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TARSHISH (PLACE) [Heb tarsûéÆsû (vyvir]T'
)]. Var. TARSHISHAH. According to the Table of Nations (Gen 10:4), Tarshish is one of the four sons of Javan, the son of Japheth, and thus a great-grandson of Noah. See TARSHISH (PERSON). The descendants of the siblings of Tarshish are associated with maritime countries in the Mediterranean and Aegean (Elishah, Kittim, Rodanim), so the descendants of Tarshish could well be found in this same area. In spite of over 30 references to Tarshish in the OT, its exact location is still a matter of debate.
A. Precious Stones and Ships
Seven of the references use Tarshish in the description of a precious stone (Ezek 28:13). The stone is used in the priestly breastplate (Exod 28:20; 39:13) and is known for its beauty (Cant5:14) and flaming brilliance (Dan 10:6; cf. Ezek 1:10; 10:9). It has variously been identified as chrysolite (LXX; NIV), topaz (NEB) or beryl (RSV; JB). Its name, Tarshish, apparently derives from its geographical source, but the references provide no direct clue as to where that might be. There needs to be a mutual interaction between proposed sites and the identification of the stone to check for minerals which might not naturally occur in a suggested site.
Ten further references use Tarshish to describe ships. Some of these were in the service of Solomon, along with Phoenician ships, in trade for gold, silver, and exotic merchandise (1 Kgs 10:22; 2 Chr 9:22). It is generally accepted that these ships were harbored at Ezion-Geber on the Red Sea, because mention is made of ships built there for Solomon, manned in part by Phoenician sailors (1 Kgs 9:26–27), though in this context they are not specifically identified as Tarshish-ships. Those ships built by Jehoshaphat to sail for gold to Ophir at least made landfall at Ezion-Geber, since they were ultimately wrecked there (1 Kgs 22:48; cf. Ps 48:8, where similar ships are destroyed by a violent east wind). A bit more detail is provided in the account of the same incident in 2 Chr 20:36–37. Here the ships are explicitly stated to have been built in Ezion-Geber “to go to Tarshish.†The contrast in function and destination could indicate a misunderstanding on the part of the Chronicler concerning what was meant by a “Tarshish ship†in his source documents.
In several cases it is the Mediterranean rather than the Red Sea which is the field of operation of the Tarshish-ships. They carried heavy cargoes of the wares of Tyre (Ezek 27:35), and they are to weep when it, their harbor stronghold, is destroyed (Isa 23:1, 14; cf. v 10. In an eschatological passage describing the future glory of Zion with abundance flowing into Israel, maritime areas usually associated with the Mediterranean will give up their Israelite exiles along with their gold and silver to Tarshish-ships in order to restore them to Israel (Isa 60:9).
The final ship collocation does not describe location but grandeur and great size. The Day of the Lord will not only humble the high mountains and the cedars of Lebanon, but also the Tarshish-ships (Isa 2:16), which appear to have become proverbial for their great size.
In these contexts, Tarshish has been generally understood to refer to a geographical location, but there is a difficulty in that the references point both toward the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, which makes a single-site identification tenuous.
B. Etymologies
Albright suggested a different approach to the name Tarshish, associating it with the Akkadian rasûaµsûu “to heat, melt, smelt†(Albright 1961: 347 and n. 96; cf. AHW, 960–61). In this case the form taršišu might be a refinery. This would then lead to an understanding of the ships as oar boats, providing transport of the raw material to the refinery, or as carriers of the purified metal from the refinery. In support of this interpretation is the association of Tarshish-ships (Isa 60:9), and Tarshish itself (Ezek 27:12), with metal. Also supportive is the great size of the ships (Isa 2:16), necessitated by their heavy cargo (Ezek 27:25). This type of vessel would thus be expected wherever there was bulk trade in metal, so their occurrence in association with two unconnected seas no longer poses an insurmountable problem.
Wiseman tentatively suggested another etymology for the name, from the Greek tarsos “oar†(NBD, 1180). This receives some support from the identification of Tarshish-ships with those from Mycenae which had 30 to 60 double banked oars (Barnett 1958: 226), but it has not been widely accepted.
C. Geographical Locale
Tarshish as a geographical location is mentioned in several places. Three verses speak of it as a source of precious metal (Jer 10:9; Ezek 27:12; 38:13). The exact location of Tarshish, or even its direction in relation to Israel is not univocal. Its association with the West and the Mediterranean is best known from Jonah’s flight toward Tarshish from Joppa on the W seaboard of Israel (Jonah 1:3; 4:2). Its further association with the “islands,†mainly a designation of maritime areas W of Israel, also points in the same direction (Ps 72:10; Isa 23:6, where it is also associated with Egypt and Sidon; 66:19, associated with Asia Minor and Greece). There are also weaker links with the S in the literary connections of Tarshish and Sheba, Seba and Dedan (Ps 72:10; Ezek 38:13).
Extrabiblical sources and cognate terms have been used as evidence for locating Tarshish. Tartessus in SW Spain, a Phoenician colony on the Guadalquiver River, has received some attention (Herodotus 1.163; 4.152; Albright 1961: 347). The area is known for its metals (Strabo Geog. 3.2.11) and chrysolite is found there (see Pliny HN 37, 43; Driver 1963: 498), though not true topaz. Mineral deposits are also found on Sardinia, where a Phoenician inscription of approximately the 9th century b.c. was found. It apparently refers to one of its towns as Tarshish (CIS I: 144; Albright 1961: 346–47). A more recent suggestion is that Tarshish is to be identified with Carthage in N Africa (Berger 1982: 61–65). In part this identification is made on the basis of the LXX reading of the name in Ezek 27:12 as karcheµdonioi “Carthage.â€
Tarshish (tarsisi) is mentioned in Akkadian sources from the 7th century b.c. on (Parpola 1970: 349), but the extent of Assyrian contact or knowledge of the area so far W is not clear.
Part of the ambiguity of identification of Tarshish could well be the descriptive rather than definitive role of the name. It is used not to clearly identify one discrete geographical site, but rather to indicate what activity—smelting or refining—went on in a location. The term could therefore very easily refer to any number of different sites, including all of the suggestions made previously, as well as Ezion-Geber itself and other Red Sea locations. The same multi-reference usage might also be evident in the name Carthage, Semitic qrth\dsût “New Town.†It is also generic enough to apply to a number of locations. In addition to the N African locale, there is also a Carthage on the coast of W Spain (Strabo Geog. 3.2.10; Hallward 1930: 31, 34), which is in close proximity to the earlier Tartessus. Berger’s argument identifying Tarshish and Carthage (1982) therefore might not be incompatible with its identification with Spain.
Because of the ambiguity regarding the identification of Tarshish, we are not able to say with confidence where Jonah was heading when he set sail from Joppa. All we can be sure of is that he was going west, and that he thought he would be leaving his God behind.
Bibliography
Albright, W. F. 1961. The Role of the Canaanites in the History of Civilization. Pp. 328–62 in BANE.
Barnett, R. D. 1958. Early Shipping in the Near East. Antiquity 32: 220–30.
Berger, P.-R. 1982. Ellasar, Tarschisch und Jawan, Gn 14 und Gn 10 WO 13: 50–78.
Driver, G. R. 1963. Jewels and Precious Stones. Pp. 496–500 in Dictionary of the Bible, rev. ed. by F. C. Grant and H. H. Rowley. New York.
Hallward, B. L. 1930. Hannibal’s Invasion of Italy. Pp. 25–56 in CAH 8.
Parpola, S. 1970. Neo-Assyrian Toponyms. AOAT 6. Neukirchen-Vluyn.
David W. Baker
© Freedman, David Noel, ed., The Anchor Bible Dictionary, (New York: Doubleday) 1997, 1992.
)]. Var. TARSHISHAH. According to the Table of Nations (Gen 10:4), Tarshish is one of the four sons of Javan, the son of Japheth, and thus a great-grandson of Noah. See TARSHISH (PERSON). The descendants of the siblings of Tarshish are associated with maritime countries in the Mediterranean and Aegean (Elishah, Kittim, Rodanim), so the descendants of Tarshish could well be found in this same area. In spite of over 30 references to Tarshish in the OT, its exact location is still a matter of debate.
A. Precious Stones and Ships
Seven of the references use Tarshish in the description of a precious stone (Ezek 28:13). The stone is used in the priestly breastplate (Exod 28:20; 39:13) and is known for its beauty (Cant5:14) and flaming brilliance (Dan 10:6; cf. Ezek 1:10; 10:9). It has variously been identified as chrysolite (LXX; NIV), topaz (NEB) or beryl (RSV; JB). Its name, Tarshish, apparently derives from its geographical source, but the references provide no direct clue as to where that might be. There needs to be a mutual interaction between proposed sites and the identification of the stone to check for minerals which might not naturally occur in a suggested site.
Ten further references use Tarshish to describe ships. Some of these were in the service of Solomon, along with Phoenician ships, in trade for gold, silver, and exotic merchandise (1 Kgs 10:22; 2 Chr 9:22). It is generally accepted that these ships were harbored at Ezion-Geber on the Red Sea, because mention is made of ships built there for Solomon, manned in part by Phoenician sailors (1 Kgs 9:26–27), though in this context they are not specifically identified as Tarshish-ships. Those ships built by Jehoshaphat to sail for gold to Ophir at least made landfall at Ezion-Geber, since they were ultimately wrecked there (1 Kgs 22:48; cf. Ps 48:8, where similar ships are destroyed by a violent east wind). A bit more detail is provided in the account of the same incident in 2 Chr 20:36–37. Here the ships are explicitly stated to have been built in Ezion-Geber “to go to Tarshish.†The contrast in function and destination could indicate a misunderstanding on the part of the Chronicler concerning what was meant by a “Tarshish ship†in his source documents.
In several cases it is the Mediterranean rather than the Red Sea which is the field of operation of the Tarshish-ships. They carried heavy cargoes of the wares of Tyre (Ezek 27:35), and they are to weep when it, their harbor stronghold, is destroyed (Isa 23:1, 14; cf. v 10. In an eschatological passage describing the future glory of Zion with abundance flowing into Israel, maritime areas usually associated with the Mediterranean will give up their Israelite exiles along with their gold and silver to Tarshish-ships in order to restore them to Israel (Isa 60:9).
The final ship collocation does not describe location but grandeur and great size. The Day of the Lord will not only humble the high mountains and the cedars of Lebanon, but also the Tarshish-ships (Isa 2:16), which appear to have become proverbial for their great size.
In these contexts, Tarshish has been generally understood to refer to a geographical location, but there is a difficulty in that the references point both toward the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, which makes a single-site identification tenuous.
B. Etymologies
Albright suggested a different approach to the name Tarshish, associating it with the Akkadian rasûaµsûu “to heat, melt, smelt†(Albright 1961: 347 and n. 96; cf. AHW, 960–61). In this case the form taršišu might be a refinery. This would then lead to an understanding of the ships as oar boats, providing transport of the raw material to the refinery, or as carriers of the purified metal from the refinery. In support of this interpretation is the association of Tarshish-ships (Isa 60:9), and Tarshish itself (Ezek 27:12), with metal. Also supportive is the great size of the ships (Isa 2:16), necessitated by their heavy cargo (Ezek 27:25). This type of vessel would thus be expected wherever there was bulk trade in metal, so their occurrence in association with two unconnected seas no longer poses an insurmountable problem.
Wiseman tentatively suggested another etymology for the name, from the Greek tarsos “oar†(NBD, 1180). This receives some support from the identification of Tarshish-ships with those from Mycenae which had 30 to 60 double banked oars (Barnett 1958: 226), but it has not been widely accepted.
C. Geographical Locale
Tarshish as a geographical location is mentioned in several places. Three verses speak of it as a source of precious metal (Jer 10:9; Ezek 27:12; 38:13). The exact location of Tarshish, or even its direction in relation to Israel is not univocal. Its association with the West and the Mediterranean is best known from Jonah’s flight toward Tarshish from Joppa on the W seaboard of Israel (Jonah 1:3; 4:2). Its further association with the “islands,†mainly a designation of maritime areas W of Israel, also points in the same direction (Ps 72:10; Isa 23:6, where it is also associated with Egypt and Sidon; 66:19, associated with Asia Minor and Greece). There are also weaker links with the S in the literary connections of Tarshish and Sheba, Seba and Dedan (Ps 72:10; Ezek 38:13).
Extrabiblical sources and cognate terms have been used as evidence for locating Tarshish. Tartessus in SW Spain, a Phoenician colony on the Guadalquiver River, has received some attention (Herodotus 1.163; 4.152; Albright 1961: 347). The area is known for its metals (Strabo Geog. 3.2.11) and chrysolite is found there (see Pliny HN 37, 43; Driver 1963: 498), though not true topaz. Mineral deposits are also found on Sardinia, where a Phoenician inscription of approximately the 9th century b.c. was found. It apparently refers to one of its towns as Tarshish (CIS I: 144; Albright 1961: 346–47). A more recent suggestion is that Tarshish is to be identified with Carthage in N Africa (Berger 1982: 61–65). In part this identification is made on the basis of the LXX reading of the name in Ezek 27:12 as karcheµdonioi “Carthage.â€
Tarshish (tarsisi) is mentioned in Akkadian sources from the 7th century b.c. on (Parpola 1970: 349), but the extent of Assyrian contact or knowledge of the area so far W is not clear.
Part of the ambiguity of identification of Tarshish could well be the descriptive rather than definitive role of the name. It is used not to clearly identify one discrete geographical site, but rather to indicate what activity—smelting or refining—went on in a location. The term could therefore very easily refer to any number of different sites, including all of the suggestions made previously, as well as Ezion-Geber itself and other Red Sea locations. The same multi-reference usage might also be evident in the name Carthage, Semitic qrth\dsût “New Town.†It is also generic enough to apply to a number of locations. In addition to the N African locale, there is also a Carthage on the coast of W Spain (Strabo Geog. 3.2.10; Hallward 1930: 31, 34), which is in close proximity to the earlier Tartessus. Berger’s argument identifying Tarshish and Carthage (1982) therefore might not be incompatible with its identification with Spain.
Because of the ambiguity regarding the identification of Tarshish, we are not able to say with confidence where Jonah was heading when he set sail from Joppa. All we can be sure of is that he was going west, and that he thought he would be leaving his God behind.
Bibliography
Albright, W. F. 1961. The Role of the Canaanites in the History of Civilization. Pp. 328–62 in BANE.
Barnett, R. D. 1958. Early Shipping in the Near East. Antiquity 32: 220–30.
Berger, P.-R. 1982. Ellasar, Tarschisch und Jawan, Gn 14 und Gn 10 WO 13: 50–78.
Driver, G. R. 1963. Jewels and Precious Stones. Pp. 496–500 in Dictionary of the Bible, rev. ed. by F. C. Grant and H. H. Rowley. New York.
Hallward, B. L. 1930. Hannibal’s Invasion of Italy. Pp. 25–56 in CAH 8.
Parpola, S. 1970. Neo-Assyrian Toponyms. AOAT 6. Neukirchen-Vluyn.
David W. Baker
© Freedman, David Noel, ed., The Anchor Bible Dictionary, (New York: Doubleday) 1997, 1992.
This post has been edited by Steven: 21 September 2007 - 11:24 AM
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