Ham is the biblical son of Noah traditionally linked with the ancestor of Canaan.
Genesis 9:18 identifies Ham as the father of Canaan, and Genesis 10 later lists Canaan among the descendants associated with him. Ham is one of Noah's three sons, alongside Shem and Japheth. These family relationships are part of the “Table of Nations,” a genealogy in Genesis 10 that connects various peoples to Noah's sons.
The story of Noah's drunkenness in Genesis 9 follows the flood narrative. It describes Ham seeing his father's nakedness and his brothers responding differently. Interpretations of this episode vary, but the genealogy's direct statement about Ham and Canaan is clear.
Later writers sometimes used Noah's sons as broad symbolic ancestors of peoples and regions. Such interpretations have also been misused to justify racism and slavery, despite the biblical passage never presenting a “curse of Ham”; the curse in Genesis is pronounced on Canaan. Careful wording is therefore important when discussing this genealogy.