Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Ishinan" <ishinan AT comcast.net>]

[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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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