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PELUSIUM

(Gk. Pēlusion)

An Egyptian border fortress located at Tell el-Faramâ in the northeastern corner of the Delta on the defunct Pelusiac branch of the Nile, ca. 29 km. (18 mi.) W of the Suez Canal and ca. 3 km. (2 mi.) inland. Ezek. 30:15 describes the city as a stonghold of Egypt (cf. v. 16). Strabo (Geog. 27.1.24) suggests that Pelusium was a seaport with access to the Mediterranean through the Pelusiac branch of the Nile. Herodotus (Hist. 2.14) was the first to name the site (Pḗlousios). Strabo indicates the name was derived from Gk. pēlós, “mud,” because of the marsh area to the west and south of the city. The earliest mentions of Pelusium (Egyp. Snw; cf. Heb. sin) are in the records of the Old Kingdom as a wine-producing area and later in those of the New Kingdom as an important military outpost (cf. Josephus Ag. Ap. 1. 274, 291, 302). Herodotus (Hist. 2.141) describes the defeat of Sennacherib’s army by the Egyptians at Pelusium as helped by fieldmice who ate the quivers, bows, and handles of the Assyrians’ shields (cf. 2 Kgs. 18). Rameses in the route of the Exodus was once thought to be located at Pelusium, but that identification has been abandoned.

Bibliography. J. Baines and J. Malik, Atlas of Ancient Egypt (New York, 1980); A. Sneh and T. Weissbrod, “Nile Delta: The Defunct Pelusiac Branch Identified,” Science 180 (1973): 59-61.

Lawrence A. Sinclair

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

PELUSIUM

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)