Note 53 — Chapter I · THE HEBREW PATRIARCHS

The name of Carchemish is usually written Gargamis in the cuneiform inscriptions (Qarqamish in the Egyptian hieroglyphs), but Tiglath-pileser I. (W. A. I. i. 13, 49) calls it ‘Kar-Gamis’ (the Fortified Wall of Gamis) ‘in the land of the Hittites,’ and from the Hebrew spelling in the Old Testament we may gather that Gamis was identified with the Moabite Chemosh. In Babylonian tablets of the age of Ammi-zadoq mention is made of a wood Karkamisû or ‘Carchemishian’ (Bu. 88-5-12, 163, line 11; 88-5-12, 19, line 8). It may be noted that the name ‘Jerabîs,’ sometimes assigned to the site of Carchemish instead of Jerablûs, is, according to the unanimous testimony of English and American residents in the neighbourhood, erroneous.