Ape

Apes are mentioned twice in Scripture, in the parallel accounts of Solomon's trading fleet (1 Kings 10:22; 2 Chr. 9:21). Every three years the ships of Tarshish returned with gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks—luxury imports that signaled the extraordinary wealth and international reach of Solomon's kingdom. The Hebrew word qoph is widely recognized as a loanword from the Tamil kapi or Sanskrit kapi, indicating that the animals were obtained through trade with India.

The inclusion of apes among Solomon's imports reflects the ancient taste for exotic animals as symbols of royal prestige, a practice well attested in Egyptian and Mesopotamian royal records. While apes played a religious role in Egyptian culture—baboons were sacred to Thoth—the biblical text treats them simply as luxury commodities demonstrating the scope of Solomonic prosperity. The passage is frequently cited in discussions of the location of Tarshish and the routes of ancient maritime trade.