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A Mesopotamian kingdom whose King Arioch joined the eastern alliance that captured Lot
MesopotamiaEllasar was a Mesopotamian kingdom ruled by Arioch, one of four eastern kings — together with Chedorlaomer of Elam, Amraphel of Shinar, and Tidal of Goiim — who invaded the Cities of the Plain to crush the rebellion of Sodom, Gomorrah, and their allies (Genesis 14:1, 14:9). After the eastern coalition defeated the kings of the Plain and carried Lot off as a captive, Abram (Abraham) mustered 318 of his trained men and pursued them all the way to Dan, defeated them by night near Hobah north of Damascus, and rescued Lot along with all the captured people and goods. The location of Ellasar has been debated since antiquity. The most common identification is with the great Sumerian city of Larsa in southern Mesopotamia, whose king-list includes an "Arioch" (Eri-Aku) of the Larsa dynasty in the time of Hammurabi — though some scholars prefer an identification with Telassar in Assyria or with the Hurrian region of Alse in eastern Anatolia.
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