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2) Who are the sons of Greece?
It does not say 'Greeks' but 'sons' of Greece. Who was this Greece that Zechariah referred to?
The term in Hebrew is Yâvân. Yaven is a son of Japheth
The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations. (Genesis 10:2-5)
The passage identifies these sons of Yaven as settling the 'isles'. For the Hebrews the isles were quite close and Yaven came to relate more to the Ionian Isles, North West of Israel (the modern Greek Isles). The sons of Yaven include Tarshish. Tarshish was reached both from Joppa and Eziongeber. Kittim came to mean to the Hebrews 'West' including Rome and Macedonia. Dodanim is identified with Rhodes and the Dorians (from which we have the Doric order).
Yaven has a meaning in Hebrew
<To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.> I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry (yaven) clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. (Psalm 40:1-2)
<To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, A Psalm of David.> Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire (yaven) , where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. (Psalm 69:1-2)
It is used for 'watery mud', or the dregs of effervescing wine. It is related to the word for fermented wine and drunkenness. It is possible Japheth named the son for his character of effervescence.
In the time of Ezekiel, sons of Yavan are mentioned as trading with Tyre.
Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus; And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty...Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim. Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spread forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee. The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots. The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise. .... Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs. Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market. They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules. (Ezekiel 27:2-15)
Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool. Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market. (Ezekiel 27:18-21)
Dan most likely not the tribe of Dan but the Achaeans who were also known as Danaans, who were a sub-group of the ancient Greeks or Yavan, as they are mentioned together. The sons of Yavan were traders from the isles, first on the list is Kittim (Chittim) or Cyprus, or any Island of Greece or of Rome. The ancient Greeks, who used a lot of ivory obtained ivory from North Africa. Elishah may be Crete (as there have been found many Murex shells in excavations from the era of the Minoan culture to make blue and purple dye. Yaven is associated with brass (in modern terms copper or Bronze which is copper & tin), which would be identified with the modern Greek isles as they had much copper. Yavan and the people descended from the sons of Yavan featured in the trade of Tyre when Ezekiel wrote approximately from 580-560BC. The beginning of the Archaic Greek culture is dated approximately 750BC, when they adopted Phoenician text, with the classical period beginning in 500BC considered to be the height of their artistic achievement.
Ezekiel when speaking of Tyre captures the trade and industry of those of the Greek Isles (coasts), including Crete and Cyprus who by the mid 6th Century BC had colonies, as a result of trade by sea, dotted around the coasts of Mediterranean, from Spain, France, Italy North Africa to the Black Sea, far in excess of the area of modern Greece.
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