a people descended from Canaan. They dwelt at first in the country which was afterwards possessed by the Caphtorins, or Philistines. There were HIVITES likewise at Shechem and Gibeon, and consequently in the centre of the promised land; for the inhabitants of Shechem and the Gibeonites were HIVITES, (Joshua xi. 19. Genesis xxxiv. 2.). Lately, there were some beyond Jordan, at the foot of Mount Hermon (Joshua xi. 3.). Bochart is of opinion, that Cadmus, who carried a colony of Phoenicians into Greece, was an HIVITE. His name, Cadmus, comes from the Hebrew Keden, "the east," because he was of the eastern part of the land of Canaan. The name of his wife Hermione, comes from Mount Hermon, at the foot whereof the HIVITES had their dwelling. The metamorphosis of Cadmus's companions into serpents is grounded on the signification of the name HIVITES, which in Phoenician signifies "serpents."