SCYTHOPOLIS (s7-thOp'o-]is), (Gr. 2,004) v r6Nts, sku-thon'fio'lis, city of the Scythians), a name of BETHSHEAN, (Judith iii:to; 2 Macc. xii:29).
SEA (Heb. yawn, roaring), was used by the Hebrew more extensively than with us, being applied generally to all large collections of water, as they had not a set of terms such as we employ (defectively, indeed) to discriminate the different kinds. 'Sea' for large collections, and 'pool' for smaller, formed the extent of their vocabulary; although, indeed, pools were distinguished into agora, a natural pool or pond ( Ps. cvii:35; cxiv:3; Is. xxxv:7; 8, etc.), and bereekah, the same as the Arabic beerkeh, an artificial pool or reservoir (2 Sam. ii:t3; iv:i2; Nab. ii:8). The term 'sea' is applied to various parts of the ocean, and also to lakes, for is used for these in Job xiv:i 1.
(1) The Mediterranean, being on the west, and therefore behind a person facing the east, is called in Scripture the Hinder Sea (Dent. xi :24; Joel ii :2o), that is, Western Sea; and also, the Sea of the Philistines' (Exod. xxiii :30, as that people possessed the largest proportion of its shore in Palestine. Being also the largest sea with which the Hebrews were acquainted, they called it by pre-etninence, 'the Great Sea' (Num. xxxiv :6, 7; Josh. i :4 ; ix :1 ; Ezek. xlvii :to, 15, 2o) ; or simply 'the sea' (Josh. xv:47).
(2) The Red Sea. How this gulf of the In dian Ocean came by the name of Red Sea is not agreed. Prideaux assumes (Connection, i. 14, ts) that the ancient inhabitants of the bordering countries called it Yam Edom, or, 'the sea of Edozn (it is never so called in Scripture), as its northeastern part washed the country pos sessed by the Edomites. Now Edom means •red (Gen. xxv:3o), and the Greeks, who borrowed the name from the Phoenicians, mistook it for an appellative instead of a proper name, and ren dered it by er-ruth-ra' tha'-las-sa, that is, 'the Red Sea.' Others have conjectured that the Ara bian Gulf derived its name from the coral rocks and reefs in which it abounds; but the coral of the Red Sea is white, not red. Some of the mountains that stretch along the western coast have a singularly red appearance, looking, as Bruce expresses it. as if they were sprinkled with Havannah or Brazil snuff, or brick-dust; and from this a notion is derived that these mountains, presenting their conspicuous sides to the early navigators of the sea, induced them to give it a name from that predominant color. Salt indi cates a fact which affords a basis for another con jecture as to the origin of the name. He says:
'At one o'clock on the 7th of February, the sea for a considerable distance around the ship be came extremely red As we were anx ious to ascertain the cause of this very singu lar appearance, a bucket was let down into the water, by which we obtained a considerable quan tity of the substance floating on the surface. It proved to be of a jelly-like consistence, composed of a numberless multitude of very small mollusca, each of which, having a small red spot in the center, formed, when in a mass, a bright body of color nearly allied to that produced by a mix ture of red lead with water.' This account has been more recently confirmed by Ehrenberg.
The ancients applied the name of Erythrean Sea not only to the Arabian Gulf, but to that part of the Indian Ocean which is enclosed be tween the peninsula of India and Arabia; but in modern usage the name of Red Sea is restricted to the Arabian Gulf, which enters into the land from the Indian Ocean in a westerly direction, and then, at the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, turns north-northwest, maintaining that direction till it makes a near approach to the Mediterranean, from which its western arm is only separated by the Isthmus of Suez. It thus separates the west ern coast of Arabia from the eastern coast of the northeastern part of Africa. It is about t,400 miles in length from Suez to the straits, and on an average 15o miles it breadth. On approaching its northern termination the gulf divides into two branches, which enclose between them the and quits it on the south; and it is said that the river passes through it without the waters min gling. Its extent has been greatly overrated. Pro fessor Robinson considers that its length, in a straight line, does not exceed eleven or twelve geographical miles, and that its breadth is from five to six miles. From numerous indications it is inferred that the bed of this lake was formed by some ancient volcanic eruption, which history has not recorded; the waters are very clear and sweet, and contain various kinds of excellent fish in great abundance. It will be remembered that several of the apostles were fishermen of this lake, and that it was also the scene of several transaction; in the life of Christ ; it is thus fre peninsula of Sinai. The western arm. which ter minates a little above Suez, is far more extensive than the other, and is that which was crossed by the Israelites in their escape from Egypt.