The Secret of Baalbek

7/25/2019 The Secret of Baalbek

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The Secret of Baalbek

THE TEMPLE AT DAN

The story of Jeroboam, son of a widow of Zereda, an Ephraimite and Solomons servant, beginswith this passage:

Solomon built Millo, and repaired the breaches of the city of avid, his father!"nd the man, Jeroboam, was a mighty man of valor# and Solomon, seeing the young man that hewas industrious, made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph! $

The ambitious servant was not satisfied with this honor of administering the land of Menashe%Manasse& and Ephraim, or even the entire northern half of the 'ingdom# he wished to be a 'ing

himself! (hen Jeroboams plans became 'nown to Solomon, the 'ing intended to 'ill him, butJeroboam ran away to the )haraoh of Egypt! (hen Solomon died, he returned# he tore the tentribes land from *ehoboam, son of Solomon! Solomons realm was split in two: Jeroboambecame 'ing of +srael in the north, and *ehoboam retained the 'ingdom of Judah in the south! Toma'e the rift permanent Jeroboam had to 'eep the people from going to Jerusalem and its newtemple!

"nd Jeroboam said in his heart, ow shall the 'ingdom return to the house of avid!

+f this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the -ord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart ofthis people turn again unto their lord, even unto *ehoboam, 'ing of Judah, and they shall 'ill me,

and go again to *ehoboam, 'ing of Judah!.

/rom the viewpoint of serving his own ends, it was a sound idea to build on some ancient sitesplaces for fol' gathering which would compete with Jerusalem!

(hereupon the 'ing 0Jeroboam1 too' counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto 0hispeople1! +t is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem ! ! !

"nd he set the one in 2eth3el, and the other put he in an!4

2eth3El was in the south of his 'ingdom, close to Jerusalem, an in the north of his 'ingdom! +n

order to attract pilgrims from the land of Judah, Jeroboam also made 2eth3El the site of a newfeast, 5li'e unto the feast that is in Judah6!7Setting up the image of the cult in an, Jeroboamproclaimed: 52ehold thy gods, 8 +srael, that brought thee up out of the land of Egypt!59Thus,an in the north competed with Jerusalem in the days of )assover and Tabernacles! The templeof an was a much larger edifice than the temple in 2ethel, and it became a great place forpilgrimage, attracting people even from the southern 'ingdom!
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"nd this thing became a sin# for the people went to worship before the one 0of the two calves1,even unto an!

The temple of an was called a 5;ouse of ;igh )laces6 : 5"nd he made an house of highplaces ! ! !6 That he succeeded in his challenge is atestimony to the si?e and importance of the temple at an!

+t was not enough that an and 2eth3El were ancient places of reverence: magnificence wasdisplayed in the capital of Solomon, and magnificence had to prevail in the temple cities of theorthern =ingdom!

The temple of 2eth3El, the smaller of the two +sraelite temples, was demolished three centurieslater by =ing Josiah, a few decades before the Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed by

ebuchadne??ar! +t was trampled into smithereens by the 'ing, @ealous for his Aod!

B

There is nomention of a destruction of the temple in an! (here was an and its 5;ouse of ;igh )laces6 >

THE SEARCH FOR DAN

an was the northernmost point of the +sraelite settlement where one of the twelve tribes choseits domicile! " familiar eCpression was: 5/rom an even to 2eer3Sheba!6 D

Students of biblical geography have agreed to place an in the "rab village of el3=adi, on theupper flow of the Jordan, which is there but a rivulet! +n recent years very insignificant ancient

ruins have been found on this place!

$

This is in accord with what the biblical archaeologistseCpect, for they thin' the temple of an to have been a very modest structure of which, mostprobably, hardly any ruins would have remained!

The biblical an is placed on the upper flow of the Jordan because of a passage in Josephus/lavius! +n hisJewish Antiquities,Josephus says that an was on 5a spot not far from Mount-ibanus and the sources of the lesser Jordan6!$$Fommentators of Josephus deduced that by the5lesser Jordan6 the upper flow of the Jordan, above the -a'e of ;uleh, or above the -a'e of
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Tiberias, is meant# however, this interpretation is not supported by the words 5not far fromMount -ibanus6 since, from the surroundings of el3=adi and the sources of the Jordan, the snow3capped ;ermon or "nti3-ebanon can be seen in the distance, but not -ebanon, far behind the"nti3-ebanon!

"fter having chosen the source of the Jordan as the area where to loo' for an, this ancient citywas located at el3=adi for the following reason: the name an is built of the ;ebrew root thatsignifies 5to counsel6 or 5to @udge6! El3=adi means in "rabic 5the @udge6! There was no otherreason, beside this philological eGuation of ;ebrew and "rabic terms, to locate the site of theancient temple city in the small village of el3=adi, sinceHuntil Guite recentlyHno ruins, large orsmall, were found on the site!

The aforementioned reference in Josephus ma'es one wonder whether by 5the lesser Jordan6 theriver -itani was meant! This river begins in the valley between Mount -ebanon and Mount "nti3-ebanon, flows to the south in the same rift in which farther to the south the Jordan flows, andtowards the source of that river, but changes its course and flows then westwards and empties

itself into the Mediterranean! +ts source being near Mount -ebanon, it appears that the -itani wasmeant by 5the lesser Jordan6!

;owever, Josephus, who wrote in the first century of the Fhristian era, was not necessarily well3informed concerning the location of an 3 the temple city of the orthern =ingdom 3 a statewhose history ended with the capture of Samaria by Sargon ++ in 3


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They ! ! ! came unto -aish, unto a people who were Guiet and secure# and they smote them withthe edge of the sword, and burned the city with fire!

"nd there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with anyman# and it was in the valley that lieth by 2eth3*ehob! "nd they built a city, and dwelt therein!

"nd they called the name of the city an ! ! ! howbeit, the name of the city was -aish at thefirst!$9

;ere we meet again the northern point *ehob or 2eth3*ehob! (e are also told that it wassituated in a valley! eCt to it was the city of -aish, and the anites burned the city and thenerected there a new city, an!

2eth3*ehob, or ;ouse of *ehob, is the place we metHin the story of the scouts sent by MosesHas the most remote point they visited going to the north!

The place was 5far from Zidon6 # if it were where it is loo'ed for todayHat the source of theJordanHit would not have been proper to say 5far from Zidon6! but rather 5from Tyre6! 2ut ifZidon %Sidon& is named as the nearest large city! Tyre must have been still farther from -aish3an, and the latter city must have been more to the north, in the valley between -ebanon and"nti3-ebanon!

The anites were in contact with the Zidonians already at the time when they fought with the)hilistines for the possession of territory! 2ecause of want of land, they sent many of their sonsas sailors on )hoenician ships!$+n their new place of abode the anites became 'indred with the)hoenicians!

+n an3-aish, 5the children of an set up the graven image6 of Micah!$4.

/rom the time when this was first written, in the fifties of the eighteenth century, and till today,nothing was added to dispel the obscurity which envelops the origin of this temple city!44TheeCcavations underta'en there brought no solution to the problem of its origin or the nature of itscult!47o early inscriptions were found!
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Throngs of travelers who spend their day wandering among the ruins of a magnificent acropolisgo away without having heard what the role of the place was in ancient times, when it was built,or who was the builder! The pyramids, the temples of =ama' and -uCor, the /orum and FircusMaCimus in *ome were erected by builders whose identity is generally 'nown! The marvelloussite in the valley on the @unction of roads running to ;amath is a wor' of anonymous authors in

un'nown ages! +t is as if some mysterious people brought the mighty bloc's and placed them atthe feet and in front of the snow3capped -ebanon, and went away unnoticed! The inhabitants ofthe place actually believe that the great stones were brought and put together by @enoun,mysterious creatures, intermediate between angels and demons!49

SOLOMONS BAALBEK

-ocal tradition, which may be traced to the early Middle "ges, points to a definite period in thepast when 2aalbe' was built: the time of Solomon!

+ldrisi, the "rab traveler and geographer %$DD3$$97&, wrote: 5The great %temple3city& ofastonishing appearance was built in the time of Solomon!6 4Aa?wini %d! $B.4 or 7& eCplainedthe origin of the edifices and the name of the place by connecting it with 2al'is, the legendaryKueen of the South, and with Solomon!4 Massoudi wrote: 5"ll persons versed in traditionamong those peoples agree that the word L"rim designates a solidly built dam!6 The meaning ofthe word 5"rim6 was not entirely certain if it reGuired interpretation!
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The same great catastrophe, when mountain3high waves rushed onto the land, became a theme oftradition and legends of many nations!

" Aree' legend personified this upheaval in a battle of Zeus and Typhon, which too' place overthe sea, between Egypt and Syria! The origin of the legend and its historical bac'ground are

clarified in ?orl#s in >ollision.Strabo Guoted )indar: 5+t was father Zeus who once among the"rimi, by necessity, alone among the gods, smote monstrous Typhon of the fifty heads!6 Straboadded: 52ut some understand the Syrians are "rimi!6 This is the Aree' legendary version ofwhat happened at the Sea of )assage! The "rimi were ;ebrews, who were called "rameans:Their origin was from "ram! Toufan of the "rabian author is the same as Typhon of the Aree'author# "rim of the "rabian author is "rimi of the Aree' author! he 5flood of "rim6 of the"rabian tradition was originally not the 5rupture of the dy'e6 but the 5flood of the ;ebrews,6 theflood which got their name because they found in it their salvation, whereas for other nations itmeant destruction!

The "rab historian did not suspect any lin' between his story and the events of the ECodus, and

he did not bring them into any connection# had he done so, it could be suspected that he wasmerely transmitting a passage of the 2ible in an arbitrary form# but he seems unaware of thesignificance of his report!

THE DELU$E OF MARIB ,/ ,t Mar,b or Ar,14

" sudden inundation in which a whole country was destroyed, a land devastated, and in which amultitude of people perished is related in one of the earliest "rab pre3+slamic traditions!%4&5The/lood of the y'e6 was an event which fiCed itself indelibly in the memory of the "rabs! This

flood was 'nown also as the eluge of Marib! Marib was the former capital of the Sabeans inIemen, in the south of "rabia! ear this place a dam was constructed to gather the water whichflowed in the wadi of henne %or "dana& that divides the 2ala' hills! uring the summer the bedof the wadi is often dry# in the winter, after rains, it often becomes so swollen as to be impossibleto cross! "n earthen dam, the remains of which, some meters long, are still to be seen, wasused for collecting and storing the water# in the rainless months an irrigation system supplied itto the gardens and to the pastures of the valley beneath!

"l3Masudi in his9ea#ows of 5ol# an# 9ines of 5ems%7&gives a description of what hesupposed the dam of Marib to have been li'e before its destruction! +n a dy'e one parasang %ca!.!. 'ilometers& long were thirty openings which provided for the distribution of water throughout

the land!The rich fantasy of the oriental writers tells of a country in South "rabia whose beauty wasproverbial far and wide! " whole month one could ride on his mule across this land %situatedwithin the tropic of Fancer& without leaving the shade above his head! "n empty bas'et on thehead of the traveler would fill itself with fruits falling down from the trees!
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The rupture of the dam turned this blessed country into ruin: the land was submerged, thestructures were overthrown, the trees bro'en, the population drowned: the catastrophe ruined theentire 'ingdom!

The inhabitants of the "rabian desert preserved through centuries the memory of a remote past

when the catastrophe of Marib occurred! " migration of tribes in South and orth "rabia wasconnected with this cataclysm!

ifferent variants of this catastrophe were 'ept in the memory of generations, adorned withfancy and transmitted up to the time when +slamic writers recorded them in their histories! Thecatastrophe that transformed a fertile plain into a barren Guarter is related in the =oran %sura 47&:

Seba had in their dwellings a sign: two gardens on the right hand and on the left! Eat from theprovision of your -ord, and give than's to himU a good country and a forgiving -ordU but theyturned away, and we sent against them the flood of the dy'e# and we changed for them their twogardens into two gardens that grew bitter fruit and tamaris' and some few lote trees!

+n other narratives referring to the flood of the y'e, and in commentaries to the =oran, thedevastation is said to have spread over all the inhabited land of South "rabia!

The story of the rupture of the dy'e is one of the few recollections of ancient times in the +slamictradition not compiled from the sacred boo's of the ;ebrews, but received from native "rabiansources!

o one 'nows eCactly when the dam of Marib was built! The oldest parts of the wor' wereestimated to have been eCecuted in the period of $, to "nd if at some time a collapse really occurred, how could it bethat it destroyed the whole country, even the high3lying fields and places far away> " Guantity ofwater which a barrage of the wadi henne could assemble would, at a bursting of theconstruction, cause a local calamity, but not a 5deluge6 of South "rabia! "nd if really only a fewgardens were destroyed, how could it be that 5there is hardly any historical event of pre3+slamic
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history that has become embellished with so much that is fanciful and related in so manydifferent versions6 %$&as the bursting of the dam>

(ere a great catastrophe that remained in the memory of the "rabs to occur at a time when;ebrew, ;ellenistic, *oman and Fhristian historians were writing their annals, could it possibly

have escaped their attention> "nd why does the old tradition place the catastrophe in the third orfourth generation after +shmael, son of "braham> (hy do the old "rabian traditions connect thattime with a general migration of tribes and especially with the migration of the "male'ites in thedirection of Egypt and Fanaan>

Fould it be that the legend does not relate to the Sabean irrigation system, but to sometremendous upheaval, when not a reservoir of rain3water, but the depths of a sea threw theirvolume across a dam in a plain whose ground disappeared in a rupture of geological strata>

The catastrophe was obviously greater than a rupture of a dy'e %"rim& may cause! ot only theregion of Seba, but Mecca, and all the sea shore3Tehama, were shattered!

May be "rim signifies not a 5dy'e,6 but something different>

Masoudi: "ll )ersons versed in tradition among those peoples agree that the word "rimdesignates a solidly built dam!

The meaning of the word "rim was not entirely sure: it reGuired interpretation!

N N N

The same great catastrophe, when mountain high waves rushed on land, became a theme of

tradition and legends of many nations!" Aree' legend personified this upheaval in a battle of Zeus and Typhon! The origin of thelegends and its historical bac'ground are put into light on a page of ?orl#s in >ollision.

Strabo Guoted )indar: 5+t was father Zeus who once among the "rimi, by necessity, alone of thegods, smote monstrous Typhon of the fifty heads!6 Strabo added 52ut some understand that theSyrians are "rimi!6 This is the Aree' legendary version of what happened at the *ed Sea! Thereader must loo' for argument in above3mentioned wor' of the author!

"rimi were the ;ebrews, who were called "rameans: their origin was from "ram!

Toufan of the "rabian authors is the same as the Typhon of the Aree's!

MARIB

(hat does the designation Marib mean> 5arious attempts to eCplain the etymology of Marib arenot satisfactory!6 %$$&Marib was identified with Saba by the "rab geographers!%$.&+t was supposedto be the name of a castle occupied by the rulers of Saba!%$4&
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oes the name Marib occur in the Scriptures of the ;ebrews> +n the stony valley of *ephidimnear ;oreb, the +sraelites met the "male'ites, more eCactly at a point called Massa and Meriba%ECodus $


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The peculiar name Mo?ai'iya, the surname of "mr, son of "mir, was an ob@ect of surmise for"rab philologists from early times! " word which sounds similar in "rabic is ma=ak,5a piece,6and fol' etymology construed a forced story: the ruler was called by this surname because hewas accustomed, when going to his nightly rest, to tear to pieces the garment he wore during theday!

+t seems to me that the name is not an "rabic one, but rather is of Egyptian design! Mose3i'a3yacould be a name arranged similarly to Smen'h3'a3re, the last syllable being the name of adivinityHgod *e %or *a& in the case of Smen'are# in the case of Mosai'ayaHthe Aod Ia %as inthe names +sa iah, Jerem iah,and the li'e&, the syllable kabeing the Egyptian word for 5soul!6 +fthis archaic "rabian tradition brought down to us the name of the leader correctly, we may at lasthave the Semitic name of the great deliverer, and also his Egyptian name! The name 5the soul ofIahweh6 would surely be a fitting name for the man who, according to the Scriptures, was thefirst to whom the ivine name was revealed!

+n the "rabian story the rupture of the dam and the catastrophe were foreseen by the prophetess

Zerifa! "s told by al3Masudi, she had a dream:" great cloud covered the earth and e@ected lightnings and flashes! Then the thundercloud burst,and thunderbolt fell and consumed everything in its path# reaching the ground it reduced to ashesall it touched in its fall! 5"fter this,6 said the prophetess, 5it will happen that everything willsubmerge!6

8n the eve of the day when the sea burst, a dreadful cloudHnot in a dreamy vision, but in thesight of a multitudeHdar'ened the heavens, and flashes of lightning intersected the dar'ness!5"nd it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of +srael# and it was a cloud anddar'ness, but it gave light by night!6 %ECodus $7:.& The "ggada adds that 5the -ord discharged

hailstones and coals of fire!6The spirit that inspired the prophetess Zaripha rescued the people! She predicted 5a calamity ofcalamities, a momentous thing, a misfortune without precedent!6 " tempest would ruin the entirecountry!

+t was the prophetic woman in the camp of the +sraelites whose eCaltation is especiallymentioned when on the shore of the Sea of )assage, and this time she is called 5the prophetess6%ECodus $9:.3.$&:

"nd Miriam the prophetess, the sister of "haron, too' a timbrel in her hand and all the women

went out after her with timbrels and with dances!"nd Miriam answered them, 5Sing ye to the -ord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horseand the rider hath he thrown into the sea!6

The "rab authors have embellished the story with the inevitable oriental addenda of palmy daysin a paradise garden and of a su?erain enchanted by houries, but these are characteristic


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elaborations on the part of the tale tellers and do not belong the story of the dy'e bro'en at thesea, nor to the description of a spoiled irrigation system!

ot only the prophetess Zeripha, but also her husband and his brother had prophetic dreams!"ccording to one source it was the 5divine brother "mran who was the first to receive the

revelation concerning the impending catastrophe!6 This brother was gifted with magical'nowledge of the right way! Thus forewarned, Mo?ai'iya disposed of all his possessions andemigrated with all his people %uwairi&!

+t was "haron in the camp of the +sraelites who with the help of the rim and the Tumim oracledetermined the way to go and the deed to underta'e!

+n the "rabian tradition, in the variants + had before me, there was no allusion to a persecutinghost and no 'nowledge of the way the tribes passed before they reached Marib!

The "rabian philologists did not succeed in eCplaining the origin of the name Marib! +n the

boo's of ECodus and umbers two similar events are recounted which occurred in two placescalled Meriba: in both instances the tribes complained about the absence of water# the first timeat the beginning of their march through the wilderness# the second time in the last years of thewandering! The etymology of the name is eCplained to be 5the water of discord!6

(ells in an arid region were almost always waters of dispute! That the +sraelite tribes many timessuffered thirst in the desert is recorded in short but dramatic sentences! +n the violent changes inthe different strata of that region water sources disappeared# they were bloc'ed and diverted#thermal springs appeared, such as the spring Mara! "n inspired dowser might be able to findhidden water sources in the bloc's of split3apart roc's by stri'ing one with a rod!

+t even seems to me possible that the Sabean region of "rabia was before the catastrophe 5agarden across which the traveller could voyage a month on his mule without leaving the shade,6similar to +ndia, rich in water and on the same degree of latitude, where the vehement sun lets thesoil sprout abundant vegetation! The southern and northern fringes of "rabia attained a high levelof culture at a very early time, which would hardly be possible if these parts of "rabia had beenas poor in water as they are today!

+t was not the rupture of the dy'e that caused the dwindling of the fortunes of the country, butdrought and the disappearance of water sources, of which records are preserved both in the;ebrew Scriptures and in the "rab annals!

The construction of the dy'e in the Sabean region could have been a remedial measure to 'eepalive the gardens in this plain, ten days march from the *ed Sea and from the Aulf of "denali'e! The disastersHwith a field of destruction that embraced not only the other plains of "rabiabut also far3removed landsHwere remembered as 5the deluge of Marib,6 and as a sudden torrentthat overthrew the sanctuary at Mecca, and as a time of drought and famine and also of plagues,and as a time when whole countries were destroyed, left desolate and abandoned, while armiesperished, and tribes migrated! 2ut with the passing of centuries the real place and cause wereforgotten and a deserted dy'e in the south of "rabia was supposed to have been the main theater


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of events! +ts ruined remnants were supposed to be coeval witnesses of days recollected as daysof terror, when land and sea were sha'en in spasms! )ossibly this place had been called Maribsince ancient timesHwhat place of water is not a place of strife> -i'ewise the oil wells of today,being rare, are wells of strife! 8r perhaps the deluge of Meriba at the sea was only laterconnected connected with the visible remains of the abandoned dam, the name Marib being

given to it subseGuently!

The drought, followed by famine and by different plagues, compelled the "male'ites to leavetheir ancestral home in Mecca and to migrate toward the clouds far away in the s'y and 5towardtheir native land,6 where they, or a part of them, were drowned in the flood, according to-itab+alaghani!.

"nd thenHwe return to the scriptural narrationHthey met the migrants coming from Egypt! Thelatter advanced, following the mist that covered the desert in these latter days of in3the3beginning# it was li'e the vapor which arose from the dar'ness 5upon the face of the deep!6

+n the place where the cloud abode, there the children of +srael pitched their tents! (hether it wasby day or by night that the cloud was ta'en up, they @ourneyed! "nd the cloud rested in thewilderness of )aran! %umbers D:$


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5(ith the name of a new settlement he has deceived this great multitude# after he had succeededin leading us from a well3'nown to an uninhabited land, he now plans to send us to theunderworld, the last road of life!6 %$&

(e are at the crossing point in the desert where the +sraelites coming from Egypt met the

"male'ites coming from Mecca! (e followed the Scripture describing the way of the +sraelitesand the old "rabian traditions describing the way of the "male'ites! /rom this point on we shallfollow the +srealites wandering in the desert, according to the 2iblical and "rabian traditions!

MIDIAN

Mount Seir eCtends along the length of the *ed Sea and includes the area 'nown as ;ed@a?! Themountainous chain of volcanic formations stretches along the western border of the plateaucalled the "rabian esert, and constitutes a barrier opposite the depression which composes the

bed of the *ed Sea! (hen it is said that the tribes of +srael 5turned and too' our @ourney into thewilderness by way of the *ed Sea 0Iam Suf16 or that they 5compassed Mount Seir many days6%euteronomy .:$& it means @ust what is said, that they went southward along the mountainouschain not far from the shore of the *ed Sea in the region of ;ed@a?! +t is difficult to understandwhy the historians and 2ible eCegetes agreed that the decades of wandering of the tribes wereconfined to a very small area which may be crossed in one wee' or two!

"rabia is wide# nomads with cattle, loo'ing for water and pasture, drive great distances!efeated by the hostile "male'ites in the south of Fanaan, the fugitives from Egypt had no otherchoice but to return to Egypt or to move by way of the *ed Sea!

Midian was the land where, according to the Scripture, Moses had spent his manhood when afugitive from Egyptian @ustice# there he also became the son3in3law of a priest named Jethro!%ECodus .:$93.$& The habitation of the Midianite priest was to the south or to the east of Mount;oreb! %ECodus 4:$& Midian was not in the egev or on the coast of the "Gaba Aulf: in order toescape Egyptian @ustice Moses needed to go farther than the Sinai peninsula!

The abode of the Midianites is to be loo'ed for near the place where the city of Medina is today!This name Medina may li'ely be a remnant of the habitation of the Midianites there! Theidentification of Midian and Medina may be further substantiated by the name of the Midianitepriest, Jethro! The old "rabian name of Medina is Iathrib!

2ut even here the +sraelites did not pause, but continued on their way south! They were strangersin this land and they begged the Midianites to give them a guide for the way through the desert!5(e went through all that great and terrible wilderness,6 they said at the end of the way!

(ould the so3called Sinai )eninsula be called 5that great and terrible wilderness6 in face of the"rabian desert, fifty times as great> id the +sraelite tribes really tramp one decade after anotherin the narrow and short strip that runs from the south shore of the ead Sea to the "Gaba Aulf>The desert of the forty3year wandering was not the Sinai )eninsula, but a much larger area! The
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inclination of the historians is generally to deny the ancients long itineraries! Midian being theMedina of Moslem times, actually deep in the "rabian )eninsula, all indications in the 8ldTestament are for a deep penetration of the "rabian )eninsula by the wandering +sraelites whoescaped the land of Egypt, destroyed by the catastrophe in the mid3fifteenth century before thepresent era!

" wandering of nomads with their animals in years of drought would encompass large areas!8vercome by the "male'ites of southern Fanaan and driven to the *ed Sea, they would scarcelyremain in the same region! Their path led them to the south!

MECCA

=aaba, the holy spot in Mecca, was a sanctuary long before the time of Mohammed! The =aabahas the form of a cube or chamber, and the name is interpreted as meaning 5a cube!6 +n the

immediate vicinity of this small structureHinside the walls that encircle an open3to3the3s'y courtHa spring enclosed in a deep well provides the faithful with health3restoring water# once it was awell of oracular decision and it is certain that the spring was held in reverence at a very earlyperiod and that the fount determined the building of the sanctuary and the foundation of the city!+t is called the well of Zam3Zam!

Zam3Zam is eCplained to mean in "rabic 5to drin' with small gulps,6 or also 5water inabundance!6 2ut it may be a reminiscence of the former prehistoric dwellers in "rabia!Foncerning the eastern boundaries of the land of "mmon, lost in the sand of the desert, whichthe tribes approached at the end of their wandering, it is said %eut! .:.&: 5Aiants dwelt thereinin old time# and the "mmonites call them Zam3Zum%im&!6

The +sraelite tribes apparently visited the plains and hills where the generation of the Zam?umlived and died away in a gray antiGuity! Most probably the +sraelite tribes, roaming about in athirsty land with their little ones and with their floc's, were attracted to every well yieldingdrin'!

-et us proceed with the annals of-itab+alaghani!,which + cited up to the point when the"male'ites, driven out of Mecca by ants and drought and famine, migrated and moved towardthe clouds on the hori?on and came to their native land of Marib, where a flood overcame them!(hen they left Mecca a tribe called the @orhomites entered the place and too' care of thesanctuary neglected by the "male'ites! 2ut they also were mindless of the holy duties imposed

on them and, as they did not listen to the admonitions of their 'ing, they were visited by warningsigns# a sudden torrent of rainy flood ruined the =aaba! " number of years passed and the"male'ites were not heard of! The-itab+alaghani!continues:

Meanwhile arrived the tribes, brought in a disorderly retreat by the rupture of the dam of Marib#with them was the prophetess Taric'ah 0Zaripha1 who had announced to them the disaster, and attheir head Mo?ai'iya, the same as "mr, son of "mir, son of Thalabah! ! ! ! 8n reaching the gatesof Mecca, the tribes stopped, and "mr 0Mo?ai'iya1 their leader, sent to the inhabitants his son


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Thalabah, who spo'e to them in the name of the emigrant tribes: 5eparted from our native landand going in search of another, we have not found a land the inhabitants of which will agree torestrict themselves a little as to let us have a place and to grant us hospitality until our eCplorerswill return# for we have sent on errand some of our men to eCplore a territory proper for ourestablishing ourselves on it!

5(ill you cede to us a small space of your lands and allow us to remain there for a while to restuntil we shall learn from our scouts whether we must go to the north or to the east> "s soon aswe shall learn on what site we have more chances for relief, we shall direct ourselves withoutdelay from this place! (e do hope that our so@ourn with you will be very short!6

The tribe of @orhom refused:

5o, in Aods name, we shall not put ourselves aside, we and our cattle, for having the pleasureof receiving you! Ao along wherever you li'e to go# we have nothing to do with you!6

Mo?ai'iya, informed of this answer, sent them a second message worded thus:5+t is absolutely necessary that + spend at your place a whole year awaiting the answer of themessengers that + sent to eCplore the north and the east! +f you let me ta'e hold here and if youwill receive me with good will, + will be in accord with you and we shall divide the use of thepastures and of the water# but if you will refuse this ad@ustment, + will establish myself with youdespite you! "nd then, when you will send your herds to gra?e on the grassland, you will findonly what remains after our animals# and if you will li'e to drin' at the well it will be measuredfor you by a vessel! +f you will attempt to repel me by force, + will battle against you, and if +shall be the victor, + shall ta'e your wives and 'ill your men# and these that may escape + shallforbid the approach to the sacred territory!6

These passages resemble another passage, in umbers .:$7f! There is a similarity of situation,but not identity of events!

"nd Moses sent messengers from =adesh unto the 'ing of Edom, 5Thus saith thy brother +srael,Thou 'nowest all the travail that hath befallen us ! ! ! we have dwelt in Egypt a long time! The-ord ! ! ! brought us forth out of Egypt: and behold, we are in =adesh, a city in the uttermost ofthy border! -et us pass, + pray thee, through thy country: we will not pass through the fields, orthrough the vineyards, neither will we drin' of the water of the wells: we will go by the 'ingshigh way, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy borders!6

"nd Edom said unto him, 5Thou shalt not pass by me, lest + come out against thee with thesword!6

"nd the children of +srael said unto him, 5(e will go by the high way: and if + and my cattledrin' of thy water, then + will pay for it ! ! !6

"nd he said, 5Thou shalt not go through!6 "nd Edom came out against him with much peopleand with a strong hand!


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Thus Edom refused to give +srael passage through his border!

The ;ebrew record cites similar approaches to Moab and "mmon, also refused!

8f these two accounts, the ;ebrew record relates to an episode near the end of the wandering of

the tribes in the desert# the "rabian record relates to a moment during the wandering of sometribes and before the land of settlement was was eCplored by men sent on this errand! +n one casethe negotiation is about a temporary stay, and in the other case about passage! "nd still thecorrespondences are conspicuous, as they repeat the plight of the +sraelites in the desert and theirway of dealing with the tribes through whose land they had to pass!

pon a cursory reading of the "rabian recollections it seems as if the tribes were loo'ing forland for themselves towards the north or the east! +t is true that mention is made of some men ofthe tribes sent to the north and east to loo' for a temporary settlement# but it is also recountedabout another land of which an eCplorers report is awaited!

The spies were sent from the desert of )haran %umbers $4:4&! The desert of )haran according tothe old "rabian sources, neglected by 2iblical research, is in the mountainous area of ;ed@a?!%$ The place where the
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tabernacle stood, where the @udgment court was established, where Miriam died and was buried,should have been mar'ed if only by the slightest sign of national veneration, if at any time inhistory it was at the borders of Jewish land! 2ut it was never in its boundaries!

+n $D7, more than a score of years after + came to this conclusion, 2ar roma, the author of

2egeb,independently brought arguments to show that =adesh3barnea was Medain3Salib,formerly El3;e@r, about 79 'm southeast of )etra!%$B&"s eCplained above, + identify =adesh3barnea with Mecca!

The ;ebrews wandered in the great desert, and not in the small one! Their way from ;orma wasat first southeastward! Forrespondingly their camps moved: the eastern camp was the first,followed by the southern camp, and then the other two % &! The southern camp was called 5onethat is turned to Iemen!6 This description appears more proper for a camp which is in the"rabian peninsula rather than the Sinaitic triangle!

+n the "rabian record we read that the tribes under Mo?ai'iya succeeded to enter Mecca and

occupy it! The @orhomites sent an army against Mo?ai'iya! The ensuing battle lasted for threedays# both sides were courageous! +t ended with the @orhomites being put to a disorderly retreat,only a few of them escaping death!

"nother author, al3Masudi, wrote that the @orhomites had been eCpelled earlier by the childrenof +smael:

The -ord sent against the @orhomites swift clouds, ants, and other signs of his rage, and manyof them perished! The children of +smael, when grown in number, eCpelled the @orhomites fromMecca! These established themselves near the land of @ohainah, where an sudden torrentdrowned all of them in a single night! The theater of this catastrophe is 'nown under the name

+dam %/ury&! 8meyah of the tribe Ta'if made an allusion to this event in a the following verse:5+n the time of yore the @orhomites too' the ground at Tehamah and a furious current swept allof them away!6 %$D&

That an earthGua'e was the cause of the havoc is to be inferred from the already Guoted passageof Masudi:

/rom el3;ad@oun up to Safa%.&all became desert# in Mecca the nights are silent, no voice ofpleasant tal's! (e dwelt there, but in a most resounding night and in the most terrible ofdevastations we were destroyed!

-oud sounds often accompany an earthGua'e! in and roaring became linguistic substitutes forthe phenomenon itself! Mecca was abandoned by the "male'ites when, shortly before itsoccupation by the +sraelites, it was shattered by earthGua'es! This was the same catastrophe thatruined the Middle =ingdom of Egypt! The "male'ites moved toward )alestine and Egypt, andsoon built their fortress3capital "varis at el3"rish! The +sraelites, who were unable to brea'through to )alestine from the south, reached the former capital of the "male'ites!
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"fter occupying Mecca the conGuerors allowed the +smaelite tribes, which had not participatedin the battle against them, to visit the sanctuary!

THE PROMISED LAND

The tribes under Mo?ai'iya did not remain in Mecca! "ccording to Masudi, after a number ofyears

They continued on their way and came to camp between the land of the "harites and "'', near apool named Aassan, between two valleys called Zebid and *ima, and they dran' the water of thepool!

+n the boo' of euteronomy it is said %.:$,4&: 5(e compassed Mount Seir many days ! ! ! "ndthe -ord spa'e ! ! ! turn you northward!6 They reached the border of Edom and Moab

%euteronomy .:$3$4&:

The Emim dwelt therein in times past ! ! ! which also were accounted giants, as the "na'im# butthe Moabites call them Emim! The ;orim also dwelt in Seir before time# but the children of Esausucceeded them ! ! ! "nd we went over the broo' Zerid!

"ccording to the boo' of umbers %.$:$.3$


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The author of the tenth century of our era, bringing down the record he received in his time fromold sources, did not suspect any affinity of this story with the story of Moses! Therefore hedesignated the Mount of Moses as the border in the conGuest of the tribes under Mo?ai'iya,tribes which escaped from a deluge and came into the depth of the great desert, and departedfrom there into the land between amascus and Mount ebo!

The "rabian tradition tells that some parts of these tribes when in the desert departed from themain stoc'! " similar story is preserved in the "ggada! ntil recently ;ebrew sects were livingin the desert among the "rabs!

+s the old "rabian tradition, handed down by the +slamic historians, an authentic story of thewandering of +srael in the desert> The material is dealt with Guite differently in this pre3+slamictradition from the way the 2iblical legends are repeated in the =oran! So possibly, Moses and histribes en@oy a double eCistence in the "rabic tradition!

8ne of these two stories 'nows but the segment of time from the flood at Marib up to the

conGuest of Trans@ordania! +n both traditions the events are ascribed to a time separated from theepoch of the patriarchs by a few generations! +n both accounts destructions occurred, plaguescame in abundance, water sources vanished, and an earthGua'e destroyed human dwellings atnight! 2oth ages were times of the migrations of tribes! +n both accounts, due to famine anddrought, the migrants followed clouds through the desert! " sudden floodHin which many troopsperished, having been brought to migration by former plaguesHhappened in both seGuences ofevents! The places of the last occurrence were at +dam, at Tehama in one account, and at Edomand )i3Tehom in the other! +n both cases some tribes escaped with their lives from the flood!These tribes were under the leadership of a ruler, his divine brother and sister %or a wife&, all ofthem prophetically gifted! Their names and the name of their father are not dissimilar in the twoaccounts! They migrated with their treasuries and cattle# they sent spies to eCplore a land for their

settlement# in peculiar espressions they as'ed local rulers permission for a temporary stay# theywere ready to do battle in case they were refused# they had a temporary abode in some veneratedplaces! They did not remain there but after a stay for a year or more departed! "ccording to the"rabian story they marched through the land of the "horites and "'' and 5came to a well6situtated 5between two valleys6 and 5dran' water of it!6 The same information is given in the;ebrew story, eCcept that the places are called 5land of the ;orites6 and 5"na'!6 TheyconGuered the land of the Jordan from amascus to mount ebo!

"re these two different renderings about different tribes that had similar eCperiences> 8r twodifferent stories of the same tribes and the same events>

2oth too' place at the time when the "male'ites %called by name in both accounts& left theirpaternal home and came to roam about! "nd, from what is said in the Scriptures about the desert%5all that great and terrible wilderness6 and from the description of the way %along the *edSea, around Mount Seir& and of the plain of their encampment# and because of the politicalstimuli to depart from the place of defeat# and because of the necessity of going though vastspaces away from the arid GuartersHit may be concluded: the desert of wandering was theimmense plateau of "rabia!


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The pre3+slamic traditions of the wandering of the Tribes in the (ilderness, having been writtendown much later than the ;ebrew teCt, cannot claim to be the better or more correct version# butthey may cast light on many issues!

*eferences

$! Fited in "bul /arad@,-itab+Alaghani! (Book of Songs), transl. b! . resnel, inJournalAsiatique,4rd series, ol! + %$B4B&, p! .7!

.! The "rab author remar'ed that the word toufanordinarily means 5deluge,6 but heascribes to it the sense of 5death!6 Evidently we have to re@ect his effort to change themeaning of the word! /resnel changed the meaning of the word gha!thwhich, as hewrote, signifies primarily 5rain6 or 5clouds,6 into 5pasture6 # he remar's himself that amirage could not deceive a dweller of "rabia! The original meaning ofgha!th,i!e!,5clouds,6 must be retained!

4! See for instance the traditions collected by ! *eis'e,De Arabum %"o$ha etustissima,Sail l Arem, et$.%-eip?ig, $D! E! Alaser ed!, 5Zwei +nschriften ueber den ammbruch von Marib,6 p! $4f!

$!

$$! 'he %n$!$lo"ae#ia of slam,s!v! 5Marib!6

$.! Ff! references collected by E! M! Jomard in /! Mengin,8istoire sommaire #e l%g!"te,%)aris, $B4D&, pp! 47$377!

$4! 5"ccording to other traditions, Marib was the name of a castle that belonged to these'ings in a remote age6 H"l3Masudi,9uru#ij al+Dhabab,p! 4


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$7! Masudi,9uru#ij al+Dhabab,ol! +++, pp! 4

.! Safa may recall the name Iam Suf %Sea of the Torrent&! "lso in this version we read aboutclouds, various plagues, and a sudden flood!

Be5o+. the Mo*+ta,+/ of Dark+e//

This short discourse is not a part of the chronological problem discussed in the wor' ofreconstruction of ancient history# it deals with historical geographyHthe whereabouts of theplaces of eCile of the Ten Tribes of +srael!

The sentence %++ =ings $


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+t is generally agreed that the location of ;alah %in ;ebrew with two letters kheth,transcribed ash in scholarly teCts&, or =hala'h, is not given to identification!%.&"s to Ao?an, the teCts of ++=ings $


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The descriptions of Tiglath3pileser and Sargon of their campaigns in the north lead us torecogni?e that they passed the mountains of the Faucasus and reached the steppes between theon and the olga! (hen the barrier of the mountains was overcome, they could proceednorthward in a scarcely populated area barren of natural defenses, where they would have metless resistance than in the foothills of the mountains! +t is un'nown how far they may have let

their armies of conGuest march across the steppes, but probably they did not give the order toreturn homeward until the army brought its insignia to some really remote point: it could be asfar as the place of the confluence of the =ama with the olga, or even of the 8'a, still farthernorth! The middle flow of the olga would be the furthermost region of the "ssyrian realm!

The roads to the *ussian steppes along the Faspian and 2lac' seas were much more readilypassable than the narrow path along the river Tere' and the aryal Fanyon that cut the Faucasusand wind at the foot of Mount =a?be', over siCteen thousand feet high!

The fact that the 5confluence of the river Ao?an6 is considered a sufficient designation suggeststhat it must have been a great stream!

" large river in the plain behind the crest of the Faucasus is the on, and a still larger riverHthelargest in EuropeHis the olga! +f the "ssyrians did not ma'e a halt on the plain that stretchesimmediately behind the Faucasus and moved along the great rivers without crossing them toconGuer the great plain that lies open behind the narrow span where the rivers on and olgaconvergeHthen the most probable place of eCile might be rec'oned to be at the middle olga!The distance from ur Sharru'in to this region on the *ussian %Scythian& plain is in fact muchless than the distance from ineveh to Thebes in Egypt, a path ta'en by "ssurbanipal severaldecades later! nder Esarhaddon and "ssurbanipal, "ssyrian armies repeatedly invaded 5)atursiand =usi6 Hpper Egypt and Ethiopia %Sudan&! 2ut "ssyrian occupation of Scythia is not amere con@ecture: it is confirmed by archaeological evidence! 5The earliest ob@ects from Scythia

that we can date,6 writes a student of the regions antiGuities, 5referred to the ++th and +thcenturies 2!F!, are under overwhelming "ssyrian influence! ! !6%&

The eCiles who were removed from Samaria, a city of palaces and temples, no doubt, bewailedthe capital they had heroically defended for three years against the army of what was, in its time,the worlds most powerful nation! "ccordingly they might have called their new settlementSamaria %in ;ebrew Shemer or Shomron# Sumur in the el3"marna letters&!

8n the middle flow of the olga, a city with the name Samara eCists and has eCisted since greyantiGuity! +t is situated a short distance downstream from the point where the olga and the =ama@oin! *ussian conGuerors of the ninth century found this city in eCistence! The medieval "rabgeographer Ia'ubi, basing himself on accounts of the ninth3century traveller +bn /adlan, spea'sof the =ha?ars who dwelt in Samara!%


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The ruling class of the =ha?ars used ;ebrew as its language, and the ;ebrew faith was theofficial religion in the realm of the =ha?ars! There was a system of great tolerance, uniGue in theMiddle "ges, in respect to other religions# the Supreme Fourt was composed of two persons ofJewish faith, two Moslems, two Fhristians, and one idolater of the *ussian population# but it wasnot a confusion of creeds as it had been in old Samaria, which tolerated many creeds, the

monotheism of Iahweh being a protesting ingredient of the confusion!

(ere the =ha?ars or their ruling aristocracy converted to Judaism in a later age> This positionwas based on what was said in a letter of the =ha?ar 'ing Joseph, written about the year D$, tothe Jewish grandee, ;asdai ibn3Shaprut, at the court of Fordoba! L"bd3al3*ahman al3asir, theMoorish ruler of Spain, had as'ed the =ing of the =ha?ars to provide any available informationabout his people, ;asdais brothers in religion! +n the letter of reply the =ha?ar 'ing recited atradition or a legend# advocates of three religions came to some prior 'ing of the =ha?ars, and hepic'ed the Jewish faith because the Fhristian and the Mohammedan ali'e gave preferrence to theJewish religion above that of their respective rival!%$&

The story eCposes its mythical character! +n the seventh or eighth centuries of the present era, theadepts of the Jewish faith were persecuted by the Fhristians and also by the Moslems, and wouldhardly be chosen to become the religion of the state! " similar legend of 5choosing6 a religion istold about ladimir of =iev: in this legend the =ha?ars were the delegates representing theJewish faith!

;ad the =ha?ars been converted to Judaism, it would be almost incredible that they would calltheir city by the name Samara! Samaria was a sinful city from the point of view of the nation thatsurvived in )alestine after the fall of Samaria, and out of which eventually grew the rabbinicalJudaism of later centuries!

The conversion to the Jewish religion would also not imply the adoption of the ;ebrewlanguage! +t is remar'able that the state language of the =ha?ars was ;ebrew# the 'ing of the=ha?ars was Guite capable of reading and answering a ;ebrew letter!

-ong before the correspondence between Joseph and ;asdai of the tenth century, the =ha?armonarchs had ;ebrew names! The dynasts previous to 'ing Joseph were in the ascending order:"aron, 2en@amin, Menahem, isi, Manasseh ++, +saac, ;annu'ah, Manasseh, ;e?e'iah, and8badiah! " conversion to Judaism in the seventh or eighth century of the present era would bringwith it names common to ;ebrews in the early Middle "ges, li'e Saadia or achman# theJudaism of the early Fhristian age was rich in names li'e ;illel, Aamliel, while ;ellenisticnames li'e "leCander, or "ristobul were not infreGuent! "gain, the 2iblical names of an earlyperiod would give prominence to names li'e Joab, Aideon, or +ftach, and still an older group ofnames would be Aad, +ssahar, Zwulun or 2en@amin!

+t is peculiar that some of the 'ing of the =ha?ars were called by the names used in +srael at thetime that Samaria was captured by the "ssyrians! ;e?e'iah is said to have been the 'ing ofJerusalem at that time %++ =ings $B:$&, and the name of his son and successor was Manasseh!8badiah was one of the most common names at that time and in the preceding century! +t seems
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not arbitrary to assume that the =ha?ars absorbed, or even originally were, the remnants of someof the tribes of +srael!

+t is most probable that the religious reform among the =ha?ars, about which some tradition waspreserved until the tenth century, is to be interpreted as an act of purification of the half3pagan

religion that the eCiles from Samaria brought into and developed in their new abodes on theolga, and as an act of return to the old ;ebrew religion of Iahweh! This might have beenperformed with the help of some ;ebrews who perchance left the schools of Sura and)umbadita, where the 2abylonian Talmud was composed! 8ld Jewish authors %$$&actually mentionthe fact that teachers of rabbinical Judaism were invited to the 'ingdom of the =ha?ars as earlyas the eighth century! )ossibly, the name 5=ha?ars,6 despite a difference in writing, is to beinterpreted as 5Those (ho *eturn!6 " long, probably illiterate period, when ;ebrew was usedonly in speech, may have preceded the period of revival of learning and purification of faith!

+ would li'e to eCpress here the belief that eCcavation in or around Samara on the olga maydisclose ;ebrew signs of the eighth and seventh centuries before the present era! 8ther sites of

old settlements on the olga, too, may disclose remnants of old ;ebrew culture!The ;ebrew %most probably also "ssyrian& name for the olga, Ao?an, seems to have survivedin the name =a?an! The city =a?an is located to the north of Samara, a very short distancebeyond the place of confluence of the olga and the =ama, two eGually large streams! " tributaryby the name =a?an'a, or 5small =a?an,6 flows there into the olga!

+n the days of the =ha?ar realm, the river olga was called not by its "ssyrian, nor by its presentname, but by the name Etel %the name is given also as +til or "til&! This name appears to derivefrom a Semitic root# it is also used by the medieval "rab geographers!

Many place names in southern *ussia seem to be of ;ebrew derivation! The name of the riveron may go bac' to the name of the +sraelite temple3city an! The Faspian Sea is best eCplainedas 5The Silver Sea6 from the ;ebrew $as"i%of silver&! *ostov means 5The Aood ;arbor6 in;ebrew! 8rel, read in ;ebrew, would mean 5uncircumcised6 # Saratov may mean 5to ma'e anincision!6 %$.&(ith our identification of Ao?anHone of the places of eCile of the Ten TribesHasthe olga, we may now investigate the Guestion, what place is =hala'h, the other place of eCilementioned in ++ =ings $ This place name is generally regarded as unidentifiable!

The eastern coast of the 2lac' Sea was the goal of the "rgonaut eCpedition in its search for theAolden /leece! This eCpedition, engineered by Jason, was underta'en on the boat "rgo! The landon the eastern coast of the 2lac' Sea was called Folchis in ancient times, and the region is still

'nown by this name! +n *ussian literature it is called =ol'hida!+ consider western AeorgiaHto which Folchis belongs, to be the 2iblical =hala'h! Those of theeCpatriates of Samaria whose destination was =hala'h arrived there some decades after the"rgonaut eCpedition, which was regarded by the later Aree's as an historical event andchronologically placed two or three generations before the Tro@an (ar!%$4&
http://www.varchive.org/ce/baalbek/khazars.htm#f_11http://www.varchive.org/ce/baalbek/khazars.htm#f_12http://www.varchive.org/ce/baalbek/khazars.htm#f_13http://www.varchive.org/ce/baalbek/khazars.htm#f_13http://www.varchive.org/ce/baalbek/khazars.htm#f_11http://www.varchive.org/ce/baalbek/khazars.htm#f_12http://www.varchive.org/ce/baalbek/khazars.htm#f_13


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+n the mountainous region of western Aeorgia, ad@acent to the Folchian coast, live the so3calledAeorgian, or Mountain Jews! They claim to be of the Ten Tribes of +srael, their ancestors havingbeen eCiled there upon the destruction of the 'ingdom of +srael by the "ssyrians! 2en Zvi %thesecond president of the modern state of +srael& tells of these people and their claims! %$7&;e writesthat 5there is no reason to doubt the eCistence of a continuous Jewish settlement in both the north

and south of Faucasia, whose roots were laid in very ancient times, perhaps as early as the daysof the Second Temple, perhaps even earlier!6 Iet he does not eCpress any suspicion that =hala'hmay have been Folchis!

The third place of eCile of the Ten Tribes according to the 2oo' of =ings were the 5cities of theMedes!6 +s it possible to locate also this last destination> The Medes first appear in "ssyrianannals in the time of Shalmaneser +++: it was in his days that they started to penetrate across themountains of +ran to infringe on the boundaries of the "ssyrian 'ingdom! They appear onceagain in the annals of Sargon ++, who claims to have repelled 5the distant Medes on the edge ofthe 2i'ni mountain!6 %$9&Some scholars maintain that the homeland of the Medes before theiroccupation of the +ranian plateau in the seventh and siCth centuries was in Turan, that is, (est

Tur'estan! Sargons reference to 5distant Medes6 would then designate their homeland in Turan!+n this conteCt it is interesting to note that the Jews of 2u'hara, the great trading city andmetropolis of (est Tur'estan, %Turan& claim direct descent from the Ten Tribes!%$&Some writersare even prepared to admit the possible veracity of this claim,%$

! Ellis ;! Minns, S$!thians an# 5reeks%Fambridge, $D$4&, p! .4!


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B! Masudi hands down a tradition that the Sassanid 'ing "rdashir fought against the=ha?ars! Masudi,9uruj al+Dhabab,ed! 2arbier de Meynard and )avet de Fourteille%)aris, $B$3

The Secret of Baalbek

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