Ulai was the Hebrew name for a river near the city of Susa. It was known as Eulaus to the Greeks.[1] It is mentioned twice in the Bible:

  • Daniel 8:2 – "In my vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa in the province of Elam; in the vision I was beside the Ulai Canal." (New International Version)
  • Daniel 8:16 – "And I heard a man’s voice from the Ulai calling, 'Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of the vision.' "

The river Ulai is also mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh: "May the sacred river u-la-a mourn you [Endiku], along whose banks we walked in our vigor" (VIII-11-12). More details are available at www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Ulai.html.

There are three watercourses near Susa, and scholars are divided on which is indicated, although archaeology by Loftus in 1851 and Dieulafoy in 1885 helped shed some light. The Ulai may have been the eastern branch of the Karkheh River (alternately called the Choaspes), which at one time divided into two branches some 20 miles north-west of the city.[1][2] Another possible location of this river is the Coprates tributary of the Karun River. Finally, some claim an artificial canal[3] which ran close by Susa and connected the two rivers mentioned above.

References

  1. 1 2 Public Domain Easton, Matthew George (1897). "Ulai". Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.
  2. ↑ Smith, Wiliam, ed. (1863). A dictionary of the Bible. Vol. 3. London. p. 1300. it appears that the Choaspes (Kerkhah) originally bifurcated at Pai Pul, 20 miles above Susa, the right arm keeping its present course, while the left flowed a little to the east of Sus{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ↑ Driver, Samuel Rolles (1900). The book of Daniel. Cambridge: University Press. p. 112. the Eulaeus was a large artificial canal some 900 feet broad, of which traces remain, though it is now dry, which left the Choaspes at Pai Pul, about 20 miles N.-W. of Susa, passed close by the town of Susa on the N. or N.-E., and afterwards joined the Coprates

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