Tarshish

Tarshish appears first as one of the sons of Javan in the table of nations, and later as a distant western port that became proverbial for long ocean voyages and imported wealth; “ships of Tarshish” came to describe any large seagoing vessel regardless of destination. Solomon's navy sailed to a Tarshish for gold and exotic goods, and it was to Tarshish that Jonah tried to flee by ship from Joppa rather than go to Nineveh. Ancient writers and modern scholars have proposed locations ranging from a Phoenician colony in southern Spain, near the mouth of the Guadalquivir, to a port on the Red Sea or Indian coast, and the question remains unsettled.