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Elishah ( ’Ĕlîšāh) was the son of Javan according to the Book of Genesis (10:4) in the Masoretic Text. The Greek Septuagint of Genesis 10 lists Elisa not only as the son of Javan, but also a grandson of Japheth. His name is spelled differently in Hebrew language to the prophet Elisha, ending in a hei () instead of an ayin ().
Scholars have often identified Elishah with Cyprus, as in ancient times the island of Cyprus or part of it was known as Alashiya. The expansion of the Greek world, eighth to sixth centuries B.C., John Boardman, Volume 3 Cambridge Ancient History, Cambridge University Press, 1982, , "Now, this Elishah is often identified with Alashiya in the scholarly literature, an ancient name often associated with Cyprus or a part of the island." According to the Jewish encyclopedia Elishah is to be identified with Magna Graecia and Sicels. Jewish Encyclopedia: Elishah Judean historian Flavius Josephus related the descendants of Elishah with the Thessaly, one of the ancestral branches of the Greeks. The works of Flavius Josephus: the learned and authentic Jewish historian and celebrated warrior, to which are added, three dissertations, concerning Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, James the Just, God's command to Abraham, etc. with an index to the whole, Volume 1, translated by William Whiston, Publisher Lackington, Allen and co., 1806, Princeton University Other proposed scholarly identifications are with Ancient Greece and Carthage ("Dido"). Concordance: Elishah
Elishah is also mentioned in the mediaeval, rabbinic Book of Jasher (Hebrew transliteration: Sefer haYashar); he is said in Jasher to have been the ancestor of the "Almanim", possibly a reference to Germanic tribes (Alemanni). An older and more common tradition refers to him as a settler of Greece, A view of ancient geography and ancient history: Accompanied with an atlas of ten select maps, calculated for the use of seminaries, &c, Robert Mayo, Robert Mayo, Volume 340 Harvard social studies textbooks preservation microfilm project, Published and sold by John F. Watson, no. 51 Chestnut Street, A. Fagan Printer, 1813, Universidade de Michigan, p. 153 particularly Ancient Elis in the Peloponnese.
The Portuguese orator and mythographer Father António Vieira (1608-1697) refers to Elishah (under his actual biblical name) as founder and eponym of Lisbon and Lusitania (when he came to Iberia with his uncle Tubal), as well as the origin of the name of the Greek mythology Elysium. Cartas do padre Antonio Vieira - Volumes 1-4 de Cartas do padre Antonio Vieira, J.M.C. Seabra & T.Q. Antunes, 1854, p. 114 Dicionário do nome das terras - origens,curiosidades e lendas das terras de portugal, João Fonseca, Cruz Quebrada/Casa das letras, 2007. Entry Lisboa Vieira also identified Elisha's biblical brother Tarshish as the founder of Tartesos in Andalucia, implying both would have come to Iberia with Tubal (though this isn't the only theory on the identity of Tarshish). Elishah in this Portuguese portrayal is identified with Bacchus' captain Lysias/Lísias, sometimes also with Lusus and Phoroneus, Portugal Terra de Mistérios, Paulo Alexandre Loução, p. 283 and is referred to as the founder of Portalegre and being buried at the Ermida de São Cristovão (Chapel of Saint Christopher) inside the town. Dialogos de dom Frey Amador Arraiz Bispo de Portalegre, p. 21
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