(Chald. only in the plur. emphat. Tarpelaye',
èִøְôְּìָéֵà
; Sept.
Ôáñöáëáῖïé
v.r.
Ôáñöáëëáῖïé
; Vulg. Tharphalcei), the Aramsean designation of a race of colonists who were planted in the cities of Samaria after the captivity of the northern kingdom of Israel (Ezr_4:9). Junius and others have found a kind of resemblance in name to the Tarpelites in the Tapyri (
Ôáðïõñïß
, Ptolemy, 6:2, 6; Arrian, Alex. 3, 8, 7;
ÔÜðõñïé
, Strabo, 11:511,515, 520, 523), a tribe of Media who dwelt eastward of Elymais, but the resemblance is scarcely more than apparent. Others, with as little probability, have sought to recognize the Tarpelites in the Tarpetes (
Ôáñðῆôåò
, Strabo, 11:495),a Maeotic race. In the Peshito-Syriac the resemblance is greater, for they are there called Tarpoye. First (Handwb. s.v.) says in no case can Taspel, the country of the Tarpelites, be the Phoenician Tripolis; although Schwarz (Palest. p. 62) assumes this.