Poole, Reginald S.: The cities of Egypt (London, 1882)

ZOAN.

69

field of Zoan. The city of Zoan, the civil capital of
Joseph's Pharaoh, the residence of the Pharaoh of the
Exodus, stood near the western limit. The great strong-
hold of Pelusium, or Sin, marked the north-eastern point;
not far to the south stood the scarcely inferior Migdol,
the frontier fortress in Ezekiel's time ; a neighbouring
mound, some one of these sepulchres of forgotten great-
ness, must entomb the military settlement of Avaris,
which commanded the border, when it was at once the
place of arms and the last possession of the mysterious
Shepherds who are soon to come into the field of our
view.

Of the towns which crowded this strip of land, by
far the most important was Zoan, or Tanis. This was
natural. The border bristled with fortresses in the old
days of the Pharaohs ; but in their rear, away from the
shock of war, must have lain a great city, far behind
the first river, as Pelusium stood before it. This city
must have been on the eastern bank of the second
stream, to hold the passage if the first line of defence
should he forced, and to be a rallying-point if that line
should be turned.

An isolated passage in the Bible, breaking like a note