Įarlier in the 19th century Max Müller and other scholars identified Ophir with Abhira, near the Indus River in modern-day state of Gujarat, India. 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 possible location). This theory of Ophir's location in Tamilakam is further supported by other historians. Poovar, Kerala, India Ī Dictionary of the Bible by Sir William Smith, published in 1863, notes the Hebrew word for parrot Thukki, derived from the Classical Tamil for peacock Thogkai and Sinhalese "tokei", joins other Classical Tamil words for ivory, cotton-cloth and apes preserved in the Hebrew Bible. Both Sinhalese and Tamil are native to Sri Lanka. Moreover, as mentioned above, A Dictionary of the Bible by Sir William Smith notes the Hebrew word for parrot Thukki, derived from the Classical Tamil for peacock Thogkai or Sinhalese "tokei". The 10th-century lexicographer, David ben Abraham al-Fasi, identified Ophir with Serendip, the old Persian name for Sri Lanka (aka Ceylon). 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, Mand 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 could have produced 34 tons of gold in ancient times and was the biblical Ophir." Theorized locations Possible 1st century BC trade routes Sri Lanka 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 sixtenths of an ounce per ton, indicating that the mined ore must have been richer. 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. It bears, in Paleo-Hebrew script, the text " gold of Ophir to/for Beth-Horon 30 shekels" The find confirms that Ophir was a place from which gold was imported. In 1946, an inscribed pottery shard was found at Tell Qasile (in modern-day Tel Aviv) dating to the eighth century BC. 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." Archaeology and US-Saudi Arabia investigation on Mand adh Dhahab In the Septuagint, other variants of the name are mentioned: Ōpheír, Sōphír, Sōpheír and Souphír. The famous 'gold of Ophir' is referenced in several other books of the Hebrew Bible. 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. Ophir in Genesis 10 (the Table of Nations) is said to be the name of one of the sons of Joktan.
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