The Girgeshites

Long time no see...

Life has been incredibly busy and is still a bit busy, but at least I have time for making a post on occasion.

Here's an interesting thought about the Girgeshites. The Girgeshites (הגרגשי) were one of the seven Canaanite nations. According to Yerushalmi Sheviit 6:1:

"For Rebbi Samuel bar Naḥman said, Joshua sent three orders to the Land of Israel before they entered the Land: Those who want to evacuate should evacuate, those who want to make peace should make peace, those who want to go to war should go to war. The Girgasites evacuated, believed in the Holy One, praised be He, and went to Africa."

Famously, Procopius also brought a version of this tradition in his work The History of Wars, IV:

"In that country there dwelt very populous tribes, the Gergesites and the Jebusites and some others with other names by which they are called in the history of the Hebrews. Now when these nations saw that the invading general was an irresistible prodigy, they emigrated from their ancestral homes and made their way to Egypt, which adjoined their country. And finding there no place sufficient for them to dwell in, since there has been a great population in Aegypt from ancient times, they proceeded to Libya. And they established numerous cities and took possession of the whole of Libya as far as the Pillars of Heracles, and there they have lived even up to my time, using the Phoenician tongue. They also built a fortress in Numidia, where now is the city called Tigisis. In that place are two columns made of white stone near by the great spring, having Phoenician letters cut in them which say in the Phoenician tongue: "We are they who fled from before the face of Joshua, the robber, the son of Nun.""

Other than that, not much else is known about the Girgeshites. Midrash Shir Ha'Shirim Zuta 1:4 mentions a place near the Kinneret sea called 'Girgeshta' (also mentioned by some Church Fathers, see Bauckham's paper here for more info), which may be connected to them. Many scholars today suggest that Girgeshta was located at Kursi, i.e., it's another name for the site. Richard Bauckham in the linked paper argued against this claim and instead suggested that Girgeshta is located at Tel Hadar. Either way, it seems plausible that according to both Jews and Christians, the Girgeshites originated from that area of the Land of Yisrael.

The word 'Girgeshta' itself is a Aramaic term referring to a clump of damp dirt. Menachem Mendel Wohlman in his book Chikrei Ha'Aretz, pp. 59-60 suggested that the Girgeshites were so called because they had settled in marshlands east of the Kinneret. If you think about it, this is similar to the plain meaning of the Perazzites, another Canaanite nation whose name means that they dwelled in Arei Perazi (unfortified cities and villages). In other words, at least two Canaanite nations may have been named for the type of settlements they dwelled in.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 31, 2024 at 9:16 AM

    So... the Girgeshites became the Carthaginians?

    * Carthaginians are generally assumed to be Phoenician settlers, but seems to be some dispute about whether they considered themselves Canaanites. In any event, they spoke Canaanite and practiced the Canaanite religion

    ** I couldn't find a date when Tigisis was founded, but the Carthaginian colony of Utica was founded according to classical authors in 1100 BC. That puts it within 150 years of the Rabbinic dating of Joshua's life.

    *** The Carthaginian colonies were all across North Africa, and they controlled the Pillars of Heracles (Strait of Gibraltar)

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