4 3, 5 6, 7 8. 3. 9 c. 40 and 41, also Strabo, lib. Related Topics: Ezekiel' s Prophecies . ), describes a tower built in Babylon and a deity who set out to confound their speeches. Another text, dating approximately 1,400 years earlier (c. 2100 b.c.e. Nebuchadnezzars kingdom and reign had an ancient and volatile history. The 16th-century Hungarian prelate Nicolaus Olahus claimed that Attila took for himself the title of Descendant of the Great Nimrod. Putting aside the diagrams, location debates and Nebuchadnezzars handsome portrait, the most significant part of Nebuchadnezzars rediscovered memorials is the rich textual history, which does indeed closely parallel the biblical account of the earliest Babylonian memories at an original tower of Babel. It was in this area that Nimrod was born, and would eventually depart from to establish the following important "Middle Eastern" Biblical cities (Genesis 10:10):. Sieb., also lib.
Two Men from Babylon: Nebuchadnezzar, Trump, and - ChristianHeadlines Nebuchadnezzar's armies destroy the Phoenician settlement at Tel Kabri. As it had been in ancient times, so I built up its structure . For other uses, see, Pages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback, Depending on how the text is read, "Calneh" may be the fourth city name in this enumeration, or it may be part of an expression meaning "all of them in Shinar". In this version, the weaver is called Sisan, and the fourth son of Noah is called Yonton. Nimrod was a very significant man in ancient times, the grandson of Ham and great-grandson of Noah. Shortly after this victory, Nabopolassar died and Nebuchadnezzar became king. The mid-third millennium B.C.E. Specify between which dates you want to search, and what keywords you are looking for. Gesenius, in his Lectures on Biblical Archaeology, reminds us of their being first tributary to the Assyrians, of their subsequent occupation of the plains of Mesopotamia for some centuries previously to their becoming the conquerors of Asia under successful leaders. 4 After returning from Ecbatana, the capital of Media, the conqueror celebrated a banquet at Nineveh which lasted one hundred and twenty days. At all events, Nineveh was "no mean city" when Athens was a marsh, and Sardis a rock. As the Medes revolted first, so the Chaldeans rebelled afterwards, according to the usual law of separation from the parent stock, when the tribe or race grows strong enough to establish its independence.
The Tower of Babel, King Nebuchadnezzar II and the Schyen Collection Nebuchadnezzar II builds the Ishtar Gate and great walls of Babylon. Son of Cush and grandson of Ham; his name has become proverbial as that of a mighty hunter.
Nimrod and the Archaeology of the Tower of Babel by Steven Rudd - Bible Cyclop., Art. [citation needed], The story attributes to Abraham elements from the story of Moses' birth (the cruel king killing innocent babies, with the midwives ordered to kill them) and from the careers of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who emerged unscathed from the fire. Dyn., p. 604. The phrase of Jonah, "that great city," is amply confirmed by the historian, Diodorus Siculus, (lib. [35], In 1920, J. D. Prince also suggested a possible link between the Lord (Ni) of Marad and Nimrod. The Bibleas well as early secular historiesprovide the explanation. The partial translation follows: Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon am I: In order to complete [the towers] Etemenanki and Eurmeiminanki, I mobilized all countries everywhere the base I filled in to make a high terrace. 16, and Euseb. de Urb. See Prideaux's authorities, and his arrangement of the Assyrian kings, which differs slightly from that here adopted. Nebuchadnezzar was a powerful king of Babylon who reigned from about 605 BC until around 562 BC.As a conqueror of Jerusalem and an architect of Jewish captiv. 1 See his Notes on Isaiah, chapter 23. p. 132; and Herod. Nimrod started his kingdom at Babylon ( Genesis 10:10 ). [47] Nibru, in the Sumerian language, was the original name of the city of Nippur. At the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar inflicted a crushing defeat on an Egyptian army led by Pharaoh Necho II, and ensured that the Neo-Babylonian Empire would succeed the Neo-Assyrian Empire as the dominant power in the ancient Near East. Indeed, Abraham's crucial act of leaving Mesopotamia and settling in Canaan is sometimes interpreted as an escape from Nimrod's revenge. This victory at Ragau, or Rhages, occurred A.C. 634, just "fifty-seven years after the loss of Sennacherib's army." He is mentioned in I Chronicles 1: 10, Micah 5: 6 and in Genesis 10: 8b-9. However, this traditional identification of the cities built by Nimrod in Genesis is no longer accepted by modern scholars, who consider them to be located in Sumer, not Syria. After a period of Assyrian control, Babylon became self-governing again under Chaldean rule, and seized the reign of the known world. When Nimrod appears at the head of enormous armies, Abraham produces an army of gnats which destroys Nimrod's army. Chronological Notes and Seventy-Sevens of Daniel 9:24-27 Nebuchadnezzar's Lineage. 9 See Dicaearch. He was known for his military might, the splendour of his capital, Babylon, and his important part in Jewish history. His son Nebuchadnezzar is said to have married the daughter of Astyages, the king of the Medes, and thus brings down the history to the times of our Prophet. volume viii., and Winer's Chaldee Gr., Introd., also Adelung's Mithridat, th. Similarly, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (date uncertain) mentions a Jewish tradition that Nimrod left Shinar in southern Mesopotamia and fled to Assyria in northern Mesopotamia, because he refused to take part in building the Towerfor which God rewarded him with the four cities in Assyria, to substitute for the ones in Babel. of Arabia, volume 1 p. 54, and volume 2 p. 210. Later, the book describes how Nimrod established fire worship and idolatry, then received instruction in divination for three years from Bouniter, the fourth son of Noah.[14]. [Then] they took him and threw him into the furnace, and his belly opened and he died and predeceased Terach, his father. Tacit. Nebuchadnezzar ii is one of the most infamous kings of the Bible. [citation needed] Some Jewish traditions also identified him with Cyrus, whose birth according to Herodotus was accompanied by portents, which made his grandfather try to kill him. I did not change its site, nor did I destroy its foundation platform; but, in a fortunate month, and upon an auspicious day, I undertook the rebuilding I set my hand to build it up, and to finish its summit. [20], In Jewish and Islamic traditions, a confrontation between Nimrod and Abraham is said to have taken place. More recently, Yigal Levin (2002) suggests that the fictional Nimrod was a recollection of Sargon of Akkad and also of his grandson Naram-Sin, with the name "Nimrod" derived from the latter. Vaux quotes Dicaearchus, a Greek historian of the time of Alexander the Great, as alluding to a certain Chaldean, a king of Assyria, who is supposed to have built Babylon; and in later times, Chaldea implied the whole of Mesopotamia around Babylon, which had also the name of Shiner. ) (4000 B.C.-3000 B.C. Other versions have Nimrod give to Abraham, as a conciliatory gift, the giant slave Eliezer, whom some accounts describe as Nimrod's own son (the Bible also mentions Eliezer as Abraham's majordomo, though not making any connection between him and Nimrod). The king answers, "I give life and cause death". However, Ephrem the Syrian (306373) relates a contradictory view, that Nimrod was righteous and opposed the builders of the Tower. The three are preserved from harm and the king sees four men walking in the flames, "the fourth . Since the city of Akkad was destroyed and lost with the destruction of its Empire in the period 22002154 BC (long chronology), the much later biblical stories mentioning Nimrod seem to recall the late Early Bronze Age. His Successors. This revolt is said to have taken place in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, when the powers of Media uniting with the power of Babylonia, took and destroyed the great city of Nineveh, and reduced the people under the sway of the rising monarchy. In treating this question, we should always allow for the length of time which elapsed between the original outbreak of those hordes from their native hills; and their conquest of Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar. He is particularly known for the destruction of Jerusalem in the sixth century b.c.e., and for his relationship with the Prophet Daniel. The Christian Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea as early as the early 4th century, noting that the Babylonian historian Berossus in the 3rd century BC had stated that the first king after the flood was Euechoios of Chaldea (in reality Chaldea was a small state historically not founded until the 9th century BC), identified him with Nimrod. 5 Bk. [22], In some versions, such as Flavius Josephus, Nimrod is a man who sets his will against that of God. Despite the claims of critics (particularly those who try to pass off the Bible as a late forgery of overly imaginative writers), archaeological finds such as Nebuchadnezzars cylinders and Tower of Babel Stele continue to provide sound evidence that backs up the biblical account. Nebuchadnezzar II, also spelled Nebuchadrezzar II, (born c. 630died c. 561 bce), second and greatest king of the Chaldean dynasty of Babylonia (reigned c. 605-c. 561 bce). The limited space necessarily allowed for illustrating these Lectures, must be our apology for merely indicating where valuable information is to be obtained. But these 600 b.c.e. And, if indeed more accurate, it provides an even stronger link to the language phenomenon at the tower of Babel, stating that sometime during this original building project the people had abandoned it without order expressing their words. Was this, then, the reason that the tower was named Borsippabecause a great Babel of unordered words led to the abandonment of the project? Hungarian legends held that twin sons of King Nimrd, Hunor and Magor were the ancestors of the Huns and the Magyars (Hungarians) respectively, siring their children through the two daughters of King Dul of the Alans, whom they kidnapped after losing track of the silver stag whilst hunting. [25] Nimrod is also mentioned in one of the earliest writings of the Bb (the herald of the Bah Faith).
Nimrod, Nebuchadnezzar & The Goddess Connection - YouTube From the fourth verse of chapter 2 (Daniel 2:4) we learn that they spoke the Aramaic dialect, which the Alexandrine Version, as well as Theodotion's, denominates the Syriac. The deciphering of those inscriptions which have lately been brought home is rapidly proceeding, and will lead to a more complete knowledge of the events of this obscure epoch. Nimrod therefore orders the killing of all newborn babies. In still other versions, Nimrod does not give up after the Tower fails, but goes on to try storming Heaven in person, in a chariot driven by birds. 9. Titus, Nebuchadnezzar, and Nimrod in the adth and Midrash Aggadah Narratives of Villainy: Titus, Nebuchadnezzar, and Nimrod in the adth and midrash aggadah Shari L. Lowin Much has been written on the similarities between the narratives of the shared founding fathers of Judaism and Islam. It is the critics who are almost monthly forced to move their goalpostsnot the Hebrew Bible, which has remained unchanged for well over 2,000 years. He mentioned how Dr. Kraeling was now inclined to connect Nimrod historically with Lugal-Banda, a mythological Sumerian king mentioned in Poebel, Historical Texts, 1914, whose seat was at the city Marad. [42] He also claimed that the Catholic Church was a millennia-old secret conspiracy, founded by Semiramis and Nimrod to propagate the pagan religion of ancient Babylon. Later, Masudi lists Nimrod as the first king of Babylon, and states that he dug great canals and reigned 60 years. If you feel an answer is not 100% Bible based, then leave a comment, and we'll be sure to review it. Cyaxares, the son of Phraortes, at length avenged his father's death at Rhages, and by the aid of Nabopolassar, threw off the yoke of Assyria, attacked and took Nineveh about 606 A.C., and thus, by fixing the seat of empire at Babylon, blotted out the name of Nineveh from the page of the world's history. Centuries later in 620 BC, Nebuchadnezzar, a successor to Nimrod, became the ruler of Babylon and would demonstrate that founders of a nation inject their spiritual DNA into their offspring. : , ?
Nimrod the Founder of the Occult and Babylon Other traditional stories also exist around Nimrod, which have resulted in him being referenced as a tyrant in Muslim cultures.
7 Facts You Didn't Know about Nimrod in the Bible - Crosswalk The Bible Knowledge Commentary of the O.T., edited by Walvoord and Zuck, 1985, p. 1344, gives this chronological history of the time between Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar.. Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 B.C.
NIMROD - JewishEncyclopedia.com The learned class gradually acquired the reputation and position of "priests," and thus became astrologers and soothsayers, and "wise men" in their day and generation. [2] Later extra-biblical traditions identified Nimrod as the ruler who commissioned the construction of the Tower of Babel, which led to his reputation as a king who was rebellious against God. He was the sixth son born of Cush. It had been under the control of various peoples and empires. This was an imposing tower: Archaeological excavations, as well as a third century b.c.e. "[citation needed]. In some versions, Nimrod has his subjects gather wood for four whole years, so as to burn Abraham in the biggest bonfire the world had ever seen. "[29] This causes the king to exile him, and he leaves for the Levant. The Birs Cylinders are a series of clay cylinders dating to c. 600 b.c.e., discovered by Sir Henry Rawlinson during the mid-19th century at the Babylonian site of Borsippa. : , ibbr-ayi lipn Yahweh, lit. Archaeology has shown that Babylons history goes backsurprise, surpriseto c. 2300 b.c.e. In process of time, other kings arose and passed away, till in the thirty-first year of Manasseh, Esarhaddon died, after reigning thirteen years over Assyria and Babylon united. According to the book of Genesis, the city of Babylon was part of the territory founded by Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah (Genesis 10:810). [citation needed], Nimrod is mentioned by name in several places in the Bah scriptures, including the Kitb-i-qn, the primary theological work of the Bah Faith. : !
Nebuchadnezzar II Timeline - World History Encyclopedia Nothing has been disprovedonly the numerous theories of the critics. Nimrod has not been attested in any historic, non-biblical registers, records or king lists, including those of Mesopotamia itself. Nebuchadnezzar 's kingdom and reign had an ancient and volatile history. Out of this land he went forth into Ashur, or perhaps it is Ashur who went forth and built Nineveh and other cities. The king is then perplexed and angered. In modern North American English, the term "nimrod" is often used to mean a dimwitted or a stupid person, a usage perhaps first recorded in an 1836 letter from Robert E. Lee to a female friend. No king named Nimrod or with a similar name appears anywhere on any pre-biblical, extra-biblical or historic Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian or Babylonian king list, nor does the name Nimrod appear in any other writings from Mesopotamia itself in any context whatsoever. Biblical Data: The son of Nabopolassar; became king of Babylon in 604 B.C. 104, 105. A notable example is "Quando el Rey Nimrod" ("When King Nimrod"), one of the most well-known folksongs in Ladino (the Judeo-Spanish language), apparently written during the reign of King Alfonso X of Castile. he was prideful)? after ruling 43 years. This towera type of the famous Mesopotamian religious zigguratshad been heavily repaired during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar.
Titus, Nebuchadnezzar, and Nimrod in the adth and Midrash Aggadah Whether Ninus is a fabulous creation or not, monarchs as mighty as the eagle-headed worshipper of Nisroch his god, swayed the scepter for ages over a flourishing and highly civilized people. One thing Nebuchadnezzar isn't generally known for, though, is a link with the tower of Babelthe attempt by Nimrod to build a tower up to heaven, dashed by God's confounding of the languages (Genesis 11). Rawlinson (known as the father of Assyriology) translated the inscriptions as follows: I am Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon my great lord has established me in strength, and has urged me to repair his buildings the Tower of Babylon, I have made and finished the Tower of Borsippa had been built by a former king. And the wall cylinders had an interesting story to tell. Later influence modified the legend in the Mesopotamian tradition, adding such details as the hero's name, his territory and some of his deeds, and most important his title, "King of Kish". A Mosque in the area of Medina, possibly: This page was last edited on 17 February 2023, at 23:40. Their religion and their language are also of importance. However, in another version, the Homilies (H 9:46), Nimrod is made to be the same as Zoroaster. On the topmost tower there is a spacious temple There is no statue of any kind set up in the place, nor is the chamber occupied of nights by any one but a single native woman, who, as the Chaldeans, the priests of this god, affirm, is chosen for himself by the deity out of all the women of the land.
Two Men from Babylon: Nebuchadnezzar, Trump, and the Lord of History The next king mentioned in Scriptures is Tiglath-Pileser, whose name we have lately connected with Pul and Ashur; and after him follow Shalmaneser, Sennacherib, and Esarhaddon, the three kings who are thought to have built the palace at Khorsabad, founded Mespila, and constructed the lions in the south-west palace of Nimroud. Nimrod the "mighty hunter" was the first meat eater! On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. "Nebuchadnezzar" is spelled: nun-beit-vav-chaf-dalet-nun-tzadik-reish. The word Chasdim in the Hebrew and Chasdaim in the Chaldee dialects, is clearly the same as the Greek Caldai~oi; and Gesenius supposing the root to have been originally card, refers them to the race inhabiting the mountains called by Xenophon Carduchi. The Ge'ez Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan (c. 5th century) also contains a version similar to that in the Cave of Treasures, but the crown maker is called Santal, and the name of Noah's fourth son who instructs Nimrod is Barvin. 14 De Divinat., lib.
Nebuchadnezzar II - Wikipedia The testimony of Cicero is precisely similar. Whether we adopt the view of Bishop Lowth or not, that Ninus lived in the time of the Judges, 1 we may correctly assume that some successful conqueror enlarged and beautified Babylon, five hundred years before the Chaldean era of Nabonassar, 747 A.C. Whatever the source of this wealth, whether derived from the spoils of conquered nations, according to Montesquieu, or from intercourse with India through Egypt, according to Bruce, 2 the lately discovered remains imply a very high style of art at a very remote period in the history of Assyria. 13.Hist. 8 Vaux quotes Dicaearchus, a Greek historian of the time of Alexander the Great, as alluding to a certain Chaldean, a king of Assyria, who is supposed to have built Babylon; and in later times, Chaldea implied the whole of Mesopotamia around Babylon, which had also the name of Shiner. As translated above, Nebuchadnezzar literally calls this monument the Tower of Babylon. This one comes from Rawlinsons contemporary Assyriologist, Julius Oppert. The following version of the confrontation between Abraham and Nimrod appears in the Midrash Rabba, a major compilation of Jewish Scriptural exegesis. He persuaded them not to ascribe it to God, as if it were through his means they were happy, but to believe that it was their own courage which procured that happiness. They are not mentioned by name again in the books of Scripture till many centuries afterwards they had become a mighty nation. [Nimrod] told him: Worship the Fire!
Nimrod - Wikipedia Forster, indeed, has argued at considerable length in favor of their Arabian origin, and supposes them the well known Beni Khaled, a horde of Bedouin Arabs. : , , ? 12 Diodorus Siculus calls the Chaldeans the most ancient inhabitants of Babylonia, and assigns to their astrologers a similar position to that of the Egyptian priests.
Saddam -- Babylon's Last Dictator - Chabad.org The identification with Ninus follows that of the Clementine Recognitions; the one with Zoroaster, that of the Clementine Homilies, both works part of Clementine literature. 11. 16.
Towering Blunders - Kabbalah teaches how Nimrod was - Chabad It further adds that Nimrod "saw in the sky a piece of black cloth and a crown". They are not mentioned by name again in the books of Scripture till many centuries afterwards they had become a mighty nation. Peuple de l'Asie, volume 3, and other authorities quoted by the Duke of Manchester, pp. : ! Evil-Merodach is mentioned in 2 Kings 25:27, and Jeremiah 52:31, but not by Daniel, and this gives some countenance to the supposition, that Belshazzar was the son and not the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. Their devotion to philosophy and their practice of astronomy gained them great credit with the powerful, which they turned to account by professing to predict the future and to interpret the visions of the imaginative and the distressed. 2:48, the president of this caste was also a prince of the province of Babylon. This tradition can also be found in over twenty other medieval Hungarian chronicles, as well as a German one, according to Dr Antal Endrey in an article published in 1979). In Armenian legend, the ancestor of the Armenian people, Hayk, defeated Nimrod (sometimes equated with Bel) in a battle near Lake Van. [43] Grabbe and others have rejected the book's arguments as based on a flawed understanding of the texts,[43][44] but variations of them are accepted among some groups of evangelical Protestants.[43][44]. Some Jewish traditions say only that the two men met and had a discussion. The Belus-Nimrod equation or link is also found in many old works such as Moses of Chorene and the Book of the Bee. Later, Mesopotamia was conquered by Hurrians and Kassites. The Nimrod Fortress (Qal'at Namrud in Arabic) on the Golan Heights[19] - actually built during the Crusades by Al-Aziz Uthman, the younger son of Saladin - was anachronistically attributed to Nimrod by later inhabitants of the area. He also gradually changed the government into tyranny, seeing no other way of turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence on his power. His "kingdom" comprised Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Sinar, otherwise known as the land of Nimrod (Gen. x.
Nebuchadnezzar and Babel: Wrong place, wrong time, wrong king One thing Nebuchadnezzar isnt generally known for, though, is a link with the tower of Babelthe attempt by Nimrod to build a tower up to heaven, dashed by Gods confounding of the languages (Genesis 11). the sun god, and Anaita, the goddess of fertilitysimilar to Nimrod/Tammuz and Semiramis, the old Babylonian Mystery Religiongrew in popularity until . THE ANCESTORS AND SUCCESSORS OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR. Some rabbinic commentators have also connected the name Nimrod with a Hebrew word meaning 'rebel'. Herodotus gives us a hint of the antiquity and pre-eminence of Assyria when he says, "The Medes were the first who began to revolt from the Assyrians, who had possessed the supreme command over Upper Asia for five hundred and twenty years." Strabo also informs us that the same language was used throughout all the regions on the banks of the Euphrates.
Nimrodthe first post-Flood tyrant and empire builder The inference from the statement of the Book of Jonah is, that it was populous, civilized, and extensive.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - Wikipedia Nimrod and Abraham. Nimrod is the prototype of a rebellious people, his name being . He was the founder of Babylon and Assyria. [36], According to Ronald Hendel the name Nimrod is probably a much later polemical distortion of the Semitic Assyrian god Ninurta, a prominent god in Mesopotamian religion who had cult centers in a number of Assyrian cities such as Kalhu, and also in Babylon, and was a patron god of a number of Assyrian kings. One thing Nebuchadnezzar isn't generally known for, though, is a link with the tower of Babel the attempt by Nimrod to build a tower up to heaven, dashed by God's confounding of the languages (Genesis 11). Real Questions. [citation needed], In some versions, Nimrod repents and accepts God, offering numerous sacrifices that God rejects (as with Cain). [27][28], The Quran states, "Have you not considered him who had an argument with Abraham about his Lord, because God had given him the kingdom (i.e. Forster, indeed, has argued at considerable length in favor of their Arabian origin, and supposes them the well known Beni Khaled, a horde of Bedouin Arabs. a. -- According to the Canon of Ptolemy, Evil-Merodach succeeded Nebuchadnezzar, reigned two years, and was slain by his brother-in-law Neri-Glissar, who reigned four years; his son, Laborosoarchod, reigned nine months, though quite a child, and was slain by Nabonadius, supposed to be Belshazzar, a grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, who reigned seventeen years. In Jewish and Christian tradition, Nimrod is considered the leader of those who built the Tower of Babel in the land of Shinar,[6] although the Bible never actually states this. Some clue could be taken from the second name Nebuchadnezzar gives for this tower: the Tower of Borsippa. [citation needed], Still other versions have Nimrod persisting in his rebellion against God, or resuming it. Since Akkad was destroyed and lost with the destruction of its Empire in the period 22002154 BCE (long chronology), the stories mentioning Nimrod seem to recall the late Early Bronze Age. Other than the Lee letter and the Tressell novel, the first recorded use of "nimrod" in this meaning was in 1932. Nebuchadnezzar, page 406. -- According to the Canon of Ptolemy, Evil-Merodach succeeded Nebuchadnezzar, reigned two years, and was slain by his brother-in-law Neri-Glissar, who reigned four years; his son, Laborosoarchod, reigned nine months, though quite a child, and was slain by Nabonadius, supposed to be Belshazzar, a grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, who . More recently, Sumerologists have suggested additionally connecting both this Euechoios, and the king of Babylon and grandfather of Gilgamos who appears in the oldest copies of Aelian (c. 200 AD) as Euechoros, with the name of the founder of Uruk known from cuneiform sources as Enmerkar. Gronov., p. 40. When Abraham went into the furnace and survived, Haran was asked: "Whose [follower] are you?" At a young age, Abraham recognizes God and starts worshipping him. In the quranic narrative Ibrahim has a discussion with the king, the former argues that Allah (God) is the one who gives life and causes death, whereas the unnamed king replies that he gives life and causes death. The Tower of Babel Stele is a black ceremonial stone, about 50 centimeters (20 inches) tall, discovered just over a century ago among the ruins of the city of Babylon. : , , ? In the left-hand corner of the tablet there is a diagram of a large, seven-storied tower; above it, a separate floor plan of the massive edifice. Genesis says that the "beginning of his kingdom" (reshit mamlakhto) were the towns of "Babel, Erech, Akkad and Calneh in the land of Shinar" (Mesopotamia) (Gen 10:10)understood variously to imply that he either founded these cities, ruled over them, or both.
The main god of the Babylonians was Marduk, who, since the time of the First Dynasty, more than a 1000 years earlier, had generally been named Bl. The 10th-century Muslim historian Masudi recounts a legend making the Nimrod who built the tower to be the son of Mash, the son of Aram, son of Shem, adding that he reigned 500 years over the Nabateans. Nimrod was an affront to God because of his support for a false polytheistic religion, his attempt to dethrone God by building a tower raised against Heaven, and his tyrannical rule over people. The first prince who is known to have lived after this revolt is Nabonassar, the founder of the era called by his name.