TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 143 
nants K, 11 and T were used to express not only the sounds that were afterwards 
expressed by those letters, but also those that were afterwards expressed by X, ® 
and 8, It is important to attend to this; as the mode of spelling which prevailed 
before this distinction was made, was for the most part retained in roots and even 
in suffixes of derivation. Thus wévre, méymros might be intended to express not 
only the words which those letters would represent when the alphabet was com- 
pleted, but also ivGe, Siuddos, and so in other instances. Analogy leads us to 
think that if the twenty-four letters had been all in use when the language was first 
written down, these words would have been written in the last-mentioned mode. 
In these instances the ancient spelling has been preserved, but the pronunciation 
which it suggests has been changed. In other instances the spelling has been 
altered ; and there is particular need to attend to that change of spelling which was 
occasioned by the dropping of the semivowels and the change of = to H, and this 
again to a sign of aspiration which was dropped in the middle of a word, and not 
always expressed at the beginning of one. The examples of 4, 7, originally 20, 
SIA, then HO, HIA, or HA, and of dvdava, originally SYANAANO, will sufficiently 
illustrate what is meant. 
_ On the supposed Biblical Names of Baalbec, and on the position of Baalgad. 
By Joun Hoce, M.A., F.R.S., L.S., R.G.S. §e., Foreign Secretary of 
the Royal Society of Literature. 
| 
The author began this communication with some remarks on the vast interest 
_ which has recently become attached to the geography, both historical and physical, 
of the Bible ; especially since the important geographical and topographical excava- 
tions and discoveries in ancient Assyria, and other parts of the East, have thrown 
fresh light upon many portions of Scripture. Also, as regards the cartography of 
Syria and Palestine, much had been done of late years by Russegger, Robinson, 
Porter, Van de Velde, and the officers of the American Survey. The author said, 
that notwithstanding these great additions to science, he felt satisfied that much still 
Temained uncertain respecting the natural positions of many of the valleys and river- 
courses in both Lebanons, a more correct knowledge of the heights of the chief 
Mountains, the magnetic influences, and certain meteorological phenomena. 
- Considering that Baalbec had been so long known to travellers and artists, and 
its magnificent ruins so often visited and described, it was a remarkable fact that its 
Biblical name remained at this day undetermined. And it was further remarkable, 
that history has not preserved the name of its founder, or recorded in what year of 
the world it was begun to be built. As a Roman colony at the commencement of 
the Christian era, under the name of ‘ Heliopolis,” it bore the title of “‘ Julia 
Augusta,” derived from its benefactors, Julius and Augustus Cesars. 
The author then showed that it could not answer in geographical details to 
Baalath, or Baal-Hamon, or Balamo, or Baal Hermon, or Baalah, or Baalgad, of 
the Scriptures. Dr. Robinson of America imagines with much probability, that the 
prophet Amos, in chap. i. v. 5, alluded to Baalbec (Heliopolis) and its idol-worship, 
where he mentions “ the plain of Aven,” or as it is given in the margin of the Bible, 
“ Bikath Aven.” This would seem to refer to the plain of Ceelesyria, or the Bukaa, 
meaning a “‘valley,”’ which lies between the Lebanons, or the range of Libanus, and 
that of Anti-Libanus. Mr. Hogg observed that this ‘ allusion’ had long ago occurred 
to the traveller Maundrell, and to Dr. Wm. Lowth. The Septuagint translators 
paring rendered the Hebrew word ‘Aven’ by On—the Heliopolis of Egypt—thought 
the same. As this word ’QN is supposed to mean in Egyptian the sun, so the Sep- 
_tuagint rightly translated it Heliopolis ; consequently Bikath Aven would signify the 
 Bukaa On, or ‘ plain of On;’ that is to say, the plain or valley of Heliopolis, 
_ The author, in this supposition, agreed with those writers, and he further remarked 
that the word Baalbec has the same meaning in Aramaic or ancient Syriac, viz, the 
_ Sun-city.” 
__ In the next place, as to the geographical position of Baalgad, Mr. Hogg, having 
_ demonstrated from the descriptions contained in Scripture, that it could not coincide 
_ with the site of Baalbec, as has been strongly urged by many authors, considered 
