Ophir

1 Kings 9:26-28 - King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea. And Hiram sent his men -- sailors who knew the sea -- to serve in the fleet with Solomon's men. They sailed to Ophir and brought back 420 talents of gold, which they delivered to King Solomon.

Ophir is mentioned a dozen times in the Bible. Two references name Ophir as a son of Joktan in the line of Shem, Noah's son. All the other references are about the gold in the region probably named after this man. I wonder where Ophir was located. Presumably you could get there sailing south on the Red Sea, since Ezion Geber was at the north end of that sea.

I wonder if Ophirites(?) considered gold of much value. There was obviously a lot of it there. Laws of supply and demand perhaps made it of little value in Ophir itself -- much like silver was of little value in Israel later in Solomon's reign. I wonder how easy it was to mine in Ophir. Was it above ground, below ground, or both?