Tarshish

Tarshish was a distant maritime trading destination famous for its wealth, reachable only by the largest ocean-going vessels ("ships of Tarshish"). Most scholars identify it with Tartessus in southwestern Spain, though Sardinia and other western Mediterranean sites have been proposed. Solomon and Hiram of Tyre sent a joint fleet to Tarshish every three years, returning with gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks (1 Kgs. 10:22; 2 Chr. 9:21). Jonah booked passage to Tarshish — the most distant western port — in his flight from God's commission (Jon. 1:3). Isaiah's oracle against Tyre laments the destruction of the "ships of Tarshish" (Isa. 23:1, 14) and his eschatological vision includes Tarshish among nations that will declare God's glory and bring the dispersed of Israel home (Isa. 66:19).