King Solomon of Israel by the navigational skill of Phoenician seafarers under king Hiram built a fleet at Ezion Geber on the Gulf of Aqaba then voyaged to Mount Ophir of the Malaysian peninsula, the voyage which lasted three years, the ships returning filled with gold, gemstones, algum wood, peacocks, and apes. Mount Ophir had been named for Heber’s grandson Ophir (a son of Joktan) who discovered that rich gold source called Kim Sua (gold mountain) by Chinese navigators 3,000 years later.
