A map of the town is given in de Sauley, La Mer Morte, 8, 20.
LITERATURE.—Reland, Pal. 463, 553, 705; Bohaeddin, Vita Salad. ch, 25; Georgius Cyprius, ed. Gelzer, 53, 198 ; Quatre- mére, Hist. Sultans Mamiouks, ii. 236 ; Schultens, Index Geo- graphica, 8. ‘Caracha’; Robinson, BRP? ii. 167f.; Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 467 ; Seetzen, Reisen, i. 412 f., ii. 358 ; Burckhardt, Travels, 379-390; Irby, ch. vii.; de Sauley, La Mer Morte, i. 356f.; Schwarz, 217; Tristram, Land of Moab, 68 ff.; Duc de Luynes, Voyage, i. 99 ff., ii. 106 ff.; and for modern aspect Baedeker, Palestine3, p. 191 f.
C. H. W. JouNns.
KIRAMA (A Κιραμά, B Κειράμα, AV Cirama), 1 Es 5°.—The people of Kirama and Gabbe re- turned from Babylon under Zerub., 621 strong. In Ezr 2% Ramah and Geba (7277, A ‘Pad, “Apan); ef. Neh 7 (Αραμά). The form in 1 Es is due to the definite article 7 being read as 9.
KIR-HARESETH (nyin-p, τοῖς κατοικοῦσι Δέσεθ μελετήσεις, Vulg. murus cocti lateris, Is 16’; in 2 K 3” pausal form nyqn-p, AV Kir-haraseth, LXX τοὺς λίθους τοῦ τοίχου καθῃρημένους, Vulg. murus fictilis) or KIR-HERES (7277p, κειράδες αὐχμοῦ, murv- fictilis, Jer 48%-%8; in Is 16"
rests upon the Targum on Isaiah, where Kir 15 rendered by Kerakka (so also apparently Ar of
KIRIATH
pausal form συ, AV Kir-haresh, LXX τεῖχος ἐνεκαίνισας, Vulg. ad murum cocti lateris).—These two names are to be taken as slight variants of one and the same proper name denoting a place in the country of Moab, evidently regarded as a place of the first rank, of great strength and importance. The natural conclusion that Kir of Moab is meant is a conjecture, but has received general assent.
The LXX and Vulgate regard these names, however, as phrases, the meaning of which is sought by an attempted Hebrew etymology. That they were so regarded when the vowel points were added to the text need not be assumed, though some traditional etymology may have ἘΠΕ ΤΟΝ the pointing. Certainly, the ety- mologies suggested connecting them with ἀν, ‘a wall,’ and some Hebrew word denoting ‘ clay,’ or its manufactured products such as ‘ bricks’ or ‘pottery,’ do not lead to any convincing result. That cir also denoted a ‘fortress or walled city’ in Hebrew seems assumed to meet the case; a ‘city of potsherds’ or a ‘brick fortress,’ even with the explanation ‘ because the chief seat ef Moabite pottery,’ is too obviously lame. Such a meaning would go against the identification with modern Kerak. The top of a steep hill is unlikely to be a ‘seat of pottery,’ and the accounts of the remains there point to the ancient walls being of stone, not brick.
There does not seem any call to seek a Hebrew etymology. If it was a Moabite name, and the variations in spelling and vocalization suggest its being foreign to the Hebrew scribes,* then we must turn to the native tongue for an etymology. There we find that kir is the Moabite for ‘town,’ walled or fortified. The second element of these names is not, however, preserved in the scanty remains of the Moabite tongue (cf., however, the place name JJ RT in line 14 of Mesha’s Inscription). Palmer (Zhe Desert of the Exodus, p. 472.) Bue that Zd@rit means ‘mound’ in the language of the modern inhabitants. The obvious difficulty is that an interchange of ¢ and s is unusual; we should expect rather fares than fares as representing modern farit. The modern language of Moab would need detailed examination before a decisive rule could be laid down.t Of a somewhat similar Assyrian word for ‘mount’ (often a wooded hill), both forms, /wrsu and jursu, exist side by side.
If the commonly received identification of the place with Kir of Moab and that with modern Kerak be correct, we might regard ‘mountain fortress’ as a suitable name; but that does not establish the etymology in the absence of direct evidence from native sources. All that is said of Kir-heres, οἷο, seems to suit Kerak well enough, and the Targum on Isaiah renders Kir-hareseth by Kerak tokpehon, which perhaps points to a “cliff? fortress of some kind. See, further, art Kir oF Moas. C. H. W. JouNs.
KIRIATH (n777).—A town noticed with Gibeah as belonging to Benjamin, Jos 18*. Both the text and the site are uncertain, but the latter may possibly be found at Kuriet el--Enab, ‘ town of erapee west of Jerusalem, which is often called simply Kurich by the inhabitants. See SWP vol. iii. sheet xvii. This village, on the road from Jaffa to Jerusalem, is also now called Abu Ghésh, from a celebrated chief so named. It is remarkable for its fine Nor- man church, built in the 12th cent. A.D..
It is held, however, by most OT scholars that in Jos 18% Kiriath is a mistake for Kiriath-jearim,
* ‘ Harosheth of the Gentiles’ (Jg 4% 18. 16) is a similar name, and both it and Hareseth may go back to Canaanite sources.
+ There is a Kasr haraga still, 35 minutes’ walk above Dera’a (ZDPYV, 1895, p. 69 ff.).
KIRIATHAIM
ony: having been dropped through confusion with the following ony. ot only does np bear the ap- pearance of a construct, but the same conclusion is supported by the LXX, B καὶ πόλεις καὶ Γαβ- αωθιαρείμ (where Gibeath and Kiriath-jearim are mixed up), A πόλις ᾿Ιαρίμ, Lue. πόλις ᾿Ιαρείμ (cf. Dillm. ad. loc., and Bennett in SBO7). C. R. CoNDER.