Ophir
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Ophir (Template:IPAc-en;<ref>"Ophir". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.</ref> Template:Hebrew Name) is a port or region mentioned in the Bible, famous for its wealth. Its existence is attested to by an inscribed pottery shard found at Tell Qasile (in modern-day Tel Aviv) in 1946, dating to the eighth century BC,<ref>Maisler, B., Two Hebrew Ostraca from Tell Qasîle, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Oct., 1951), p. 265 [1]</ref><ref>Boardman, John, The Prehistory of the Balkans: The Middle East and the Aegean World, Tenth to Eighth Centuries B.C., Part 1, Cambridge University Press, 1982, p. 480 [2]</ref> which reads "gold of Ophir to/for Beth-Horon [...] 30 shekels".Template:Efn<ref>Kitchen, Kenneth A.; Handy, Lowell K. (ed.), The Age of Solomon: Scholarship at the Turn of the Millennium, BRILL 1997, p. 144 [3]</ref> The location of Ophir is unknown, though the find confirms it as a real place which exported gold.Template:Sfn
Biblical referencesEdit
Ophir in Genesis 10 (the Table of Nations) is said to be the name of one of the sons of Joktan.Template:Efn The Books of Kings and Chronicles tell of a joint expedition to Ophir by King Solomon and the Tyrian king Hiram I from Ezion-Geber, a port on the Red Sea, that brought back large amounts of gold, precious stones and 'algum wood' and of a later failed expedition by king Jehoshaphat of Judah.Template:Efn The famous 'gold of Ophir' is referenced in several other books of the Hebrew Bible.Template:Efn
In the Septuagint, other variants of the name are mentioned: Ōpheír, Sōphír, Sōpheír and Souphír.Template:Sfn
The New Testament apocrypha book Cave of Treasures contains a passage: "And the children of Ophir, that is, Send, appointed to be their king Lophoron, who built Ophir with stones of gold; now, all the stones that are in Ophir are of gold."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Theorized locationsEdit
Possible ancient trade routesEdit
Sumatra and Malay PeninsulaEdit
The 1st-century historian Josephus, in his "Antiquities of the Jews" (8.6.4), identified Ophir as "the Aurea Chersonesus, which belongs to India."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> "Aurea Chersonesus" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) is Grecolatin for "Golden Peninsula." At that time, India was thought to comprise, not just the Indian subcontinent, but also Indochina, and Indonesia. Hence, in his Geography, the nearly contemporaneous geographer Ptolemy lists these additional lands within the province of "India beyond the Ganges." Ptolemy therein identifies exactly where this Golden Peninsula is, centering it in Malaysia, perhaps also extending somewhat into Sumatra. In particular, Ptolemy mentions a "golden river" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) somewhat south of the archaeological site of the Bujang Valley ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), and in the vicinity of the "Palandos river" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) (the modern Pahang region, also common in the derived toponyms surrounding Kuala Lumpur). These areas are indeed famous for gold.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Indeed, the longest-lasting name for Sumatra, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}},<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> which also means "gold," may have derived directly from the word Ophir, by a means similar to the Classical Greek pronunciation displayed in the Septuagint: "Soophaara"/"Souphir" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>/{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>).
Europeans, arriving later, consequently renamed mythologically-famous 'golden' Mount Ledang near Malacca, Malaysia, as Mount Ophir.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Sri LankaEdit
The 10th-century lexicographer David ben Abraham al-Fasi identified Ophir with Serendip, the old Persian name for Sri Lanka (aka Ceylon).<ref>Solomon Skoss (ed.), The Hebrew-Arabic Dictionary of the Bible, Known as `Kitāb Jāmiʿ al-Alfāẓ` (Agron) of David ben Abraham al-Fasi, Yale University Press: New Haven 1936, vol. 1, p. 46 (Hebrew)</ref> Moreover, as mentioned above, A Dictionary of the Bible by Sir William Smith<ref name="Smith">Smith, William, A dictionary of the Bible, Hurd and Houghton, 1863 (1870), pp.1441</ref> notes the Hebrew word for parrot Thukki, derived from the Classical Tamil for peacock Thogkai or Sinhalese "tokei".<ref name="Smith's Bible Dictionary">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
IndiaEdit
A Dictionary of the Bible by Sir William Smith, published in 1863,<ref name="Smith"/> notes the Hebrew word for parrot Thukki, derived from the Classical Tamil for peacock Thogkai and Sinhalese "tokei",<ref name="Smith's Bible Dictionary"/> joins other Classical Tamil words for ivory, cotton-cloth and apes preserved in the Hebrew Bible. This theory of Ophir's location in Uvari in Tamil Nadu is further supported by other historians.<ref>Ramaswami, Sastri, The Tamils and their culture, Annamalai University, 1967, pp.16</ref><ref>Gregory, James, Tamil lexicography, M. Niemeyer, 1991, pp.10</ref><ref>Fernandes, Edna, The last Jews of Kerala, Portobello, 2008, pp.98</ref><ref>Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, Volume I Almug Tree Almunecar→
ALMUG or ALGUM TREE. The Hebrew words Almuggim or Algummim are translated Almug or Algum trees in our version of the Bible (see 1 Kings x. 11, 12; 2 Chron. ii. 8, and ix. 10, 11). The wood of the tree was very precious, and was brought from Ophir (probably some part of India), along with gold and precious stones, by Hiram, and was used in the formation of pillars for the temple at Jerusalem, and for the king's house; also for the inlaying of stairs, as well as for harps and psalteries. It is probably the red sandal-wood of India (Pterocarpus santalinus). This tree belongs to the natural order Leguminosæ, sub-order Papilionaceæ. The wood is hard, heavy, close-grained, and of a fine red colour. It is different from the white fragrant sandal-wood, which is the produce of Santalum album, a tree belonging to a distinct natural order. Also see notes by George Menachery in the St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India, Vol. 2 (1973) </ref>
The most likely location on the coast of Kerala conjectured to be Ophir is Poovar in Thiruvananthapuram District (though some Indian scholars also suggest Beypore as a possible location).<ref name="Menon1967">Template:Citation</ref><ref name="Aiyangar2004">Template:Citation</ref>
Earlier in the 19th century, Max Müller and other scholars identified Ophir with Abhira, near the Indus River in modern-day state of Gujarat, India. According to Benjamin Walker Ophir is said to have been a town of the Abhira tribe.<ref name="Walker">Template:Citation</ref>
In Jewish tradition, Ophir is often associated with Uvari, a place in the Indian subcontinent,Template:Efn named for one of the sons of Joktan.<ref>Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews (Book 8, chapter 6, §4), s.v. Aurea Chersonesus</ref> Ibn Sa'd says in his Kitab at-Tabaqat al-Kabir that the Indians, the Sindhis and the Bindis are the descendants of Yufir (Ophir).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Ryukyu IslandsEdit
In Tomo III (1519–1522), pages 112–138, of the book Colección general de documentos relativos a las Islas Filipinas existentes en el Archivo de Indias de Sevilla,<ref name=CGTF>Template:Cite book</ref> found in the General Archive of the Indies in Spain, Document No. 98 describes how to locate the land of Ophir. The navigational guide starts from the Cape of Good Hope in Africa to India, Burma, Sumatra, the Maluku Islands, Borneo, Sulu, China, then finally Ophir, which is the Ryukyu Islands. These directions were misrepresented by Lone District of Santa Rosa Representative Danilo Fernandez in 2023, who suggested Ophir as the desirable name for the Philippines.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
AfricaEdit
Biblical scholars, archaeologists and others have tried to determine the exact location of Ophir. Vasco da Gama's companion Tomé Lopes reasoned that Ophir would have been the ancient name for Great Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe, the main center of southern African trade in gold in the Renaissance period — though the ruins at Great Zimbabwe are now dated to the medieval era, long after Solomon is said to have lived. The identification of Ophir with Sofala in Mozambique was mentioned by Milton in Paradise Lost (11:399-401), among many other works of literature and science.
Another, more serious, possibility is the African shore of the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden or Somali Sea, with the name perhaps being derived from the ancient city of Opone in modern day Somalia or from Afar people living in the Danakil desert (Ethiopia, Eritrea) between Adulis and Djibouti.
Afri was a Latin name used to refer to the Carthaginians, who dwelt in North Africa, in modern-day Tunisia. This name, that later gave the rich Roman province of Africa and the subsequent medieval Ifriqiya, from which the name of the continent Africa is ultimately derived, seems to have referred to a native Libyan tribe originally, however, see Terence for discussion. The name is usually connected with Phoenician afar, "dust", but a 1981 hypothesis<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}, Decret and Fantar, 1981</ref> has asserted that it stems from the Berber word ifri (plural ifran) meaning "cave", in reference to cave dwellers.<ref name="book on ligne">The Berbers, by Geo. Babington Michell, p 161, 1903, Journal of the Royal African Society book on ligne</ref> This is proposed<ref name="book on ligne"/> to be the origin of Ophir as well.Template:Sfn
Mahd adh Dhahab, ArabiaEdit
In 1976, the United States Department of Interior announced that a team formed by the United States Geological Survey together with experts from Saudi Arabia believes it has "a fairly airtight case” that Mahd adh Dhahab, or Cradle of Gold, in Saudi Arabia is the biblical Ophir. As evidence, the team states that "there are huge quantities of waste rock left behind by ancient miners, approximately a million tons, and that it has an average gold content of sixteenths of an ounce per ton, indicating that the mined ore must have been richer. From sampling old slopes and from production figures during the 1939 to 1954 period when the mine was reactivated to extract gold and silver, the geological survey scientists estimated that in biblical times much gold must have been found at or near the surface." Moreover, Mahd adh Dhahab is "within range of Israel's transport capability," and it "could easily have been known to Solomon or his advisers because it lies on a north‐south trade route that has run to Aqaba for some 4,000 years." Their conclusion is that "Mand adh Dhahab [sic] could have produced 34 tons of gold in ancient times and was the biblical Ophir."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Inspiration or named afterEdit
AmericasEdit
In a letter written in May 1500, Peter Martyr claimed that Christopher Columbus identified Hispaniola with Ophir.<ref>De orbe novo decades</ref>
The theologian Benito Arias Montano (1571) proposed finding Ophir in the name of Peru, reasoning that the native Peruvians were thus descendants of Ophir and Shem.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The California Gold Rush boomtown, Ophir, was renamed<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> after "the biblical source of Solomon's treasure."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Ophir, Oregon, is an unincorporated community on the coast in Curry County.
Solomon IslandsEdit
After their discovery by Europeans in 1568 by Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña, the Solomon Islands were subsequently referred to as Islas Salomón (Solomon Islands) by others following reports of his voyage optimistically conflated with stories of King Solomon, believing them to be Ophir.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>HOGBIN, H. In, Experiments in Civilization: The Effects of European Culture on a Native Community of the Solomon Islands, New York: Schocken Books, 1970</ref>
MarsEdit
Ophir Chasma, named after the biblical Ophir, is a canyon making up part of the Valles Marineris canyon system on Mars.
See alsoEdit
- India (Bible)
- Tarshish, another Biblical location providing Solomon with riches.
- Karl Mauch, an explorer who inadvertently discovered Great Zimbabwe when searching for Ophir.
- Land of Punt
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
BibliographyEdit
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- (fr) Quatremère (1861), Mémoire sur le pays d’Ophir, in Mélanges d'histoire, Ducrocq, Paris, p. 234 (read @ Archive).
For many references and a comprehensive outline of the products exported from Muziris, Ariake &c. cf. George Menachery ed. The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India, 1973, 1982, 2009.