ARIOCH. – Name of three biblical figures.
1. One of the four eastern kings who invaded Canaan as far as the Pentapolis (v.) and were driven back by Abraham (Gen. 14:1, 9). The Vulgate (following Symmachus) renders him as “king of Pontus,” but this kingdom did not yet exist. The Masoretic text and the Septuagint give him as king of Ellasar, which corresponds to Larsa in Babylonia.
It is generally held (following G. Smith and E. Schrader, 1872) that A. was a contemporary of Hammurabi Rim-Sin or “servant of Sin” (though the cuneiform A-ri-a-ku has not yet been found; according to Dohrme, Rim-Sin would have become Ritvaaku, then Eri-va-aku and Ariak), the last king of Larsa (c. 1985–1925 B.C.), brother and successor of Arad-Sin (c. 1997–1985 B.C.), son of Kudur-Mabuk of the Elamite dynasty (the Kudurids). The presence of Rim-Sin in the punitive expedition of Chedorlaomer (v.) of Elam with his confederates should date to the early years of Hammurabi’s reign, after which Hammurabi expelled the Elamites, including the king of Larsa, from Mesopotamia. Yet Bohl and Jirku, who deny the identity of Amraphel (v.) with Hammurabi, do not accept A. as a Larsa king contemporary with Hammurabi.
2. Chief (rabh) of the king’s militia or bodyguard (rabhajā = satellites) of Nebuchadnezzar, who ordered him to execute the diviners unable to interpret the king’s dream and through whom Daniel was introduced (Dan. 2:14–16, 24 ff.). Such offices are familiar in oriental courts (2 Sam. 4:12; 1:15).
3. King of the Elamites, i.e., of Elamite dynasty (the Vulgate has “Erioch, rex Elicorum”), from whom the Mesopotamian plain of Ragau (Judg. 1:6) took its name. Perhaps this refers to the king of Larsa (see above, 1), whose defeat by Hammurabi may have left a toponymic memory.