Reference: Bitumen
Easton
Ge 11:3, R.V., margin, rendered in the A.V. "slime"), a mineral pitch. With this the ark was pitched (Ge 6:14. See also Ex 2:3.) (See Slime.)
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Hastings
BITUMEN, asphalt, or mineral pitch is an inflammable viscous substance, composed of hydrocarbons of the same series as those which constitute mineral oil or petroleum. It has in fact been described as 'petroleum hardened by evaporation and oxidation,' and may vary in consistency from a solid to a semi-liquid condition. It occurs both in Mesopotamia and Palestine. The springs at Kit, on the Euphrates, 150 miles above Babylon, are mentioned by Herodotus (i. 179), and still yield an abundant supply. There are similar springs at Kal'at Sherkat, on the Tigris, 60 miles S. of Nineveh (Layard, Nineveh and its Remains, II. 467). In Pal. it is found at Hasbeyah, near Mt. Hermon, and in the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea (hence called Asphaltitis Limn