TARPELITES

tar'-pel-its (Tarpelaye' (Ezra 4:9)): Various theories have been advanced as to the identity of the Tarpelites. Rawlinson suggested the Tuplai, which name appears in the inscriptions as equivalent to the Greek Tibarenoi, a tribe on the coast of Pontus. Hitzig located them in Tripolis in Northern Phoenicia. The latest theory emends the text to Tiphceraya', "tablet-writers" (from the Assyrian dup sarru); compare Schrader, Schrader, The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament, on Jeremiah 51:27.

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.