Daphnaealso spelled Daphnai, biblical Tahpanhes, modern Tall Adal-dafanaDafanaancient fortress town (Fortress of Penhase), situated near Qanṭarah , in present-day ash-Sharqīyah muḥāfaẓah (governorate), northeastern Egypt. Excavations by Sir Flinders Petrie in 1886 uncovered a massive fort and enclosure surrounded by a wall 40 feet (13 m12 metres) thick, built by Psamtik I in the 7th century BCBCE. A garrison of mercenaries, mostly Carians and Ionian Greeks, was established in the fort. After the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem (587 BCBCE), many Jewish fugitives, including the prophet Jeremiah, fled to Tahpanhes. Its decline began in the 6th century BCBCEwhen Ahmose II Amasis gave Naukratis the monopoly of Greek trade.