Ajay Kumar: Created a new article

2023-08-29T20:46:01Z

Created a new article

New page

{{short description|Biblical port famous for its wealth}}
{{distinguish|Orphir}}
{{About|the region mentioned in the Bible|other uses|Ophir (disambiguation)}}

'''Ophir''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|oʊ|f|ər}};<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ophir "Ophir"]. ''[[Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary]]''.</ref> {{Hebrew Name|אוֹפִיר|ʼŌfīr|ʼŌp̄īr}}) is a port or region mentioned in the [[Bible]], famous for its wealth. [[King Solomon]] received a shipment from Ophir every three years ([[1 Kings]] 10:22) which consisted of [[gold]], [[silver]], [[sandalwood]], [[pearl]]s, [[ivory]], [[ape]]s, and [[peacock]]s.{{sfn|Schroff, The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea|1912|p=41}}

==Biblical references==
Ophir in [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] 10 (the [[Table of Nations]]) is said to be the name of one of the sons of [[Joktan]].{{efn|This is also stated in ''[[1 Chronicles]] 1:22''}} The [[Books of Kings]] and [[Books of Chronicles|Chronicles]] tell of a joint expedition to Ophir by King Solomon and the [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyrian]] king [[Hiram I]] from [[Ezion-Geber]], a port on the [[Red Sea]], that brought back large amounts of gold, precious stones and '[[Algum|algum wood]]' and of a later failed expedition by king [[Jehoshaphat]] of Judah.{{efn|The first expedition is described in ''[[1 Kings 9]]:28; 10:11; [[1 Chronicles 29]]:4; [[2 Chronicles 8]]:18; 9:10'', the failed expedition of Jehoshaphat in ''[[1 Kings 22]]:48''}} The famous 'gold of Ophir' is referenced in several other books of the Hebrew Bible.{{efn|''[[Book of Job]] [[Job 22:24|22:24]]; 28:16; [[Psalm 45]]:9; [[Isaiah 13]]:12''}}

In the [[Septuagint]], other variants of the name are mentioned: ''Ōpheír'', ''Sōphír'', ''Sōpheír'' and ''Souphír''.{{sfn|Mahdi, The Dispersal of Austronesian boat forms in the Indian Ocean|1999|p=154}}

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>{{Cite book|title=The Book of The Cave of Treasures by Ephrem the Syrian: Translated from the Syriac Text of The British Museum|last=Badge|first=William|publisher=The Religious Tract Society|year=1927|location=London|pages=32|via=Google Books}}</ref>

==Archaeology and US-Saudi investigation on Mand adh Dhahab==
In 1946, an [[Ostracon|inscribed pottery shard]] was found at [[Tell Qasile]] (in modern-day [[Tel Aviv]]), 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 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/542173]</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 [https://books.google.com/books?id=vXljf8JqmkoC&pg=PA480]</ref> It bears, in [[Paleo-Hebrew]] script, the text "''gold of Ophir to/for Beth-Horon [...] 30 [[shekel]]s''"{{efn|Beth-Horon probably refers to the [[Bethoron|ancient city]] 35 km south of Tell Qasile; another interpretation is that Beth-Horon means 'the temple of Horon', (a Canaanite deity also known as Hauron), see {{harvtxt|Lipiński|2004|p=197}}}}<ref>Kitchen, Kenneth A.; Handy, Lowell K. (ed.), ''The Age of Solomon: Scholarship at the Turn of the Millennium'', BRILL 1997, p. 144 [https://books.google.com/books?id=gam10TAOZusC&pg=PA144]</ref> The find confirms that Ophir was a place from which gold was imported.{{sfn|Lipiński|2004|p=144}}

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>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/05/24/archives/solomons-mine-believed-found.html | title=Solomon's Mine Believed Found | newspaper=The New York Times | date=24 May 1976 | last1=Rensberger | first1=Boyce }}</ref>

==Theorized locations==

=== Possible 1st century BC trade routes ===

====Sri Lanka====
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 [[Sinhala language|Sinhalese]] "tokei".<ref name="Smith's Bible Dictionary">[http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/eastons-bible-dictionary/peacock.html Smith's Bible Dictionary]</ref> Both Sinhalese and Tamil are native to Sri Lanka. {{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

==== Poovar, Kerala, India ====
[[File:Poovar Kerala.jpg|thumb|[[Poovar]] is often identified with Ophir]]

''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 [[Tamilakam]] 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">{{citation|last=Menon|first=A. Sreedhara|title=A Survey of Kerala History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N7WaZe2PBy8C|page=58|year=1967|publisher=Sahitya Pravarthaka Co-operative Society [Sales Department]; National Book Stall}}</ref><ref name="Aiyangar2004">{{citation|last=Aiyangar|first=Sakkottai Krishnaswami|title=Ancient India: Collected Essays on the Literary and Political History of Southern India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=htArUg0OMpcC&pg=PA60|pages=60–|year=2004|orig-year=first published 1911|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=978-81-206-1850-3}}</ref>

Earlier in the 19th century, [[Max Müller]] and other scholars identified Ophir with [[Abhira Kingdom|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">{{citation|last=Walker|first=Benjamin|title=Hindu World: An Encyclopedic Survey of Hinduism, Volume 2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iGjXAAAAMAAJ|page=515|year=1968|publisher=Allen & Unwin}}</ref>

In [[Jewish tradition]], Ophir is often associated with [[Uvari]], a place in the [[Indian subcontinent]],{{efn|Fourteenth-century biblical commentator, [[Nathanel ben Isaiah]], writes: "''And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab'' (Gen. 10:29), these are the tracts of countries in the east, being those of the first [[clime]],"<ref>{{cite book |last=Ben Isaiah |first=N.|author-link=Nethanel ben Isaiah |title=Sefer Me'or ha-Afelah |publisher=Mechon Moshe |translator=[[Yosef Qafih]] |date=1983|location=Kiryat Ono |page=74 |language=he }}</ref> and which first clime, according to [[al-Biruni]], the sub-continent of India falls entirely therein.<ref>Sunil Sharma, ''Mughal Arcadia: Persian Literature in an Indian Court'', [[Harvard University Press]]: Cambridge 2017, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=qaA4DwAAQBAJ&dq=first+clime,+second+clime,+third+and+fourth+climes&pg=PA66 66]</ref>}} 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>{{cite web | url=http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html | title=Soebratie.nl - soebratie Resources and Information }}</ref>

[[File:The_World_as_Peopled_by_the_Descendants_of_Noah_Shewing_the_Countries_Possessed_by_Shem,_Ham_&_Japhet_and_their_posterity_after_the_confusion_of_tongues..jpg|right|thumb|250px|[[Robert Wilkinson (cartographer)|Robert Wilkinson]]'s 1823 map of the descendants of Noah's sons which identifies Ophir with [[Indonesia]] ]]

====Philippines====
{{further|General Archive of the Indies|Philippines}}
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>{{cite book|url=http://bdh-rd.bne.es/viewer.vm?id=0000175741&page=921|last=Compañía General de Tabacos de Filipinas|title=Colección general de documentos relativos a las Islas Filipinas existentes en el Archivo de Indias de Sevilla|volume=Tomo III--Documento 98, 1520-1528|pages=112–138}}</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 started from the [[Cape of Good Hope]] in Africa to India, to [[Burma]], to [[Sumatra]], to the [[Maluku Islands]], to [[Borneo]], to [[Sulu]], to China, then finally Ophir, which is said to be the [[Philippines]]. Parallel to this Spanish archive an older text called the "Periplus of the Erythean Sea" cited the directions to Chryse, a golden island in the Eastern Ocean, is an island right to the south of China, where the Philippines is.<ref>W.H. Schoff Longmans, trans. The Periplus of the Erythean Sea: Travels and Trade in the Indian Ocean by a Merchant in the First Century. Commercial Museum of Philadelphia. 1912. Pages 45-48</ref>

====Africa====
Biblical scholars, archaeologists and others have tried to determine the exact location of Ophir. [[Vasco da Gama]]'s companion [[Thomé Lopes|Tomé Lopes]] reasoned that Ophir would have been the ancient name for [[Great Zimbabwe]] in [[Zimbabwe]], the main center of [[southern Africa]]n 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 [[John Milton|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]], with the name perhaps being derived from the [[Afar (ethnicity)|Afar]] people living in the [[Danakil desert]] ([[Ethiopia]], [[Eritrea]]) between [[Adulis]] and [[Djibouti]].

[[Afri]] was a Latin name used to refer to the [[Punics|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 [[Ancient Libya|Libyan]] tribe originally, however, see [[Terence#Biography|Terence]] for discussion. The name is usually connected with [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]] ''afar'', "dust", but a 1981 hypothesis<ref>[http://michel-desfayes.org/namesofcountries.html Names of countries] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170815062417/http://michel-desfayes.org/namesofcountries.html |date=2017-08-15 }}, Decret and Fantar, 1981</ref> has asserted that it stems from the [[Berber language|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 [https://www.jstor.org/pss/714549 book on ligne]</ref> This is proposed<ref name="book on ligne"/> to be the origin of ''Ophir'' as well.{{sfn|Lipiński|2004|p=200}}

=== Inspiration or named after ===

====Americas====
In a letter written in May 1500, [[Peter Martyr d'Anghiera|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>{{cite journal|last1=Shalev|first1=Zur|title=Sacred Geography, Antiquarianism and Visual Erudition: Benito Arias Montano and the Maps in the Antwerp Polyglot Bible|journal=Imago Mundi|date=2003|volume=55|page=71|doi=10.1080/0308569032000097495|s2cid=51804916|url=http://research.haifa.ac.il/~zshalev/Articles/IMundi-2003-Montano.pdf|access-date=2017-01-17|archive-date=2021-02-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225102322/http://research.haifa.ac.il/~zshalev/Articles/IMundi-2003-Montano.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[California Gold Rush]] boomtown, [[Ophir, California|Ophir]], was renamed<ref>{{Cite web |title=OPHIR |url=https://www.parks.ca.gov/ |access-date=2022-02-27 |website=CA State Parks |language=en}}</ref> after "the biblical source of [[Solomon]]'s treasure."<ref>{{Cite web |title=1 Kings 10:11 (The fleet of Hiram that brought gold from Ophir also brought from Ophir a great cargo of almug wood and precious stones. |url=https://biblehub.com/1_kings/10-11.htm |access-date=2022-02-27 |website=biblehub.com}}</ref>

===Australia===
[[Ophir, New South Wales]], is a town established during the [[Australian gold rushes]].

====Malaysia====
[[Mount Ophir]] is the English name of Gunung Ledang in [[Johor]], [[Malaysia]].

====Solomon Islands====
In 1568, [[Alvaro Mendaña]] became the first European to discover the [[Solomon Islands]], and named them as such because he believed them to be Ophir.<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 (1939), pp.7-8</ref>

==See also==
* [[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]]

==Notes==
{{notelist|30em}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
* {{citation |first=Edward |last=Lipiński| title=Itineraria Phoenicia Studia Phoenicia 18| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SLSzNfdcqfoC&pg=PA200| year=2004| publisher=Peeters Publishers| isbn=978-90-429-1344-8}}
* {{citation |first=Waruno |last=Mahdi |chapter=The Dispersal of Austronesian boat forms in the Indian Ocean |title=Archaeology and Language III; Artefacts, languages and texts |editor1=Roger Blench |editor2=Matthew Spriggs |publisher=Routledge |year=1999 |isbn=0-415-10054-2 |pages=144–179 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h8jfBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA144 |ref={{sfnref|Mahdi, The Dispersal of Austronesian boat forms in the Indian Ocean|1999}}}}
* {{citation |last=Schroff |first=Wifred H. |title=The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea: Travel and Trade in the Indian Ocean |url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924030139236 |year=1912 |publisher=Longmans, Green, and Company |location=New York |ref={{sfnref|Schroff, The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea|1912}}}}
* (fr) Quatremère (1861), ''Mémoire sur le pays d’Ophir'', in Mélanges d'histoire, Ducrocq, Paris, p. 234 ([https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_yduQhgDsMgAC/page/n275 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.

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060928071427/http://www.nio.org/annual_reports/1993-94.pdf Onshore explorations at Sopara and Kalyan, India]
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Ophir}}

[[Category:Ophir| ]]
[[Category:Hebrew Bible places]]
[[Category:Book of Genesis people]]
[[Category:Lost mines]]
[[Category:Books of Kings]]
[[Category:Books of Chronicles]]
[[Category:Historical regions]]
[[Category:Solomon]]

Ophir - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article