ELISA (Heb. ‘Elísa). — Firstborn of Iavan (Gen. 10:4). The name recurs in Ez. 27:7: the “islands of E.” engaged in the trade of purple with Tyre.
The exegetes, agreeing in seeing Greece in Iavan, differ in identifying this “son” of his. Some, following the Targum of Ezekiel, see in it an indication of Magna Graecia, particularly Sicily; others think of a city on the African coast; others of Cyprus; and still others, finally, of Aeolia. Angelo Penna