אופיר המקראית: קופים ותוכים

The aim of this study is to identify the location of Biblical Ophir, as is written in the Bible in regard of the maritime trade of King Solomon in his venture with Hiram, King of Tyre (1 Kings 9:26-27, 10:11-12, 10:22; 2 Chronicles8:17-18, 9,10-11, 9:21). This aim will be achieved through studying the history of the investigation of that location as well as related subjects. It will be shown that the identification of the location is highly connected with the identification of the animals that were brought from Ophir: monkey and peacocks.Already in Antiquity Biblical Ophir was identified as a location in India, but modern scholarship disregarded this identification and considered the location as an enigma if not a legend. None of the Biblical scholars was aware of the relevance of The Erythraean Periplus (from the 1st c.), to Ophir.Some modern Biblical lexicographers were unaware of Indian linguistics,and the lack of knowledge led to superfluous conjectures. Some 180 years ago the words ‘Qofim’ and ‘Tuqim’ were identified as Indian (Dravidian or Tamil) words. More than 140 years ago Biblical Ophir was identified with Soppara (N19.410846, E72.805482), some 30 km north to Mumbai. That is, the geographical location and the etymological zoological identifications support each other.