Ellasar

Smith's Bible Dictionary

El'lasar. (Oak). The city of Arioch,  Genesis 14:1, seems to be the Hebrew representative, of the old Chaldean town, called in the native dialect Larsa or Larancha . Larsa was a town of lower Babylonia or Chaldea, situated nearly halfway between Ur ( Mugheir ) and Erech ( Warka ), on the left bank of the Euphrates. It is now Senkereh .

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

ELLASAR . Arioch king of Ellasar was allied with Chedorlaomer in the campaign against the kings of the plain (  Genesis 14:1 ). He has been identified with Rim-sin, king of Larsa, and consequently ‘Ellasar’ is thought to be for al-Larsa , ‘the city of Larsa.’ Larsa, modern Senkereh in Lower Babylonia on the east bank of the Euphrates, was celebrated for its temple and worship of the sun-god Shamash.

C. H. W. Johns.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

The invader Arioch's kingdom ( Genesis 14:1). The Chaldeaan Larsa, Greek Larissa , a town of lower Babylon, half way between Ur (Mugheir) and Erech (Warka) on the left bank of the Euphrates. Now Senkereh. The inscriptions prove it a primitive capital, probably older than Babylon.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

District in the East, of which Arioch was the king.  Genesis 14:1,9 . It is supposed that Larsa or Larissu in Lower Babylonia, between Ur and Erech, was its capital, which is identified with ruins at Senkereh, about 31 30' N, 45 50' E .

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

 Genesis 14:1,9 , perhaps the same country as Thelassar,  2 Kings 19:12;  Isaiah 37:12 . The Arabic version calls it Armenia.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Genesis 14:1,9

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Genesis 14:1

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

el - ā´sar ( אלּסר , 'ellāṣār ):

1. The Name and Its Etymology

The city over which Arioch ( Eri - Aku ) and other Babylonian kings ruled ( Genesis 14:1 ). The Semitic-Babylonians form of its name is ( âl ) Larsa , "the city Larsa," a form which implies that the Hebrew has interchanged r and s , and transposed the final vowel. Its Sumerian name is given as Ararwa , apparently for Arauruwa , "light-abode," which, in fact, is the meaning of the ideographic group with which it is written. The ruins of this ancient site are now known as Senqāra , and lie on the East bank of the Euphrates, about midway between Warka (Erech) and Muqayyar (Ur of the Chaldees). In addition to the name Larsa, it seems also to have been called Ašte - azaga "the holy (bright, pure) seat" (or throne), and both its names were apparently due to its having been one of the great Babylonian centers of sun-god worship.

2. Its Holy Places

Like most of the principal cities of Babylonia, it had a great temple-tower, called Ê - dur - an - ki , "house of the bond of heaven and earth." The temple of the city bore the same name as that at Sippar, i.e. Ê - babbar , "House of Light," where the sun-god Šamas was worshipped. This temple was restored by Ur-Engur, H̬ammurabi (Amraphel), Burna - burias , Nebuchadrezzar and Nabonidus. Among the tablets found on this site by Loftus was that which gives measures of length and square and cube roots, pointing to the place as one of the great centers of Babylonian learning. Besides the remains of these temples, there are traces of the walls, and the remains of houses of the citizens. The city was at first governed by its own kings, but became a part of the Babylonian empire some time after the reign of H̬ammurabi .

Literature

Loftus, Chaldea and Susiana  ; Delitzsch, Wo lag das Paradies?  ; Zehnpfund, Babylonien in seinen wichtigsten Ruinenstätten , 53-54.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Hebrews Ellasar', אֶלָּסָר Furst suggests [Hebrews Handwb. S. v.] that it may be compounder of אֶל = תֶּל and אָסָר = אשׁוּר ; Sept. Ε᾿Λλασάρ ), a territory in Asia, whose king, Arioch, was one of the four who invaded Canaan in the time of Abraham ( Genesis 14:1;  Genesis 14:9). The association of this king with those of Elam and Shinar indicates the vicinity of Babylonia and Elymais as the region in which the kingdom should be sought; but nothing further is known of it, unless it be the same as Thelasar mentioned in  2 Kings 19:12, the Telassar of  Isaiah 37:12. Symmachus and the Vulg. understand Pontus. The Jerusalem Targum renders the name by Telasar. The Assyro-Babylonish name of the king Arioch (q.v.) would seem to point to some province of Persia or Assyria (compare  Daniel 2:14). Colossians Rawlinson thinks (see Jour. Sac. Lit. October 1851, page 152 note) that Ellasar is the Hebrew representative of the old Chaldaean town called in the native dialect Larsa or Larancha, and known to the Greeks as Larissa ( Λάρισσα ) or Larachon ( Λαράχων ). This suits the connection with Elam and Shinar ( Genesis 14:1), and the identification is orthographically defensible. Larsa was a town of Lower Babylonia or Chaldaea, situated nearly half way between Ur (now Mugheir) and Erech (Warka), on the left bank of the Euphrates. It is now Senkereh. The inscriptions show it to have been one of the primitive capitals, of earlier date, probably, than Babylon itself; and we may gather from the narrative in  Genesis 14:1-24, that in the time of Abraham it was the metropolis of a kingdom distinct from that of Shinar, but owning allegiance to the superior monarchy of Elam. That we hear no more of it after this time is owing to its absorption into Babylon, which took place soon afterwards. (See Abraham).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Ella´sar, a territory in Asia, whose king, Arioch, was one of the four who invaded Canaan in the time of Abraham . The association of this king with those of Elam and Shinar, indicates the region in which the kingdom should be sought; but nothing further is known of it, unless it be the same as Thelassar mentioned in .