Tarshish

• Tarshish was an ancient port city with a fleet, mentioned in The Bible, whose location is unknown.

The Bible

• Tarshish is mentioned in The Bible:
  • Isaiah 2:16 mentions the ‘ships of Tarshish’.
  • Isaiah 23:10 Tyre was considered to be the ‘daughter of Tarshish’.

Other Sources

• Annals of the Assyrian King Esarhaddon (681-669 BCE)
  • The cuneiform texts refer to Tarshish as an island far to the west of the Levant, possibly Sardinia.
• Septuagint
  • translates Tarshish as Carthage.
• Ephorus
  • the Greek Historian (400-430 BCE), mentions Tartessos as a wealthy market for Tin, shipped by river, and Copper and Gold from Celtic Lands.
• Herodotus
  • describes Tartessus as beyond the Pillars of Hercules.

Other possible locations

• Cilicia
  • The word Tarshish is similar to Tarsus in Cilicia, Turkey.
• Tartessos
  • The word Tarshish is also similar to the semi-mythical city of Tartessos in southern Spain. located at the estuary of the River Guadalquivir. The Tartessians traded with the nearby Phoenician city of Gades, modern Cadiz.
• Atlantis
  • Tarshish is also one of the possible locations for the island of Atlantis.

‘Tartessos’, estuary of the Guadalquivir