The men of Dedan. The name occurs again in Ezekiel 27:20, and has already met us in Ezekiel 25:13 (where see note). Here the words probably refer to the many isles of the Persian Gulf or the Red Sea.
So the ships of Solomon and Hiram—ships of Tarshish (name used generically for merchant-vessels)—brought ivory among their other imports, starting from Ezion-Geber (1 Kings 9:26; 1 Kings 10:22). Ebony came from Ethiopia and India.
Virgil, indeed, names the latter country as the only region which produced it ('Georg.,' 2.115). Ceylon is at present one of the chief sources of supply. The LXX. curiously enough gives Rhodians, the Hebrew letters for d and r being easily mistaken by copyists.