Resen

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

RESEN . The last of the four cities built by Asshur, or, according to the RV [Note: Revised Version.] , by Nimrod, and described as lying between Nineveh and Calah ( i.e. Kouyunjik and Nimroud), on the E. bank of the Tigris ( Genesis 10:12 ). From its position the site referred to should be at or near the present Selamîyeh , which lies between the two points named. Resen seemingly represents the Assyrian place-name Rçsh-çni , ‘fountain-head,’ but is probably not to be confused with the Rçsh-çni mentioned by Sennacherib in the Bavian inscription, which is regarded as being the modern Räs el-‘Ain a little N. of Khorsabad. That the words ‘the same is a great city’ should refer to Resen alone seems unlikely more probably Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, and Calah are included, the two latter forming, with Resen, suburbs of the first.

T. G. Pinches.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

The Larissa of Xenophon (Ahab. 3:4, section 7), now Nimrud. (See ASSYRIA; NINEVEH.) Calah is probably Kileh Sherghat, 55 miles S. of Mosul, on the right bank of the Tigris. Resen was situated nine geographical miles N. of it, and four S. of Koyunjik or Nineveh. Septuagint read Dasen. G. Rawlinson however identifies Asshur with Kileh. Sherghat, and Caleb or Halah with Nimrud. The name Calah may have been transferred from Asshur, Kileh Sherghat, to Nimrud, when the seat of empire was transferred to this latter place. The targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem explain Resen as Τel-assar "the mound of Asshur."

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Re'sen. (bridle). Genesis 10:12. One of the cities, built by Asshur, "between Nineveh and Calah." Assyrian remains, of some considerable extent, are found near the modern village of Selamiyeh, and it is, perhaps, the most probable conjecture that these represent Resen.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

The great city "between Nineveh and Calah" one of the four cities built by Asshur, or by Nimrod in Asshur. Genesis 10:12 . Some judge it to be 'not identified'; but others trace it to ruins at 36 12' N, 43 10' E .

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

An ancient Assyrian city, between Nineveh and Calah, Genesis 10:12 . Its exact position cannot now be determined.

Holman Bible Dictionary

Genesis 10:12

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Genesis 10:12

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. id. ) רֶסֶן a halter, as in Isaiah 30:20; Sept. Δασέμ v. r. Δασή ), an ancient town of Assyria, described as a great city lying between Nineveh and Calah (Genesis 10:12). Many writers have been inclined to identify it with the Rhesina or Rhescena of the Byzantine authors (Amm. Marc. 23:5; Procop. Bell. Pers. ii, 19; Steph. Byz. s.v. ῾Ρέσινα ), and of Ptolemy (Geograph. v, 18), whkh was near the true source of the western Khabour, and which is most probably the modern Ras el-Ain. There are no grounds, however, for this identification except the similarity of name (which similarity is perhaps fallacious, since the Sept. evidently reads דסן for רסן, but not the Samar.), while it is a fatal objection to the theory that Resaena or Resina was not in Assyria at all, but in Western Mesopotamia, 200 miles to the west of both the cities between which it is said to have lain. Biblical geographers have generally been disposed to follow Bochart (Phaleg, 4:23) in finding a trace of the Hebrew name in La-issa, Which is mentioned by Xenophon (Anab. 3:4, 9) as a desolate city on the Tigris, several miles north of the Lycus. The resemblance of the names is too faint to support the inference of identity; but the situation is not irreconcilable with the scriptural intimation. Ephrem Syrus (Comment. ad loc.) says that Rassa, which he substitutes for Resen (the Peshito has Ressin), was the same as Rish-Ain (fountain-head); by which Assemani understands him to mean, not the place in Mesopotamia so called, but another Rish-Ain in Assyria, near Saphsaphre, in the province of Marga, which he finds noticed in a Syrian monastic history of the Middle Ages (Assemani, Biblioth. Orient. 3:2, p. 709).

It is, however, still uncertain if Rassa be the same with Rish-Ain; and, whether it be so or not, a name so exceedingly uncommon (corresponding to the Arabic Ras el-Ain) affords a precarious basis for the identification of a site so ancient. The Larissa of Xenophon is most certainly the modern Nimruid. Resen, or Dasen — whichever may be the true form of the word — must assuredly have been in this neighborhood. As, however, the Nimrud ruins seem really to represent Calah, while those opposite Mosul are the remains of Nineveh, we must look for Resen in the tract lying between these two sites. Assyrian remains of some considerable extent are found in this situation, near the modern village of Selamiyeh, and it is perhaps the most probable conjecture that these represent the Resen of Genesis (see Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, i, 204). No doubt it may be said that a "great city," such as Resen is declared to have been (Genesis 10:12), could scarcely have intervened between two other large cities which are not twenty miles apart; and the ruins at Selamiyeh, it must be admitted, are not very extensive. But perhaps we ought to understand the phrase "a great city" relatively — i.e. great, as cities went in early times, or great, considering its proximity to two other larger towns. If this explanation seem unsatisfactory, we might perhaps conjecture that originally Asshur (Kileh-Sherghat) was called Calah, and Nimrud Resen; but that, when the seat of empire was removed northwards from the former place to the latter, the name Calah was transferred to the nlew capital. Instances of such transfers of name are not unfrequent. The later Jews appear to have identified Resen with the Kileh-Sherghat ruins. At least the Targums of Jonathan and of Jerusalem explain Resen by Tel-Asar (תלסר or תלאסר ), "the mound of Asshur." (See Assyria).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

rē´sen ( רסן , reṣen  ; Septuagint Δάσεν , Dásen , Δάσεμ , Dásem ):

1. The Name and Its Native Equivalent:

The Greek forms show that the Septuagint translators had "d", for "r", but the reading of the Massoretic Text is to be preferred. Resen - the last of the four cities mentioned in Genesis 10:11 , Genesis 10:12 as having been founded by Nimrod (the King James Version by Asshur) - probably represents the Assyrian pronunciation of the place-name Rêš - êni , "fountainhead." The only town so named in the inscriptions is one of 18 mentioned by Sennacherib in the Bavian inscription as places from which he dug canals connecting with the river Khosr - in fact, it was one of the sources of Nineveh's water supply. It probably lay too far North, however, to be the city here intended. Naturally the name "Resen" could exist in any place where there was a spring.

2. Possibly the Modern Selamiyeh:

As the Biblical text requires a site lying between Nineveh and Calah ( Kouyunjik and Nimroud ), it is generally thought to be represented by the ruins at Selamiyeh, about 3 miles North of the latter city. It is noteworthy that Xenophon ( Anab . iii. 4) mentions a "great" city called Larissa as occupying this position, and Bochart has suggested that it is the same place. He supposes that when the inhabitants were asked to what city the ruins belonged, they answered la Resen , "to Resen," which was reproduced by the Greeks as Larissa. Xenophon describes its walls as being 25 ft. wide, 100 ft. high, and 2 parasangs in circuit. Except for the stone plinth 20 ft. high, they were of brick. He speaks of a stone-built pyramid near the city - possibly the temple-tower at Nimroud. See Calah; Nineveh , 10.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Re´sen, an ancient town of Assyria, described as a great city lying between Nineveh and Calah . Its site is unknown.