ti'-ras (tirac; Theiras, Lucian Thiras): A son of Japheth (Genesis 10:2 (P); 1 Chronicles 1:5). Not mentioned elsewhere; this name was almost unanimously taken by the ancient commentators (so Josephus, Ant, I, vi, 1) to be the same as that of the Thracians (Thrakes); but the removal of the nominative ending -s does away with this surface resemblance. Tuch was the first to suggest the Tursenioi, a race of Pelasgian pirates, who left many traces of their ancient power in the islands and coasts of the Aegean, and who were doubtless identical with the Etruscans of Italy. This brilliant suggestion has since been confirmed by the discovery of the name Turusa among the seafaring peoples who invaded Egypt in the reign of Merenptah (W.M. Muller, AE, 356 ff). Tiras has also been regarded as the same as Tarshish.

Horace J. Wolf

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

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