Ophir, a region, frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, from which the ships of Solomon, fitted out in the harbours of Edom, brought gold, precious stones, sandalwood, &c. The voyage occupied three years. Where Ophir was situated has been a much-disputed question. Arias Montanus fixed on Peru, Raleigh on the Moluccas, and Calmet on Armenia. Probably, however, Ophir was either on the east coast of Africa about Sofala, or in Arabia, or in India, but in which of the three countries is doubtful. Milton (following Purchas), Huet, Bruce ('the Abyssinian'), the historian Robertson, Quatremère,
Manch, &c. are in favour of Africa; Michaelis, Niebuhr (the traveller), Gosellin, Vincent, Winer, Fürst, Knobel, Forster, Crawfurd, Kalisch, and Twistleton (Smith's Dict. of the Bible), of Arabia; Vitringa, Lassen, Ritter, Bertheau, Ewald, and Max-Müller, of India. Josephus, however, it should be said, placed Ophir in the peninsula of Malacca, and his opinion has been adopted by Tennent and Von Baer. For a complete discussion of the point, see Ritter's Erdkunde (vol. xiv.), eighty pages of which are devoted to Ophir. According to Ritter, who accepts Lassen's view, Ophir was situated at the mouth of the Indus.