ZOAN zō’ ən (צֹֽעַן, from Egyp. d’nt). Ancient Egyp. city, classical Tanis now represented by the ruins of Sân-el-Ḥagar in the NE Delta, just S of Lake Menzaleh.

Before the Ramesside age (c. 1300 b.c.), the history of Zoan remains obscure, esp. as the commonly proposed identification of Zoan-Tanis with the Hyksos settlement of Avaris and later city of Ramesses is perhaps erroneous (see Raamses, Rameses (city); Exodus). In that case, the Era of 400 years on a stela of Ramesses II found at Tanis could not so easily be correlated with Numbers 13:22 if the stela was originally erected elsewhere.

The geographical term “fields of Tanis” (sḫt-D’) occurs from Ramesses II’s day onward (Gardiner, JEA, V [1918], 246f.), while Dja ’net, Tanis-Zoan itself, is attested from c. 1100 b.c. (Onomasticon of Amenemope; Story of Wenamun). The Egyp. term “field of Tanis” corresponds closely to the OT “fields of Zoan” (Ps 78:12, 43) which witnessed the miracles of the Exodus (q.v.).

From the 21st to late 22nd dynasties, c. 1085-715 b.c., Tanis-Zoan was the capital of the pharaohs, several royal tombs of this period and the ruins of important temples having been discovered there. During the Nubian 25th dynasty (c. 715-664 b.c.), Tanis was still used as an occasional royal residence and as a northern base, with Memphis as main center. This background lends point to references by Isaiah (19:11, 13) to the “princes of Zoan” as pharaoh’s counselors—i.e., his court and government, officials and envoys there (30:4). In the 26th dynasty (664-525 b.c.), Zoan was still a major city, and this is reflected in Ezekiel’s denunciation of it (30:14) with other Egyp. centers.

Bibliography J. van Seters, The Hyksos (1966), 128ff., 140ff., and sources there cited.