follows that of Salem, is faultily written in
the list of Ramses II., and it is from that of Ramses III. that we have
to recover its true form. Ramses III., moreover, tells us that Rethpana
was a lake, and since its name comes between those of Jerusalem and the
Jordan it must represent the Dead Sea. The Canaanite form of Rethpana
would be Reshpon, a derivative from the name of Resheph, the god of fire
and lightning, whose name is preserved in that of the town Arsuf, and
whose "children" were the sparks (Job v. 7). The name was appropriate to
a region which was believed to have been smitten with a tempest of
flames, and of which we are told that "the Lord rained upon Sodom and
upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire."

Khilz, the fourth name in the list, is probably the Babylonian _Khalzu_,
or "fortress." At all events it was the first town on the eastern side
of the Jordan, and it may well therefore have guarded the ford across
the river. Karhu is the Korkha of the Moabite Stone, perhaps the modern
Kerak, which was the capital of Moab in the age of Ahab, and Uru is the
Babylonian form of the Moabite Ar, or "city," of which we read in the
Book of Numbers (xxi. 28). The land of "Moab" itself is one of the
countries which Ramses claims to have subdued. The Carmel mentioned in
the list is Carmel of Judah, not the more famous Carmel on the coast. As
for Tabara or Debir, it will be that ancient seat of Canaanite learning
and literature, called Kirjath-Sepher and Debir in the Old Testament,
the site of which is unfortunately still unknown. It must have lain,
however, between Carmel and Shimshon, "the city of the Sun-god," with
which it is probable that the Biblical Ir-Shemesh should be identified
(Josh. xix. 41). Erez Hadashta, "the New Land," is called Hadashah in
the Book of Joshua (xv. 37), where it is included among the possessions
of Judah.

The second list, instead of taking us through Judah and Moab, leads us
southward along the coast from Mount Carmel. Maghar is termed by Ramses
III. "the spring of the Maghar," and is the Magoras or river of Beyrout
of classical geography. The river took its name from the _maghdrat_ or
"caves" past which it runs, and of which we have already heard in the
_Travels of a Mohar_. The two next names which represent places on the
coast to the north of Gaza are quite unknown, but Sala', which is
written Selakh by Ramses III. (from a cuneiform original), is possibly
the rock-city Sela (2 Kings xiv.