RESAPHA al.REZEPH (Ῥησάφα), a city of Syria, reckoned by Ptolemy to the district of Palmyrene (5.15.24), the Risapa of the Peutinger Tables, 21 miles from Sure; probably identical with the Rossafat of Abulfeda (Tab. Syr. p. 119), which he places near Rakka, not quite a day's journey from the Euphrates. It is supposed to be identical with the Rezeph of Scripture (Ῥαφις, LXX.), taken by Sennacherib, king of Assyria, as he boasts in his insulting letter to Hezekiah. (2 Kings, 19.12.) It has been identified with Sergiopolis, apparently without sufficient reason. (Mannert, Geographie von Syrien, p. 413.)
[G.W]