
Chinese Christian Church[clarification needed] believes that the
astronomerLiu Xiang was one of the wise men.
Veronica is a Latin variant of Berenice (
Greek: Βερενίκη). Veronica or Berenice obtained some of Jesus' blood on a cloth at the
Crucifixion (see also:
Veil of Veronica).[citation needed] Tradition identifies her with the woman who was healed of a bleeding discharge in the Gospel.
In the tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the name of the woman at the well when she met Jesus is unknown, but she became a follower of Christ, received the name Photini in baptism, proclaimed the Gospel over a wide area, and was later martyred. She is recognized as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Dives is simply
Latin for "rich", and as such may not count as a proper name. The story of the blessed
Lazarus and the
damned rich man is widely recognised under the title of Dives and Lazarus, which may have resulted in this word being taken for a proper name.
A long-standing Western Christian tradition first attested by
Pope Gregory I identifies the woman taken in
adultery with Mary Magdalene, and also with
Mary of Bethany.[44] Jesus had
exorcised seven
demons out of Mary Magdalene (
Mark16:9), and Mary Magdalene appears prominently in the several accounts of Jesus' entombment and resurrection, but there is no indication in the Bible that clearly states that Mary Magdalene was the same person as the adulteress forgiven by Jesus. Roman Catholics also have identified Mary Magdalene as the weeping woman who was a sinner, and who anoints Jesus' feet in
Luke 7:36–50, and while the Church has dropped this interpretation to a degree, this remains one of her more famous portrayals.
The
Eastern Orthodox Church has never identified Mary Magdalene as either the woman taken in adultery, or the sinful woman who anointed Jesus' feet.
During the
trial of Jesus the wife of
Pontius Pilate sent a message to him saying, "Have nothing to do with that just man; for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him."
The proposed names of Procla and Procula may not be names at all, but simply a form of Pilate's official title of
Procurator, indicating that she was the Procurator's wife.
In tradition, he is called Cassius before his conversion to Christianity.[49] The Lance of Longinus, also known as the Spear of Destiny, is supposedly preserved as a
relic, and various miracles are said to be worked through it.
^The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Expansions of the "Old ... James H. Charlesworth - 1985 "He seeks to destroy men's souls (Vita 17:1) by disguising himself as an angel of light (Vita 9:1, 3; 12:1; ApMos 17:1) to put into men "his evil poison, which is his covetousness" (epithymia, ..."
^Eric Geoffroy et Néfissa Geoffroy : Le grand livre des prénoms arabes – Plus de 5500 prénoms classés par thèmes avec leurs correspondances en français, Albin Michel, 2009.
^Jean Du Puy, L'Etat de l'Eglise du Périgord depuis le christianisme (Daloy, 1629), Original from Lyon Public Library (Bibliothèque jésuite des Fontaines). Digitized 20 December 2010, p. 268.