LOT.  (1)  Biblical.  [Greek Λώτ, Hebrew Lot, לוֹט = "veiling," "a veil" or "covering"].

    The son of Haran, Abraham's brother, and consequently nephew to the patriarch himself, whom he accompanied from Mesopotamia to Canaan (Gen. xi. 31; xii. 5), and to and from Egypt (xiii. 1).  Like his uncle, he became prosperous, on which his herdsmen and those of Abraham began to quarrel, with the danger always present in such cases, that strife, commencing with the servants, might ultimately set the masters at variance.  To avoid such a scandal Abraham proposed that the two relatives should amicably separate, and with characteristic generosity invited Lot to choose first.  Lot should have said, "No; you are the elder, you choose first"; but he was morally incapable of such self-sacrifice.  He resolved to do what he thought best for his own interest, and seeing that of the two competing regions, one consisted of somewhat barren hills, while the other was a valley well watered by a river, he chose the latter, and became a resident in Sodom.  He did not think of inquiring beforehand into the character of the people among whom he was going to settle, though to do him justice, when once he had carried out his plan, "that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their lawless deeds" (2 Peter ii. 8—R.V.).  During the invasion of Chedorlaomer and his confederate kings Lot was made prisoner, and owed his release to the courage and skill of Abraham (Gen. xiii. 2—xiv. 16).  When two angels were sent to Sodom to warn him of its approaching destruction, the conduct of the ruffianly mob when they knew he had guests was such as to show how ripe the city was for destruction.  He was saved from its overthrow, but his wife, looking back, became "a pillar of salt," and his married daughters, deluded by their Sodomite husbands, remained behind, and perished.  A cloud rests on Lot's later years, drink helping to his disgrace.  The Moabites and Ammonites were his descendants (Gen. xix. 1-38). (The Sunday School Teacher's Bible Manual, Hunter, 1894)

LOT.  (2)  Arthurian.  English, for Llew ("lion"), the name given in Welsh genealogies to the king of the Orkneys.  French Loth. (History of Christian Names, Yonge, 1884).

    Lot, consul of Londonesia, and afterwards king of Norway.  He was brother of Urian and Augusel, and married Anne (own sister of king Arthur), by whom he had two sons, Walgan and Modred.—Geoffrey, British History, viii. 21; ix. 9, 10 (1142).
    This account differs so widely from that of Arthurian romance, that it is not possible to reconcile them.  In the History of Prince Arthur, Lot king of Orkney marries Margawse the "sister of king Arthur" (pt. i. 2).  Tennyson, in his Gareth and Lynette, says that Lot's wife was Bellicent.  Again the sons of Lot are called, in the History, Gawain, Agravain, Gaheris, and Gareth; Mordred is their half-brother, being the son of king Arthur and the same mother.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 2, 35, 36 (1470)
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    Lot, king of Orkney.  According to the Morte d'Arthur, king Lot's wife was Margawse or Morgawse, sister of king Arthur, and their sons were sir Gawain, sir Agravain, sir Gaheris, and sir Gareth.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 36 (1470).
    Once or twice Elain is called the wife of Lot, but this is a mistake.  Elain was Arthur's sister by the same mother, and was the wife of sir Netres of Carlot.  Mordred was the son of Morgawse by her brother Arthur, and consequently Gawain, Agravain, Gaheris, and Gareth were his half-brothers.
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    Lot, king of Orkney.  According to Tennyson, king Lot's wife was Bellicent, daughter of Gorlois lord of Tintagil Castle, in Cornwall, and Lot was the father of Gawain (2 syl.) and Modred.  This account differs entirely from the History of Prince Arthur, by sir T. Malory.  There the wife of Lot is called Margawse or Morgawse (Arthur's sister).  Geoffrey of Monmouth, on the other hand, calls her Anne (Arthur's sister).  The sons of Lot, according to the History, were Gawain, Agravain, Gaheris, and Gareth; Modred or Mordred being the offspring of Morgawse and Arthur.  This ignoble birth the History assigns as the reason of Mordred's hatred to king Arthur, his adulterous father and uncle.  Lot was subdued by king Arthur, fighting on behalf of Leodogran or Leodogrance king of Cameliard.—See Tennyson, Coming of Arthur. (The Reader's Handbook of Famous Names in Fiction, &c., Brewer, 1910)