Bible Dictionaries
Elishah

Holman Bible Dictionary

(ih li' sshah) Place name of unknown meaning. Elishah, or Alashiya as it appears in Hittite, Akkadian, and Ugaritic texts, is a name for all or part of the island of Cyprus, which exported copper and purple cloth. Others would locate it as the present Haghio Kyrko in Crete. Among the Amarna letters from Egypt are letters from the king of Elishah to the pharaoh mentioning copper exports. The Greeks established a colony on Cyprus by about 1500 B.C. This would explain the relationship of Elishah as a son of Javan or the Greeks in the Table of Nations (Genesis 10:4 ). Compare 1 Chronicles 1:7 . Ezekiel noted in his lament over Tyre that Tyre had imported from Elishah the purple fabric for which Tyre was famous (Ezekiel 27:7 ).