WHERE IS THE RED SEA LOCATED?

WHERE IS THE REEDS' SEA according to Egyptian papyrus & the Bible?

An Egyptian papyrus from 1210 BCE can tell us where exactly this Yam Suf (Reeds' Sea) being mentioned by Moses (Torah). 

Let us read first Moses about the location of this sea where Israelites traversed when a strong ruakh kadim (east wind) dried it up. 

" And they departed from 

Rameses

 on Abib 15; after  the passover evening when the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians. 

And the children of Israel removed from 

Rameses,

 and pitched in Succoth. 

And they departed from

 Succoth,

 and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness. 

And they removed from 

Etham,

 and turned again unto 

Pihahiroth,

 which is before 

Baalzephon:

 and they pitched before Migdol. 

And they departed from before Pihahiroth, and passed through the midst of the 

yam [sea]

 into the wilderness, and went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah. " - 

Numbers 33:3,5-8 

This passage gives very vivid descriptions where to locate a place called

"pa-Yam" ("the Sea"),

and Exodus 14:2 says that between the said yam (sea) and Migdol is Pihahirot.

" Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the

 sea, 

over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea. " - Exodus 14:2 (KJV)

Historically speaking, to the north east of the sea is

 Baalzephon (Daphnae 30.860708 N, 32.171475 E),

 whereas to its west northward is

 Raamses (Pi-Rameses 30° 47'56" N 31° 50'9" E) and

 Pihahirot (in Avaris), 

and to the south is Migdol near Etham. 

Pihahiroth and Raamses were part of the area called "Rameses." 

This is why Numbers 33:7 says they 

 " turned again unto Pihahiroth" 

as the writer was implying that his readers in that era knew it to be in Rameses on the north of Etham and Succoth.

Etham is a short form of "Pithom" ("Per-Etham", Egyptian for "Sanctuary of Atum") which is near a Migdol and in Succoth. 

And the only known "Pithom" during the early time of Moses (1309-1189 BCE) near Succoth was the one built by king Rameses the Great (1279-1213 BCE). 

Succoth, on the other hand, is Hebrew for Egyptian "Tjeku," which after 5 hundred years was incorporated with "Etham" when pharaoh Necho II transferred "Pithom" ('Sanctuary of Atum') from Tell el-Retaba to Tell Maskhuta and dug a canal from king Rameses' Pithom to his Pithom, and later called the stretch area as the "Tumilat." 

Archaeological research done by joined Polish-Slovak exploration in the 2010's in the region has found the exact location of "Pithom" built by Rameses II in Tell el-Retaba in the central part of Wadi Tumilat. 

This only means that "the sea" in questioned is located just north (going to west) of Tell el-Retaba. 

To further trim the area, the Bible describes this "sea"  as near Pi-Hahiroth. 

Pi-Hahiroth may mean "sanctuary of Hahirot," 

and Hahirot is transliterated in Greek or Latin as Auaris (Avaris), which is west of Baal-zephon. 

The name of Baal-zephon was later corrupted likely into "Tjaphanet" or "Tahpahnes,"  where the Greeks have derived " Daphnae" (cf. Jeremiah 44:1).

In Egyptian papyrus Anastasi 3:3, Yam Tufy (Reeds' Sea) and Pihahirot are located in an area called "Rameses [the Great]."

Biblical "yam suf " is misnamed as " Red Sea " in some translations likely based on Edom (Red/Erythra) sea. 

Read the next article for the Egyptian papyrus that directly mentions the said sea.