One of the races mentioned in sacred texts, especially Bible texts are the Didanum People (or Ditanu or Tidanu), the precursors of the Nephilim and Rephaim going back to 3,000 BC. There are not many references to this race, however we will try to touch upon what is known about them.

Many already know about the Nephilim, the offspring of the ‘sons of Gods’ and the ‘daughters of men’, beings of gigantic size with incredible abilities and powers who are associated with the demi-gods of all different religions and mythologies. In the same category belong the Rephaim, who were also beings of enormous stature and powerful abilities, a generation of heroes. Furthermore, references to the Rephaim in the Bible, identify them as shades or spirits, giving another dimension to their existence as if they were able to interact or manifest at the same time in different realities.

In ancient texts, it seems that the Didanites are very closely related to the Rephaim, making them another race related to the ‘Gods’ of the past. In the Epic of Kret (Keret), a Canaanite Epic of the Bronze Age which is written in the Ugaritic language found on 3 clay tablets, God El (the father of Gods according to Canaanites, also identified with the Egyptian god Ptah) promises King Keret that the glory of his family is going to be restored. It mentions the assembly of the Ditanites, referring to the Didanum people. King Keret was a descendent of the Didanites and a ruler of the region around the mountain of the Amorites as well as Tidanum Mountain. The importance of the Didanum people was significant since the presence of the Council of the Didanites was required during the accession of the Kings.

References to this text may also identify Amorites with the Didanums. Amorites (or Tidnum in Akkadian) were a group of people from ancient Syria who lived around 2,000-3,000 BC. The Syrian region Jebel Bishri is what they called the mountain of the Amorites. Whether Amorites just used the term Didanum or if they were the Didanum people is not known. Furthermore, in one Sumerian poem called the Descent of Inanna to the Netherworld, the Didanum people are referred to as an enemy of Inanna (Sumerian goddess of sexual love, fertility and warfare).

In other texts Didanites appear to be connected to Dedan who also happens to be an important God of the Nubians in Egypt. It is interesting to notice that Dedan was a descendant of Noah. The people of Dedan were warned by the God that his wrath was going to fall upon them because Dedan questioned the motives of God, in the same way that all descendants of the Nephilim were executed by Joshua with the help of ‘God’ leaving no traces of them.

Concluding what we can say about the Didanum people is that they were gigantic people, probably descendants of the ‘Gods’ with great physical and mental power associated in some ways with the royal dynasties of the past. They were so important that their name has been used later on as a title for important royal people. What happened to them and how did they come to exist is unknown. But the important thing is that we have reference to another strange race of giants amongst humanity that suddenly disappeared.

By John Black

Related Books

The Legend of King Keret. A Canaanite epic of the bronze age (Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. Supplementary Studies. no. 2-3.)

Related Links

Rephaim

The Legend of King Keret

The Mystery of Sheba and Dedan

The enigmatic mystery of the Nephilim, the Rephaim and the Titans