TEL-ASSAR

(Tel-asʹsar) [hill of Asshur].

A place inhabited by “the sons of Eden” mentioned along with Gozan, Haran and Rezeph, sites in northern Mesopotamia. (2 Ki. 19:12; Isa. 37:12) Sennacherib boasted, through his messengers, that the gods worshiped by the people of these places had been unable to deliver them from the power of his forefathers. Due to the reference to “the sons of Eden,” Telassar is generally associated with the small kingdom of Bit-adini along the Upper Euphrates. Assyrian monarchs Tiglath-pileser III and Esar-haddon both refer to a Til-Ashuri, but its location is considered to have been near the Assyrian border of Elam. Hence, identification of Tel-assar remains uncertain. The name is a common form of place-name, however.