Zarethshahar
Za'reth-sha'har (Heb. Tse'reth hash-Sha'char, צַרֶת הִשִּׁהִר, splendor of the dawn; Sept. Σὰρθ καὶ Σιώρχ v.r. Σεραδὰ καὶ Σιών; Vulg. Sereth Assahar), a place in the tribe of Reuben, situated in the mountain ha-Emek (A. V. "Mount of the Valley"), i.e. in the abrupt edge of the Jordan or Dead Sea valley (Jos 13:19, where it is mentioned between Sibmah and Bethpeor). Seetzen (Reisen, 2, 369) proposes to identify it with a spot called Sard at the mouth of the Wady Zer'ka Main, about a mile from the edge of the Dead Sea.' In this Tristram coincides, and he describes the spot as being in keeping with its poetical name, "the inconsiderable ruins of Zara" occupying a little oasis embayed in the shore of the sea, where the river runs through steep banks shaded by oleanders and palms, with numerous hot and somewhat sulphurous springs (Bible Places, p. 351). A place Shakuir is marked on Van de Velde's map, about six miles south of es- Salt, at the head of the valley of the Wady Seir, which might possibly represent the latter part of the name more exactly.
