PishonRiverMapWadiBishahAsir

Wadi Bishah is some 300 miles in length and it begins in the coastal mountains of Asir, the headwaters beginning near Khamis Mushayt east of Abha and draining northwards to Qal'at Bishah (cf. the below map for these two locations), emptying into the desert sands of the Nafud Ad Dahy to the ENE of Qal'at Bishah. Sayce's Tihamah Khaulan in Asir lies south of Abha near which are the headwaters of Wadi Bishah. If Bishah is the Pishon River, then the FOUR Khaualan Tribal Areas all lie to the south of the Bishah. In other words to get to the Khaulans, Wadi Bishah must first be crossed, perhaps this is why the Pishon encircles the land of Havilah in Genesis? The Bible takes note of another great river that served as a border to a region (Judah), the "river of Egypt" a wadi like Bishah, today called Wadi el Arish in the midst of the Sinai peninsula. The Septuaginta Bible written in Greek at Alexandria, Egypt in the 3rd century BCE by Jews for Jews identified the Nile with the Gihon that flows through Cush (Ethiopia of the Septuaginta). Like the Bishah, the Nile drains "northward" too.

As regards the possibility of Wadi Bishah being the Pishon, and Arabic "b" possibly preserving "p", cf. the late professor Yohanan Aharoni's remarks on "p" becoming "b" in Arabic and the loss of the Hebrew sufformative

"-on":

"Pe (unaspirated p) when coming by the gradual process, appears in Arabic as fa (ph), e.g. (Beth-)tappuah -Taffuh, Sippori (Sepphoris) -Saffuriyeh. In the immediate borrowing pe becomes beit (b) in Arabic, e.g. Mizphah -Tell en-Nasbeh, Pharpar -Barbar. By the same token Greek pi in Hellenistic names always becomes Arabic beit. This is not a matter of rapid or gradual transmission but rather a straight phonetic shift in the transcription of non-Semitic words, e.g. Tripolis -Tarabulus, Neapolis -Nablus, Paneas -Baniyas...Sufformatives were not permanent elements of the name, that is to say, many names were formed by the addition of sufformatives which can be changed without altering the geographic meaning of the term, e.g. Geba, Gibeah, Gibeon...Thus the sufformatives are usually changed in the Arabic form...a few examples: Almon, Almeth -Khirbet 'Almit; Shaalbon, Shaalabbin, Shaalbim -Selbit; Dothan, Dothain -Tell Dothan; Shiloh (Shilon) -Seilun...(Beth-)nimrah (the waters of) Nimrim -Wadi en-Numeirah. Sometimes the sufformative disappears entirely, e.g. Chesulloth -Iksal; Beth-horon -Beit 'Ur." (p. 120. "The Study of Toponymy." Yohanan Aharoni. The Land of the Bible, A Historical Geography. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Westminster Press. 1962 (Hebrew text); English texts: 1967, 1979)

How does a "dry" wadi in SW Arabia "link" to Eden's river, the progenitor of three other streams, the Gihon (Nile) of Cush (Sudan) and Hiddekel (Tigris) and Euphrates of Mesopotamia ? The answer will surprise you. In Mesopotamian myths the Sumerian god called Enki (Akkadian Ea meaning "house of water" according to some scholars) lived at Eridu in Lower Mesopotamia (Sumer) and it was he who filled the Tigris and Euphrates with clear sparkling water in the form of "sperm" from his penis ! He is THE ONE SOURCE OF the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamian myths. On cylinder seals Enki is shown with two streams erupting from his shoulders suggesting his body as Ea, "the house of water," is the ONE source of the waters for the Tigris and Euphrates. He dwells in the midst of a freshwater stream called the apsu or abzu that "in the beginning," before any land existed, erupted to the surface of the briny sea and the "first land" gathered about this freshwater stream and Eridu was built by Enki. He is the god all the kings and princes of Sumer seek out to provide their cities with freshwater via various wells, springs and rivers. Enki (and his subterranean apsu abode) is THE ONE SOURCE of all the world's rivers, springs and wells. Ipso facto I understand that he is the "one source" of the Nile and and Wadi Bishah as well as the Tigris and Euphrates. Please click here for more details.

The Homeric Greeks believed that a freshwater RIVER OCEAN encircled the world and it was in the midst of the briny sea. From this mythical freshwater stream subterranean rivers flowed which emerged in various parts of the world as rivers. So the Homeric Greeks, somewhat similarly to the Mesopotamians had a mythcal SINGLE STREAM as the source of all the world's rivers via subterranean streams or channels. Greek mercenaries served in Judah under the Saitic pharaohs who slew King Josiah and hauled off his successor Jeho'ahaz in chains to Egypt, appointing in his place Jehoi'akim. Perhaps via Greek mercenaries the Jews learned of a Freshwater stream called River Ocean the source of all rivers via subterranean channels ?

So, via either Mesopotamian notions of a single freshwater apsu stream at Eridu or Homeric River Ocean the 7th/6th century BCE Jews could in good conscience portray a single river as the source of rivers appearing in Cush (Sudan), SW Arabia and Mesopotamia. Egyptian myth claimed the Nile emerged from the underworld from two caverns or spring holes near Aswan (the Nile's first cataract as one goes "upstream" from the Egyptian delta). Please click here for a picture of the god of the Nile Hapi within a subterranean cavern, holding two vases from which pour the waters of the subterranean Nile. Please click here for pictures of the Nile as a great circle flowing in heaven as well as "under" and "atop" of the earth. The Egyptian sun-god Ra rode in a solar bark or boat on the heavenly Nile and at night he rode in this bark, the Nile of the underworld.

Some, but not all, scholars have sought the Pishon and its land of Havilah as being somewhere near Mesopotamia, or the mountains of Armenia as the Euphrates and Tigris (biblical Hiddekel) flow through these regions. They apparently are unaware that in Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Homeric Greek myths (8th-6th century BCE) of a single stream whose many channels, flowing under ground, could give birth to rivers all over the world. Because these scholars could not find a stream on the earth's surface linking any stream in SW Arabia or the Nile in Cush (Sudan) with the Tigris and Euphrates they dismissed as "nonsense" the clues preserved in the Septuaginta that Cush was Ethiopia, and they dismissed Genesis' statements about Havilah being a son Joktan and brother of Sheba and Hazarmaveth (Hadramawt) who in Arabic traditions are assoicated with SW Arabia.

Muller on the Pishon being possibly a conflation of wadies Bishah and Baish (emphasis mine):

"Pishon. The first of the four rivers into which the stream that springs from the Garden of Eden is divided (Gen 2:11). The Pishon surrounds the land of Havilah, where there is gold. Several proposals have been made to identify this country and its river. If, however, Havilah is to be equated with the large and old tribal federation of Khaulan in SW Arabia, the Pishon likewise is to be localized in that region...A. Springer (1875:49) was the first who compared the biblical Pishon with the Wadi Baish in the SW of the Arabian peninsula. Al-Hamadi (1884:73) nevertheless writes that the Wadi Baish is fed from tributaries from the north of the land of Khaulan before it flows into the Red Sea. As was probable already in antiquity, in the 10th century the wadi Baish, abounding in water, formed the north boundary of the densely populated and terraced mountainous region of Khaulan (and until 1934 it was the border between the kingdom of Yemen and Saudi Arabia). Moreover, it is quite possible that the names of the rivers Baish and Bishah are contained in the name Pishon, since both rise not far from each other in the mountains of `Asir." (p. 374. Vol. 5. W. W. Muller. "Pishon." David Noel Freedman. Editor. The Anchor Bible Dictionary. New York. Doubleday. 1992)

Muller on Havilah being in SW Arabia (emphasis mine in bold print and capitals):

"Havilah. The rich land surrounded by the river Pishon according to the story of the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:11). Its richness derives from the GOLD, RESIN BDELLIUM and ONYX STONES present there. ALL THREE OF THESE PRODUCTS POINT TO SOUTH ARABIA AS THE LOCATION OF HAVILAH, since South Arabia is the homeland of valuable resins and precious stones. According to Pliny (Natural History 12.23), the tree which yields bdellium also grows in Arabia, and the resin from Commiphora mukul, Arabic muql, is up to now a Yemenite product...Onyx (Arabic gaz) is found at all times in various places in Yemen; and among the sorts which were usually named after the places where they are found, there was also a 'Khaulanite onyx' (al-Hamadani 1884:202-3). Among the gold mines of the Arabian peninsula, the mine of `Asam in the region of the Quda`a is attested, the gold of which is red and excellent; also attested are the mines of al-Qufa`a in the land of Khaulan, which yield gold of superior quality (cf. al-Hamadani 1968 :138-41). J. Halevy reports that, as an eyewitness in1870 in Sirwah in Khaulan, he saw Arabs washing gold and noted that gold was found in small grains of sand and in the river bed (1872:54). (p. 82. Vol. 3. W. W. Muller. "Havilah." David Noel Freedman. Editor. The Anchor Bible Dictionary. New York. Doubleday. 1992)

The Edenic Pishon River is Wadi Bishah (Bishain) and Wadi Baish (Baysh)

and Havilah (Hebrew: Hawila) is the Khaulan/Khawlan/Haulan/Hawlan of Southwest Arabia?

(Please scroll down for a "Critique" of James A. Sauer's 1996 article identifying the Pishon River with Wadi Batin and Havilah with Mahd adh-Dhahab)

Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld y de la Torre, M.A. Ed.

Please click here for this website's most important article: Why the Bible Cannot be the Word of God.

For Christians visiting this website my most important article is: The Reception of God's Holy Spirit: How the Hebrew Prophets _contradict_ Christianity's Teachings. Please click here.

Please Click Here for the location of the Garden of Eden on a map.

Please Click Here for maps showing the four rivers of Eden arising from one stream, including the Tigris (biblical Hiddekel)

16 June 2006 (Revisions through 20 Jan. 2008)

Below, a map showing Havilah which was associated in Genesis with the Pishon river, one of the four rivers of Genesis' Garden of Eden (Ge 2:10-12). This region of South West Arabia (the Yemen and vicinity) also has the kingdom of Sheba and a region called Hazarmaveth (Arabic: Hadramawt). Genesis portrays Havilah as a land of gold, bdellium (a resin) and precious stone. The Queen of Sheba brought Solomon much gold, spices and incense (resins) and precious stones (1 Kings 10:1-13). Genesis portrays Havilah as being the son of Joktan and his brothers are Sheba and Hazarmaveth (Ge 10:26-30), localities associated with SW Arabia, the Yemen and Dhofar areas. So, Havilah and Sheba are not only brothers, their lands have similar valuable products (for the below map cf. p. 59. James B. Pritchard. Editor. The Harper Concise Atlas of the Bible. New York. HarperCollins Publishers. 1991). Special note:

Havilah on Pritchard's _below map_ is apparently Professor Sayce's (cf. below) Khaulan in Tihamah between Sana'a and Mecca. A Google search reveals that this Khaulan today lies in the Asir Province of Saudi Arabia, south of Abha, east of the Red Sea port of Jizan and west of Aba Saud. This is described on an internet Saudi Arabian Gazeeter as the "Khaulan Tribal Area," and it lies very near the northwestern border of the modern Yemen. Please click here for a map showing the Saudi Khaulan which is apparently (?) Sayce's Khaulan in Tihamah (Khaulan or Khawlan being associated with Hebrew: Hawila, English: Havilah, Targum: Chavilah, by some scholars).

Professor Hess on Joktan's association with South Arabia:

"Joktan...Son of Eber, brother of Peleg, and father of thirteen descendants, whose settlements ranged from Mesha to Sephar, in the hill country to the east (Gen 10:25-30). As a descendant of Shem, Joktan represents that part of the line which, in the Table of Nations, is found in South West Arabia. There is a possible relationship between the name and a figure remembered as the ancestor of the Southern Arabs, Qahtan (Winnett 1970:181; Simons GTTOT, 48-49).

Although it is unclear whether Joktan is a prefixed verbal form of the Sabaean root qtn (cf. Ryckmans 1934 1:190; Biella 1982:452), its meaning, "to be small," is associated with this root in West Semitic and appears in geographical names such as Qatna." (p. 935. Vol. 3. Richard S. Hess. "Joktan." David Noel Freedman. Editor. The Anchor Bible Dictionary. New York. Doubleday. 1992)

Professor Sayce (1898) on Havilah and the Khaulan of SW Arabia:

"Havilah...A son of Cush according to Gn 10:7, 1 Ch 1:9, of Joktan according to Gn 10:29, 1 Ch 1"23...A district of Khaulan (Haulan) is mentioned in the inscriptions of South Arabia; this is either Khaulan in Tihamah, between Mecca and San'a, or another Khaulan SE of San'a...The name, in fact, was widely spread in Arabia, and Yakut states that Hawil was the name of a dialect spoken by the people of Mehri in the east of Hadramaut [biblical Hazarmaveth]. The Mehri is the modern representative of the language of the Sabaean inscriptions." (p. 311. Vol. 2. A. H. Sayce. "Havilah." James Hastings. Editor. A Dictionary of the Bible. Originally published 1898 by T& T Clark of Edinburgh, Scotland. Reprinted 1988 by Hendrickson Publishers. Peabody, Massachusetts in 5 volumes)

Update 15 January 2007:

The below extracts on Havilah the person and Havilah the region by W. W. Muller are from the

Anchor Bible Dictionary (1992. Volume 3. pp. 81-82. New York. Doubleday) (Emphasis mine):

HAVILAH (PERSON) [Hebrew hawila].

Two individuals with this name, whose identities are closely associated with the place which bears this name, appear in the Bible.

A son of Cush listed in the so-called Table of Nations (Gen 10:7; 1 Chr 1:9).

A son of Joktan listed in the so-called Table of Nations (Gen 10:29; 1 Chr 1:23).

Havilah is the biblical form of the name of the large and old tribal federation of Haulaµn in SW Arabia, which is divided into two or three branches. The identification originates from Niebuhr (1772: 292f.), who associated Haulan to the SE of San'a with Havilah, the son of Joktan, and Haulan to the W of Sa`da with Havilah, the son of Cush. He found it remarkable that two tribal districts in different regions of Yemen have the same name and are also mentioned twice in the Table of Nations (Gen 10:7, 29).

Two tribal groups of Haulan continue to exist today. The E (or S) branch are the Haulan al-Aliya or Haulan al-Tiyal, the territory of which extends from the E of San`a over Tan`im to Sirwah and into the Wadi Dana just before reaching the oasis of Marib. The N branch is the federation of the Haulan bin `Amr or Haulan Quda`a, the territory of which lies to the NW of Sa`da. The Haulan were probably originally one single tribe, the territory of which was later separated when the Minaean realm arose and the Hasid and Bakil invaded the Yemenite highland and settled there. Place names in the region of these two tribes still indicate the former presence of the Haulan. Also, in other parts of Yemen, dispersed groups of the Haulan are encountered at a later date.

The earliest epigraphic attestation of Haulan is to be found in the Old Sabean record of the ruler Karib`il Watar, set up at Sirwah, RES 3946,3, where vassals of a certain Ya`tuq of Haulan (`dm y`tq dhwln dyrrt) are mentioned. In the Minaean inscription M 247 = RES 3022,2 from Baraqis from the time about 340–330 B.C., the donors of the text give thanks to their gods for having saved them and their possessions from the raids which Saba` and Haulan undertook against them on the caravan route between Ma`in and Ragmatum (Nagran). Also in the Qatabanian inscription RES 4274,1 a member of Haulan (dhwln) is attested as a person who makes a dedication to the goddess Atirat.

In the Sabean inscriptions from the time of the kings of Saba` and Du-Raydan there are numerous references to Haulan, which can be subdivided into three different groups. The E branch is the tribe which settles around Sirwah and is called the tribe Haulan Hadilim (s`bn hwln hdlm; e.g., Iryané 28,1); through common leaders it is closely connected with the tribe of Sirwah and Hainan (s`bn srwh whwln hdlm whynn; e.g., Fakhri 3,2). In the genealogy of the N Haulan around Sa`da, which in Islamic times are the Haulan bin `Amr, the older name Banu Gudad or al-Agdud is still quoted by al-Hamdani (1965: 143–45). In the inscriptions these are the tribe Haulan Gudadim (sû`bn hwln gddm; Ja 577,8) or the tribe Haulan Gudadan (s`bn hwln gddn; Umm Lailà 1,1–2) or the groups of Haulan `Agdudan (`sûr hwln `gddn; Ja 658,13); the largeness of Haulan is sometimes expressed by the plural `s`bn placed in front of the name (“the tribes of Haulan;” Ja 601,10) or by the designation “the tribes and groups of Haulan Gudadim” (`s`b w`sr hwln gddm; Ja 616,12); their territory is the land of Haulan Gudadim (`rd hwln gddm; Ja 2109,4) or Haulan Gudadan (`rd hwln gddn; Ja 601,5) respectively, or the land of Haulan `Agdudan (`rd hwln `gddn; Ja 658,10). Once the term Haulan Gudadatan (hwln gddtn; Ja 671,5) is found. In pre-Islamic times there existed in SE Yemen around the town of Wa`lan in the ancient district of Radman a further branch of Haulan, which is often attested in the inscriptions of the 2d and 3d centuries A.D., namely, the tribe of Radman and Haulan, the leaders of which came from the clan Ma`ahir and Du-Haulan (bn m`hr wdhwln qyl rdmn whwln; e.g., RES 3958,1–2). W. W. Muller.

HAVILAH (PLACE) [Hebrew hawila]

The rich land surrounded by the river Pishon according to the story of the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:11). Its richness derives from the gold, resin bdellium, and onyx stones present there. All three of these products point to S Arabia as the location of Havilah, since S Arabia is the homeland of valuable resins and precious stones. According to Pliny (Natural History 12.23), the tree which yields bdellium also grows in Arabia, and the resin from Commiphora mukul, Arabic muql, is up to now a Yemenite product (cf. Schopen 1983: 176f.). Onyx (Arabic gaz`) is found at all times in various places in Yemen; and among the sorts which were usually named after the places where they were found, there was also a “Haulanite onyx” (al-Hamdani 1884: 202–3). Among the gold mines of the Arabian peninsula, the mine of `Asam in the region of the Quda`a is attested, the gold of which is red and excellent; also attested are the mines of al-Qufa`a in the land of Haulan, which yield gold of a superior quality (cf. al-Hamdani 1968: 138–41). J. Halévy reports that, as an eyewitness in 1870 in Sirwah in Haulan, he saw Arabs washing gold and noted that gold was found in small grains in the sand and in the river bed (1872: 54). Since in Old South Arabic dhb does not only mean gold but also a type of incense, it is possible that zahab tob in Gen 2:12 does not refer to “good gold” but rather to a fragrant resin (cf. de Langhe 1959: 493).In Gen 25:18 hawila, which by the Israelites might have been connected with Hebrew hol, “sand,” designates presumably the SE desert border of the region where the Ishmaelites settled. From this fact and from the reference to the Chaulotaîoi by Eratosthenes (Strabo, Geog. 16.4.2), H. von Wissmann (1970: 905–80, esp. 947–54) concluded that there must have existed a colonial Sabean Haulan in NW Arabia along the incense road before or perhaps still during the Minaean period in the oasis of Dedan. Probably this N Arabian hawila is to be distinguished from the S Arabian Haulan and perhaps to be compared with the tribe of hwlt, which is repeatedly mentioned in the Safaitic inscriptions and which might be identified with the Avalitae of Pliny (HN 6.157) and the later Arabian tribe of Hawala. Possibly the old biblical name of this region survives in the name of the N Arabian town of Ha`il (cf. Knauf 1985: 64). The borders of the Ishmaelites in Gen 25:18 with the local destination hawila have also been taken over in 1 Sam 15:7 and transferred to the Amalekites.

It should also be noted that other less convincing identification of hawila have been proposed, e.g., in the central Arabian Yamama, in NE Arabia at the Persian Gulf, or even with Avalites (Periplus maris Erythraei 7; Ptolemy, Geog. 4.7.10), the later Zayla` at the NE African coast. For further bibliography, see Westermann (1984: 214–15).

W. W. Muller.

Please click here for a "Rough Tribal Map of Arabia." 1949. H. R. P. Dickson. The Arab of the Desert. London.

To "enlarge" this map place your mouse on the map's lower right corner and a square will appear to click on, enlarging it.

The Queen of Sheba brought Solomon gold, incense, spices and precious stones. According to the below article by Bouton such items are attested for the Yemen in the Iron Age (Note that the Iron Age Gold Mines of the al Maraziq region are located in the al Jawf region northeast of Sana'a on the above minerals map):

"At present there is no archaeological evidence to prove that the meeting of Solomon and Sheba took place, or that the queen actually existed. But, recent excavations have found that some aspects of the story can be verified. This exhibition investigates these aspects and aims to shed light upon the mysterious but magnificent civilization of ancient Yemen, the land of Sheba.

Some scholars have disputed the Old Testament passage on the basis that the Queen of Sheba’s gifts - spices, gold and precious stones - are inconsistent with her homeland in southern Arabia. However these are not as incongruous as it may at first seem. The ‘spices’ mentioned are likely to be a reference to aromatics principally burnt in religious rituals in the temple and the home. Foremost among these were frankincense and myrrh, both natural gums which exuded from their

trees after the bark was scraped away. A number of ancient incense burners found in Yemen are even inscribed with the names of different aromatics. In terms of the ‘gold’, geological surveys (most recently in the Maraziq area of the Jawf region of northern Yemen) have uncovered the remains of ancient camps and ore-crushing and grinding equipment. These have been found close to ancient test pits and mines running along quartz veins exposed on the surface. In addition, a small collection in the British Museum of high-quality gold beads, earrings, bracelets and appliques suggest these are the work of a previously unrecognized high-quality goldworking tradition. Examples of this goldwork can be seen in the show. Detailed depictions on funerary sculptures of necklaces, earrings, armlets and finger rings offer a further glimpse of the types of high-status jewellery worn by men and women alike. Certain ‘precious stones’ such as coloured chalcedonies occur naturally in Yemen; other types were probably imported from India and Somaliland. These stones were popular across the Near East for carving beads and seals."

(cf. Ms. Hannan Bouton, Press Officer for the British Museum, London.

"The Queen of Sheba: Treasures from the Ancient Yemen."

9 June-13 October 2002 Exhibition sponsored by Barclays PLC)

http://www.islamictourism.com/PDFs/Issue%204/English/Ancient%20Yemen%20English.pdf

_My_ "Critique" of the Pishon River being the "Kuwait River" (Wadi al Batin) as proposed by the late James A. Sauer in 1996:

The late James A. Sauer (died 1999) suggested in 1996 that the Pishon river might be Wadi al-Batin also called the "Kuwait River" because it drains from an area near Mahd adh-Dhahab,"the cradle of gold," an ancient gold bearing region worked in antiquity in western Saudi Arabia, this river ends near modern Kuwait.

Sauer, _in error_ thought that Mahd adh-Dhahab was the "only area" possessing gold in antiquity. As revealed by geological surveys conducted in the Yemen (cf. above Mallory-Greenough, 2000) gold mines also existed in antiquity in the Yemen. Sauer consequently proposed in 1996 that Havilah, famous for its gold, was most probably the vicinity of Mahd adh-Dhahab and Medina in western Saudi Arabia. In 1996 when Sauer wrote his article the Iron Age Gold Mines at al Maraziq in the al Jawf region of the Yemen had not yet been identified, that event would occur in 2000, one year _after_ Sauer's death in 1999. Because in 1996 Mahd adh-Dhahab was _the_only_"verified" ancient_gold_mine_in Arabia known to scholars he understandably associated it with Havilah's gold.

The below quotes are from James A. Sauer, "A Lost River of Eden, Rediscovering the Pishon." pp. 3-11, in Molly Dewsnap Meinhardt, editor, Mysteries of the Bible, From the Garden of Eden to the Shroud of Turin. Washington, D.C. Biblical Archaeological Society. 2004. This is apparently a reprint, with a different title, of James A. Sauer, "The River Runs Dry: Creation Story Preserves Historical Memory." The Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. 22, No. 4, July/August 1996, pp. 52-54, 57, 64. The late James A. Sauer was a Curator and Research Associate at Harvard's Semitic Museum and considered an authority on the archaeology of Jordan he died in 1999.

Sauer on Mahd adh-Dhahab being the _only known_ site for Arabian gold, which he uses "to fix" the location of the land of Havilah and its Pishon River:

"An important key is the Biblical phrase "the gold of that land is good." Only one place in Arabia has such a deposit -the famous site of Mahd edh-Dhahab, the "Cradle of Gold." This ancient and modern gold mine is located about 125 miles south of Medina, near the headwaters of the Kuwait River."

(p. 8. James Sauer."A Lost River of Eden, Rediscovering the Pishon.")

To his credit, Sauer did acknowledge a "problem" with his Havilah proposal, that bdellium also associated with Havilah (a resin), appears to be unknown as a physical resource near Mahd adh-Dhahab or Medina, it is a resource however of the Yemen. To get around this "problem" he proposed that the Yemen's bdellium was "traded" in the Medina area and thus came to associated as a physical resource of Havilah:

"The Biblical text also mentions bdellium and onyx. Aromatic resins such as bdellium are known in Yemen to the southwest, and, although they are not thought to have been produced in the vicinity of Medina, they could easily have been brought there."

(p. 8. James Sauer. "A Lost River of Eden, Rediscovering the Pishon.")

Another "problem" acknowledged by Sauer was Havilah's precious stones. Again he acknowledged that the area of Southwest Arabia ( the modern Yemen) is famed for a variety of semi-precious stones rather than the Medina area:

"Semiprecious stones such as alabaster also come from these areas, but it is uncertain whether other precious stones, such as onyx, do. In any event, no other river would seem to fit the Biblical description. I am inclined therefore to think that the Kuwait River could well be the Pishon of the Bible."

(p. 8. James Sauer. "A Lost River of Eden, Rediscovering the Pishon.")

The problem? Havilah appears for most scholars to be associated with the Khaulan (Khawlan) in the Yemen, which also has evidence of gold mines being worked in the Iron Age. Wadi Bishah (the Pishon?)_must be crossed_ before reaching Yemen's Sheba and Haulan/Khawlan (Havilah?), perhaps this is why the Pishon is said to encircle Havilah, you must cross the Bishah before entering the gold-bearing region of the Yemen (ancient gold mines have been found to the southeast of Sa`dah in the al Maraziq area of the al Jawf region).

I understand Sauer is _wrong_ about Mahd adh-Dhahab and Medina being the region of Havilah and Kuwait River (Wadi al-Batin) being the Pishon River for the following reasons:

(1) Havilah appears for some scholars to be associated with the Khawlan tribal federation in the Yemen, no such regional name or federation exists near Medina or Mahd adh-Dhahab. Muller (cf. above) identified THREE tribal federations within the Yemen all bearing the name Khawlan or Haulan: (1.) A "northern" Haulan tribal federation near Sa`dah; (2.) An "Eastern or Southern Haulan tribal federation" near Sirwah; (3.) A Haulan tribal federation near Radman, south of Sana'a. Sayce (1898) identified a "fourth" Khaulan tribal area with the Tihamah coastline bordering the Red Sea. Today this area lies in Saudi Arabia in the province of Asir, to the south of Abha, very near the northwestern border of the modern Yemen. Pritchard's map (cf. above) shows Havilah as near the Red Sea and probably this is based on Sayce's Tihamah Khaulan in Saudi Arabia.

(2) Sauer was simply _wrong_ in his belief that the "only known source" for Arabian gold was Mahd adh-Dhahab. Geological surveys in the Yemen have identified gold mines in this area in the al Maraziq area within the al Jawf region, east of Sa`dah dating from Iron Age times and Solomon and the Queen of Sheba were Iron Age monarchs (cf. Leanne Mallory-Greenough et al. "Iron Age Gold Mining: A Preliminary Report on Camps in the Al Maraziq Region, Yemen." Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. Vol. 11. No. 2. Nov. 2000. pp. 223-236). Note: According to Muller the "northern" tribal federation of Haulan is located in the Sa`dah area, and just southeast of Sa`dah are Iron Age gold mining camps of the al Jawf region (Wadi al Jawf?). Were these mines identified in Genesis with the "northern" Haulan tribal federation near Sa`dah? A Jew traveling south from Jerusalem, would most like have crossed Wadi Bishah (Genesis' Pishon River?) before reaching the land of Hawila/Havilah and the area of the "northern" Haulan tribal federation at Sa`dah which may have controlled the Iron Age mining camps southeast of that location at al Jawf. Mallory-Greenough speculated about the nearness of the al Jawf Iron Age gold mines to the frankincense trade route extending from the land of Sheba and Jerusalem in King Solomon's days (cf. above).

(3) In antiquity the Yemen (Southwest Arabia) was famed for resins, most particularly frankincense of the Dhofar/Zufar region (biblical Sephar? Ge 10:30) east of Wady Hadramawt (biblical Hazarmaveth, a brother of Sheba and Havilah, cf. Ge 10:26-30).

(4) Havilah is a "brother" of Sheba and Hazarmaveth (Ge 10:26-29) and these names appear in the Yemen under Khawlan/Haulan, Saba and Hadramawt.

(5) Apparently unknown (?) to Sauer, the Jewish scholar Halévy reported that as an eyewitness in 1870 in Sirwah in Haulan (in the Yemen), he saw Arabs washing gold and noted that gold was found in small grains in the sand and in the river bed.

(6) Sauer understood onyx (biblical shoham stone) was a precious stone associated with Havilah and it is attested as being local to the Yemen.

(7) The Queen of Sheba brought Solomon much gold, precious stones and resins (incense) and she is called in the New Testament "the queen of the south." Yemen (Yamin) means "south" in the sense that as one faces east one's right hand is to the "South." So the Queen of the South" (Yemen) came from a land of gold, precious stones and resins, which align somewhat with Havilah, the brother of Sheba and Hazarmaveth (Hadramawt of the Yemen).

There is a "problem" that will not go away for any scholarly proposal for Havilah and its Pishon river: No river subdivides into the Euphrates, Hidekkel (Tigris) and Pishon (Bishah?) as portrayed in Genesis, but then Sauer's "Kuwait River" (Wadi al Batin) _doesn't align either_ with Genesis' notion of one river subdividing into four after leaving the garden in Eden. Sauer is not "alone" in proposing that four streams _converged_ at the Garden of Eden rather than the more common understanding that a river subdivided into four streams. Earlier scholars like the late Ephraim A. Spieser in an article dated 1959 had proposed four streams _converged_ at Eden's garden which he located in the Lower Mesopotamiam marshlands near Qurnah (Kurnah) where the Euphrates and Tigris rivers _converge_ today. Local native traditions claim Qurnah is the site of the Garden of Eden. Of interest here is that the 1st century A.D. Jewish scholar Flavius Josephus understood that the river of Eden subdivided into four streams that encompassed the world (he associated the Gihon with the Nile).

Please click here for maps showing the river which arose in Eden and subdivided into four streams.

Please click here for an article showing a map of the so-called "Kuwait River" (Wadi al-Batin) being Sauer's Pishon river.

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A report assessing potential gold lodes in the Yemen made in 2007 has identified some 12 locations, cf. "Investment Opportunities in the Metallic Minerals Sector in Yemen. Evaluation and Promotion." Republic of Yemen. Ministry of Oil and Minerals. Geological Survey and Minerals Resources Board. 2007(Please click here for the report).

Twelve locations in the Yemen have been surveyed as possibly being gold-bearing:

(Note: Wadi al Jawf and its tributaries lies southeast of Sa`dah and northeast of Sana`a)

1. Wadi Rubaq (Al Jawf)

2. Wadi Al Mamasah (Al Jawf)

3. Al Matammah (Al Jawf)

4. Wadi Falahan (Al Jawf)

5. Shaharah (Amran)

6. Bahrah (Marib)

7. Khowlan (Sana'a)

8. A'ithayn (Dhamar)

9. Waraqah (Dhamar)

10. Magrebah (Dhamar)

11. Al Waz'yyah (Taiz)

12. Am Surrah-Habalain (Abyan)

The report noted:

"Metallic minerals are not currently (2006) being mined in Yemen. During ancient times...silver was mined...and gold from small quartz veins scattered over northern and western Yemen."

Cf. below a report on Iron Age gold mines in the Yemen, King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba were Iron Age monarchs, Note: the al Mazariq area is located within the al Jawf region northeast of Sana'a, the capital of Yemen:

Leanna Mallory-Greenough, John D. Greenough & Charles Fipke. "Iron Age Gold Mining: A Preliminary Report on Camps in the Al Maraziq Region, Yemen." Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. Vol. 11. No. 2. Nov. 2000. pp. 223-236.

"Abstract:

Ancient geologists in Yemen and Egypt recognized that quartz veins surrounding caldera-collapse complexes (exhumed explosive volcanoes) were gold bearing and actively sought out these geologic environments. Rock hammerstones, anvils and grinders are found in camps on both sides of the Red Sea, indicating that mining and metallurgical extraction technology and knowledge were also widespread during the Iron Age. The technology and overall layout of the Yemen sites is equivalent with New Kingdom to Late Period Egyptian sites, and there is no evidence of smelting, which is a Greco-Roman Period development. It is not known who controlled the Yemen mines, but the large number of adits in the Al Maraziq area suggests that these gold mines may have been important to local, regional and possibly international economies."

An internet map search for al Maraziq gives the following co-ordinates:

Latitude: 14 degrees 25' 0

Longitude: 46 degrees 34' 0

These co-ordinates place al Maraziq in the al Jawf region ENE of Sana'a (cf. the below map for al Jawf).

Leanne Mallory-Greenough et al.(My thanks to her for providing me a copy of her below article):

"The Yemen ore deposit may have been discovered because it was close to trading routes, or trade route proximity may have been a product of gold exploitation." (p. 223. Leanne Mallory-Greenough et al. "Iron Age Gold Mining: A Preliminary Report on Camps in the Al Maraziq Region, Yemen. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. Vol. 11. No. 2. Nov. 2000. pp. 223-236.)

"Five ancient mining sites were visited in the Al Maraziq area, Al Jawf region, northern Yemen...A tape measure and compass were used to survey building and artefact positions...Excavations were not attempted. Al Maraziq inhabitants contend there are over 200 ancient adits in the area and at least one ancient community we did not visit..." (p. 225. Leanne Mallory-Greenough et al.)

"The ore processing technology found in Yemen was widespread in the Near and Middle East at about 1000 BCE, and can be found at Egyptian/Nubian sites ranging from the New Kingdom to Late Period, reaching a peak during the twenty-sixth Dynasty." (p. 233. Leanne Mallory-Greenough et al.)

"Based on the technological similarities with Egyptian gold mines, Yemen sites may range from Bronze to Iron Age. Preliminary thermoluminescence measurements on pottery from site 4 are consistent with the presumed antiquity of the site. The stone block bearing South Arabian script (Sabaean) suggests site 1 was occupied at some time between 800 BCE and 600 CE although mining may have occurred earlier. There is no information about how long mining went on at the Yemen sites. Mines in southeast Egypt and Nubia were mined for over two thousand years with individual mines first opened during the Middle Kingdom, re-opened in the New Kingdom, Late Period and Greco-Roman times." (p. 234. Leanne Mallory-Greenough et al.)

"It appears that the Yemen mining camps are close to the frankincense trade route. It is not known if the trade route existed because of the gold or if the deposits were discovered as a result of through traffic. Legend (Sheba's gifts to Solomon) suggests the gold trade was internationally important. Regardless of whether these stories are true, processing and geological (prospecting) similarities between Iron Age gold mines in Yemen and Egypt suggest ties and an exchange of technological knowledge between distant places in the Near and Middle East." (p. 234. Leanne Mallory-Greenough et al.)

A Google search turned up a listing of semi-precious stones found in the Yemen: carnelian, sky agate, honey agate, opal, gasber, flourite and onyx. Note that Sauer (below) understood onyx was associated with Havliah. Onyx is found in the Yemen. Perhaps these represent the precious stones associated with the lands of Havilah and Sheba?

(cf. Yemen Geological Survey & Mineral Resources Board. Yemen Geological Museum. "Local semi-precious stones found in the Yemen.")

http://www.ygsmrb.org/museum.htm

Below, a map showing Yemeni Rock Quarries for "Building and Ornamental Stone." Please click here for an "interactive version of the below map which allows one to scroll through the various regions of the Yemen.