Old Testament Sites in Turkey

_{Few people know that about 60 percent of the places mentioned in the Bible are located in Turkey. 
Two of the four rivers in the Creation account have their source in eastern Turkey. The Euphrates and Tigris Rivers flowed through the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:13). Some traditions suggest that this garden in which Adam and Eve lived was located in south-eastern Turkey. 
Archaeologists discovered that the Hittites, Urartians, Assyrians, Phrygians, Cimmerians, Lydians and many other nations who were important to the Old Testament once lived here. The people of the Bible have left records of their activities in Anatolia from Noah to St. Paul's time. 
Almost all of the Old Testament Sites mentioned in the Bible are located in the Eastern or South Eastern Turkey which may also be called Northern Mesopotamia.}

_{After the great flood Noah’s ark rested on the mountains of Ararat (Gen. 8:4). Mount Ararat, near the border of Armenia and Iran, is often identified as this site. The descendants of Noah’s son Japheth comprised the nations that settled in Anatolia - Gomer, Magog, Javan, Tubal, and Meschech (Gen. 10:2). 
Each of the members of Noah’s family is represented in Anatolia: Shems sons Asshur (the Assyrians), Arphaxad (Nahors and Abrahams family in Harran), Lud (the Lydians), Aram (the Arameans); Hams sons Mizraim (the Lydians and the Caphtorites) and Canaan (Heth and the Hittites); and Japeths sons Gomer (the Cimmerians), Magog (the Scythians), Madai (the Medes), Javan (the Ionians), Tubal (in Cappadocia), Meshech (the Mushki), and Tiras (Thracians or Etruscians). They have left aqueducts, fortresses, burial mounds, commercial records, bas-reliefs and even household furnishings. Some of these are still on spot; others can be seen in the museums, particularly the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations.}

_{Abraham's call to greatness came in Harran, in southeast Turkey. This city was called Ur of the Chaldeans. 
After Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees, he settled for a time in Haran (Gen. 11:31-32), continuing his journey to Canaan only after his father Terah died. Jacob later lived in the region of Haran (Gen. 28:10 ff.) for fourteen years while completing his service to Laban for his marriages to Leah and Rachel.}

_{One of the great nations that lived to the north of Israel was the Hittites (Josh. 1:4). This empire, whose capital was Bogazkale, or Hattusa, existed from 1800 -1200 BC. A related people lived in Palestine, and Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, was a Hittite mercenary (2 Sam. 11:3- 24). One of the most important battles in history occurred at Carchemish. Here in 605 B.C. the Babylonian commander Nebuchadnezzar II defeated the Egyptian army, which four years earlier had killed Judah’s last righteous king Josiah at Megiddo (2 Chron. 35:20-23). With the defeat of the Assyrians and their allies the Egyptians, the Babylonians now controlled the Near East. Two decades later Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews sent into exile (586 BC). The earliest references to Jewish exiles in Turkey are found in Obadiah 20. Here Sepharad is a likely reference to Sardis}.

_{Aram-naharaim Genesis 24:10 
This name is used to refer to Mesopotamia (as it is translated in Gen. 24:10), the country enclosed between the Tigris River on the east and the Euphrates River on the west (Ps. 60, title); called also the (land of Aram) (Hos. 12:12, NRSV) i.e., the open country of Aram; in the King James Bible, (country of Syria.) Padan-aram was a portion of this country.} 

_{Ararat (Agri Dagi) Gen 8:4; Tob 1:21 
The mountain on which Noah's ark came to rest (Gen 8:4). Mount Ararat is part of the Armenian ridge, in the easternmost part of Turkey, adjacent to the Armenian border. The mountain itself is the highest in the ridge, 5.156 m (16,000 feet) above sea level, and about 4.000 m (13,000 feet) higher than the neighbouring peaks. The name Ararat has been applied to a wider area than the mountain itself. In Hittite and Assyrian records, from the 2nd millennium onwards, it referred to the earlier area surrounding Lake Van in eastern Anatolia.} 

_{Ararat (Urartu, Van) 2 Kgs 19:37; Isa 37:38; Jer 51:27 
The boundaries of the Urartian kingdom include the Mount Ararat area. However, some alternative locations for the landing place of the ark were proposed many centuries later and are outside Urartu's boundaries. 
The Urartian Kingdom expanded until it covered a wide geographic area from the 9th century BC until the 6th century BC when it was destroyed by the Medes and vanished from history, only to be rediscovered in the archaeology of the late 1800 s and early 1900 s. Thus, post-Mosaic writers may have misinterpreted the location of the Ararat site for the Ark's landfall based on this much larger Urartian Kingdom which was closer in time to them, more well-defined by cuneiform texts, and more familiar than the earliest Urartu confederation of tribes. Please note that the later and largest Urartu Kingdom includes Mt Cudi, just barely.} 

_{Armenia (Ararat) Isa 37:38 (LXX) 
The Bible only mentions Ararat in two other passages (2 Kings 19:37 and Isaac. 37:38), where it makes it clear that it is speaking of a land and a kingdom. The biblical word that we read as (Ararat) could as well be read (Urartu) because the text has merely (rrt) and the proper vowels must be supplied. Urartu was the name of a historical kingdom, but the word also meant (a land far away) and (a place in the north.)} 

_{Ashkenaz (Armenia) Jer 51:27 
Ashkenaz, people and a country bordering on Armenia and the upper Euphrates; listed in Genesis 10:3 and I Chronicles 1:6 among the descendants of Gomer. The name Ashkenaz also occurs once in Jeremiah 51:27 in a passage calling upon the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz to rise and destroy Babylon. Scholars have identified the Ashkenaz as the people called Ashkuza (Ashguza, Ishguza) in Akkadian. According to Assyrian royal inscriptions the Ashkuza fought the Assyrians in the reign of Esharhaddon (680 - 669 BC) as allies of the Minni (Manneans). Since the Ashkuza are mentioned in conjunction with the Gimirrai-Cimmerians and the Ashkenaz with Gomer in Genesis, it is reasonable to infer that Ashkenaz is a dialectal form of Akkadian Ashkuza, identical with a group of Iranian-speaking people organized in confederations of tribes called Saka in Old Persian, whom Greek writers (e.g., Herodotus 1:103) called Scythians. They ranged from southern Russia through the Caucasus and into the Near East. Some scholars, however, have argued against this identification on philological grounds because of the presence of the “n” in the word Ashkenaz. In medieval rabbinical literature the name was used for Germany.} 

_{Caphtor (Cappadocia) Jer 47:4; Amos 9:7 (LXX; Vul.) 
Caphtor, place located either in the Aegean Sea area or on the southern coast of Asia Minor. According to Amos 9:7, Jeremiah 47:4, and possibly Genesis 10:14, the Philistines came from Caphtor prior to their penetration of southern Palestine. Deuteronomy 2:23 notes that the Caphtorim destroyed the Avvim, that dwelt in villages as far as Gaza, taking over their lands. In an Assyrian document, based upon an ancient Babylonian tradition, describing the empire of Sargon the Great, the king of Akkad (24^th century BC), Kaptara is located beyond the “upper sea” i.e., west of the Syria-Palestine coastline. In the Mari texts the terms “Kaptaru”, “Kaptaritum” occur as names of precious goods apparently imported from the region of the Aegean Sea. According to Ugaritic texts, Kothar (Kosar), the god of crafts, lived in Caphtor (Kptr). It is accepted that the Keftiu (Kftyw) mentioned in inscriptions of Egyptian kings and nobles in the second half of the second millennium is identical with Caphtor. Kftyw is known in Egyptian sources as a distant land accessible by ship.} 

_{Caria, 1 Mac 15:23; 2 Kgs 11:4, 19 
Ca'ria (Karia), a country in the Southwest of Asia Minor which extended on the north to Lydia, on the East to Phrygia, on the South to Lycia, and the West to the Aegean Sea. Its borders, however, like those of most of the ancient countries of Asia Minor, were never definitely fixed; hence, the difficulty presented by the study of the political divisions.
The inhabitants, composed of various mixed races, among which were some of Semitic. A Jewish colony is referred to in the Apocrypha (1 Mac 15:22, 33) as being favourably addressed by the Romans in a decree which names the principal towns Halicarnassus, Cnidus (Acts 27:7) to which may be added Miletus (Acts 20:15-28)}; _{and the same passage alludes to the fact that the Carians were then (139 BC) endowed with the privilege of Roman citizenship (Livy, 49:15), after having been for some time subject to Rhodes. Somewhat later (130 BC)
Some antiquarians have discovered the Carians in the Old Testament under the name Karim ( “And the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the rulers over hundreds, with the captains and the guard, and brought them to him into the house of the LORD, and made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of the LORD, and shewed them the king's son” - 2 Kgs 11:4, 19), mentioned in connection with the Ratsim (2Sa 20:23) as the life-guards of the Jewish kings. 
In 129 BC Caria became a part of the Roman province of Asia, and from that date its history coincides with that of the province. Though Paul and others of the apostles traversed Caria in their missionary journeys, only its cities are mentioned by name in that connection.}

_{Cilicia 1 Mac 11:14; Judith 1:12; 2:21, 25 
God gave Peter a chance to react to the vision: And, behold, immediately there were three men already come unto the house where I was, sent from Caesarea unto me. And the Spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover, these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man's house. And he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house, who stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who shall tell thee words, by which thou and all thy house shall be saved (vv. 11-14). Cornelius had a ready heart, and he was prepared along with his household. Peter was the instrument who brought the message they waited to hear.} 

_{Cnidus 1 Mac 15:23 
Cnidus or Cnidos, is ancient Greek city of Caria province, south-west Asia Minor, on Cape Krio, in present south-west Asian Turkey. It was partly on the peninsula and partly on an island that had been created by cutting through the peninsula. One of the cities of the Dorian Hexapolis, it sought to maintain its independence but fell (540 BC) under Persian rule. It had a large trade, particularly in wine, and was also noted for its medical school and other institutions of learning. One of the most famous statues of the ancient world, Aphrodite by Praxiteles, was there. In the waters off Cnidus the Athenians under Conon defeated the Spartans under Pisander in 394 BC Cnidus retained its importance in Roman times and is mentioned in the Bible (Acts 27.7; 1 Mac. 15.23).} 

_{Eden Gen 2:8, 10, 15; 3:23-24; 4:16; 2 Kgs 19:12; Isa 51:3; Ezek 27:23; 28:13; 36:35; Joel 2:3 
Garden of Eden, a garden planted by the Lord which was the first dwelling place of *Adam and Eve (Gen. 2-3). It is also referred to as the garden in Eden (Gen. 2:8, 10; 4:16), the (garden of YHWH) (Gen. 13:10; Isa. 51:3), and the (garden of God) (Ezek. 28:13; 31:8 - 9). It is referred to by Ben Sira 40:17 as (Eden of blessing.) There existed in early times an Israelite tradition of a (garden of God) (i.e., a mythical garden in which God dwelt) that underlies the story of the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2-3. Ezekiel (28:11-19; 31:8 - 9, 16 - 18) in his description introduces new and variant details not present in the Genesis narrative of the Garden of Eden. Thus, in Genesis there is no trace of the (holy mountain) of Ezekiel 28:14 and no mention of the (stones of fire) of Ezekiel 28:14, 16. While Genesis speaks only in general terms about the trees in the garden (2:9), Ezekiel describes them in detail (31:8 - 9, 18). The term (garden of YHWH) occurs in literary figures in a number of other passages in the Bible (Gen. 13:10; note Isa. 51:3: (He will make her wilderness (midbar) like Eden and her desert (arabah) like the garden of YHWH,) Joel 2:3). The name Eden has been connected with Akkadian “edinu”. But this word, extremely rare in Akkadian, is borrowed from the Sumerian eden and means (plain,) (steppe,) (desert.) In fact, one Akkadian synonym list equates “edinu” with “seru”, semantically equivalent to Hebrew midbar, (desert.) More likely is the connection with the Hebrew root (dn, attested in such words as ma (danim, (dainties,) (luxury items (Gen. 49:20; Lam. 4:5) ( ednah, (pleasure,) (Gen. 18:12), (adinah, (pampered woman) (Isa. 47:8); and in Old Aramaic m (dn (provider of abundance,) which would be a transparent etymology for the name of a divine garden. The Septuagint apparently derived Eden from (dn, translating gan (eden (Gen. 3:23 - 4) by ho paradeisos tes truphes, (the park of luxuries,) whence English (paradise.) Akkadian provides a semantic parallel in kiri nuhsi, (garden of plenty) (McCarter apud Stager). Several references (Gen. 2:8 (in Eden), 10 (from Eden), 4:16 (east of Eden), indicate that Eden was a geographical designation. According to 4:10 a single river flowed out of Eden, watered the garden and then diverged into four rivers whose courses are described and themselves named. This datum encouraged scholars ancient and modern to attempt to locate the site of the garden of Eden intended by the author.} 

_{Euphrates River (Firat Nehri) Gen 2:14; 15:18; Ex 23:31; Dt 1:7; 11:24; Josh 1:4; 2 Sam 8:3; 2 Kgs 24:7; 1 Chr 5:9; 18:3; 2 Chr 35:12, 20; Jer 13:4-7; 26:2, 6, 10; 28:63; Jud 1:6, 2:24; 1 Mac 3:32, 37; Sir 24:26; 1 Es 1:23, 25 
Euphrates is one of the largest rivers of western Asia, about 2.700 km (1.700 miles) long. In the Bible it is referred to by several names, among them the great river or just the river. 
The Euphrates is formed by the confluence of two rivers, the Muradsu, which comes down from Armenia, and the Karasu, flowing from the Anti-Taurus. At first the river runs through a deep narrow gorge, but as they descend towards Babylon, the Euphrates and the Tigris (Hiddekel) form the broad plain of Mesopotamia. The rivers join at the head of the Persian Gulf to form the Shat al-Arab, though this union is quite recent. The Euphrates has a very strong current and for this reason was navigable only in its lower reaches. Along it flourished some of the important cities of Mesopotamia, the greatest of which was Babylon. Another, Carchemish, was an important road junction and a river-crossing for the caravans coming from the Far East. Some of the great battles of history took place on the Euphrates, notably the battle between Nebuchadnezzar II and Pharaoh Necho II of Egypt, in 605 B.C. (Jer 46:2).
In the Bible the Euphrates is named among the four rivers which flowed from the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:14), and it formed the north-eastern limit of the Promised Land (Gen 15:18). Throughout all periods it was the boundary between east and west, between the spheres of influence of Assyria and Egypt, and each of the great empires attempted the conquest of the borderland of Syria and Palestine. This is also true of the Persian period (Ezra 4:10, etc.). In the Hellenistic and Roman periods the Euphrates served as the boundary between the kingdoms of Armenia and Cappadocia, Sophene and Commagene. In the early Roman period it separated Rome from Parthian Empire.} 

_{Gozan 2 Kgs 17:6; 18:11; 19:12; 1 Chr 5:26; Isa 37:12 
The text of II Kings 17:6 also speaks of Gozan is a river: (... the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river Gozan and in the cities of the Medes) - similarly II Kings 18:11. In II Kings 19:12 Rabshakeh speaks in the name of Sennacherib: (How the gods of the nations have delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; (as) Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph and the children of Eden which were in Thelassar) In this list are included countries, such as Eden (Aden) which were outside of Assyria.} 

_{Habor River (Gumus Cay) 2 Kgs 17:6; 18:11; 1 Chr 5:26 
The origin of the church in Asia Minor (Turkey) goes back to the events immediately following the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ in Judea. On the Day of Pentecost Jews from Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia were gathered in Jerusalem (Acts 2:9 - 10). Many of these became eyewitnesses to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and Peter’s subsequent sermon. Some were undoubtedly among the three thousand who believed on Jesus that day (Acts 2:41).} 
 

_{Halicarnassus 1 Mac 15:23 
The most ancient cities of Rhodes were Ialysus, Ochyroma, and Lindus. The oldest inhabitants were immigrants from Crete, followed by the Carians. But no real advance in civilization was made before the immigration of the Dorians under Tlepolemus, one of the Heraclidae, and (after the Trojan War) Aethaemanes. Lindus, Ialysus and Camirus formed with Cos, Cnidus and Halicarnassus the so-called Dorian Hexapolis (Six Cities), the centre of which was the temple of the Triopian Apollo on the coast of Caria. Rhodes now founded many colonies-in Spain (Rhode), in Italy (Parthenope, Salapia, Sirus, Sybaris), in Sicily (Gela), in Asia Minor (Soli), in Cilicia (Gaaae), and in Lycia (Corydalla). The island attained no political greatness until the three chief cities formed a confederation and rounded the new capital (Rhodes) in 408 BC. In the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, Rhodes sided with the Athenians, but, after 19 years of loyalty to Athens, went over to the Spartans (412 BC). In 394 BC, when Conon appeared with his fleet before the city, the island fell into the hands of the Athenians again.} 
 

_{Haran Gen 11:31-32; 12:4-5; 27:43; 28:10; 29:4; 2 Kgs 19:12; Isa 37:12; Ezek 27:23 
28 - While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth.
29- Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah.
30- Now Sarai was barren; she had no children.
31- Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there}

_{Helech (Cilicia) Ezek 27:11; 1Kgs 10:22; 2 Chron 9:21; 20:37; Psalm 48:7 
Helech (hee' lehch) is transliteration of Hebrew noun in NRSV, NIV which KJV, TEV, NAS interpret as meaning “your army.” 
If the word refers to a place, it is probable the Assyrian name for the original “Cilicia” North of the Taurus Mountains. These Cilicians were noted for their warlike character and would fit as mercenaries of Tyre. The precise meaning in the context is not known. Ezekiel described the good days of Tyre as having its massive city walls protected by foreign soldiers, but the precise home of these soldiers is not certain (Ezekiel 27:11). 
J. Simons (Geographical and Topographical Texts of the OT) thinks it not probable that the word refers to a place, and the LXX favours that view and tr. the word much as do the KJV and ASV. The name “Hilakku” for Cilicia is found in ancient records.}

_{Kue (Cilicia) 1 Kgs 10:28; 2 Chr 1:16 
1 Kings 10:28. The horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt; and the king's merchants received them in droves, each drove at a price. 
1 Kings 10:29. They imported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver and a horse for a hundred and fifty. They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and of the Arameans. 
2 Chronicles 1:16. The horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt and from Kue; the king's merchants purchased them from Kue.}

_{Lud (Lydia) Isa 66:19; Ezek 27:10, 30:05; Jud 1:23 
Coming to the Semitic Lud, it is to be noted that the Assyrians called Lydia Lu(d)du, and that the mythical ancestor of the Lydians, according to Herodotus (i.7), was Lydos, and their first king, Agros was descended from Ninos and Belos, i.e. Assyria and Babylonia. The apparently Assyrian colony in Cappadocia about 2000 BC, who used the Babylonian script, may be regarded as supporting this statement, and that there were other colonies of the same nationality in the neighbourhood is implied by the fact that Assur - Babylonian was one of the official languages of the Hittite state whose capital was Hattu or Boghaz-keui. On the other hand when Gyges sent an embassy to Assur-bani-apli of Assyria, Lu-(d)-du is described as a country whose name had never before been heard, and whose language was unknown. As, however, the earlier kings of Assyria certainly warred in that district, this statement has to be taken with caution. Perhaps the name had changed in the interval, owing to an immigration similar to that which brought the Hittites into Asia Minor, and caused change in the language at the same time. 
Isaiah 66:19. I will set a sign among them, and I will send such as escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the islands afar off, who have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations. 
Jeremiah 46:9. Go up, you horses; and rage, you chariots; and let the mighty men go forth: Cush and Put, who handle the shield; and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow. 
Ezekiel 27:10. Persia and Lud and Put were in your army, your men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in you; they set forth your comeliness. 
Ezekiel 30:5. Ethiopia, and Put, and Lud, and all the mixed people, and Cub, and the children of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.}

_{Lycia 1 Mac 15:23 
The history of Lycia, like that of the neighbouring countries, forms a part of the history of Asia Minor. Successively it was in the possession of the Persians, of Alexander the Great, of the Seleucid kings and of the Ptolemies. In 188 BC it fell into the hands of the Romans, who gave it to the island of Rhodes; 20 years later, because of its loyalty to Rome, it became free and independent (1 Maccabees 15:23). In 53 AD, during the reign of the emperor Claudius, it became a Roman province, and in 74 AD it was united with Pamphylia to form a double province over which a Roman governor presided.}

_{Magog Ezek 38:2 
Ezek 38:2. Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him.
Magog Son of Japheth, grandson of Noah (Gen. 10: 2). P, the Priestly source, lists a table of nations under the name of Japheth, probably a seafaring people (Scythians), including Magog. In Ezekiel (38: 2, 14-22; 39: 6) Magog is an apocalyptic figure for a northern heathen nation led by Gog which invades Israel, and in Rev. 20: 8 Magog is one of the nations assembled by Satan for an assault on the saints.} 

_{Mallus 2 Macc 4:30 
A titular see of Cilicia Prima, suffragan of Tarsus. According to legend, Mallus founded by the soothsayers Amphilochus and Mopsus, sons of Apollo. It was situated at the mouth of the Pyramus, on a hill opposite Magarsus which served as its port. It is today the place known as Kara Tash, in the vilayet of Adana. The district was called from it, Mallotis. Alexander built a bridge there and exempted the town from paying taxes. It allied itself with Tarsus against Antiochus IV Epiphanies, who had presented both cities to his concubine Antiochis (2 Maccabees 4:30, 31). Numerous coins from Mallus have been preserved, and those of the third century bear the inscription Mallus Colonia or Colonia Metropolis Mallus. The city is mentioned by numerous ancient authors, and in the Middle Ages by Arabian, Armenian, and Italian writers. It must have disappeared with the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia. It figures in the various revisals of the Antiochene Notititae Episcopatuum as suffragan of Tarsus. Six bishops are recorded. Bematius, present at the Council of Antioch (377); Valentine, at Ephesus (431) and at Tarsus (434); Chrysippus at Chalcedon (451). Le Quien (Oriens Christianus. II, 883) confounds Mallus with another bishopric, Mallus or Malus, situated in Pisidia.}

_{Meshech Ps 120:5; Ezek 27:13; 32:26; 38:2, 3; 39:1 
The statement in Psalm 120:5 Woe is me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar refers to Meshech as the border of the civilized world in the north, as Kedar was its south-eastern extremity in the Babylonian and Persian periods, Meshech and Tubal denote the land of central Anatolia and its peoples. 
Son of Japheth (Genesis 10:2 1 Chronicles 1:5; 1 Chronicles 1:17 is a scribal error for Mash. His descendants and their dwelling-place (probably somewhere in the neighborhood of armenia (Herodotus iii.94)) seem to be regarded in Scripture as synonyms for the barbaric and remote (Psalm 120:5; compare Isaiah 66:19, where Meshech should be read instead of that draw the bow). It is thought that the Tibareni and Moschi of the classical writers refer to the same people. Doubtless they appear in the annals of Assyria as enemies of that country under the names Tabali and Mushki-the latter the descendants of Meshech and the former those of Tubal to whom the term Tibareni may refer in the clause above.}

_{Miletos Ezek 27:18 (LXX) 
The LXX adds a line to 27:18 not found in the A.V.: (... and wool from Miletus; and they brought wine into thy market). Miletus was an ancient Carian-Phoenician settlement in southwest Anatolia. Thales of Miletus, an early famous (Greek) philosopher, was said to be (of Phoenician descent) (Herodotus 1:170).} 

_{Minni (Armenia) Jer 51:27 
Jeremiah 51:27. Set up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz: appoint a marshal against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough canker worm.}

_{Myndus 1 Mac 15:23 
Mynaoc - a city on the Carian coast, at the extreme western end of the Halicarnassian peninsula, north of the island of Cos; only mentioned in 1 Mace. 15:23, as a place in which Jews were settled (139 BC). From early times Myndus possessed a fleet (Herod. 5:33, about 500 BC). The town suffered from the proximity of Halicarnassus, and never became important; this is indicated by the fact that its coinage does not begin until the second century BC. The civilisation and importance of the Carian coast declined throughout the Roman and Byzantine periods. It is now Gumushli (or Yemishlu), a name derived from the silver mines worked in the neighbourhood, both in ancient and in mediaeval times.}

_{Nahor Gen 24:10 
Gen 24:10. Then the servant left, taking with him ten of his master's camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor. 
A city of Nahor is mentioned in Genesis 24:10; the God of Nahor in Genesis 31:53. In the King James Version Joshua 24:2 Luke 3:34}

_{Paddan-aram Gen 25:20; 28:2-7; 31:18; 33:18; 35;9; 35:26; 46:15; 48:7 
Paddan-aram very probably this is only the Hebrew name for the Greek Mesopotamia.
Paddan-aram occurs only in the Priestly Code (P), but it corresponds to the Haran of the older documents. The versions agree in translating both as Mesopotamia, and identify with the home of the patriarchs and the scene of Jacob's exile the district of Haran to the East of the Upper Euphrates valley 
20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. 
21 Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 
22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, Why is this happening to me? So she went to inquire of the LORD. 
23 The LORD said to her, Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger. 
24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb.
25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.
26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them. 
Paddan Aram is the place where Rachel died}

_{Pamphylia 1 Mac 15:23 
Pamphylia, unless in pre-historic times, was never an independent kingdom; it was subject successively to Lydia, Persia, Macedonia, Pergamos and Rome. Because of its comparatively isolated position, civilization there was less developed than in the neighbouring countries, and the Asiatic influence was at most times stronger than the Greek As early as the 5th century B.C. a Greek colony settled there, but the Greek language which was spoken in some of its cities soon became corrupt; the Greek inscriptions, appearing upon the coins of that age, were written in a peculiar character, and before the time of Alexander the Great, Greek ceased to be spoken. 
Pamphylia is mentioned as one of the recipients of the letters of 1 Maccabees 15:23.}

_{Phaselis 1 Mac 15:23 
23 He also wrote it to all the countries—to Sampsames, the Spartans, Delos, Myndos, Sicyon, Caria, Samos, Pamphylia, Lycia, Halicarnassus, Rhodes, Phaselis, Cos, Side, Aradus, Gortyna, Cnidus, Cyprus, and Cyrene.}

_{Phrygia 2 Mac 5:22 
Phrugia - a large ancient country of Central Asia Minor, very mountainous and with table-lands reaching 1.200 m (4,000 ft.) in height. Its name is derived from Phryges, a tribe from Thrace, which in early times invaded the country and drove out or absorbed the earlier Asiatic inhabitants, among whom were the Hittites. Thus, the Phrygians borrowed much of oriental civilization, especially of art and mythology which they transferred to Europe. 
About 295 AD, when the province of Asia was no longer kept together, its different parts were known as Phrygia Prima and Phrygia Secunda. 
22 He left governors to harass the nation: at Jerusalem, Philip, a Phrygian by birth, and in character more barbarous than the man who appointed him;} 

_{Sampsames (Samsun) 1 Mac 15:23}

_{Side 1 Mac 15:23}

_{Sepharad (Sardis) Ob 20 
Obadiah 20 And the captives of this host of the children of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath. The captives of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall possess the cities of the South.”  
Sardis is one of the oldest and most important cities of Asia Minor, and until 549 BC, the capital of the kingdom of Lydia. It stood on the northern slope of Mt. Tmolus; its acropolis occupied one of the spurs of the mountain. At the base flowed the river Pactolus which served as a moat, rendering the city practically impregnable. Through the failure to watch, however, the acropolis had been successfully scaled in 549 BC by a Median soldier, and in 218 by a Cretan (Revelation 3:2, 3). Because of its strength during the Persian period, the satraps here made their homes. However, the city was burned by the Ionians in 501 BC, but it was quickly rebuilt and regained its importance. In 334 BC it surrendered to Alexander the Great who gave it independence, but its period of independence was brief, for 12 years later in 322 BC it was taken by Antigonus. In 301 BC, it fell into the possession of the Seleucid kings who made it the residence of their governor. It became free again in 190 BC, when it formed a part of the empire of Pergamum, and later of the Roman province of Asia.} 

_{Tarshish (Tarsus) Isa 66:19; Jon 1:3; 4:2 
Isaiah 60:9. “Surely the islands shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, for the name of Yahweh your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you.”
Thrace 2 Mac 12:35 “And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and 1Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.” 
The collective term for a navy of ships is 'oni (1 Kings 9:26; 1 Kings 10:22, 'oni Tharshish, a navy (of ships) of Tarshish; but Isaiah 33:21, 'oni shayit, a galley with oars).}

_{In Apocrypha ploion, is the usual word (The Wisdom of Solomon 14:1; Ecclesiasticus 33:2, etc.), translated vessel in The Wisdom of Solomon 14:1, but ship elsewhere. For ship The Wisdom of Solomon 5:10 has naus. Boat in 2 Maccabees 12:3, 6 is for skaphos, and navy in 1 Maccabees 1:17; 2 Maccabees 12:9; 14:1 for stolos. In The Wisdom of Solomon 14:6 Noah's ark is called a schedia, a clumsy ship (the literal translation raft)}

_{Jonah 1:3 “But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.”
Jonah 4:2 “He prayed to Yahweh, and said, Please, Yahweh, wasn't this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.”}

_{Tigris River (Dicle Nehri) Gen 2:14; Dan 10:4; Tob 6:1; Jud 1:6; Eccles 24:25 
Tigris, the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew chiddeqel): One of the rivers of Eden going eastward to Assyria (Genesis 2:14 margin), called the Great River (Daniel 10:4), elsewhere mentioned in the apocryphal books, as in Tob 6:1; Judith 1:6; Ecclesiasticus 24:25, called Diglath in Josephus, and Diglit in Pliny, now called in Mesopotamia Dijleh, generally supposed to be a Semitic corruption of Tigra, meaning originally an arrow, which from its rapidity of motion is symbolized. The Tigris rises in the mountains of Armenia, latitude 38 degrees 10 minutes, longitude 39 degrees 20 minutes, only a few miles from the main branch of the Euphrates. 
Genesis 2:14 “The name of the third river is Hiddekel: this is the one which flows in front of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.”
Daniel 10:4 “In the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel,”}

_{Togarmah (Gurun) Ezek 27:14 
Ezekiel 27:14 Togarmah is a name for the Armenians, a race of Japhetic descent (Genesis 10:3).
Men of Beth Togarmah exchanged chariot horses, cavalry horses and mules for your merchandise.}

_{Those who live at ease are to be lamented, if they are not prepared for trouble. Let none reckon themselves beautified, any further than they are sanctified. The account of the trade of Tyre intimates, that God's eye is upon men when employed in worldly business. Not only when at church, praying and hearing, but when in markets and fairs, buying and selling. In all our dealings we should keep a conscience void of offence. God, as the common Father of mankind, makes one country abound in one commodity, and another in another, serviceable to the necessity or to the comfort and ornament of human life. See what a blessing trade and merchandise are to mankind, when followed in the fear of God. Besides necessaries, an abundance of things are made valuable only by custom; yet God allows us to use them. But when riches increase, men are apt to set their hearts upon them, and forget the Lord, who gives power to get wealth.}

Tubal Isa 66:19: Ezek 27:13; 32:26; 38:2, 3; 39:1 
_{Tubhal, tubhal; Septuagint Thobel, Codex Alexandrinus in Ezekiel 39:1, Thober: As the text stands, Tubal and Meshech are always coupled, except in Isaiah 66:19 (Massoretic Text) and Psalm 120:5. In the former passage Tubal is yoked with Javan; in the latter Meshech occurs in 120:5 and Kedar in 120:6. In Genesis 10:2 parallel, they are sons of Japheth. 
In Ezekiel (27:13) the two are mentioned as exporters of slaves and copper, as a warlike people of antiquity (32:26), in the army of Gog (38:2;; 39:1). Josephus identifies them with the Iberians and Cappadocians respectively; but they are most probably the Tibarenoi, and Moschoi, first mentioned in Herodotus iii.94 as belonging to the 19th satrapy of Darius, and again (vii.78) as furnishing a contingent to the host of Xerxes. Equally obvious is their identity with the Tabali and Muski of the Assyrian monuments, where the latter is mentioned as early as Tiglath-pileser I, and the former under Shalmaneser II; both are described as powerful military states. They appear together in Sargon's inscriptions; and during this entire period their territory must have extended much farther South and West than in Greek-Roman times. They are held (Winckler and Jeremias) to have been remnants of the old Hittite population which were gradually driven (probably by the Cimmerian invasion) to the mountainous district Southeast of the Black Sea.}

_{Ur (Sanliurfa) Gen 11:28, 31; 15:7; Neh. 9:7 
'Ur kasdim; he chora (ton) Chaldaion. For more than 2.000 years efforts have been made to identify the site of this city. The writers of the Septuagint, either being unfamiliar with the site, or not considering it a city, wrote chora, land, instead of Ur. Eupolemus, who lived about 150 BC, spoke of it as being a city of Babylonia called Camarina, which he said was called by some Ouria. Stephen (Acts 7:2, 4) regarded the place as being in Mesopotamia. The Talmud, however, as well as some later Arabic writers, regarded Erech (the Septuagint Orek) as the city. The cuneiform writing of this city, Urnki, would seem to support this view, but Erech is mentioned in Genesis. Ammianus Marcellinus identified the city with the castle of Ur in the desert between Hatra and Nisibis, but this was only founded in the time of the Persians. Owing to its nearness to Haran, and because Stephen placed it in Mesopotamia, Urfa or Oorfa, named Edessa by the Greeks, has also in modern times been identified as the city. But Seleucus is credited with having built this city. 
The most generally-accepted theory at the present time is that Ur is to be identified with the modern Mugheir (or Mughayyar, the pitchy) in Southern Babylonia, called Urumma, or Urima, and later Uru in the inscriptions. It borders on the district which in the 1^st millennium BC was called Chaldea (Kaldu). 
Genesis 11:28 “Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldees” 
Genesis 11:31 “Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife. They went forth from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Haran and lived there” 
Genesis 15:7 “He said to him, I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.}