Genesis 10:19 names it as the far point of the Kena'ani (Canaanite) border in the south-east (though other references place the border elsewhere).
It may be Callirrhoe on the east of the Dead Sea, a town famous for its hot springs, and whose name is connected to several characters in Greek mythology.
However, other scholars believe that Callirhoe was Tseret ha-Shachar (צֶרֶת הַשַּׁחַר) in the tribal domain of Re'u-Ven, (Joshua 13:19), and not Lasha.
However, other scholars believe that Callirhoe was Tseret ha-Shachar (צֶרֶת הַשַּׁחַר) in the tribal domain of Re'u-Ven, (Joshua 13:19), and not Lasha.
The Arabic word means "fissure" or "chink", and is used for gorges, combes and fountains.
The Genesis reference appears to make it one of the five cities of the plain destroyed at the time of Lot (Genesis 13), of which only two - Sedom and Amorah - are actually named.
The Genesis reference appears to make it one of the five cities of the plain destroyed at the time of Lot (Genesis 13), of which only two - Sedom and Amorah - are actually named.
The name Lasha is also the source of the Lisan Peninsula, a narrow strip of land which today divides the northern and southern parts of the Dead Sea, a consequence of the massive build-up of the salt in the lake, and other economic factors which have begun to cause the water in the lake to dry up - see the illustration. Al-Lisan in the Arabic, it is also known as The Lynch Strait, after the American William F. Lynch, who explored the region in the 19th century.
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