Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>]

As far as I am aware this thread is closed but just for the record I really
don't sea what these Arabic sources have to do with the price of bacon. The
question is how was the name used by the authors of biblical Hebrew texts.

James Christian

On 19 May 2010 21:19, Ishinan <ishinan AT comcast.net> wrote:

>
> [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
>