TARSHISH (tar'shish), tar-sheesh', subdued).
1. A celebrated part of the ancient world, about the exact position of which opinions are much di vided (Jonah i :3; iv :2 ; 2 Chron. iX :2I ; XX :36, 37; Is. ii:i6; xxiiiii, 6, to, 14; lx :9; lxvi:19; Jer. x:9; Ezek. xxvii :12 ; xxxviii :13; I Kings x : 22 ; XXii :48 ; Ps. XlViii :7 ; 1xXii :10). From a careful examination of the Scriptural accounts and allusions it appears that Tarshish was an old, celebrated, opulent, cultivated, commercial city, which carried on trade in the Mediterranean and with the sea-ports of Syria, especially Tyre and Joppa,andthat in all probability it is to be identified with Tartessus in Spain, which appears to have lain not far from the Straits of Gibraltar, and near the mouth of the Guadalquivir, consequently at no great distance from the famous Granada of later days. It is not improbable, however, that the name may have been employed in a wider sense, and may have denoted the district of south western Spain, comprising the several colonies which Tyre planted in that country. (Sayce,
Higher Crit. p. 13o.) J. R. B.
2. The second son of Javan (Gen. x :4). He is supposed to have been the founder of Tarsus in Cilicia. (B. C. after 2514.) 3. The sixth of the seven sons of Bilhan,grand son of Benjamin (i Chron. vii:i0). (B. C. after 4. A prince of Persia in the time of Artaxerxes (Esth. i:i4). (B. C. 483.) 5. A precious stone, so called, as brought front Tarshish, as Ophir is also put for the gold brought from thence (Exod. xxviii:2o; xxxix :13 ; Ezek. i :16; x :9; xxviii :13 ; Cant. v ;14; Dan. x :6).
The Septuagint, followed by Josephus, makes it the 'chrysolite,' i. e. the topaz of the moderns, which is still found in Spain: so Braun. De i'es titrt Sacerd. 17. Others suppose it to be 'am ber;' but this does not agree with the passages in Exodus, which make the Tarshish to have been one of the engraved stones of the high priest's breast-plate. The word is translated 'beryl' in the Authorized Version. (See BERYL.)