Rasses, Rassis

RASSES, RASSIS răs’ ez (LXX Ρασσίς, meaning uncertain). A place whose people were destroyed along with those of Ishmael by the army of Holofernes (Judg 2:23). Its location is unknown, but the context in Judith would indicate the region of Cilicia. The Vul. reads Tharsis, which is Tarsus in Cilicia. Strabo (Geography XIV. 5. 19; XVI. 2. 8) and Ptolemy (Geography V. 14) both mention a Rossos, which may be the modern Arsus in Cilicia, near the site of Issus where Alexander the Great defeated Darius III.