In the Bible we are twice told that Solomon, with the help of the Phoenician king Hiram, built a fleet of ships that sailed from Ezion-Geber (ETZ-yon GEH-ver)a near Eloth (Ay-LOHT) on the Red Sea. We are now in a position, I believe, not only to understand the maritime background of this joint venture—the most celebrated naval enterprise in the Bible—but also to identify Ezion-Geber and Eloth. The two Biblical passages—one in 1 Kings and the other in 2 Chronicles—are short enough to quote in full. The differences are minor: In 2 Chronicles, Hiram’s name is misspelled as […]
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Endnotes
1.
Philo of Byblos, The Phoenician History.
2.
Herodotus, The Histories, Book 4, “Circumnavigation of Africa.”
3.
Nelson Glueck, Rivers in the Desert (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1959), p. 31f.
4.
Glueck, Rivers in the Desert, pp. 159, 161.
5.
William F. Albright, The Archaeology of Palestine (London: Penguin Books, 1949).
6.
Beno Rothenberg, “Ancient Copper Industries in the Western Arabah,” Part II, “Tell El-Kheleifeh; Ezion-Geber; Eilath,” Palestine Exploration Quarterly 94 (1962), pp. 5–71.
7.
Nelson Glueck, “Ezion-geber,” The Biblical Archaeologist 28, (1965), p. 73.
8.
Glueck, “Ezion-geber,” p. 72.
9.
Glueck, “Ezion-geber,” p. 70.
10.
Friedrich August Von Schubert, Das Nothwendigste aus Gebite Geographic nebst cinem, Anhange über Palastina (Meissen, Germany, 1837).
11.
In R. P. Savignac, “Une visite a l’ile de Graye,” Revue Biblique, 1913.
12.
Sir Richard Burton, The Land of Midian Revisited (London, 1878).
13.
James R. Wellsted, Survey of the Gulf of Akabah (London, 1838).
14.
Rothenberg, God’s Wilderness, Discoveries in Sinai (London: Thames and Hudson, 1961).
15.
In “The Lure of Africa—My Temptation,” The Times (London), Oct. 24, 1970.
16.
Rothenberg, Timna (London: Thames and Hudson, 1972), p. 203. Here, Rothenberg graciously acknowledges my work at the site and quotes extensively, with my permission, from my then-unpublished report.
