Where Was Tarshish Located?
By Author Eli Kittim
In Second Chronicles 9.21, the Septuagint (LXX L.C.L. Brenton) translates the Hebrew “Tarshish” (תַּרְשִׁ֔ישׁ BHS) as Θαρσεῖς. The location of Θαρσεῖς——according to Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities (LCL 242: 62-63)——was in Tarsus Cilicia (the birth place of Saul of Tarsus, aka Paul the Apostle; Acts 22.3) in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), near the Mediterranean Sea. Greeks comprised a large portion of the population. It was a Greek colony. So, Tarshish does not appear to be in Spain as some commenters have suggested:
https://www.loebclassics.com/view/josephus-jewish_antiquities/1930/pb_LCL242.63.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>Halisas gave his name to his subjects the Halisaeans—the modern Aeolians—and Tharsos to the Tharsians;
In Jonah 1.3 (LXX), the term “Tarshish” is spelled Tharsis and translated in the Greek as Θαρσὶς. In the Bible, Tarshish is said to comprise a cluster of islands: “For the coastlands shall wait for me, the ships of Tarshish first” (Isa. 60.9 NRSV cf. Isa. 23.6). The great ships of Tarshish are also mentioned in Isa. 2.16. Then, as now, Greece controlled one of the largest merchant fleets in the world. Moreover, according to Gen. 10.4, Tarshish was one of “The descendants of Javan [Greece]: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim [Cyprus], and Rodanim [Rhodes]” (cf. 1 Chr 1.7)!
Conclusion
Thus, both the internal and external evidence strongly suggest that Tarshish was located on the southern part of Anatolia, and that the region had undergone Greek ‘colonization’ by Greek and Aegean settlers:
https://research-bulletin.chs.harvard.edu/2017/08/02/rough-cilicia/
Dedicated to the work of fellows at the Center for Hellenic Studies
After all, Ionia itself——located on the western coast of Anatolia in present-day Turkey——comprised the territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements. As far back as 600–480 BCE, Greeks had settled on the shores and islands of the eastern Aegean Sea.
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