The original population of the city is said to have been both Amorite and Hittite,[52] nor is there any reason to doubt that an outlying tribe of the latter race, coming south from Syria, may have then occupied the mountains of Salem and Hebron, though early in the sixteenth century B. C. they were driven out of Palestine by Thothmes III. It is now very generally agreed that the Amorites were a Semitic race, and the existing tablets written in and after the fifteenth century by Amorites are in a Semitic language like that of the Babylonians. Hittite letters, on the other hand, show quite as clearly that this race of pigtailed warriors was Mongoloid, and closely akin to the Akkadians of Babylonia, whose speech was very similar to pure Turkish.[53] [Sidenote: EARLY NAMES] The antiquity of Jerusalem seems to be indicated by the fact that certain names connected with the city cannot be explained as ordinary Hebrew words. Jebus, Zion, Hinnom, and Topheth are terms not traced to any Hebrew roots, and they have always puzzled scholars as much as the name Jerusalem itself did until it was shown to be of Amorite origin. Even the meaning of Moriah--the name of the Temple hill--is doubtfully explained as “vision of Jehovah,” for the Greek translators understood it to mean “the high.”[54] It is, however, connected[55] both with Abraham’s vision of Jehovah, and also perhaps with that of David when the “Angel of the Presence” sheathed his sword on the Temple hill. Jebus (_Yebûs_) is perhaps Hittite for “strong abode,” equivalent to the Amorite Uru-Salimu, or “safe city.”[56] Zion has been supposed to mean a “fortress,” but the derivation is forced; as a Hittite word it would rather seem to signify a “palace” or “temple.”[57] For Hinnom and Topheth no Hebrew explanations have been found possible, yet both may perhaps be rendered as of Canaanite origin: the former would signify “prince” (_En-num_), and the latter “flat” or “low” (_tuptu_), applying to the lowest part of the valley junction on the south-east side of the city.[58] The “King’s Vale” may have been the “deep valley of Molech,” or it may have been equivalent to the older Hinnom (or Ben-Hinnom), “the valley of the prince” or of the “prince’s son.” It is remarkable that its modern name (_Wâdy Rabâbeh_) appears to mean the “valley of lordship.” Whatever be thought as to the meaning of these ancient and obscure words, we know that a Hittite still lived in Jerusalem in David’s time, and his name Uriah has no probable meaning in Hebrew. In Hittite it was no doubt _Ur-ia_, “the worshipper of Ya,” while the Jebusite King Araunah--whose name is so variously spelt--was probably known as _Ur-ena_, “the worshipper of Baal.”[59] Thus the geographical and personal names alike seem to indicate the early presence of both Amorites and Hittites in Jerusalem.