http://www.morfix.co.il/en/%D7%AA%D6%B7%D6%BC%D7%A8%D6%B0%D7%A9

%D6%B4%D7%81%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%81

Gustav Davidson. A Dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels. New York:

The Free Press. 1967. Page 158.

Tarshish 1

TarshishTarshish (Hebrew: תרשיש) occurs in the Hebrew Bible with several uncertain meanings. One of the most recurringis that Tarshish is a place, probably a city or country, that is far from the Land of Israel by sea where trade occurswith Israel and Phoenicia. The Septuagint, the Vulgate and the Targum of Jonathan render this as Carthage. Butother biblical commentators read it as Tartessos in ancient Hispania (Iberian Peninsula).[1] W.F. Albright (1941) andF.M. Cross (1972) suggested Tarshish was Sardinia because of the discovery of the Nora Stone or Nora Fragment.The Phoenician inscription on the Nora Stone has been combined with metallic evidence from Phoenicia and ancientdocumentary sources (biblical, classical and Assyrian) to indicate that the Tarshish which the biblical traditionremembers as a supplier of silver to King Solomon, was a large island in the western Mediterranean Sea (Thompsonand Skaggs 2013) - the biblical passages and commentaries that understand Tarshish as a location in Africa, atTarsus or as far afield as the Tamilakkam in Southern India and Ceylon appear to be confused readings of the earliertextual sources. Tartessos in Spain was eventually equated with Tarshish in later antiquity, but Thompson andSkaggs show that Solomon's Tarshish was a large island (Sardinia), and not a hinterland (Tartessos).

Hebrew BibleTarshish also occurs 24 times in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible with various meanings:• Genesis 10:4 lists among the descendants of Japhet the son of Noah as "The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish,

Kittim, and Dodanim." This is restated verbatim in 1 Chronicles 1:7.• 1 Kings (1Kings 10:22 [2]) notes that King Solomon had "a fleet of ships of Tarshish" at sea with the fleet of his

ally King Hiram of Tyre. And that "Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringinggold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks." (repeated in 2 Chronicles 2Chronicles 9:21 [3]), while 1 Kings 22:48states that "Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they did not go, for the ships werewrecked at Ezion-geber." This is repeated in 2 Chronicles 20:37 preceded by the information that the ships wereactually built at Ezion-geber, and emphasizing the prophecy of the otherwise unknown Eliezer son of Dodavahuof Mareshah against Jehoshaphat that "Because you have joined with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy what youhave made.” And the ships were wrecked and were not able to go to Tarshish. This may be referenced in Psalm48:7 which records "By the east wind you shattered the ships of Tarshish." From these verses commentatorsconsider that "Ships of Tarshish" was used to denote any large trading ships intended for long voyages whatevertheir destination, and some Bible translations, including the NIV, go as far as to translate the phrase ship(s) ofTarshish as "trading ship(s)."

• Psalm 72 (Psa 72:10 [4]), a Psalm often interpreted as Messianic in Jewish and Christian tradition, has "May thekings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts!" Thisverse is the source text of the liturgical antiphon Reges Tharsis in Christian Cathedral music. In 2013, Thompsonand Skaggs recognized that this passage is composed formulaically with a chain of scaled correlates that indicateTarshish was a large island.

• Isaiah contains three prophecies mentioning Tarshish. First 2:16 "against all the ships of Tarshish, and against allthe beautiful craft," then Tarshish is mentioned at length in Chapter 23 against Tyre. 23:1 and 14 repeat "Wail, Oships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor!" and 23:6 "Cross over to Tarshish; wail, Oinhabitants of the coast!". 23:10 identifies Tyre as a "daughter of Tarshish" These prophecies are reversed inIsaiah 60:9 where "For the coastlands shall hope for me, the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your children fromafar," and 66:19 " and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, toTarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard myfame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations."

• Jeremiah only mentions Tarshish in passing as a source of silver; 10:9 "Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,and gold from Uphaz."

Tarshish 2

• Ezekiel contains two prophecies describing Israel's trading relations with Tarshish. The first is retrospective in27:12 "Tarshish did business with you because of your great wealth of every kind; silver, iron, tin, and lead theyexchanged for your wares." and 27:25 "The ships of Tarshish traveled for you with your merchandise. So youwere filled and heavily laden in the heart of the seas." The second in Ezekiel 38:13 is forward looking where"Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its leaders will say to you, ‘Have you come to seizespoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestockand goods, to seize great spoil?’"

• Jonah 1:3 (Jonah 1:3 [5]), 4:2 mentions Tarshish as a distant place: "But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from thepresence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish." Jonah's fleeing to Tarshishmay need to be taken as "a place very far away" rather than a precise geographical term. It may however refer toTarsus in Cilicia where Saul, later Paul hailed from.[6] The term tarshish may also be derived from the Greektarsos which is the name for an oar used in ancient ships. On the Mediterranean Sea, ships that used only sailswere often left stranded without wind while ships with oars could continue their voyage. Therefore, trading shipsmost likely would have used oarsmen rather than sails. Jonah also attempted to sail to Tarshish. His rebellionagainst the Hebrew God YHWH led to his being tossed overboard by sailors, swallowed by a large fish(sometimes called the "whale"), and vomited out onto dry land by God's command. He then made his way toNineveh, now known as Mosul, in Iraq.

Other ancient and classical era sources•• Esarhaddon, Aššur Babylon E (AsBbE) (=K18096 and EŞ6262 in the British Museum and Istanbul

Archaeological Museum, respectively) preserves "All the kings from the lands surrounded by sea- from thecountry Iadanana (Cyprus) and Iaman, as far as Tarshish, bowed to my feet." Here, Tarshish is certainly an island,and cannot be confused with Tarsus (Thompson and Skaggs 2013).

• Flavius Josephus (Antiquitates Iudaicae i. 6, § 1) of the 1st century AD reads "Tarshush", identifying it as the cityof Tarsus in southern Asia Minor, which was referred to in Assyrian records from the reign of Esarhaddon asTarsisi. Prior to this time, the Assyrians referred to Tarsus as Tarzi. Modern research has shown that the metalsthe Old Testament associates with Tarshish existed in the Taurus Mountains north of Tarsus.Wikipedia:Citationneeded In addition, Phoenician inscriptions have been found at Karatepe in Cilicia. Bunsen and Sayce [7] followJosephus.

• The Septuagint and the Vulgate in several passages translate it with Carthage, apparently following a Jewishtradition found in the Targum of Jonathan ("Afriki", i.e., Carthage).

• The Hebrew term also has a homonym, tarshish, occurring seven times and translated beryl in older Englishversions[8] Some interpretations give that in the Torah (Exodus 28:20 [9]), it is also the name of a gem-stoneassociated with the Tribe of Asher that has been identified by the Septuagint and by Josephus as the "gold stone"χρυσόλιθος (whose identification remains in dispute, possibly topaz, probably not modern Chrysolite), and lateras aquamarine. It is the first stone on the fourth row of the priestly breastplate.

Identifications and interpretations• Rufus Festus Avienus the Latin writer of the 4th century AD, identified Tarshish as Cadiz.[10]

• Bochart the French reverend (in his Phaleg 1646) suggested, followed by later authors like Hertz (1936), Tarshishas the city of Tartessos in Southern Spain. In the Oracle against Tyre, the prophet Ezekiel (27:12 [11]) mentionsthat silver, iron, lead and tin came to Tyre from Tarshish (Trsys). They were stored in Tyre and resold, probablyto Mesopotamia. The editors of the New Oxford Annotated Bible suggest that Tarshish is either Tartessos orSardinia.[12]

• However Bochart also suggested eastern localities for the ports of Ophir and Tarshish during King Solomon's reign, specifically the Tamilakkam continent (present day South India and Northern Ceylon) where the

Tarshish 3

Dravidians were well known for their gold, pearls, ivory and peacock trade. He fixed on "Tarshish" being the siteof Kudiramalai, a possible corruption of Thiruketheeswaram.[13][14]

• Sir Peter le Page Renouf[15] thought that "Tarshish" means a coast, and, as the word occurs frequently inconnection with Tyre, the Phoenician coast is to be understood. Some have read Psalm 72 as an indication thatTarshish was a coastland, but the reference there can and seems to mean 'island'.

• Cheyne [16] thought that "Tarshish" of Gen 10:4 [17] and "Tiras" of Gen 10:2 [18], are really two names of onenation derived from two different sources, and might indicate the Tyrsenians or Etruscans. Thus the name maydenote Italy or the European coasts west of Greece.

• Around 1665, the followers of Shabbatai Zvi in İzmir interpreted the ships of Tarshish as Dutch ships that wouldtransport them to the Holy Land.

• Irish politician and traveler James Emerson Tennent suggested that Galle, a southern city in Sri Lanka, was theancient seaport of Tarshish from which King Solomon is said to have drawn ivory, peacocks and other valuables.

• Some 19th Century commentators believed the Tarshish power to be Britain and possibly related to an EasternTarshish, namely India.[19][20] Some, looking for the 2nd coming of Jesus and the Kingdom of God based roundthe land of Israel, believe that the prophecies regarding the Tarshish power have their latter day fulfilment inmodern times. This was particularly current in the 19th Century, and taken up by some Christian denominationssuch as the early Christadelphians, although there are differing opinions on this today among their members.

• Another theory is by Fr. Francisco Collin SJ. He claims that the Filipino people were descendants of Tarshish.• In Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick, Father Mapple gives a sermon on the story of Jonah. Father Mapple

identifies the Tarshish to which Jonah flees with the port of Cádiz in Spain, "as far by water, from Joppa, as Jonahcould possibly have sailed in those ancient days, when the Atlantic was an almost unknown sea" (Chapter 9, "TheSermon").

• Jewish liturgy mentions "Tarshishim," commonly translated into English as "fiery angels." Wikipedia:Citationneeded

•• It has now been recognized that the inscriptions of Esarhaddon (AsBbE) indicate that Tarshish was an island (nota coastland) far to the west of the Levant (Thompson and Skaggs, 2013).

Other•• 1 Chronicles 7:10 forms part of a genealogy mentioning in passing a Jewish man named Tarshish as a son of a

certain Bilhan.•• Esther 1:14 mentions in passing a Persian prince named Tarshish among the seven princes of Persia.• Tarshish (Lebanon) is the name of a village in Lebanon. The village is located in the Baabda Kadaa at an

elevation of 1400m and is 50 km away from Beirut.•• Tarshish is a family name found among Jews of Ashkenazic descent. A variation on the name, Tarshishi, is found

among Arabs of Lebanese descent, and likely indicates a family connection to the Lebanese village Tarshish.• Tarshish was also the name of a short-lived political partyWikipedia:Citation needed founded by would-be

assassin of Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, Moshe Dwek.• The Greek form of the name, Tharsis, was given by Giovanni Schiaparelli to a region on Mars.• The classic short story "Ship of Tarshish" by John Buchan refers to the book of Jonah.

Tarshish 4

References[1] " Tarshish (http:/ / www. jewishencyclopedia. com/ view. jsp?artid=73& letter=T& search=tarshish)" in the Jewish Encyclopedia, by Isidore

Singer and M. Seligsohn.[2] http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ bibleversefinder/ ?book=1Kings& verse=10:22& src=[3] http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ bibleversefinder/ ?book=2Chronicles& verse=9:21& src=[4] http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ bibleversefinder/ ?book=Psa& verse=72:10& src=![5] http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ bibleversefinder/ ?book=Jonah& verse=1:3& src=[6] http:/ / scriptures. lds. org/ en/ bd/ p/ 14[7] Expository Times, Christian Charles Josias Bunsen and Sayce, 1902, p. 179[8] tarshish/beryl (http:/ / www. blueletterbible. org/ lang/ lexicon/ lexicon. cfm?Strongs=H8658& t=KJV)[9] http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ bibleversefinder/ ?book=Exodus& verse=28:20& src=![10][10] William Parkin - 1837 "Festus Avinus says expressly that Cadiz was Tarshish. This agrees perfectly with the statement of Ibn Hankal, who

no doubt reports the opinion of the Arabian geographers, that Phoenicia maintained a direct intercourse with Britain in later ..."[11] http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ bibleversefinder/ ?book=Ezekiel& verse=27:12& src=![12] Metzger, Bruce M. and Roland E. Murphy, eds. (1991), New Oxford Annotated Bible, annotation on Jeremiah 10:9.[13] Richard Leslie Brohier (1934). Ancient irrigation works in Ceylon, Volumes 1-3. pp. 36[14] A dictionary of the Bible by Sir William Smith published in 1863 notes how the Hebrew word for peacock is Thukki, derived from the

Classical Tamil for peacock Thogkai: Ramaswami, Sastri, The Tamils and their culture, Annamalai University, 1967, pp. 16, Gregory, James,Tamil lexicography, M. Niemeyer, 1991, pp. 10, Fernandes, Edna, The last Jews of Kerala, Portobello, 2008, pp. 98, Smith, William, Adictionary of the Bible, Hurd and Houghton, 1863 (1870), pp. 1441

[15] Procedures of the Society for Biblical Archaeology, xvi. 104 et seq., Le Page Renouf[16] Orientalische Litteraturzeitung, iii. 151, Cheyne[17] http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ bibleversefinder/ ?book=Gen& verse=10:4& src=![18] http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ bibleversefinder/ ?book=Gen& verse=10:2& src=![19] J. P. Weethee The Eastern Question in Its Various Phases Page 293 "The expression is this — "the merchants of Tarshish, with the young

lions of Tarshish." Assuming, what we have proved, that England was the ancient Tarshish, and that Great Britain is the Tarshish of Eze.xxxviii. 13, or the chief of both the ..."

[20][20] Sacred Annals; Or, Researches Into the History and Religion of ... - Page 557 George Smith - 1856 "Heercn fully confirms this view ; showsfrom Strabo, that the Phenicians not only traded with Spain and Britain, but actually conducted mining operations in the former country ; andis so fully satisfied of the identity of Tarshish and Spain, that he ..."

Albright, W.F. 1941 'New light on the early history of Phoenician colonization', Bulletin of the American Schools ofOriental Research 83, 14-22. Cross, F.M. 1972 'An interpretation of the Nora Stone', Bulletin of the AmericanSchools of Oriental Research 208, 13-19.

Further reading•• Aubet, M.E. 2001: The Phoenicians and the West: Politics, Colonies, Trade. 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.•• Beitzl, B. 2010: 'Was there a joint nautical venture on the Mediterranean Sea by Tyrian Phoenicians and Early

Israelites?', Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 360, 37-66.•• Elat, M. 1982: 'Tarshish and the problem of Phoenician colonization in the western Mediterranean', Orientalia

Lovaniensia Periodica 13, 55-69.•• Gonzalez de Canales, F., Serrano, L. and Llompart, J. 2010: 'Tarshish and the United Monarchy of Israel', Ancient

Near Eastern Studies 47, 137-64.• Hertz J.H. 1936: The Pentateuch and Haftoras. Deuteronomy. Oxford University Press, London.• Jongbloed, D. 2009" Civilisations antédiluviennes. ed Cap Aventures•• Koch, M. 1984: Tarschisch und Hispanien, Berlin, Walter de Gruyter and Co.•• Lipiński, E. 2002: Semitic Languages: Outline of a Comparative Grammar, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 80,

Leuven: Peeters.•• Lipiński, E. 2004: Itineraria Phoenicia, Studia Phoenicia XVIII, Leuven: Peeters.• Muhly, J.D. 1998:, copper, tin, silver and iron: the search for metallic ores as an incentive for foreign expansion.

In: Gitin et al. (eds.), Mediterranean Peoples in Transition: 13th to early 10th centuries BC. In Honor of ProfessorTrude Dothan. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 314-329.

Tarshish 5

•• Thompson, C. M. and Skaggs, S. 2013: "King Solomon's Silver?: Southern Phoenician Hacksilber Hoards and theLocation of Tarshish" Internet Archaeology, (35). doi:10.11141/ia.35.6

• Thompson, C.M. 2007: Silver in the Age of Iron and the Orientalizing Economies of Archaic Greece. Ph.D.dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.

Article Sources and Contributors 6

Article Sources and ContributorsTarshish  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=617779164  Contributors: Albmont, Andre Engels, Andrew Dalby, Andycjp, Angr, Anomalocaris, AnonMoos, Atokoy, Auric,Baristarim, Ben Ammi, Betacommand, Bumbulz, Damian Yerrick, Danart474, Daniel E. Romero, Dgharvey1, DopefishJustin, Dougweller, Eliyak, ErikvanB, Error, Fjmustak, Foo1942, FroggoZijgeb, Gennio, GoingBatty, Hebrewpride, Heshy, Historia, IZAK, In ictu oculi, J appleseed2, Jguk 2, Ji.rodriguezmarin, Josh Cherry, Keith H., Khatru2, Knyght27, Lifebonzza, Lowrykun,Malek, Mestansfield, Murub4, NekoDaemon, PiMaster3, Prsaucer1958, Psalm72, RandomCritic, Rwflammang, Sadads, Shardana, Sheynhertz-Unbayg, Shirulashem, StAnselm, Summer Song,Tamfang, Targum, Tassedethe, TheBilly, Theodork, Thomas Peardew, Tuyvan, Vjhamilton, Wclark, Widefox, Woohookitty, Xnuala, Xyxxyx, Yak, 禁 樹 な ず な, 58 anonymous edits

LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0//creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Tarshish

Tarshish (Hebrew: יש ( תרש occurs in the Hebrew Biblewith several uncertain meanings. One of the most re-curring is that Tarshish is a place, probably a city orcountry, that is far from the Land of Israel by sea wheretrade occurs with Israel and Phoenicia. The Septuagint,the Vulgate and the Targum of Jonathan render thisas Carthage. But other biblical commentators read itas Tartessos in ancient Hispania (Iberian Peninsula).[1]

W.F. Albright (1941) and F.M. Cross (1972) suggestedTarshish was Sardinia because of the discovery of theNora Stone or Nora Fragment. The Phoenician inscrip-tion on the Nora Stone has been combined with metal-lic evidence from Phoenicia and ancient documentarysources (biblical, classical and Assyrian) to indicate thatthe Tarshish which the biblical tradition remembers as asupplier of silver to King Solomon, was a large island inthe western Mediterranean Sea (Thompson and Skaggs2013) - the biblical passages and commentaries that un-derstand Tarshish as a location in Africa, at Tarsus or asfar afield as the Tamilakkam in Southern India and Cey-lon appear to be confused readings of the earlier textualsources. Tartessos in Spain was eventually equated withTarshish in later antiquity, but Thompson and Skaggsshow that Solomon’s Tarshish was a large island (Sar-dinia), and not a hinterland (Tartessos).

1 Hebrew Bible

Tarshish also occurs 24 times in the Masoretic text of theHebrew Bible with various meanings:

• Genesis 10:4 lists among the descendants of Japhetthe son of Noah as “The sons of Javan: Elishah,Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.” This is restatedverbatim in 1 Chronicles 1:7.

• 1 Kings (1Kings 10:22) notes that King Solomonhad “a fleet of ships of Tarshish” at sea with thefleet of his ally King Hiram of Tyre. And that“Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshishused to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, andpeacocks.” (repeated in 2 Chronicles 2Chronicles9:21), while 1 Kings 22:48 states that “Jehoshaphatmade ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold,but they did not go, for the ships were wreckedat Ezion-geber.” This is repeated in 2 Chronicles20:37 preceded by the information that the shipswere actually built at Ezion-geber, and emphasiz-ing the prophecy of the otherwise unknown Eliezer

son of Dodavahu of Mareshah against Jehoshaphatthat “Because you have joined with Ahaziah, theLord will destroy what you have made.” And theships were wrecked and were not able to go toTarshish. This may be referenced in Psalm 48:7which records “By the east wind you shattered theships of Tarshish.” From these verses commentatorsconsider that “Ships of Tarshish” was used to denoteany large trading ships intended for long voyageswhatever their destination,[1] and some Bible trans-lations, including the NIV, go as far as to translatethe phrase ship(s) of Tarshish as “trading ship(s).”

• Psalm 72 (Psa 72:10), a Psalm often interpretedas Messianic in Jewish and Christian tradition, has“May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlandsrender him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Sebabring gifts!" This verse is the source text of the litur-gical antiphon Reges Tharsis in Christian Cathedralmusic. In 2013, Thompson and Skaggs recognizedthat this passage is composed formulaically with achain of scaled correlates that indicate Tarshish wasa large island.

• Isaiah contains three prophecies mentioningTarshish. First 2:16 “against all the ships ofTarshish, and against all the beautiful craft,” thenTarshish is mentioned at length in Chapter 23against Tyre. 23:1 and 14 repeat “Wail, O ships ofTarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house orharbor!" and 23:6 “Cross over to Tarshish; wail,O inhabitants of the coast!". 23:10 identifies Tyreas a “daughter of Tarshish” These prophecies arereversed in Isaiah 60:9 where “For the coastlandsshall hope for me, the ships of Tarshish first, tobring your children from afar,” and 66:19 " and Iwill set a sign among them. And from them I willsend survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, andLud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to thecoastlands far away, that have not heard my fameor seen my glory. And they shall declare my gloryamong the nations.”

• Jeremiah only mentions Tarshish in passing as asource of silver; 10:9 “Beaten silver is brought fromTarshish, and gold from Uphaz.”

• Ezekiel contains two prophecies describing Israel’strading relations with Tarshish. The first is retro-spective in 27:12 “Tarshish did business with youbecause of your great wealth of every kind; silver,iron, tin, and lead they exchanged for your wares.”

1

2 3 IDENTIFICATIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS

and 27:25 “The ships of Tarshish traveled for youwith your merchandise. So you were filled and heav-ily laden in the heart of the seas.” The second inEzekiel 38:13 is forward looking where “Sheba andDedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its lead-ers will say to you, ‘Have you come to seize spoil?Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder,to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestockand goods, to seize great spoil?’"

• Jonah 1:3 (Jonah 1:3), 4:2 mentions Tarshish as adistant place: “But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshishfrom the presence of the Lord. He went down toJoppa and found a ship going to Tarshish.” Jonah'sfleeing to Tarshish may need to be taken as “aplace very far away” rather than a precise geograph-ical term. It may however refer to Tarsus in Cili-cia where Saul, later Paul hailed from.[2] The termtarshish may also be derived from the Greek tar-sos which is the name for an oar used in ancientships. On the Mediterranean Sea, ships that usedonly sails were often left stranded without windwhile ships with oars could continue their voyage.[3]

Therefore, trading ships most likely would have usedoarsmen rather than sails. Jonah also attempted tosail to Tarshish. His rebellion against the HebrewGod YHWH led to his being tossed overboard bysailors, swallowed by a large fish (sometimes calledthe “whale”), and vomited out onto dry land byGod’s command. He then made his way to Nineveh,now known as Mosul, in Iraq.

2 Other ancient and classical erasources

• Esarhaddon, Aššur Babylon E (AsBbE) (=K18096and EŞ6262 in the British Museum and Istanbul Ar-chaeological Museum, respectively) preserves “Allthe kings from the lands surrounded by sea- fromthe country Iadanana (Cyprus) and Iaman, as far asTarshish, bowed to my feet.” Here, Tarshish is cer-tainly an island, and cannot be confused with Tarsus(Thompson and Skaggs 2013).

• Flavius Josephus (Antiquitates Iudaicae i. 6, § 1) ofthe 1st century AD reads “Tarshush”, identifying itas the city of Tarsus in southern Asia Minor, whichwas referred to in Assyrian records from the reign ofEsarhaddon as Tarsisi. Prior to this time, the Assyr-ians referred to Tarsus as Tarzi. Modern researchhas shown that the metals the Old Testament asso-ciates with Tarshish existed in the Taurus Mountainsnorth of Tarsus. In addition, Phoenician inscriptionshave been found at Karatepe in Cilicia.[4] Bunsenand Sayce [5] follow Josephus.

• The Septuagint and the Vulgate in several passagestranslate it with Carthage, apparently following a

Jewish tradition found in the Targum of Jonathan(“Afriki”, i.e., Carthage).[1]

• The Hebrew term also has a homonym, tarshish, oc-curring seven times and translated beryl in older En-glish versions[6] Some interpretations give that in theTorah (Exodus 28:20), it is also the name of a gem-stone associated with the Tribe of Asher that hasbeen identified by the Septuagint and by Josephusas the “gold stone” χρυσόλιθος (whose identifica-tion remains in dispute, possibly topaz, probably notmodern Chrysolite), and later as aquamarine. It isthe first stone on the fourth row of the priestly breast-plate.

3 Identifications and interpreta-tions

• Rufus Festus Avienus the Latin writer of the 4thcentury AD, identified Tarshish as Cadiz.[7]

• Bochart the French reverend (in his Phaleg 1646)suggested, followed by later authors like Hertz(1936), Tarshish as the city of Tartessos in South-ern Spain. In the Oracle against Tyre, the prophetEzekiel (27:12) mentions that silver, iron, lead andtin came to Tyre from Tarshish (Trsys). They werestored in Tyre and resold, probably to Mesopotamia.The editors of the New Oxford Annotated Bible sug-gest that Tarshish is either Tartessos or Sardinia.[8]

• However Bochart also suggested eastern localitiesfor the ports of Ophir and Tarshish during KingSolomon’s reign, specifically the Tamilakkam con-tinent (present day South India and Northern Cey-lon) where the Dravidians were well known for theirgold, pearls, ivory and peacock trade. He fixed on“Tarshish” being the site of Kudiramalai, a possiblecorruption of Thiruketheeswaram.[9][10]

• Sir Peter le Page Renouf[11] thought that “Tarshish”means a coast, and, as the word occurs frequently inconnection with Tyre, the Phoenician coast is to beunderstood. Some have read Psalm 72 as an indica-tion that Tarshish was a coastland, but the referencethere can and seems to mean 'island'.

• Cheyne [12] thought that “Tarshish” of Gen 10:4 and"Tiras" of Gen 10:2, are really two names of one na-tion derived from two different sources, and mightindicate the Tyrsenians or Etruscans. Thus the namemay denote Italy or the European coasts west ofGreece.

• Around 1665, the followers of Shabbatai Zvi inİzmir interpreted the ships of Tarshish as Dutchships that would transport them to the Holy Land.

3

• Irish politician and traveler James Emerson Tennentsuggested that Galle, a southern city in Sri Lanka,was the ancient seaport of Tarshish from which KingSolomon is said to have drawn ivory, peacocks andother valuables.

• Some 19th Century commentators believed theTarshish power to be Britain and possibly re-lated to an Eastern Tarshish, namely India.[13][14]

Some, looking for the 2nd coming of Jesus and theKingdom of God based round the land of Israel,believe that the prophecies regarding the Tarshishpower have their latter day fulfilment in moderntimes. This was particularly current in the 19th Cen-tury, and taken up by some Christian denomina-tions such as the early Christadelphians, althoughthere are differing opinions on this today amongtheir members.

• Another theory is by Fr. Francisco Collin SJ. Heclaims that the Filipino people were descendants ofTarshish.

• In Herman Melville's novelMoby-Dick, Father Map-ple gives a sermon on the story of Jonah. FatherMapple identifies the Tarshish to which Jonah fleeswith the port of Cádiz in Spain, “as far by water,from Joppa, as Jonah could possibly have sailed inthose ancient days, when the Atlantic was an almostunknown sea” (Chapter 9, “The Sermon”).

• Jewish liturgy mentions “Tarshishim,” commonlytranslated into English as “fiery angels.”

• It has now been recognized that the inscriptions ofEsarhaddon (AsBbE) indicate that Tarshish was anisland (not a coastland) far to the west of the Levant(Thompson and Skaggs, 2013).

4 Other

• 1 Chronicles 7:10 forms part of a genealogy men-tioning in passing a Jewish man named Tarshish asa son of a certain Bilhan.

• Esther 1:14 mentions in passing a Persian princenamed Tarshish among the seven princes of Persia.

• Tarshish (Lebanon) is the name of a village inLebanon. The village is located in the Baabda Kadaaat an elevation of 1400m and is 50 km away fromBeirut.

• Tarshish is a family name found among Jews ofAshkenazic descent. A variation on the name,Tarshishi, is found among Arabs of Lebanese de-scent, and likely indicates a family connection to theLebanese village Tarshish.

• Tarshish was also the name of a short-lived politicalparty founded by would-be assassin of Israeli PrimeMinister David Ben-Gurion, Moshe Dwek.

• The Greek form of the name, Tharsis, was given byGiovanni Schiaparelli to a region on Mars.

• The classic short story “Ship of Tarshish” by JohnBuchan refers to the book of Jonah.

5 See also• Sons of Noah

• Javan

• Elishah

• Kittim

• Dodanim

6 References[1] "Tarshish" in the Jewish Encyclopedia, by Isidore Singer

and M. Seligsohn.

[2] http://scriptures.lds.org/en/bd/p/14

[3] Cecil Torr (1895). Ancient Ships. Cambridge UniversityPress. pp. 1–3. Retrieved 18 February 2010.

[4] Charles F. Pfeiffer (1966). “Karatepe”. The BiblicalWorld, A Dictionary of Biblical Archaeology. Nashville,Tennessee: Broadman Press. p. 336.

[5] Expository Times, Christian Charles Josias Bunsen andSayce, 1902, p. 179

[6] tarshish/beryl

[7] William Parkin - 1837 “Festus Avinus says expressly thatCadiz was Tarshish. This agrees perfectly with the state-ment of Ibn Hankal, who no doubt reports the opinion ofthe Arabian geographers, that Phoenicia maintained a di-rect intercourse with Britain in later ...”

[8] Metzger, Bruce M. and Roland E. Murphy, eds. (1991),New Oxford Annotated Bible, annotation on Jeremiah10:9.

[9] Richard Leslie Brohier (1934). Ancient irrigation worksin Ceylon, Volumes 1-3. pp. 36

[10] Adictionary of the Bible by Sir William Smith published in1863 notes how the Hebrew word for peacock is Thukki,derived from the Classical Tamil for peacock Thogkai:Ramaswami, Sastri, The Tamils and their culture, Anna-malai University, 1967, pp. 16, Gregory, James, Tamillexicography, M. Niemeyer, 1991, pp. 10, Fernandes,Edna, The last Jews of Kerala, Portobello, 2008, pp.98, Smith, William, A dictionary of the Bible, Hurd andHoughton, 1863 (1870), pp. 1441

4 7 FURTHER READING

[11] Procedures of the Society for Biblical Archaeology, xvi.104 et seq., Le Page Renouf

[12] Orientalische Litteraturzeitung, iii. 151, Cheyne

[13] J. P. Weethee The Eastern Question in Its Various PhasesPage 293 “The expression is this — “the merchants ofTarshish, with the young lions of Tarshish.” Assum-ing, what we have proved, that England was the ancientTarshish, and that Great Britain is the Tarshish of Eze.xxxviii. 13, or the chief of both the ...”

[14] Sacred Annals; Or, Researches Into the History and Reli-gion of ... - Page 557 George Smith - 1856 “Heercn fullyconfirms this view ; shows from Strabo, that the Pheni-cians not only traded with Spain and Britain, but actuallyconducted mining operations in the former country ; andis so fully satisfied of the identity of Tarshish and Spain,that he ...”

Albright, W.F. 1941 'New light on the early historyof Phoenician colonization', Bulletin of the AmericanSchools of Oriental Research 83, 14-22. Cross, F.M.1972 'An interpretation of the Nora Stone', Bulletin ofthe American Schools of Oriental Research 208, 13-19.

7 Further reading

• Aubet, M.E. 2001: The Phoenicians and the West:Politics, Colonies, Trade. 2nd edition, Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.

• Beitzl, B. 2010: 'Was there a joint nautical ven-ture on the Mediterranean Sea by Tyrian Phoeni-cians and Early Israelites?', Bulletin of the AmericanSchools of Oriental Research 360, 37-66.

• Elat, M. 1982: 'Tarshish and the problem of Phoeni-cian colonization in the western Mediterranean',Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica 13, 55-69.

• Gonzalez de Canales, F., Serrano, L. and Llompart,J. 2010: 'Tarshish and the United Monarchy of Is-rael', Ancient Near Eastern Studies 47, 137-64.

• Hertz J.H. 1936: The Pentateuch and Haftoras.Deuteronomy. Oxford University Press, London.

• Jongbloed, D. 2009” Civilisations antédiluviennes.ed Cap Aventures

• Koch, M. 1984: Tarschisch und Hispanien, Berlin,Walter de Gruyter and Co.

• Lipiński, E. 2002: Semitic Languages: Outline ofa Comparative Grammar, Orientalia LovaniensiaAnalecta 80, Leuven: Peeters.

• Lipiński, E. 2004: Itineraria Phoenicia, StudiaPhoenicia XVIII, Leuven: Peeters.

• Muhly, J.D. 1998:, copper, tin, silver and iron: thesearch for metallic ores as an incentive for for-eign expansion. In: Gitin et al. (eds.), Mediter-ranean Peoples in Transition: 13th to early 10thcenturies BC. In Honor of Professor Trude Dothan.Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 314-329.

• Thompson, C. M. and Skaggs, S. 2013: “KingSolomon’s Silver?: Southern Phoenician HacksilberHoards and the Location of Tarshish” Internet Ar-chaeology, (35). doi:10.11141/ia.35.6

• Thompson, C.M. 2007: Silver in the Age of Ironand the Orientalizing Economies of Archaic Greece.Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, LosAngeles.

5

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