KERIOTH, KIRIOTH minp, cities'). r.
A town on the southern border of Judah, towards Edom. It is only mentioned in Josh. xv. 25. The LXX. reads al 7r6Xets (Alex. r6Xes) thus translating the clause, cities of Ilezron.' The Syriac version follows the LXX. ; but the whole scope of the IIebrew shews that Kerioth is a proper name, and, if connected with Hezron, as Reland thinks it ought to be, it would make Xerioth-Hezron, like Hazar-Gaddah (ver. 27), the name of the place (but see Keil on Yoshio, ad loc.) Jerome in the Vulgate translates the passage, Carioth, Hesron, hoc est "Isar ;' but he does not mention it in the Onomasticon. Reland suggests that Judas Iscariot got his name from this place, deriving /scarlet from rorip triN, a man of Kerioth' (PaL, p. 7oo ; see also Winer, R. IV. s. v. Xerioth). Robinson saw a ruined place called Xieryeteitt, about fifteen miles south of Hebron, which, he suggests, may occupy the site of Kerioth (B. R., ii. 101). Though these ruins do not lie quite so far south as would seem to be indicated by the sacred writer, yet they may possibly be those of Kerioth. Moladah and Ain are men tioned in the same group (ver. 26, 32), and their sites are not far distant from Kuryetein. Kur. yetein is the Arabic dual of Kw-yak (E.,L)3), and signifies two towns ;' it is thus nearly equivalent to the Hebrew Kerioth.
2. A town of Moab (KaptA-; Cariothr, men. tioned by Jeremiah in connection with Beth-gamul and Bozrah (xlviii. 24). It would also appear, from an incidental notice, that it was one of the strong cities of Moab :--` Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are surprised,' etc. (ver. 41). Amos says, in pronouncing a prophetic curse :— I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Hiriodz' (ii. 2). Though the A. V. has Xirioth, yet the IIebrew word is the same as in Jeremiah, njrip ; the only difference is, it has the article. The LXX. renders this clause TA -rilOktcz raw 7r6Xcon, cuirfis; but the Vulgate has ayies Carioth, which is doubtless the true render ing. Bozrah and Beth-gamul being identified with Busrah and Um el-Yemdl, there can be no doubt as to the site of Kerioth. Six miles east of Bus rah, at the foot of the mountain range of Bashan, stands Xureiyeh, whose name Ci.„2„),i -= m,p, pl.
nrip) at once suggests identity with the ancient Kerioth ; and its proximity to two other cities of Moab appears to put the matter beyond doubt.
Moah was a wide region, extending- from the eastern shores of the Dead Sea away to the borders of Arabia. The /and of Alishor nu,.."nri, A. V., the plain country'), upon which Jeremiah pronounced the cursc (xlviii. 21), was that great table-land running, from the top of the mountain-ridge which shuts in the Dead Sea, to Arabia on the east, and Bashan on the north. Here stood the doomed cities—far apart, as would appear from the words, And upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near' (ver. 24), Kerioth was situated in the most remote part of the Mishor towards Bashan. Kureiyeh stands in a broad valley where the mountain-chain sinks down into the plain. The ruins are about three miles in circuit. There are no buildings of great size or beauty now standing ; but in the streets and lanes are many broken columns ; and beside a cistern in the centre of the town is a singular struc ture, consisting of a stone roof supported by a triple colonnade, underneath which are ranges of benches rising up like those of a theatre. A Greek inscription on one of the benches states that the cistern (Xl,uvri) was made in the year 190 (A.D. 296). The private houses of Kureiyeh are singu larly interesting. Their walls are from four to eight feet thick, built of massive squared blocks of basalt. The roofs are formed of stone slabs care fully hewn, reaching from wall to wall. The doors are also of stone, and hung upon pivots pro jecting above and below. These houses, simple, massive, and imperishable, bear the marks of the highest antiquity. Similar structures are found in all the old cities of Bashan ; and the conclusion seems unavoidable that these are the very houses originally built and occupied by the giant Rephaim [see TRACHONITIS ; KENATH ; BOZRAHI When the writer visited Kerioth in 1353, upwards of a hundred of these ancient houses were inhabited ; and he estimated that at least as many more still stand, perfect and habitable, but novv used as folds for flocks and stables for camels. Kerioth must have been a strong city. The country around it is thickly covered with rugged rocks the passes through them are intricate and easily defended ; and the traces of massive ramparts are still visible (see Porter's Damascus, ii. pp. 191-98; Burck hardt's Travels in Syria, p. 103 ; Buckingham's Arab Tribes, p. 213).—J. L. P.