SPAIN
The gold and silver mines of Spain were already famous among the ancients (1 Mac. 8:3). The biblical Tarshish is identified in the ancient territory of Tartessos, in southern Spain, near Gibraltar (Herodotus, 4:152).
The Phoenicians, attracted by the mineral wealth of the region, founded a colony. The term “ships of Tarshish” designated large ships for long voyages, regardless of their destination (Ps. 48:7; Is. 2:16; 23:1, 14; 60:9; Ez. 27:25) .
Jehoshaphat built ships of this type to reach Ophir, and they were destroyed at Ezióngeber (1 Kings 22:49). The Hebrew expression “ships of Tarshish” does not necessarily mean “ships going to Tarshish,” as has been misinterpreted, but rather “the type of Tarshish.”
Therefore, the fact that these ships left Ezion-geber cannot be used against the identification of Tarshish with Tartessos. In the NT, Paul expresses his desire to go to Spain (Rom. 15:24, 28). There is extrabiblical evidence of the fulfillment of Paul’s wish.
Clement of Rome, writing “in Italy” around 96 AD, says that Paul “visited the limits of the west.” In Muratori’s fragment, written around the year 170 AD, it is also stated that the apostle was in Spain. In this case, Paul visited Spain after his first Roman captivity recorded in Acts.