Tiphsah

Tiph´sah, a large and opulent city on the western bank of the Euphrates. It is doubtless the same as the Thapsacus of the Greeks and Romans. The name means ’ford;’ and the town was, in fact, situated at the lowest fording-place of the Euphrates; whence it became the point of trading-communication between the natives east and west of the river. On this account, and as commanding the ford, the possession of the place was deemed of great importance by the ruling powers of the day. This circumstance explains the contentions of the kings of Syria and Egypt respecting Carchemish, which was a strong place a little lower down the river, at the junction of the Chaboras. Solomon obtained possession of Tiphsah (1Ki 4:24), probably in connection with the series of operations (of which the building or fortification of Tadmor was one) adopted by him for the purpose of drawing the Eastern trade into his own dominions [SOLOMON; TADMOR]. Nothing remains of Tiphsah at the present-day except the name; but the site is supposed to be marked by the village of Ed-Deyr.

The ancient Thapsacus, an important city on the western bank of the Euphrates, which constituted the northeastern extremity of Solomon’s dominions, 1Ki 4:24 . The ford at this place being the last one on the Euphrates towards the south, its possession was important to Solomon in his design to attract the trade of the East to Palestine. Hence the building of Tadmor on the desert route. Perhaps the same city is meant in 2Ki 15:16, though some understand here a city of the same name near Samaria.\par

Tiph’sah. (ford). Tiphsah is mentioned in 1Ki 4:24, as the limit of Solomon’s empire, toward the Euphrates, and in 2Ki 15:16, it is said to have been attacked by Menahemi. It was known to the Greeks and Romans, under the name of Thapsacus, and was the point, where it was usual to cross the Euphrates. Thapsacus has been generally placed at the modern Deir; but the Euphrates expedition proved that there is no ford at Deir, and that the only ford in this part of the course of the Euphrates is at Suriyeh, 45 miles below Balis, and 165 miles above Deir. This, then, must have been the position of Thapsacus.

A town on the western bank of the Euphrates, the limit of Solomon’s empire in that direction (1Ki 4:24). Hebrew Tiphsach. Menahem king of Israel smote it and all its coasts (2Ki 15:16). Thapsacus, in northern Syria, where the Euphrates was usually crossed (Strabo xvi. 1, section 21). From pacach, "to pass over," i.e. the ford. Solomon’s aim (1Ki 4:24) was to have a line of trade with central Asia across the continent. Tadmor was the halting place on the way to Tiphsah.

It was "great and prosperous" (Xenophon, Ahab. 1:4, section 11) as the emporium between E. and W., owing to its ford and its bridge of boats (Strabo xvi. 1, section 23; 3, section 4). Here goods were embarked for transport down the river, and disembarked for land transport from boats which came up it (Q. Curt. x. 1). Suriyeh now marks the ford, four stadia or 800 yards across, as Xenophon accurately states, and at times having but. 20 inches of water. The ten thousand here first learned Cyrus the younger’s real intentions (Xenophon, Ahab. i. 4, section 11). A paved causeway on either side of the river and a parallelogram line of mounds still mark the site.

Tiphsah (tĭf’sah), passage, ford. A city on the western bank of the Euphrates, supposed to be the Thapsacus of the Greeks and Romans. It was the northeastern extremity of Solomon’s dominions. 1Ki 4:24.

[Tiph’sah]

1. The boundary of Solomon’s dominions on the Euphrates. 1Ki 4:24. This is doubtless the city known to the Greeks and Romans as Thapsacus, situated at the ford of the Euphrates, which well agrees with the signification of Tiphsah, ’passing over.’ It was where Cyrus, Darius Codomannus, and Alexander crossed during their wars. The town was a place of importance. Identified with Suriyeh, 35° 54’ N, 38° 48’ E. A traveller in the winter of 1841-2 found but twenty inches of water in the Euphrates at this spot.

2. City smitten by Menahem. 2Ki 15:16. This was doubtless a different place from the above, and has been identified by some with ruins at Tafsah, 32° 10’ N, 35° 10’ E.

TIPHSAH (‘crossing’).—1. The classical Thapsacus, the chief crossing-place on the middle Euphrates for caravans and armies, after the decline of Carchemish in the Persian period. It lay on the eastward bend of the river where it leaves its southerly course. It is named as the north-east limit of the dominions of Solomon (1Ki 4:24). 2. Tiphsah should be corrected to Tappuah, with the Lucian LXX [Note: Septuagint.] , in 2Ki 15:18.

J. F. McCurdy.

tif´sa (תּפסח, tiphṣaḥ, “ford”; Θαψά, Thapsá):

(1) This marks the northern extremity of the dominions ruled by Solomon, Gaza being the limit on the South (1Ki 4:24). It can hardly be other than Thapsacus, on the right bank of the Euphrates, before its waters join those of the Balik. The great caravan route between East and West crossed the river by the ford at this point. Here Cyrus the younger effected a somewhat perilous crossing (Xenophon, Anabasis i. 4, 2). The ford was also used by Darius; but Alexander the Great, in his pursuit constructed two bridges for the transport of his army (Arrian iii. 7). Under the Seleucids it was called Amphipolis. The site is probably occupied by the modern Kal‛at Dibse, where there is a ford still used by the caravans. It is about 8 miles below Meskene, where the river makes a bend to the East.

(2) (Codex Vaticanus Θερσά, Thersá, Codex Alexandrinus Θαιρά, Thairá): The inhabitants of this town, which was apparently not far from Tirzah, did not favor the regicide Menahem, refusing to open to him. In his wrath he massacred the Tiphsites with circumstances of horrible cruelty (2Ki 15:16). Khirbet Tafsah, about 6 miles Southwest of Nāblus, corresponds in name, but is probably too far from Tirzah.