Bible Dictionary
Ellasar
Ellasar was the territory or kingdom ruled by Arioch in the time of Abraham. It is commonly identified with ancient Larsa in southern Babylonia, though the biblical identification is not certain.
Definition
Ellasar was the city or territory ruled by Arioch in the time of Abraham. It is generally connected in the supplied material with the ancient Babylonian city of Larsa, whose ruins are known as Senkereh.
Biblical Usage
Ellasar appears in the account of the kings who participated in the campaign associated with Chedorlaomer. Arioch is identified as its king.
Historical Background
Larsa lay in lower Babylonia, approximately midway between Ur and Erech on the Euphrates. Its ruins include remains of temples, walls, and houses, and the city was associated with Babylonian sun-god worship and learning.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
The oak or heap of Assyria, a territory in Asia of which Arioch was king (Gen. 14:1, 9). It is supposed that the old Chaldean town of Larsa was the metropolis of this kingdom, situated nearly half-way between Ur (now Mugheir) and Erech, on the left bank of the Euphrates. This town is represented by the mounds of Senkereh, a little to the east of Erech.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(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.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>el-a'-sar ('ellacar):</p><p>1. The Name and Its Etymology:</p><p>The city over which Arioch (Eri-Aku) and other Babylonian kings ruled (Ge 14:1). The Semitic-Babylonians form of its name is (al) 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 Senqara, 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 Aste 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.</p><p>2. Its Holy Places:</p><p>Like most of the principal cities of Babylonia, it had a great temple-tower, called E-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. E-babbar, "House of Light," where the sun-god Samas was worshipped. This temple was restored by Ur-Engur, Hammurabi (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 Hammurabi.</p><p>LITERATURE.</p><p>Loftus, Chaldea and Susiana; Delitzsch, Wo lag das Paradies?; Zehnpfund, Babylonien in seinen wichtigsten Ruinenstatten, 53- 54.</p><p>T. G. Pinches</p>