TANIS. — An ancient Egyptian city, about 25 km from the present-day es-Salihijjah, near the village of Sjân el-Hağar, on a canal that was once part of the Tanitic branch of the Nile.
According to *Num. 13:23*, T. (Hebrew *Sō’an*) was founded seven years after Hebron; but its origins must be more remote. Characteristic of it was the cult of the god Seth, probably brought there by the Hyksos (q.v.); famous is the sanctuary of this god founded by Ramses II, of which ruins survive on site; important remains of sculpture are in the Cairo Museum.
Ps. 77:12 and 43 recall the campaigns of T., where God worked wonders at the time of the Exodus. During the 21st Dynasty, T. was for more than a century the capital of the country, so that *Is. 19:11 and 13* particularly emphasizes the princes of T. In 667 BC it was sacked by Assurbanipal and later by Nebuchadnezzar (hence the prophecy of *Ez. 30:14-18*). In the time of Strabo (XVII, 802) it was still a flourishing city; in the second half of the 1st century AD (Flavius Josephus, *Bell. Iud.*, IV, 11, 5) it was in decline.