National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-10-13
AatiuuaI grpnblifam
DID NOSES CROSS THE RED SEA?

DID NOSES CROSS THE RED SEAP
A convention of historians and Oriental
scholars has recently been held in London
which has attracted very wide attention. The
addresses of Sir Henry Rawlinson and Max
Muller were bold and iconclastic, and defiant
Of many cherished opinions. But the paper
read by Brugsch Bey, distinguished scholar
of Egypt, on the question of the site at which
the Israelites crossed from Egypt into the
Promised Land, was of unusual interest Mon
umental inscriptions had been collected, geo
Iogy studied, notes compared, and maps pre-
pared to authenticate the history recited. The
following is brief resume of the positions ar
rived at:
Ihaye chosen for my theme (said Brugseh
Bey) the exodus of the Hebrews from Ramses
to their arrival at Elm. All saVants who have
previously occupied themselves with the recon
struction of this route have taken as the basis
of their researches the geography Of Egypt
during the time of the Dover Empire, eOmpar-
inc it with that of our days. So many saVants,
so many different opinions concerning this
route; but all, with the exception Of two, agree
that the jews went through the Red Sea. My
own researches are founded on the geOgraph-
ical indications of Egyptian monuments, con-
temporary with the time of the exodus.
was able to reconstruct the Egypt of this epoch
with its forty-tWo provinces, with its chief
towns, and with very great number Of very
curious details Of the topography and also of
It's divine rites. From this have arrived at the
following conclusions, which l consider IN
questionable:
l. That the town Of Ramses Hdiffers in no
way from the town of ZOan," which is spoken
of in the Bible as the place where Moses per-
formed his miracles before the Pharoah of his
time. This is the same town which the Greeks
naIla1 Topac 1,ybF
the district Tanitis.
2. That the town of Pithom, likewise men
toned in the Bible, was the chief town of the
adjoining districts called by the Greeks the
district of Sethroites. The Semitic name of
this same town, cited in the papyri of the
: British museum, was Suko, or Sukoth, which
corresponds exactly with the second station at
which the Hebrews camped after their exodus
from Ramses.
3. The third station, called in the Bible
Ethan, bears the name of Hetham in the
Egyptian texts; the name means ''the forth
fed" This fort was situated westward from
the place el-Kantareh q. e., the bridge) of to-
day on the confines of the desert. After hav-
ing arrived at Ethan the Hebrews turned to
the North, and arrived then at a. Migdol,
which was the fourth station. The name is
completely Egyptian, and means the fortress
of MagdolOn of the Greek and Roman authors,
situated at Tel-e-Semout of our day. Setting
OuL rum hlguOl, Ine heDreWS cam Su DeLWeen
Migdol and the sea q. e.. the Mediterranean
before the entrance of the Hiroth, (Pihahi-
ROTH in the face of Baal Zephon. The HirOth,
an Egyptian term, denotes those fearful abysses
situated between Mediterranean sea and
the Lake SirbOnis. The place of Baal Zephon,
in Egyptian BaaH ZapoUna, is the name of q
sanctuary situated at the Casiaa Mount. As
Pharaoh and his army pursued the Hebrews
on this isthmus, between the sea and the lake
of SirbOnis, to which the inscriptions give, as
to all lakes, even to the Red sea, the name of
Sea of Alge, Gam Suph,) there befel the
Egyptians at those places the same fate which,
in the course of histOr befell single travellers
well as whole armies-they were swallowed by
the abysses of the sea of Algal or Weeds. Once
arrived at Mount Kasias, where was the east
ern frontier of ancient Egypt, and where the
"way of the PhilistiDes" begins, the Hebrews
traversed, in a southern direction, the desert to
Marah, ''where the water was bitter" These
are the Bitter-water lakes Of our day. The
sixth station, Elm, is called in Egypt 'A-lim,'
Ii. e., the town of ''fshes,'') to the north of
the Red sea. All these indications exactly
correspond in Hebrew and in Egyptian. No
saVant can separate them from one another,
nor alter the site now fixed once for all.