Peacock

The peacock appears in scripture as a luxury cargo of Solomon's reign — one item in the manifest of the Tarshish fleet, listed alongside gold, silver, ivory, and apes. The bird never appears in any other connection.

Cargo of the Tarshish Fleet

The Kings narrative gives the fleet's rhythm and its haul: "For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram: once every three years the navy of Tarshish came, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks" (1Ki 10:22). The peacock is a triennial import, paired with the king of Tyre's seamen and arriving as part of a long-cycle trade.

The Same Manifest in Chronicles

Chronicles reproduces the manifest with minor variation in the partner's name and the kind of crew: "For the king had ships that went to Tarshish with the slaves of Huram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks" (2Ch 9:21). The list of goods is identical down to the order — gold, silver, ivory, apes, peacocks. Both passages place the bird at the end of the catalog, the lightest and most ornamental item in a cargo otherwise weighted with metals and ivory.