大约在希罗多德之后一个世纪,著名的希腊科学家、哲学家和历史学家亚里士多德(Aristotélēs,公元前384–322年)谈到了“巴勒斯坦”,却没有提及“迦南”一词。主要原因在于,“巴勒斯坦”指的是一个真实存在的历史地区,而“迦南”一词很可能源自旧约后来构建的宗教意识形态叙事,而亚里士多德所处的时代不可能熟悉这一叙事。亚里士多德的著作奠定了古代、中世纪和现代实证科学与哲学的基础。他的著作构成了西方哲学第一个完整的体系。据《大英百科全书》称,“亚里士多德是历史上第一位真正的科学家……[而且]每一位科学家都受惠于他”。2

Approximately a century after Herodotus, the celebrated Greek scientist, philosopher and historian Aristotle (Aristotélēs, 384–322 BC) talks about ‘Palestine’ and does not mention the term ‘Cana’an’ – primarily because ‘Palestine’ applied to a real historical region, while the term ‘Cana’an’ was probably derived from a subsequently constructed religio-ideological narrative of the Old Testament with which at the time Aristotle could not have been familiar. The work of Aristotle is foundational for ancient, medieval and modern empirical sciences and philosophy. His work constituted the first comprehensive system of Western philosophy. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, ‘Aristotle was the first genuine scientist in history ... [and] every scientist is in his debt’.2

在他的名作《气象学》（希腊文：Μετεωρολογικά，约公元前340年）中，亚里士多德描述了死海水的特殊性质：

In his famous work, Meteorology (Greek: Μετεωρολογικά (340 BC), Aristotle describes the special qualities of the Dead Sea water:

再者，据传巴勒斯坦有一湖，若将人或牲畜捆绑后投入其中，便会浮起而不沉没。若此传说属实，则足以印证我们所说的。据说此湖极苦且咸，以至于没有鱼类能在其中生存；若将衣物浸入湖中再抖动，衣物便会被洗净。

Again if, as is fabled, there is a lake in Palestine, such that if you bind a man or beast and throw it in it floats and does not sink, this would bear out what we have said. They say that this lake is so bitter and salt that no fish live in it and that if you soak clothes in it and shake them it cleans them.

这一点被学者们普遍且从逻辑上理解为指向死海(Jacobson 1999: 66‒67)。

This is widely and logically understood by scholars to be a reference to the Dead Sea (Jacobson 1999: 66‒67)

亚里士多德的术语和思想在中世纪深刻影响了阿拉伯-伊斯兰、阿拉伯-犹太和基督教的哲学思想。亚里士多德的术语和名称为中世纪的穆斯林知识分子和科学家所熟知,穆斯林学者普遍尊崇他为"第一导师"。在整个中世纪,穆斯林译者、学者和科学家与古希腊的文献密切接触,其中包括历史、科学、哲学和地理方面的文献。约公元800年,阿拉伯基督教学者叶海雅·伊本·拜特里格编纂了一部亚里士多德《气象学》的阿拉伯文纲要,名为《天象论》(al-ʿAthar al-ʿUlwiyyah),此后数百年间在穆斯林学者中广泛流传。

Aristotelian terminology and thought profoundly influenced Arab- Islamic, Arab-Jewish and Christian philosophical thought throughout the Middle Ages. Aristotelian terminology and naming were well known among medieval Muslim intellectuals and scientists and he was widely revered by Muslim scholars as ‘The First Teacher’. Throughout the Middle Ages Muslim translators, scholars and scientists became closely acquainted with classical Greek sources, including sources in history, sciences, philosophy and geography. An Arabic compendium of Aristotle’s Meteorology, called al-ʿAthar al-ʿUlwiyyah was produced c. 800 CE by the Arab Christian scholar Yahya ibn al-Bitriq and was widely circulated among Muslim scholars over the following centuries.