Geographic Names. The ancient Hebrew names of many cities, mountains, and valleys have been lost, partly due to the occupation of Palestine by the Arabs for much of the time since 638 C.E. But, since Arabic is the living language most closely related to Hebrew, it is possible in some instances to identify with considerable accuracy certain ancient places and sites of major events.

Some common Arabic and Hebrew geographic terms that are helpful in relating places to Biblical sites are given on the following page.