Zoan

ZOAN - A city in the NE. of Lower Egypt. It is not mentioned in Genesis, but in Nu.13.22 we are told that Hebron was built seven years before Zoan. In Ps.78.12, 43 'the fields of Zoan' are named as the place where the miracles associated with the deliverance from Egypt took place. In Is.19.11, 13, 30.4, Ezk.30.14 it is referred to almost as the capital of Egypt, perhaps as being the royal city nearest the frontier. Zoan corresponds to an Egyptian form which became Tanis in Greek. It is now San el-Hagar, which has been excavated by Montet. It was once known as Avaris (Egypt, Ha-w'rt), which was the Hyksos capital. In the Ramesside period, in the reign of Seti I., it was refortified, and throughout the reign of Rameses II. it continued to be a royal residence and bore the name Per-Ramesse (cf Raamses in Ex.1.11). Rameses II. placed in the temple there a colossus of himself in granite, the greatest known, which Petrie calculated from the fragments to have measured 92 feet in height. [Article: Dictionary of the Bible, J.Hastings, 2nd Ed., T&T.Clark, 1963.]