TAPHNIS (Hebrew: Taphranas; in Ezek. 30:18, Tephranas). - An Egyptian city (Ez. 30:18) where, after the assassination of Gedaliah, many Jews sought asylum in order to escape the reprisals of the Babylonians (Jer. 43:7-9). A Jewish colony probably already existed there (ibid. 44:1; 46:14). The prophet Jeremiah, who together with his secretary Baruch had been forced to emigrate there, continued his mission there (ibid. 43:8) and, according to a late tradition, was killed there by the Jews themselves.

The city, which the Septuagint renders by the name Ταφναί or Ταφνάς (Vulgate T., Taphnis), probably corresponds to Δάφναι, an Egyptian fortress on the Pelusiac branch of the Nile (Herodotus, II, 30, 107), identified with Tell ed-Defeneh, to the northeast of the Delta.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: F. Vigouroux, Taphnis, Taphnis, in DB, V (1912), coll. 1991-94; A. Alt, Taphnasen und Taphnas, in Zeitschr. des Deutsch. Palästina-Vereins, 66 (1943), pp. 64-68.

Donato Baldi

@incollection{ec11_taphne_ebr_taphranas_in_ez_30, author = {Baldi, Donato}, title = {Taphne (Ebr. ΤΑΦΡΑΝΆΣ; in Ez. 30, 18 τεφαρνάς)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XI}, pages = {1745}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/taphne-ebr-taphranas-in-ez-30-18-tepharnas} }

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