ḤULTHA or ḤILTHA (
= "sandy"):
One of the seven seas which, according to the Talmudists, surround Palestine (B. B. 74b; Yer. Ket. xii. 3; Kil. ix. 5; Midr. Teh. to Ps. xxiv.). In the enumeration of the seven seas in the Yalḳuṭ to Ps. xxiv., the "Sea of Acre" is substituted for "Ḥultha," thus identifying the latter with the Bay of Acre. It is identified by Lightfoot with Lac Sirbonis, south of Palestine; by Bochart, who reads 
instead of 
, with the Red Sea; by Schwarz, with Lake Phiala.
Bibliography:
- Reland, Palæstina, i. 237;
- Neubauer, G. T. p. 27.
