Tar´shish, a celebrated part of the ancient world, about the exact position of which opinions are much divided. From a careful examination of the various 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, and that 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 southwestern Spain, comprising the several colonies which Tyre planted in that country.
Tarshish, 2
Tarshish, a precious stone, so called as brought from Tarshish, as Ophir is also put for the gold brought from thence (;;;;;; ). The Septuagint, followed by Josephus, makes it the 'chrysolyte,' i.e. the topaz of the moderns, which is still found in Spain. Others suppose it to be 'amber:' 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.
This Encyclopedia of Biblical Literature is a 6 volume set in 1 book. It has over 2Read More
John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
Wikipedia