Magog is the second of the seven sons of Japheth mentioned in the Table of Nations in Genesis. While the origin of the term is unclear, it may have referred to Lydia, in what is now Turkey. Its use in the Book of Ezekiel, Chapter 38 has led to it being associated with apocalyptic traditions. Various ancient and medieval traditions have built on the biblical references and added details to it.
Etymology
The origin of the name Magog is unclear. It may come from the Akkadian mat Gugi, "land of Gog", that is, the land of Gyges: Lydia.
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 archetypal enemies of God.
Ancient and medieval views
refers to Magog son of Japheth as progenitor of Scythians, or 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." According to Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried Magog refers to the Mongols. He cites an Arab writer who refers to the Great Wall of China with the name 'Magog'. 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's 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. According to several medieval Irish chronicles, most notably the Auraicept na n-Éces and Lebor Gabála Érenn, the Irish race are a composite including descendants of Japheth's son Magog from "Scythia". Baath mac Magog, Jobhath, and Fathochta are the three sons of Magog. Fenius Farsaid, Partholón, Nemed, the Fir Bolg, the Tuatha de Danann, and the Milesians are among Magog's descendants. Magog was also supposed to have had a grandson called Heber, whose offspring spread throughout the Mediterranean. There is also a medieval Hungarian legend that says the Huns, as well as the Magyars, are descended from twin brothers named Hunor and Magor respectively, who lived by the sea of Azov in the years after the flood, and took wives from the Alans. The version of this legend in the 14th century Chronicon Pictum equates this Magor with Magog, son of Japheth.
In Islam
Magog's appearance in the Quran and other Islamic sources is chiefly due to his apocalyptic renown as part of the pairing of Gog and Magog. In suraAl-Kahf of the Quran, an individual called Dhul-Qarnayn journeys to a distant land in a pass between two mountains where he finds people who are suffering from the mischief of Gog and Magog. Dhul-Qarnayn then makes a wall of copper and iron to keep Gog and Magog out, but warns that it will be removed in the Last Age. In sura 21, Al-Anbiyā, the wall is mentioned again: there Allah tells his Prophet that there is a "prohibition upon a city which We have destroyed that they will return, until Gog and Magog has been opened and thou shall see them, from every higher ground, descending." According to Islamic tradition
In the season 13 episode Good Intentions of the TV series Supernatural, Magog appears as a warrior alongside another named Gog who battle protagonists Castiel and Dean Winchester. After Dean kills them, Magog and Gog are revealed to be primitive beasts formed of rock and sand, a type of creature Castiel had believed to have gone extinct during the Great Flood.
In the 23-minute epic Genesis song Supper's Ready from 1972 the "Guards of Magog" are mentioned in the 6th section entitled "Apocalypse in 9/8 ". During live performances of the song lead singer Peter Gabriel would wear an outfit to represent Magog.
In the TV series Andromeda, the Magog are depicted as a hostile race of aliens who attack earth and decimate its population. They are shown to reproduce by laying eggs in human hosts only to devour the host upon birth.
