30°51′38″N32°10′17″E / 30.86056°N 32.17139°E /30.86056; 32.17139
Tahpanhes Tehaphnehes Daphnae, Taphnas (ancient Greek) Tell Defenneh | |
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Ancient city | |
  Tahpanhes Location in Egypt | |
| Coordinates:30°51′38″N32°10′17″E / 30.86056°N 32.17139°E /30.86056; 32.17139 | |
| Country |  Egypt |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | +3 |
Tahpanhes orTehaphnehes (Phoenician:𐤕𐤇𐤐𐤍𐤇𐤎,romanized: TḤPNḤS;[1]Hebrew:תַּחְפַּנְחֵס,romanized: Taḥpanḥēs orHebrew:תְּחַפְנְחֵס,romanized: Tǝḥafnǝḥēs[a]) known by the Ancient Greeks as the (Pelusian)Daphnae (Ancient Greek:Δάφναι αἱ Πηλούσιαι)[2] andTaphnas (Ταφνας) in theSeptuagint, nowTell Defenneh, was a city inancient Egypt. It was located onLake Manzala on the Tanitic branch of theNile, about 26 km (16 miles) fromPelusium. The site is now situated on theSuez Canal.
The meaning of the name remains uncertain although it appears to be of anEgyptian origin. Biblical scholarJohn L. McKenzie refers the name toT-h-p-nhsj meaningFortress of the Nubian, whileWilliam Albright adds it meansFortress ofPinehas.[3] Herodotus calls it "Daphnae of Pelusion", and claims it was a fortress against the "Arabians and Assyrians".[4]Daressy andSpiegelberg connect the name with the hieroglyphic wordTephen.[5][6]
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King Psammetichus (664–610 BC) established a garrison of foreign mercenaries at Daphnae, mostlyCarians andIonian Greeks (Herodotus ii. 154).
According to theHebrew Bible, the Jews fromJerusalem fled to this place after the death ofGedaliah and settled there for a time (Jeremiah2:16;Jeremiah 43:7,8,9;44:1;46:14;Ezekiel30:18). After Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BC, the Jewish refugees, includingJeremiah, came to Tahpanhes (Jeremiah 43–44).
-Qasr_Bint_al-Yahudi-3D.jpg)
A platform ofbrickwork, which has been tentatively described as the pavement at the entry ofPharaoh's palace, has been discovered at this place. "Here," says the discoverer,William Flinders Petrie, "the ceremony described by Jeremiah43:8–10; 'brick-kiln' (i.e. pavement of brick) took place before the chiefs of the fugitives assembled on the platform, and hereNebuchadnezzar II spread his royal pavilion".[9]
WhenNaucratis was given the monopoly of Greek traffic byAmasis II (570–526 BC), the Greeks were removed from Daphnae and its prosperity never returned; in Herodotus' time the deserted remains of the docks and buildings were visible.
According to thePhoenician papyrus letters, Phoenicians settled in the site.[10]
The site was discovered bySir William Matthew Flinders Petrie in 1886; it was then known by natives as Qasr Bint al-Yahudi, the "Castle of the Jew's Daughter".[11] There is a massive fort and enclosure; the chief discovery was a large number of fragments of pottery, which are of great importance for the chronology of vase-painting, since they must belong to the time between Psammetichus and Amasis, i.e. the end of the 7th or the beginning of the 6th century BC. They show the characteristics of Ionian art, but their shapes and other details testify to their local manufacture.[12]
Egyptologist Noël Aimé-Giron proposed to identify Tahpanhes with the biblical location ofBaal-zephon based on theSaqqara letter.[13]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Daphnae".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 825.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Easton, Matthew George (1897). "Tahpanhes".Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.
