Bible Encyclopedia: Zoan

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International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ZOAN

zo'-an (tso`an; Tanis):

1. situation

2. Old Testament Notices

3. Early History

4. Hyksos Monuments

5. Hyksos Population

6. Hyksos Age

7. Description of Site

1. Situation:

The name is supposed to mean "migration" (Arabic, tsan). The site is the only one connected with the history of Israel in Egypt, before the exodus, which is certainly fixed, being identified with the present village of San at the old mouth of the Bubastic branch of the Nile, about 18 miles Southeast of Damietta. It should be remembered that the foreshore of the Delta is continually moving northward, in consequence of the deposit of the Nile mud, and that the Nile mouths are much farther North than they were even in the time of the geographer Ptolemy. Thus in the times of Jacob, and of Moses, Zoan probably lay at the mouth of the Bubastic branch, and was a harbor, Lake Menzaleh and the lagoons near Pelusium having been subsequently formed.

2. Old Testament Notices:

The city is only once noticed in the Pentateuch (Numbers 13:22), as having been built seven years after Hebron, which existed in the time of Abraham. Zoan was certainly a very ancient town, since monuments of the VIth Egyptian Dynasty have been found at the site. It has been thought that Zoar on the border of Egypt (Genesis 13:10) is a clerical error for Zoan, but the Septuagint reading (Zogora) does not favor this view, and the place intended is probably the fortress Zar, or Zor, often mentioned in Egyptian texts as lying on the eastern borders of the Delta. Zoan is noticed in the Prophets (Isaiah 19:11, 13; Isaiah 30:4 Ezekiel 30:14), and its "princes" are naturally mentioned by Isaiah, since the capital of the XXIIInd Egyptian Dynasty (about 800 to 700 B.C.) was at this city. In Psalm 78:12, 43 the "field (or pastoral plain) of Zoan" is noticed as though equivalent to the land of GOSHEN (which see).

3. Early History:

Zoan was the capital of the Hyksos rulers, or "shepherd kings," in whose time Jacob came into Egypt, and their monuments have been found at the site, which favors the conclusion that its plain was that "land of Rameses" (Genesis 47:11 Exodus 12:37; see RAAMSES) where the Hebrews had possessions under Joseph. It is probably the site of Avaris, which lay on the Bubastic channel according to Josephus quoting Manetho (Apion, I, xiv), and which was rebuilt by the first of the Hyksos kings, named Salatis; for Avaris is supposed (Brugsch, Geog., I, 86-90, 278-80) to represent the Egyptian name of the city Ha-uar-t, which means "the city of movement" (or "flight"), thus being equivalent to the Semitic Zoan or "migration." It appears that, from very early times, the pastoral peoples of Edom and Palestine were admitted into this region. The famous picture of the Amu, who bring their families on donkeys to Egypt, and offer the Sinaitic ibex as a present, is found at Beni Chasan in a tomb as old as the time of Usertasen II of the XIIth Dynasty, before the Hyksos age. A similar immigration of shepherds (see PITHOM) from Aduma (or Edom) is also recorded in the time of Menepthah, or more than four centuries after the expulsion of the Hyksos by the XVIIIth, or Theban, Dynasty.

4. Hyksos Monuments:

Besides the name of Pepi of the Vlth Dynasty, found by Burton at Zoan, and many texts of the XIIth Dynasty, a cartouche of Apepi (one of the Hyksos kings) was found by Mariette on the arm of a statue apparently of older origin, and a sphinx also bears the name of Khian, supposed to have been an early Hyksos ruler. The Hyksos type, with broad cheek bones and a prominent nose, unlike the features of the native Egyptians, has been regarded by Virchow and Sir W. Flower as Turanian, both at Zoan and at Bubastis; which agrees with the fact that Apepi is recorded to have worshipped no Egyptian gods, but only Set (or Sutekh), who was also adored by Syrian Mongols (see HITTITES). At Bubastis this deity is called "Set of Rameses," which may indicate the identity of Zoan with the city Rameses.

5. Hyksos Population:

In the 14th century B.C. the city was rebuilt by Rameses II, and was then known as Pa-Ramessu. The Hyksos rulers had held it for 500 years according to Manetho, and were expelled after 1700 B.C. George the Syncellus (Chronographia, about 800 A.D.) believed that Apepi (or Apophis) was the Pharaoh under whom Joseph came to Egypt, but there seems to have been more than one Hyksos king of the name, the latest being a contemporary of Ra-Sekenen of the XIIIth Dynasty, shortly before 1700 B.C. Manetho says that some supposed the Hyksos to be Arabs, and the population of Zoan under their rule was probably a mixture of Semitic and Mongolic races, just as in Syria and Babylonia in the same ages. According to Brugsch (Hist of Egypt, II, 233), this population was known as Men or Menti, and came from Assyria East of Ruten or Syria. This perhaps connects them with the Minyans of Matiene, who were a Mongolic race. This statement occurs in the great table of nations, on the walls of the Edfu temple.

6. Hyksos Age:

The Hyksos age corresponds chronologically with that of the 1st Dynasty of Babylon, and thus with the age of the Hebrew patriarchs Abraham and Jacob-time when the power of Babylon was supreme in Syria and Palestine. It is very natural, therefore, that, like other Semitic tribes even earlier, these patriarchs should have been well received in the Delta by the Hyksos Pharaohs, and equally natural that, when Aahmes, the founder of the XVIIIth Egyptian Dynasty, took the town of Avaris and expelled the Asiatics, he should also have oppressed the Hebrews, and that this should be intended when we read (Exodus 1:8) that "there arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph." The exodus, according to the Old Testament dates, occurred in the time of the XVIIIth Dynasty (see EXODUS) when Israel left Goshen. The later date advocated by some scholars, in the reign of Menepthah of the XIXth Dynasty, hardly agrees with the monumental notice of the immigration of Edomites into the Delta in his reign, which has been mentioned above; and in his time Egypt was being invaded by tribes from the North of Asia.

7. Description of Site:

Zoan, as described by G. J. Chester (Mem. Survey West Palestine, Special Papers, 1881, 92-96), is now only a small hamlet of mud huts in a sandy waste, West of the huge mounds of its ancient temple; but, besides the black granite sphinx, and other statues of the Hyksos age, a red sandstone figure of Rameses II and obelisks of granite have been excavated, one representing this king adoring the gods; while the names of Amen, Tum and Mut appear as those of the deities worshipped, in a beautiful chapel in the temple, carved in red sandstone, and belonging to the same age of prosperity in Zoan.

C. R. Conder

Strong's Hebrew

6814. Tsoan -- a place in Egypt
... 6813, 6814. Tsoan. 6815 . a place in Egypt. Transliteration: Tsoan Phonetic
Spelling: (tso'-an) Short Definition: Zoan. ... NASB Word Usage Zoan (7). Zoan. ...
/hebrew/6814.htm - 5k

Library

Hebron
... more stony than Hebron: thence, a burying-place of the dead is there." The Gemarists
sift what that means: "Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt ...
/.../lightfoot/from the talmud and hebraica/chapter 49 hebron.htm

List of Characters and Places
... Nechutes. Tanis,"Tay'-nis, the Egyptian name for Zoan. Tape,"Tay'-pay,
Thebes. ... Orient. Zoan,"Zoe'-an, the capital of the Delta. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/miller/the yoke/list of characters and places.htm

Psalm 78
... Within the land of Egypt done,. yea, ev'n in Zoan's field. ^13By him divided was
the sea,. ... he openly had wrought; What miracles in Zoan's field. ...
/...//christianbookshelf.org/anonymous/scottish psalter and paraphrases/psalm 78.htm

Egypt
... At first they burned and plundered, then they established themselves in Memphis
and Zoan, and from thence governed the rest of the country. ...
/.../sayce/early israel and the surrounding nations/chapter v egypt.htm

The Traitors
... "Nay. The village of image-makers is not safe. Moses hath departed for Zoan." [1].
"And named thee in his stead. ... [1] Zoan"The Hebrew name for Tanis. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/miller/the yoke/chapter xxxviii the traitors.htm

On Earthly Things
... plains are full of riches. The same in a bad part: in the plain of Zoan.
[Ps.64(65):12; Ps.77(78):43]. The pastures are a spiritual ...
/.../eucherius/the formulae of st eucherius of lyons/iii on earthly things.htm

Marvellous Increase of the Church
... Remember how he "cut Rahab and wounded the dragon." Think of his prodigies by
the Red Sea, and the miracles he worked in the field of Zoan. ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 2 1856/marvellous increase of the church.htm

Travailing for Souls
... of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, remember thy covenant, and deliver us." This
travail brought its result; for the Lord smote the field of Zoan with mighty ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 17 1871/travailing for souls.htm

Growth by Transplanting
... district, which afforded many advantages in its proximity to Canaan, its adaptation
to pastoral life, and its vicinity to Joseph when in Zoan, the capital. ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture k/growth by transplanting.htm

Afraid of Giants
... and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years
before Zoan in Egypt.) 23. And they came unto the brook ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture k/afraid of giants.htm

Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary

Zoan

motion

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Zoan

(place of departure), an ancient city of lower Egypt, called Tanis by the Greeks. It stood on the eastern bank of the Tanitic branch of the Nile. Its name indicates a place of departure from a country, and hence it has been identified with Avaris (Tanis, the modern San), the capital of the Shepherd dynasty in Egypt, built seven years after Hebron and existing before the time of Abraham. It was taken by the Shepherd kings in their invasion of Egypt, and by them rebuilt, and garrisoned, according to Manetho, with 240,000 men. This cite is mentioned in connection with the plagues in such a manner as to leave no doubt that it is the city spoken of in the narrative in Exodus as that where Pharaoh dwelt, (Psalms 78:42,43) and where Moses wrought his wonders on the field of Zoan a rich plain extending thirty miles toward the east. Tanis gave its name to the twenty-first and twenty-third dynasties and hence its mention in Isaiah. (Isaiah 19:13; 30:4) (The present "field of Zoan" is a barren waste, very thinly inhabited. "One of the principal capitals of Pharaoh is now the habitation of fishermen the resort of wild beasts, and infested with reptiles and malignant fevers." There have been discovered a great number of monuments here which throw light upon the Bible history. Brugsch refers to two statues of colossal size of Mermesha of the thirteenth dynasty, wonderfully perfect in the execution of the individual parts and says that memorials of Rameses the Great lie scattered broadcast like the mouldering bones of generations slain long ago. The area of the sacred enclosure of the temple is 1500 feet by 1250.-ED.)

ATS Bible Dictionary

Zoan

A very ancient city of Lower Egypt, Numbers 13:22, on the east side of the Tanitic arm of the Nile, and called by the Greeks Tanis, now San. It was a royal city, Isaiah 19:11,13; 30:4, and gave its name to the level country around it, in which were wrought the first mighty works of God by Moses, Psalm 78:12,43. Vast heaps of ruined temples, obelisks, sphinxes, etc., attest the ancient grandeur of this city, and its ruin according to prophecy, Ezekiel 30:14.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(Old Egypt. Sant= "stronghold, " the modern San). A city on the Tanitic branch of the Nile, called by the Greeks Tanis. It was built seven years after Hebron in Palestine (Numbers 13:22). This great and important city was the capital of the Hyksos, or Shepherd kings, who ruled Egypt for more than 500 years. It was the frontier town of Goshen. Here Pharaoh was holding his court at the time of his various interviews with Moses and Aaron. "No trace of Zoan exists; Tanis was built over it, and city after city has been built over the ruins of that" (Harper, Bible and Modern Discovery). Extensive mounds of ruins, the wreck of the ancient city, now Mark its site (Isaiah 19:11, 13; 30:4; Ezek. 30:14). "The whole constitutes one of the grandest and oldest ruins in the world."

This city was also called "the Field of Zoan" (Psalm 78:12, 43) and "the Town of Rameses" (q.v.), because the oppressor rebuilt and embellished it, probably by the forced labour of the Hebrews, and made it his northern capital.

Thesaurus

Zoan (7 Occurrences)
... "No trace of Zoan exists; Tanis was built over it, and city after city has been
built over the ruins of that" (Harper, Bible and Modern Discovery). ...ZOAN. ...
/z/zoan.htm - 17k

Zo'an (7 Occurrences)
Zo'an. Zoan, Zo'an. Zoar . Multi-Version Concordance Zo'an (7 Occurrences). ...
(Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) (See RSV). ...
/z/zo'an.htm - 8k

Rameses (5 Occurrences)
... built. The city bearing this name (Exodus 12:37) was probably identical
with Zoan, which Rameses II. ("son of the sun") rebuilt. ...
/r/rameses.htm - 13k

Raamses (1 Occurrence)
... and (incorrectly) "store-cities" in the Revised Version: The "land of Rameses,"
where Jacob and his sons settled, was apparently the "field of Zoan" (see ZOAN...
/r/raamses.htm - 10k

Ramses
... and (incorrectly) "store-cities" in the Revised Version: The "land of Rameses,"
where Jacob and his sons settled, was apparently the "field of Zoan" (see ZOAN...
/r/ramses.htm - 10k

Goshen (16 Occurrences)
... and also simply "Goshen" (46:28), and "the land of Rameses" (47:11; Exodus 12:37),
for the towns Pithom and Rameses lay within its borders; also Zoan or Tanis ...
/g/goshen.htm - 19k

Plagues (28 Occurrences)
... No indication of any localizing of the plagues is given except in Psalm 78:12, 43,
where the "field of Zoan" is mentioned as the scene of the contest between ...
/p/plagues.htm - 44k

Marvels (21 Occurrences)
... NAS). Psalms 78:12 Marvellous things did He in the sight of their fathers,
in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. (See RSV). ...
/m/marvels.htm - 12k

Pithom (1 Occurrence)
... half-way on the great road from Pelusium to Tanis (Zoan), and this indication given
on the authority of the itineraries furnishes the sole means of fixing its ...
/p/pithom.htm - 12k

Hittites (39 Occurrences)
... third century BC the Syrian confederation, led probably by the Hittites, arched
against Lower Egypt, which they took possession of, making Zoan their capital. ...
/h/hittites.htm - 55k

Bible Concordance

Zoan (7 Occurrences)

Numbers 13:22 They went up by the South, and came to Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV)

Psalms 78:12 He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV)

Psalms 78:43 how he set his signs in Egypt, his wonders in the field of Zoan,
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV)

Isaiah 19:11 The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish. The counsel of the wisest counselors of Pharaoh has become stupid. How do you say to Pharaoh, "I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?"
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV)

Isaiah 19:13 The princes of Zoan have become fools. The princes of Memphis are deceived. They have caused Egypt to go astray, who are the cornerstone of her tribes.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV)

Isaiah 30:4 For their princes are at Zoan, and their ambassadors have come to Hanes.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV)

Ezekiel 30:14 I will make Pathros desolate, and will set a fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments on No.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV)

Subtopics

Zoan

Zoan: Built Seven Years After Hebron in the Land of Canaan

Zoan: Princes of

Zoan: Prophecies Concerning

Zoan: Wise Men From, Were Counselors of Pharaoh

Related Terms

Zo'an (7 Occurrences)

Rameses (5 Occurrences)

Raamses (1 Occurrence)