The translators of the Sept., with that anxiety to soften and conceal obnoxious expressions which has often been noticed as a characteristic of their version, have, in all cases but one, avoiiUnl rendering kadish by its ostensible meaning. In the tirst of the passages cited above they give a double translation, iropvivotv and TtXioKofiu'OQ (initiated). In the second, TuuStfffiuQ (a conspiracy, perhaps reading ^"»J|?) ; in the third, rdg TfXtrfic (sacrifices) ; in the fourth the Vat. MS. omits it, and the Alex, has rov hcii]\\ayi.tivov; in the fifth, Tuii' Kactirtifi ; and in the sixth, i'itto dyytXmv. There is a feminine e(iuivalent to kade.^h, viz. kadeshah. This is found in Gen. xxxviii, 21, 22; Deut. xxiii, 17; and Hos. iv, 14. In each of these cases it throws a new light on the passage to remember that these women were (if the expression may be allowed) the priestesses of a religion, not plying for hire, or merely instruments for gratifying passing lust. Such ordinary prostitutes are called by the name zoitdh. In 1 Kings xxii, 38 the word zonoth is rendered " armor." It should be " har- lots"— "and the iiarlots washed themselves there" (early in the morning, as was their custom, adds Procopius of Gaza). The .Sept. has rendered this correctly. The "strange women" of I'rov. ii, IG, etc., were foreigners, 2/»/(i^/i.— Srnitii. See Haki.ot.
Sodomi'tish Sea {.\faie Sodomitimm), a name once given in the Apocry()ha (2 Esdr. v, 3) to the Dead Sea {\\. v.). evidently from its supposed connec- tion with the overthrow of Sodom. A striking illustra- tion of this coincidence in name (which in some form has ever since clung to that lake) is found in the names of one or two natural features of that region. See
SOI>()M.
( I. ) At the south-west corner of the lake, below where the wadys Zuweirah and .Mahauwat break down through the enclosing heights, the beach is encroached on by the nail mountain or ridge i>f K/nm/im Usdum. This remark- able object is hilherlo but imjierfectly known. It is said to l»e ipiiie inilependcnt of ilie western motnitains, lying in fmeit of and separated from tliem by a considerable trai;t filled u|) with conical hills and short ridges of the soft, dinlky, marly deposit just describejl. It is a level ridge rir ilike several miles long. Its northern (Hirtion runs Nonth-sfuitheast ; but after more than half iiH length it makes a suibien and decided bend to the right, and then ruTis south-west. It is from three to four lnnidrf<l feet in height, of inconsiderable width. 'I'here is great inicertainly about its lengl ii. Dr. Uobin- win Htates it at five miles anil "a considerable distance farther" ( ii, 107, 1 12). Van de Velde makes it ten miles (ii, 1 13 ), or three anil a half hours (p. 1 l(j). But when ihew! diuienmonH are applied to the map they are much tiM) large, and it is dilliciilt to believe that it can be more ihni\ live miles in all. Dr. Andersfin fp. 181) says it i>« about I wo nnd a half miles wide; but this appears M eonlradici Dr. KobinHi.n's expressions (ii, 107 j. The
UlK-r nr .rrol.nr.iied by Mr. Clnwes's parly. They
tlso noticed salt in large quantities among the rocks iii
Salt Kocksof Ufdfini
lajjh by tlieKditor.)
regular strata some considerable distance back from the lake. The mountain consists of a body of crj-stallized rock-salt, more or less solid, covered with a capping of chalky limestone and gypsum. The lower portion — the salt rock — rises abruptly from the glossy plain at its east- ern base, sloping back at an angle of not more than 45°, often less. It has a strangely dislocated, shattered look, and is all furrowed and worn into huge angular buttresses and ridges, from the face of which great fragments are occasionally detached by the action of the rains, and ap- pear as "pillars of salt," advanced in front of the general mass. At tlie foot the ground is strewn with lumps and masses of salt, salt streams drain continually from it into the lake, and the whole of the beach is covered with salt — soft and sloppy, and of a pinkish hue in win- ter and spring, though during the heat of summer dried up into a shining, l)rilliant crust. An occasional patch of the Kali plant {Sdlicornice, etc.) is the only vegeta- tion to vary tiic monotony of this most monotonous spot. It is probable that from this mountain rather th>an from the lake itself was anciently ])rocured the so-called "salt of the Dead Sea," which was much in request for use in the Temple si'rvice. It was preferred before all otlier kinds for its reputed effect in hastening the combustion of the sacrifice, while it diniinished the unpleasant smell of the burning tlesh. Its deliiiuesccnt character (due to the chlorides of alkaline earths it contains) is also noticed in the Talmud {Mrnacholh, xxi, 1 ; Jalkiif). It was called " Sodom salt," but also went l)y the name of the "salt that does not rest" (rr2:iL' "Si:: nb^), be- cause it was made on the Sabbath as on other days, like the " Sunday salt" of the English salt-works. It is still much esteemed in Jerusalem. See Salt Ska.
SODOMY
859 SOISSONS, COUNCILS OF
(2.) Between the north end of Khashm Usiliim and the lake is a mound covered with stones and bearing the name of um-Zoijhul (Robinson, ii, 107). By De Saulc}^ the name is given Redjom el-Mezorrahl (the gh and rr are both attempts to represent the ghain). The " Pilgrim"' in Athennnm, April 2, 1854, expressly states that his guide called it Rmljcim ez-Zogheir. It is about sixty feet in diameter and ten or twelve high, evidently artificial, and not improbably the remains of an ancient structure. A view of it, engraved from a photograph by Mr. James Graham, is given in Isaacs's Dfud Sea (p. 21). This heap De Saulcy maintained to be a por- tion of the remains of Sodom. Its name is more sug- gestive of Zoar, but there are great obstacles to either identification. See Zoar.