Red horse (Hastings' Dictionary)

See Revelation (Book of), p. 239. RED SEA ('■|'D-D- Ex 10" and often ; also c-n Ex 14-"^- », Is 51""'" 63" etc. ; D-y^-^-a; Is 11"; LXX ij ipvBpa. Sd\a(r<7a, with the equivalent amongst Latin geographers Mare Rubrum, also Mare Erythrceum). — The origin of the name ' Red Sea' is uncertain, though several reasons for it have been assigned, such as the colour of the corals which cover its floor or line its shores ; the tinge of the Edomite and Arabian mountains which border its coasts, and the light of an Eastern sky reflected on its waters. Dean Stanley considers that the name as applied to the Gulfs of Suez and Akabah is comparatively modern, as it was used to designate the waters of the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf before it was applied to the arm which extends northwards of the Strait of Bab-el- Mandeb; and in the former application it is used by Berosus and Herodotus.f The Hebrew name Yam Siiph (see art. St;PH) appears to have been used from very early times. The origin of the name is not ot much importance, since the name itself is in universal use. The Red Sea is one of the most remarkable of oceanic gulfs on the globe, owing to the fact that it receives the waters of no river, while the evapo- ration from its surface is necessarily enormous. It must, therefore, be fed by the influx of water from the Indian Ocean through the Straits of Bab-elMandeb ; but as such a condition of sujiply would long ere this have resulted in the conversion of the whole basin into a mass of solid rock-salt, it is inferred that an outward current flows into the Indian Ocean beneath the surface inward current. The length of the Red Sea from the Straits to ♦he head of the Gulf of Suez is about 1350 miles, and the extreme breadth in lat. 19° N. 205 miles. Towards its northern end it bifurcates into two narrow gulfs — those of Suez and Akabah (^lanitic Gulf), between which rises the mountainous region of Sinai. The waters are clear and of a deep blue colour ; and, as might be expected, are more saline than those of the ocean in the proportion of 4 to 3'5 ; the relative densities being 1'030 and r026 at a temperature of 60" Fahrenheit. The waters of the Red Sea are crowded with living forms, and their high temperature (where not deep), combined with extreme purity, being • Stanley, Sinai and Palextine 6, 6 (noteX f Ritwlinson, .-1 ncient Monarchies, i. 109. Sayce (HCM 255 ff.) maintains that Vam Suph as used by Heb. writers means only the Gulf of At^ba^, and that its application in Kx 15^23 to the 8ea, which the Israelites crossed on leaving Egj-pt, rests upon a mistake. This view, which the present writer is persuaned is entirely erroneous, was adopted by Sayce in order to support his theory that Mount Sinai lay amongst the Edomit« mountAins eub of the Guli of A^cabah. Se«, further, art. SuiAL favourable to polyp life, coral reefs abound, either liuing the shores or rising as islands above the surface. The navigable channel from Suez to the Straits lies nearly in the centre of the basin, and in lat. 21° N., where the greatest depth is found, the bed descends to a depth of 1200 fathoms. That the bed of the Red Sea is becoming: shallower by the gradual rise of the land, admits of the clearest proof. Raised beaches containing shells and corals now living in the water are found at various levels up to many feet above the present surface ; as, for example, along the clitls of Nummulii£ limestone above Cairo and other parts of Lower Egypt, as well as along the shores of the Gulf of Suez and Akabah. The most remarkable of these beaches is tliat which is found at a level of 220 ft., and was first recognized by Oscar Fraas. Still more recently, and probably within the human and pre-historic period, the waters of the Red Sea stretched up the Istlimus of Suez into the great Bitter Lake, as the floor of the canal when being cut in 1867 laid open beds of rock-salt and strat?., with recent sliells and corals. At the close of the Eocene period the whole surface of E<rypt was under the waters of the ocean, and the Red Sea and Mediterranean waters were continuous. The fauna of the Red Sea and of the Meditenanean are now highly dissimilar : that of the former partaking of the character of the Indian Ocean ; that of the latter, of the Atlantic. This process of diflerentiation has been naturally proceeding from the time when the two seas were disconnected by the uprising of the land in Miocene and Pliocene times, and the formation of the Isthmus of Suez.t The biblical history of the Red Sea is chiefly connected ■with the Exodus (which see) ; but we have an interesting reference to it later in the time of Solomon and Hiram, ling of Tyre, illustrating the essentially ditt'erenl habits of the Israelites and Phoenicians. These latter, from the time they settled on the coast of Syria, became a maritime nation, extending their trade and founding colonies all round the Medi- terranean, while inland their extent of territory was extremely limited. The Israelites, on the other hand, were not a seafaring people ; and con- sequently, when Solomon had extended his rule over Edom, and as far south as the ..Elanitic Gulf, and was desirous of having a fleet, to navigate the waters of the Red Sea and to trade vnth Ophir for gold and other commodities ; and when Elath [Aila of Strabo) and Ezion-geber were fortitied, and the latter made a seaport town, his own subjects being ignorant of nautical afl'airs, he was obliged to have recourse to the assistance of Hiram, with whom he had preserved friendly relations. This appeal was not made in vain, and Hiram sent his servants, ' shipnien that had knowledge of the sea,' to man the fleet in the trade with Ophir (1 K 9'^-^). After this event the Red Sea drops out of biblical history ; Elatli was for a time lost to the kingdom of Israel on the revolt of Edom against Joram (2 K 8™), and, though regained by Azariah (14-), it finally passed into the hands of the Syrians (Kcthibh) or the Edomites (Ijicre) in the reign of Ahaz (16"). Some ruins on an island at the head of the gulf are supposed to mark the site of this once important seaport. E. Hull.