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ELISHAH.—The eldest ‘son’ of Javan (Gen_10:4), whence the Tyrians obtained the purple dye (Eze_27:7). The latter favours identification with S. Italy and Sicily, or Carthage and N. African coast, both districts famous for the purple dye. Elissa, or Dido, the traditional foundress of Carthage, may indicate Elissa as an early name of Carthage, and Syncellus gives the gloss ‘Elissa, whence the Sikeloi.’ The Targum on Ezk. gives ‘the province of Italy.’ The Tell el-Amarna tablets include letters to the king of Egypt from the king of Alashia, Egyptian Alsa, which has been identified with Cyprus; known to Sargon, king of Assyria, as the land of the Ionians, Javan. There are difficulties in all these identifications, possibly because the name itself denoted different districts at different epochs, and no certainty can yet be attained.
C. H. W. Johns.