Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 10:4

"And the sons of Javan: Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim." — Genesis 10:4 (ASV)

Javan has four main divisions:—

1. Elishah, a maritime people of Greece. Traces of the name occur in Aeolis and in Elis, a district of the Peloponnese. Some boldly identify with Hellas. The isles of Elishah are mentioned in Ezekiel 27:7.
2. Tarshish. At such an early period, this could scarcely be Tartessus but is more probably the Tyrseni, or Tyrrheni, a race once powerful in Italy, Corsica, Sardinia, and finally in Spain. Probably Tartessus, at the mouth of the Guadalquivir, in Spain, was founded by them and took its name from them. At this time, they were apparently a small tribe of the Javanites; but while Elishah followed the sea-coast and colonised Greece, Tarshish took a course so far inland to the north of the Danube that it did not reach the sea until it had come to the northern districts of Italy.
3. Kittim. A plural, like Madai. The Kittim were a maritime race, who colonised Cyprus, the chief city of which was Kitium, and probably other islands and coast-districts of the Mediterranean. There was a Kitium also in Macedonia; and Alexander is called King of the Kittim in 1 Maccabees 1:1.
4. Dodanim. Another plural. The right reading is probably Rodanim, as found in many manuscripts of 1 Chronicles 1:7, and in the Septuagint and Samaritan Pentateuch versions of this verse. R and D are so constantly interchanged in proper names, due to the similarity of their shape, that the reading cannot be fully relied upon. The Rodanim would be the Rhodians.