Ivvah
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(ruin or heap) (2 Kings 18:34)—the name of an Assyrian city or region, which locality, according to the Hebrew, is read: Ava. It is thought that this is the actual region of Is or Ihi, on the Euphrates, not far from Cutha. Ivvah is thought to have received its name from the Babylonian deity Iva, who represented heaven or the ether—a deity to whom the city itself was dedicated. In this case Ivvah is the most correct rendering of the name. This locality was at all times renowned for its abundance of tar-springs, which still exist to this day at Hit, and sufficiently prove the identity of Hit with Herodotus’s Is, and therefore, probably, with the Ivvah of Scripture.