Dec.4] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCH/F.OLOGY. [1894.
TARSHISH—PHCENICIA OR TARSUS?By William F. Ainsworth, Ph.D.,F.S.A.,F.R.G.S.It is with the utmost reluctancethatI venture to differ withso
learnedand eruditea person as Mr. P. le P. Renouf —our worthy
President—in his attempt to identify TarshishwithPhoenicia.
The place, or territory, so called after the greatgrandson of
Noah, " The sons of Javan, Elishahand Tarshish" (Gen. x, 4 ;
1 Chron. i, 7), but in the New Testamentwritten as Tarsus or
Tarsis,was,fromthe mountain forestsof Taurus, Amanus, Rhosus
and Casius, by which it is surrounded, the source, not onlyof
mineral wealth, but of the material fromwhich the ships of the
easternextremity of the Mediterraneanandof the Red Sea was
derivedfrom the most remote times,*and hence" The shipsof
Tarshish" became a common appellation for vessels of trade, and
" to go to Tarshish," a proverbial expression for setting out to sea
in ships built of wood derived from that place. A remarkable
instanceof this occurs in 2 Chron. xx, 36, where it is recorded that
Jehoshaphnt, kingof Judah, joinedhimselfwith Ahaziah,king of
Israel,to make ships to go to Tarshish ; and theymade the ships
in Ezion-geber—that is, on the Elanitic Gulf,or the eastern armof
the Red Sea. It is obvious, thatas the Suez Canal did not exist
at that epoch,thatthe navigation of the Red Seawas meant, for
vesselsconstructedat Ezion-geber couldneither sail to Phoenicia,
nor to Cilicia. Wefind the correction in 1 Kings, xxii,49, where
the said ships are described as " ships of Tarshish," thatis, built
of wood fromTarshish.
* See Lares andPenates, or Cilicia andits Governors, p. 12. Ingram
Cooke& Co., London,1853.
A Personal Narrativeof the Euphrates Expedition,Vol.I, p. 139. Kegan
Paul,Trench& Co., London,1888.
Researches in Assyria, &c, pp. 303, 313, 326. John W. Paikei,
London,1838.
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