LOT

lot, in the bible, the legendary ancestor of the two palestinian peoples, moab and ammon (gen. xix. 30-38; cp. ps. lxxxiii. 8); he appears to have been represented as a horite or edomite (cp. the name lotan, gen. xxxvi. 20, 22). as the son of haran and grandson of terah, he was abraham's nephew (gen. xi. 31), and he accompanied his uncle in his migration from haran to canaan. near bethel[1] lot separated from abraham, owing to disputes between their shepherds, and being offered the first choice, chose the rich fields of the jordan valley which were as fertile and well irrigated as the "garden of yahweh" (i.e. eden, gen. xiii. 7 sqq.). it was in this district that the cities of sodom and gomorrah were situated. he was saved from their fate by two divine messengers who spent the night in his house, and next morning led lot, his wife, and his two unmarried daughters out of the city. his wife looked back and was changed to a pillar of salt,[2] but lot with his two daughters escaped first to zoar and then to the mountains east of the dead sea, where the daughters planned and executed an incest by which they became the mothers of moab and ben-ammi (i.e. ammon; gen. xix.). the account of chedorlaomer's invasion and of lot's rescue by abraham belongs to an independent source (gen. xiv.), the age and historical value of which has been much disputed. (see further abraham; melchizedek.) lot's character is made to stand in strong contrast with that of abraham, notably in the representation of his selfishness (xiii. 5 sqq.), and reluctance to leave the sinful city (xix. 16 sqq.); relatively, however, he was superior to the rest (with the crude story of his insistence upon the inviolable rights of guests, xix. 5 sqq.; cf. judges xix. 22 sqq.), and is regarded in 2 pet. ii. 7 seq. as a type of righteousness. lot and his daughters passed into arabic tradition from the jews. the daughters are named zahy and ra'wa by mas'udi ii. 139; but other arabian writers give other forms. paton (_syria and palestine_, pp. 43, 123) identifies lot-lotan with _ruten_, one of the egyptian names for palestine; its true meaning is obscure. for traces of mythical elements in the story see winckler, _altorient. forsch._ ii. 87 seq. see further, j. skinner, _genesis_, pp. 310 sqq. (s. a. c.) footnotes: [1] the district is thus regarded as the place where the hebrews, on the one side, and the moabites and ammonites, on the other, commence their independent history. whilst the latter settle across the jordan, abraham moves down south to hebron. [2] tradition points to the _jebel usdum_ (cp. the name sodom) at the s.w. end of the dead sea. it consists almost entirely of pure crystallized salt with pillars and pinnacles such as might have given rise to the story (see driver, genesis, p. 201; and cf. also _palestine explor. fund, quart. statements_, 1871, p. 16, 1885, p. 20; conder, _syrian stone-lore_, p. 279 seq.). jesus cites the story of lot and his wife to illustrate the sudden coming of the kingdom of god (luke xvii. 28-32). the history of the interpretation of the legend by the early and medieval church down to the era of rational and scientific investigation will be found in a. d. white, _warfare of science with theology_, ii. ch. xviii. lot (lat. _oltis_), a river of southern france flowing westward across the central plateau, through the departments of lozere, aveyron, lot and lot-et-garonne. its length is about 300 m., the area of its basin 4444 sq. m. the river rises in the cevennes on the mont du goulet at a height of 4918 ft. about 15 m. e. of mende, past which it flows. its upper course lies through gorges between the causse of mende and aubrac mountains on the north and the tablelands (_causses_) of sauveterre, severac and comtal on the south. thence its sinuous course crosses the plateau of quercy and entering a wider fertile plain flows into the garonne at aiguillon between agen and marmande. its largest tributary, the truyere, rises in the margeride mountains and after a circuitous course joins it on the right at entraygues (department of aveyron), its affluence more than doubling the volume of the river. lower down it receives the dourdou de bozouls (or du nord) on the left and on the right the cele above cahors (department of lot), which is situated on a peninsula skirted by one of the river's many windings. villeneuve-sur-lot (department of lot-et-garonne) is the only town of any importance between this point and its mouth. the lot is canalized between bouquies, above which there is no navigation, and the garonne (160 m.).