Carites

People mentioned in II Kings xi. 4, 19. The Kari (R. V., "Carites"; margin, "executioners", A. V., "captains") are mentioned between the captains over hundreds and the "runners" (i.e., satellites) as body-guards of the king. In II Sam. xx. 23, where the well-known troop of the Cherethites (A. V., "Keri") and Pelethites is mentioned, the text reads "Kari" (R. V. margin, "Carites") for "Cherethites." The most plausible explanation is that, in all three passages, there is only an abridged orthography for the usual "Kerethi(m)"—Cherethite(s) (compare Vulgate, the Hexapla, etc.; Targ. [except II Kings xi. 4, "heroes"]). Others (e.g., Driver, on II Sam. xx.) consider that the reading "Carite(s)" (II Sam. xi. 4) is intended, and they assume that, instead of the Philistine mercenaries here, a similar troop of Carians, the famous pirates and mercenaries of earlier Greek antiquity, is mentioned, as by Herodotus ii. 152, 171; Thucydides, iv. 8; Hesychius, under "Karitai" and "Archilochus." This might also point to affinity with the Philistines who came from the same quarter of the Ægean Sea. The Septuagint understands "Chorî" not as collective singular, but as the name of an officer.

E. C. W. M. M.