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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] REVISITING THE "SALTY SEA" DEBATE

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  • From: "Ishinan" <ishinan AT comcast.net>
  • To: "B-Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Cc: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] REVISITING THE "SALTY SEA" DEBATE
  • Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 13:19:03 -0500


[JAMES CHRISTIAN] It's not a conspiracy to hide the truth from the world Jim. It's a matter of simple economics. Nobody is going to fund a PhD for such a ridiculous hypothesis. The internal evidence is against your theory. The Salt Sea is quite clearly the Dead Sea. This is indisputably clear.

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[ISHINAN] - James' counter proposal "The Salt Sea is quite clearly the Dead Sea" can be easily verified by carefully reviewing the pertinent available data. The search brings to light, the following results from a variety of sources.

FROM MEDIEVAL JEWISH SOURCES:

- The first example is furnished by Shelomo Dov Goitein, the renown ethnographer/historian. His report is based on the documents of the Cairo Geniza which reconstructed many aspects of Jewish life in the Middle Ages in a Mediterranean Society. The following legal document was written by Jews living in Egypt.

- In a court document {TS 13 J 14, f. 24} dated 7 Tebet 1344 Se., 12 December AD 1032. Goiten cites Hanes (written in line 14), in reference to an island near the Salty Sea (al-BaH.r al-MAliH.) line 14-15; cf. Golb, JNES, 33 (1974), 143; the city of the island near the Salty Sea. The Salty Sea here, in Arabic of the Middle Ages, meant the Mediterranean.

- Ibid Goitein cites ENA 1822 f. 7 line 21. Al-BaH.r al-MAliH, the Mediterranean.

Source of the aforementioned legal document can be viewed in: A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, : Economic Foundations, University of California Press vol. I, 296 ; 474. n 15 ibid,

-Further research on "Hanes" shows that the area discussed in the document has retained the name of al-Bahr Malih al Jawani (the inner Salty Sea). The name appropriately describes the wetlands of lake Minzalah, in Egypt. These open up to the Mediterranean Sea. The reference to al-JawAny in Arabic means the inner part; See: http://itouchmap.com/?c=eg&UF=344589&UN=9325662&DG=LK

- Karaite Sahl ben MaS.liaH. in the Hebrew introduction to his book of Percepts. (ed. Harkavy. 1874,no 13, p. 199) the term "Yam Ha-Melach" refers to the Mediterranean Sea.

- A Rabbanite ketubba ENA NS 16.6 written in the city of H.aS.or contains the following description of the locality of H.aS.or which is on the shore of the Salty Sea (ed. Friedman, 1980, 11. no 34. p. 317) H.aS.or has been identified with Rafiah (RafaH.) in the Gaza region (cf Assaf and Mayer, 1944, p. 9; Kedar, 1973 pp. 401-404).

- Qeroba for the eight day the Feast of the Tabernacles edited by Zulay, Menahem. Yerushalayim 1952/53 lines 42-43 where the Salty water of the Great Sea (the Mediterranean) is put in opposition to the malodorous one of the Sea of Sodom.

Logically, the "Salty Sea' term in the last two examples strongly favors a reference to the Mediterranean and not to the Dead Sea.
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FROM OFFICIAL MEDIEVAL ARABIC SOURCES:

- Al-BaH.r al-MAliH. as the Mediterranean is mentioned in : E. Cerulli, F. Gabrieli, G. Levi Della Vida, L. Petech, G. Tucci: al-'Idrisi: Opus geographicum, 370. Al-'Idrisi (1100 - 1165 or 1166) was the famous Andalusian geographer, cartographer, who was the author of the Tabula Rogeriana, one of the most advanced ancient world maps which has been commissioned for Roger II of Sicily in 1154. His works had a profound influence on European writers such as: Marino Sanuto the Elder, Antonio Malfante, Jaume Ferrer and Alonso Fernández de Lugo. Al-'Idrisi's descriptions of many parts of the earth are still authoritative to this , hence its relevance for this debate.
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I hope these examples speak for themselves and will help the dust to settle so we ALL can start patching up hurt feelings.


Best regards,

Ishinan Ishibashi




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