Robinson discovered another ruin, called jSniii^ (which is radically as well as topographically different from the Sukkot of Burckhardt\ situated on the west bank of the Jordan, about fifteen miles south of Beisan. " Near it is a copious fountain, and the plain around it is cov- ered with most luxuriant vegetation. The ruin is mere- ly that of a common village, a few foundations of un- hewn stones" (Bibl. Fes. iii, 309; comp. Van de Velde, Travels, ii, 343). Its position on the west bank pre-
SUCCOTH-BENOTII
8
SUDAILI
vents its being identified with the Siiccoth of the Bible, but it is just possible that the name may have been transferred to a spot on the other side (see Hitter, ut sup. ii, -146), or it may have been a crusaders' site (see Conder, Tent Work in PaUst. ii, tJ'i).
Until the position of Succoth is more exactly ascer- tained, it is impossible to say what was the valley of Succoth mentioned in Psa. Ix, fi and cviii, 7. The same word is employed (Josh, xiii, 27) in sjiecifying the ])o- sition of the group of towns among whicli Succoth oc- curs, in describing the allotment oi'dad: so that it evi- dently denotes some marked feature of the country. It is not probable, however, that the main valley of the Jordan, the Ghur, is intended, that being always desig- nated in the Uible l>v the name of " the Arabali."
2. The first camping-place of the Israelites when they left Egj'pt (Kxod. xii, .'57 ; xiii, 20 ; Numb, xxxiii, 5, 6). This place was apparently reached at the close of the first day's march. Kameses, the startiiig-place, we have shown was probably near the western end of the Wady et-Tumeylat. AVe have supposed the distance traversed in each day's journey to have been about thirty miles; and as Succoth was not in the Arabian desert, the next station, Etiiam. being "in the edge of the wilderness" (Exod. xiii, "20; Numb, xxxiii, 0), it must have been along the present iiilgrim route called Dub el-Ban, about half-way between tlie easternmost branch of the Nile and tlie castle of Ajrud. It was probably, to judge from its name, a resting-place of caravans, or a military station, or a town named from one of the two. We find similar names in Scenaj Mandnc (//in. Ant.'), Scenae Mandrorum (A'o/. Diyn.'), or 'S.ki]vi) "S\av- Spujv {Xot. Grcec. Kpiscopatiiiini). Scenre Yeteranorum (///«. Ant. Not. Dif/n.), and Scena; extra Gerasa (sic : Xot. Difpi.). See, for all these places, Parthey, Zw Erd- Icunde des alien Aerjyptens, p. hoh. It is, however, evi- dent that such a name would be easih- lost, and, even if preserved; hard to recognise, as it might be concealed un- der a corresponding name of similar signification, though very different in sound, like that (»f tlie settlement of Ionian and Carian mercenaries, called ro 'S.TpaTnntva (Herod, ii, 154). See Exoue; Keu Sea. Passage of.
Suc'cotli - Be'notli ( Hcb. Sukhoth' - Benoth', T^'-ii^T' 30, booths of daughters ; Sept. Swkx'^'^ Be- vi'S V. r. 2oKT^a»3 [and even 'PoK-yw^] Bfi'i.&E/'; Vulg. Sochoth-henoth) occurs only in 2 Kings xvii, .SO, as the name of some deity whose worship the Baliylonian set- tlers in Samaria are said to have set up on their arrival in that country. It has generally been supposed that this term is pure Hebrew, and as such most interpreters explain it to mean "the booths in which the daughters of the Babylonians prostituted themselves in honor of their idol" (i.e. Mylitta, see Herod, i, 190; Strabo, xvi, 74.5); others "small tabernacles in which were con- tained images of female deities" (comp. Calmet, Com- vientaire Littend, ii, 897). It is in objection to both these explanations that Snccoth-benoth, which in the passage in Kings occurs in the same construction with Nergal and various other gods, is thus not a deity at all, nor, strictly speaking, an object of worship. It should be noted, however, that the expression "made" (V»Z5S) does not necessarily require such an interpreta- tion. Sir H. Rawlinson thinks that Succoth - benoth represents the Chaldrean goddess Zir-hanit, the wife of Merodach, who was especially worshipped at Babylon, ill conjunction with her husband, and who is called the " queen" of the place. Succoth he supposes to be either " a Hamitic term equivalent to Zir," or possibly a She- mitic mistranslation of the term — Zirat, "supreme," be- ing confoundetl with Zarat, "tents" (see the Essay of Sir H. Rawlinson in Rawlinson's Herodotus, i, 630). Gesenius arbitrarily alters the reading to rT23 n2p. booths of the high-places (Thesnui: s. v.) ; and. Movers (Phonic, i, 596) understands " involucra or secretn mu- lier-um,'" having reference to phallus-worship (so Nork,
Mythol. i, 124). The rabbins (see Kimchi and .Jarchi, ad loc.) fable tiiat it was a goddess under the form of a hen and chickinx ; which Kircher {(Ed. Alg. i, 3o4) re- gards as an astronomical emblem of the Babylonians. See Seidell, I)e Dtis Si/riis, ii, 7, 308 sq. ; Voss, 'J'heol. Gent, ii, 22 ; Creusius, De Succoth Benoth, in Ugolino, Thesaur. xxiil.
Su'chathite (Ileb. only in the plur. Snkathim', C^rz^'i", a ])atronymic of unknown origin; Sept. 2w- KaSiKjU ; Vulg. in tabernaculis commorantes'), a designa- tion of the last-named of the three families of " scribes which dwelt at Jabez" (1 Chron. ii, 55); apparently de- scendants of some person named Suchah, a Judabite of the family of Caleb.