A small, fortified island about 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) off the coast of Syria (ancient Phoenicia). It is about 48 kilometers (30 miles) north of Tripolis. Arvad developed a large trading and fighting fleet (a group of ships). A description of the naval power of Tyre refers to the fame of Arvadite sailors (Ezra 27:8, 11).
Egyptian records document Arvad’s fall to Thutmose III about 1472 BC. Assyrian records point to the importance of Arvad and its recurrent conquest by foreign powers from the 11th to the 7th centuries BC.
Arvad was later known as Aradus or Arados, and is referred to by that name in 1 Maccabees 15:23. During the Persian and Hellenistic periods it was an important Mediterranean seaport, only to decline again. The Canaanite tribe of Arvadites possibly had an ethnic connection with the island Arvad (Genesis 10:18; 1 Chronicles 1:16). Arwad is the modern-day name for the island.