GESSEN. - A region of the Egyptian delta (Heb. Gōsen, Septuagint Γέσαι) in which the family of Jacob settled, having been invited to Egypt by Joseph (Gen. 45:10; 46:34; 47:1, 27). In the "land of G." the immigrants devoted themselves to pastoralism, growing in number and expanding into the adjacent regions.

It had been thought that an equivalent of G. could be found in Egyptian documents, but the comparison later proved erroneous (A. Gardiner, The supposed Egyptian equivalent of the name of Goshen, in Journ. of Egypt. archeol., 5 [1918], pp. 218-23). Nevertheless the land of G. can be localized approximately along the course of the present-day Wādi Tumilāt, near the road that leads from Bubastis (Tell Basṭah) to Lake Timsāḥ (Ismailia). In this region was located the city of Phithom (v.).

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: A. Mallon, Les Hébreux en Egypte (Orientalia), 3 Rome 1921, p. 199 ff.; R. de Vaux, Israël, formation du peuple, in DBs, IV, col. 735.

Sergio Bosticco

@incollection{ec6_gessen, author = {Bosticco, Sergio}, title = {Gessen}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, pages = {218}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/gessen} }

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