GESSEN. - Region of the Egyptian delta (Heb. Gōsen, Septuagint Γέσαι) in which the family of Jacob settled when invited to Egypt by Joseph (Gen. 45, 10; 46, 34; 47, 1. 27). In the “land of G.” the immigrants devoted themselves to pastoralism, increasing in number and expanding into the adjacent regions.
It had been thought that an equivalent of G. had been found in Egyptian documents, but the comparison was subsequently shown to be 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. may be located approximately along the course of the present-day Wādi Tumilāt, near the road leading from Bubastis (Tell Basṭah) to Lake Timsāḥ (Ismailia). Phithom (v.) was situated in this region.