Rasses, Children of

Ras'ses, Children Of (υἱοὶ ῾Ρασσεῖς; Vullg. filli Tharsis), one of the nations whose country was ravaged by Holofernes in his approach to Judea (Judith 2:23 only). They are named next to Lud (Lydia), and apparently south thereof. The old Latin version reads Thiras et Rasis, with which the Peshito was probably in agreement before the present corruption of its text. Wolff (Das Buch Judith [1861], p. 95, 96) restores the original Chaldee text of the passage as Thars and Rosos, and compares the latter name with Rhosus, a place on the Gulf of Issus, between the Ras el-Khanzir (Rhossicus Scopulus) and Iskenderun, or Alexandretta. If the above restoration of the original text is correct, the interchange of Meshech and Rosos, as connected with Thar, or Thiras (see Ge 10:2), is very remarkable; since if Meshech be the original of Muscovy, Rosos can hardly be other than that of Russia. SEE ROSH. — Smith. The Vulg. reads Tharsis, which has led some to suppose that the original was תרשיש, and that Tarsus is meant. Fritzsche proposes to find the place in ῾Ρῶσος, ῾Ρῶσσος, a mountain-range and town south from Amanos (Exeg. Handb. p. 143).