KIR . An unidentified place, subject in the 8th and 7th cents. to Assyria. Amos ( Amos 1:5 ), according to the present Hebrew text, predicted that the Aramæans should be carried captive to Kir. In 9:7 he declares that Jahweh brought them from Kir. It is said in 2 Kings 16:9 that Tiglath-pileser carried the people of Damascus captive to Kir, while in Isaiah 22:6 Kir is mentioned in connexion with Elam as furnishing soldiers to the Assyrian army which fought against Israel. It has been identified with Kur , a river flowing into the Caspian Sea; with Cyropolis; with the Syrian province of Cyrrhestica; with Cyrene; with Kurenia in Media; with Kuris , north of Aleppo; with Koa of Ezekiel 23:23 , which has been supposed to be the same as the Gutium of the Bab. [Note: Babylonian.] -Assyr. [Note: Assyrian.] inscriptions, which possessed a high civilization as early as b.c. 3000. In reality nothing certain is known of the locality of Kir.

George A. Barton.