In fact the word probably had two common meanings. First, as a place name derived from the more basic meaning “sea” it was applied to several different coastal areas in the Mediterranean, including the Greek Tartessos on the southwest of Spain (Herodotus I, 163 and IV, 152; cf. Gen 10:4), Carthage (Ezek 27 and Isa 23 in G) and Sardinia (see Cross, BASOR 208 [1972] 14–16, where “Tarshish” seems to be Nora). All such sites were apparently centers of metal mining and/or smelting to and from which large
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