Giants Collection · Research Collection
The Giant Clans
PEOPLES · LANDS · LINEAGES
An ethnographic and geographic study of the Anakim, Rephaim, Emim, Zamzummim, Avim, and related peoples: their lands, lineages, migrations, encounters with Israel, and what became of them.
Research Exhibit · Post-Flood Giant Peoples
The Giant-Clan Family
The post-Flood biblical record does not describe one single people under one name. It preserves a network of formidable peoples remembered as Anakim, Rephaim, Emim, and Zamzummim, with later giant warriors appearing among the Philistines. Deuteronomy is especially important because it explicitly connects several of these names.
Different names, overlapping classifications
The text treats Rephaim as a broad designation in several passages. The Emim were accounted Rephaim, the Zamzummim occupied a land accounted a land of Rephaim, and the Anakim are directly used as the stature comparison for both peoples. Numbers 13:33 also links the sons of Anak with the Nephilim in the report of the spies.
| People / designation | Biblical description | Principal territory | Named figures | Key passages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anakim | Great and tall; sons of Anak; compared with Nephilim | Hebron and hill country; remnants in Gaza, Gath, Ashdod | Anak, Arba, Ahiman, Sheshai, Talmai | Num. 13:22, 28, 33; Deut. 1:28; 9:2; Josh. 11:21-22; 15:13-14 |
| Rephaim | A broad giant designation in KJV passages; associated with Bashan | Bashan, Ashteroth, Edrei, Argob; earlier Transjordan regions | Og of Bashan | Gen. 14:5; Deut. 3:11, 13; Josh. 12:4; 13:12 |
| Emim | Great, many, and tall as the Anakim; accounted giants/Rephaim | Moab, east of the Dead Sea | No individual leader named in Scripture | Gen. 14:5; Deut. 2:10-11 |
| Zamzummim | Great, many, and tall as the Anakim; land accounted a land of giants/Rephaim | Ammon, east/northeast of the Dead Sea | No individual leader named in Scripture | Deut. 2:20-21 |
| Giants of Gath | Later giant warriors associated with Gath and “the giant” | Philistine territory, especially Gath | Goliath; Ishbi-benob; Saph/Sippai; unnamed six-fingered warrior | 1 Sam. 17; 2 Sam. 21:15-22; 1 Chron. 20:4-8 |
The Anakim
The Anakim are the most clearly localized giant people in the conquest narratives. The spies encountered descendants of Anak at Hebron. Their reputation for extraordinary stature became proverbial: “Who can stand before the children of Anak!”
Joshua 11 records Anakim being cut off from the mountains, Hebron, Debir, and Anab. Yet remnants remained in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod, creating an important geographic bridge to the later Philistine giant tradition.
Arba, Anak, and the Three at Hebron
Arba is associated with Kiriath-arba/Hebron and is called a great man among the Anakim. Anak gives his name to the Anakim. At Hebron the biblical record names Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, children/descendants of Anak, whom Caleb later drove out.
The Rephaim
The Rephaim appear early in Genesis 14 and remain important in the conquest era. The strongest named representative is Og king of Bashan, called a remnant of the Rephaim. His kingdom included Bashan, Ashteroth, Edrei, and the region of Argob.
Deuteronomy 3:13 calls Bashan and Argob a land associated with giants/Rephaim. Og therefore functions as the clearest named royal figure tied directly to this designation.
The Emim
Deuteronomy describes the Emim as a former population of the land later occupied by Moab. They were “great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims” and were accounted among the giants/Rephaim. Genesis 14:5 places Emim at Shaveh Kiriathaim in the patriarchal period.
The Zamzummim
The Ammonites used the name Zamzummim for a people Scripture associates with the Rephaim. Like the Emim, they are described by comparison with the Anakim: numerous and tall. The text says the LORD destroyed them before the Ammonites, who then occupied their territory.
People first · individuals cross-referenced
Named Figures Within the Clan Record
This room is organized around peoples, territories, and lineages rather than biographies. Names are retained here only to identify the clans they represent. For full individual dossiers on Og, the sons of Anak, Goliath, the warriors of Gath, Nimrod traditions, and other named figures, continue to The Giant Kings.
| Name | Association | Location | Role / description | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arba | Anakim | Hebron / Kiriath-arba | Ancestor associated with Anak; described as a great man among the Anakim | Josh. 14:15; 15:13; 21:11 |
| Anak | Anakim | Hebron region | Namesake ancestor of the Anakim / sons of Anak | Num. 13:22, 28, 33; Deut. 9:2 |
| Ahiman | Anakim | Hebron | One of three named descendants of Anak | Num. 13:22; Josh. 15:14; Judg. 1:10, 20 |
| Sheshai | Anakim | Hebron | One of three named descendants of Anak | Num. 13:22; Josh. 15:14; Judg. 1:10, 20 |
| Talmai | Anakim | Hebron | One of three named descendants of Anak | Num. 13:22; Josh. 15:14; Judg. 1:10, 20 |
| Og | Rephaim | Bashan; Ashteroth and Edrei | King of Bashan; explicitly a remnant of the giants/Rephaim | Deut. 3:1-13; Josh. 12:4; 13:12 |
| Goliath | Later giant tradition at Gath | Gath / Philistine army | Philistine champion of extraordinary stature | 1 Sam. 17 |
| Ishbi-benob, Saph/Sippai, unnamed warrior | Descendants of “the giant” | Philistine conflicts | Later giant warriors defeated in David's era | 2 Sam. 21:15-22; 1 Chron. 20:4-8 |
Geographic record
Where the Giant Clans Appear
The biblical references form a geographic arc around Israel: southern Canaan and Hebron, the Philistine coast, Moab and Ammon east of the Dead Sea, and Bashan farther north and east.
| Location | People / figure | What happens there | Scripture |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hebron / Kiriath-arba | Anakim; Arba; Ahiman, Sheshai, Talmai | Spies encounter Anakim; Caleb later drives out the three descendants | Num. 13:22; Josh. 14:13-15; 15:13-14 |
| Debir and Anab | Anakim | Joshua cuts off Anakim from the hill country | Josh. 11:21 |
| Gaza, Gath, Ashdod | Anakim remnants | Places where Anakim remained after Joshua's campaign | Josh. 11:22 |
| Shaveh Kiriathaim / Moab | Emim | Emim appear in Genesis 14; Deuteronomy remembers them as former inhabitants of Moab | Gen. 14:5; Deut. 2:10-11 |
| Ammonite territory | Zamzummim | Former inhabitants displaced before the Ammonites | Deut. 2:20-21 |
| Ashteroth, Edrei, Bashan, Argob | Rephaim; Og | Kingdom of Og and land associated with the Rephaim | Deut. 3:1-13; Josh. 12:4-5; 13:12 |
The Avim
Deuteronomy 2:23 places the Avim in villages as far as Gaza before the Caphtorim displaced them. Scripture does not explicitly call the Avim Rephaim or Anakim, so this exhibit keeps them as a related regional people rather than assigning them to a giant clan without textual warrant. Their location matters because Gaza later stands inside the Philistine corridor where remnants associated with the Anakim and the giant warriors of Gath appear.
From the Anakim Remnant to Gath
Joshua 11:22 states that no Anakim remained in the land of the children of Israel except in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. Generations later, Gath becomes the home of Goliath and is again associated with unusually large warriors. Scripture does not explicitly state that every later giant of Gath was an Anakite, so the exhibit treats this as a strong geographic and narrative connection, not as a genealogy the text never supplies.
Ancient textual witnesses
Enoch, Jubilees, and the Book of Giants
These works illuminate the ancient Jewish giant tradition, but they do not provide a documented genealogy connecting individual post-Flood clans such as the Anakim or Rephaim to specific antediluvian giants. For that reason, this exhibit keeps direct biblical identification separate from ancient interpretive tradition.
1 Enoch
The Book of the Watchers expands Genesis 6 into a narrative in which the Watchers take human wives and their offspring become enormous giants. The giants consume human produce, turn against humanity, and spread violence. The text is valuable here as an ancient explanation of the origin and character of the pre-Flood giants, not as a direct list of the later Canaanite clans.
Jubilees
Jubilees retells the Watcher episode more compactly. It says the angels took wives and “bare unto them sons and they were giants,” then connects their age with corruption, violence, and judgment. Again, its focus is the pre-Flood generation rather than the named post-Flood clans of Deuteronomy and Joshua.
The Book of Giants
The fragmentary Book of Giants found among the Dead Sea Scrolls belongs to the Enochic giant tradition and shifts attention to the giant offspring themselves. The fragments preserve figures such as Ohyah, Hahyah, and Mahaway/Mahawai, along with dreams of coming judgment and consultation with Enoch. These names belong to the literary world of the antediluvian giants and should not be silently equated with Anakim, Emim, Zamzummim, or Og.
Josephus and Hebron
Writing in the first century AD, Josephus retells the conquest of Hebron and describes a surviving “race of giants” whose unusual size inspired fear. His account shows that the giant interpretation of the Anakim remained alive in Jewish historical memory long after the biblical period.
What each record contributes
Record Comparison
| Source | Period / setting described | What it contributes | Connection to Giant Clans |
|---|---|---|---|
| Genesis 6 | Pre-Flood | Nephilim / giants and mighty men | Origin-era background; does not name Anakim, Rephaim, Emim, or Zamzummim |
| Numbers 13 | Israel's reconnaissance of Canaan | Sons of Anak; spies invoke Nephilim | Direct canonical link between Anakim and Nephilim terminology in the spies' report |
| Deuteronomy 2-3 | Transjordan | Emim, Zamzummim, Rephaim, Anakim comparison, Og | Primary classification text for the post-Flood giant peoples |
| Joshua 11, 14-15 | Conquest of Canaan | Anakim locations, survivors, Hebron line | Tracks where the Anakim lived and where remnants remained |
| Samuel / Chronicles | Davidic era | Goliath and later giant warriors | Later giant tradition concentrated around Gath |
| 1 Enoch / Jubilees | Pre-Flood narrative | Watcher unions, giant offspring, corruption and judgment | Ancient interpretation of giant origins, not a post-Flood clan genealogy |
| Book of Giants | Pre-Flood Enochic narrative | Named giants and dreams of judgment | Ancient giant literature; no direct identification with Canaanite clan names |
| Josephus | Retelling of Israel's conquest | Describes giants at Hebron | Later Jewish historical witness to the Anakim-as-giants tradition |
Follow the Clans on the Israel and Transjordan Map
The museum's Giant Locations map places the major biblical regions in one geographic view: Hebron, Gaza, Gath, Ashdod, Moab, Ammon, Bashan, Ashteroth, Edrei, and the route of Israel. Use it beside this clan table to see why the encounters occur where they do.