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.
[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
Re: [b-hebrew] REVISITING THE "SALTY SEA" DEBATE,
Ishinan, 05/19/2010