Sheshai () was a clan of

Anakim Anakim ( ''ʿĂnāqīm'') are mentioned in the Bible as a race of Giant (mythology), giants, descended from Anak. According to the Old Testament, the Anakim lived in the southern part of the land of Canaan, near Hebron (Gen. 23:2; Josh. 15:13). ...

living in

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies Above mean sea level, above sea level. The second-lar ...

named for a son of

Anak Anak (; he, , homophone to a word for "giant, long neck, necklace"; ) is a figure in the Hebrew Bible. His descendants are mentioned in narratives concerning the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites. According to the Book of Numbers, Anak was a ...

in the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts o ...

(Numbers 13:22). The clans were driven out of the city by

Caleb Caleb (), sometimes transliterated as Kaleb ( he, כָּלֵב, ''Kalev'', ; Tiberian vocalization: Kālēḇ; Hebrew Academy: Kalev), is a figure who appears in the Hebrew Bible as a representative of the Tribe of Judah during the Israelites' ...

(Joshua 15:14) and the

Tribe of Judah According to the Hebrew Bible, the tribe of Judah (, ''Shevet Yehudah'') was one of the twelve Tribes of Israel, named after Judah, the son of Jacob. Judah was the first tribe to take its place in the Land of Israel, occupying the southern ...

(Judges 1:10). The two brothers of Sheshai were

Ahiman Ahiman () is the name of two persons in the Bible: * One of the three giant sons of Anak (the other two being Sheshai and Talmai) whom Caleb and the Israelite spies saw in Mount Hebron (Book of Numbers 13:22) when they went in to explore the prom ...

and

Talmai Talmai (; he, תלמי 'my furrows') is a name in the Bible referring to a number of minor people. Its Aramaic version was associated with the Greek Ptolemy (see that article for the list of corresponding names and surnames), and is the origin of ...

. The

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious ...

s and archaeologists Aharon Kempinski and Donald B. Redford have proposed that

Sheshi Maaibre Sheshi (also Sheshy) was a ruler of areas of Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period. The dynasty, chronological position, duration and extent of his reign are uncertain and subject to ongoing debate. The difficulty of identification ...

, a Canaanite king ruling over parts of Egypt for some time between 1750 BC and 1650 BC during the

Second Intermediate Period The Second Intermediate Period marks a period when ancient Egypt fell into disarray for a second time, between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom. The concept of a "Second Intermediate Period" was coined in 1942 by ...

, may be the historical figure that gave rise to the Biblical Sheshai.

References

Bibliography

* * Hebrew Bible nations Rephaites Anakim {{Hebrew-Bible-stub he:ענק#הענקים במקרא