Ham was a son of Noah, who was also the father of Cush, Mizraim, Phut and Canaan, and thus the speculated ancestor of those people.
Overview[]
Ham's descendants are interpreted by Flavius Josephus and others as having populated Africa and adjoining parts of Asia. The Bible refers to Egypt as "the land of Ham". Moreover, it is believed that Ham was the one who summoned the demon Beleth after the receding of the Great Flood in order to gain knowledge over Mathematics.
Ham is perhaps more infamously known for an incident involving his father whereby he is cursed, the curse itself dubbed as the Curse of Ham. It occurs in the context of Noah's drunkenness and is provoked by a shameful act perpetrated by Noah's son Ham, who "saw the nakedness of his father". The exact nature of Ham's transgression and the reason Noah cursed Canaan when Ham had sinned have been debated for over 2,000 years.
It is unknown what transgression Ham has committed as some believe he either castrated his father or even sodomized him. Another has Ham gossiping about his father's drunken disgrace "in the street", so that being held up to public mockery was what had angered Noah; he basically laughed at his father's shame and mocked about it further. Other scholars have suggested that Ham engaged in intercourse with his mother, Noah's wife. According to this interpretation of the story, Canaan was the offspring of the illicit union between Ham and his mother, which accounts for the curse falling upon Canaan rather than Ham.