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. 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. Other traditional stories also exist around Nimrod, which have resulted in him being referenced as a tyrant in Muslim cultures. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth . ), 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. The late discoveries in Egypt, and the high state of civilization attained by these "swarthy barbarians," have led the learned to the conclusion that we have hitherto lost many centuries between the flood and Abraham; and since the long list of Egyptian dynasties, as given by Manetho, has been proved accurate, it may fairly be supposed that the Assyrian sculptures will rather add to the credit of Ctesias than detract from it. You can read about them in our article The Tower of Babel: Just a Bible Story?, The Babylonian kings account of the biblical colossus, The Schyen Collection MS 2063, Oslo and London, Smithsonian Channel/Christian News Network. [25] Nimrod is also mentioned in one of the earliest writings of the Bb (the herald of the Bah Faith). 2 Travels, Book 2 chapter 1. Babylon later reached its zenith under Nebuchadnezzar (sixth century BC). 7 From this opinion we entirely dissent. Since then, it has been kept as part of the private Norwegian Schyen Collection. There is even a possible reference to the Prophet Daniels three friends on one of Nebuchadnezzars clay tablets (see here for more information). On this stele, we may have a glimpse into what the tower of Babel looked likeor, at least, what Nebuchadnezzars reconstruction of it looked like. 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). sur les anc. 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. 2. "The question," says Heeren, "what the Chaldeans really were, and whether they ever properly existed as a nation, is one of the most difficult which history presents. 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". 5 Bk. But these 600 b.c.e. 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. His "kingdom" comprised Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Sinar, otherwise known as the land of Nimrod (Gen. x. 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). Joseph Poplicha wrote in 1929 about the identification of Nimrod in the first dynasty or Uruk.[48]. [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. The tablet, belonging to King Nebuchadnezzar, dates to around 600 b.c.e., and includes a depiction of the king in the upper right-hand corner. Hengstenberg has tested the historical truthfulness of the author of this book, by comparing his account of the Chaldean priest-caste with those of profane history. [47] Nibru, in the Sumerian language, was the original name of the city of Nippur. was the founder of what is termed the Chaldean, or Neo-Babylonian, Empire. 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. Nimrod told him: Worship the water! : , - , ! Who is responsible for the death of Jesus Christ. The limited space necessarily allowed for illustrating these Lectures, must be our apology for merely indicating where valuable information is to be obtained. As translated above, Nebuchadnezzar literally calls this monument the Tower of Babylon. 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. The fascinating account on the cylinderseither translationmatches beautifully with the biblical record, found in Genesis 11:4, 6-9 (King James Version): And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven . It further adds that Nimrod "saw in the sky a piece of black cloth and a crown". Some Jewish traditions say only that the two men met and had a discussion. 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. Father and sons were, all three of them, prodigious hunters, but Nimrd especially is the archetypal, consummate, legendary hunter and archer. Pictured above are mudbrick ruins of Nebuchadnezzar's city along with ancient wall lines and canals in modern day Iraq. This was an imposing tower: Archaeological excavations, as well as a third century b.c.e. Copyright And Babylonia became weaker than the controlling Hittite and Egyptian kingdoms. 3 section. Two other sections of the Quran narrate Abraham's dialogues with Nimrod and his people, specifically around the verses of Sura al-Anbiya 21:68 and Sura al-Ankabut 29:34, where Abraham was thrown in the fire but emerged unharmed through God's mercy. The word, in the Chaldee dialects, is clearly the same as the Greek, and Gesenius supposing the root to have been originally, refers them to the race inhabiting the mountains called by Xenophon. 26. Owing to an ambiguity in the original Hebrew text, it is unclear whether it is he or Ashur who additionally built Nineveh, Resen, Rehoboth-Ir and Calah (both interpretations are reflected in various English versions). And the wall cylinders had an interesting story to tell. ", "Surat Al-Baqarah [2:258] - The Noble Qur'an - ", "Ibn Kathir: Story of Prophet Ibrahim/Abraham (pbuh)", "Sammu-Ramat and Semiramis: The Inspiration and the Myth", "Enmerkar and the lord of Aratta: translation", Current Ummah of Islam (Ummah of Muhammad), ibn Abdullah ibn Abdul-Muttalib ibn Hashim, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nimrod&oldid=1140003548, Articles with incomplete citations from March 2017, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Imperial Aramaic (700-300 BCE)-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2021, Articles needing additional references from September 2021, All articles needing additional references, Pages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback via Module:Annotated link, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, In the Monster Hunter International series by, Mother Abiona or Amtelai the daughter of Karnebo. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. [2]According to K. van der Toorn and P. W. van der Horst, this tradition is first attested in the writings of Pseudo-Philo. But Nebuchadnezzar is the wrong king in the wrong place at the wrong time for his ziggurat to be Babel. Historians have failed to match Nimrod with any historically attested figure. It had been under the control of various peoples and empires. Strabo also informs us that the same language was used throughout all the regions on the banks of the Euphrates. If the people were of old northern mountaineers, they spoke a language connected with the Indo-Persic and Indo-Germanic stem rather than the Semitic. More on those discoveries can be read here. The usage is often said to have been popularized by the Looney Tunes cartoon character Bugs Bunny sarcastically referring to the hunter Elmer Fudd as "nimrod"[51][52] to highlight the difference between "mighty hunter" and "poor little Nimrod", i.e. [41] Hislop attributed to Semiramis and Nimrod the invention of polytheism and, with it, goddess worship, and that their incestuous male offering was Tammuz. He argues that: The biblical Nimrod, then, is not a total counterpart of any one historical character. Real Questions. These stories later reappear in other sources including the 16th century Sefer haYashar, which adds that Nimrod had a son named Mardon who was even more wicked.[15]. The phrase of Jonah, "that great city," is amply confirmed by the historian, Diodorus Siculus, (lib. 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". 1, also Pliny's N. H., lib. He is particularly known for the destruction of Jerusalem in the sixth century b.c.e., and for his relationship with the Prophet Daniel. These also were overcome by Semites who instituted the Old Babylonian Empire, which thrived in the time of the later kings. 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. ), describes the building of a tower, a deity confounding languages, and a prescribed incantation to cause the language of the people to become as one! George Syncellus (c. 800) also had access to Berossus, and he too identified the also historically unattested Euechoios with the biblical Nimrod. The two believers were Solomon (Sulayman in Islamic texts) and Dhul Qarnayn, and the two disbelievers were Nebuchadnezzar II and Nimrod. was a time of great change in Mesopotamia. Birs Cylinders According to some modern-day theorists, their placement in the Bible suggests a Babylonian originpossibly inserted during the Babylonian captivity.[9]. 8 Anab. 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. 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. [9] Several Mesopotamian ruins were given Nimrod's name by 8th-century AD Muslim Arabs, including the ruins of the Assyrian city of Kalhu (the biblical Calah), which was in reality built by Shalmaneser I (12741244 BC)[4], A number of attempts to connect him with historical figures have been made without any success. The Book of Jubilees mentions the name of "Nebrod" (the Greek form of Nimrod) only as being the father of Azurad, the wife of Eber and mother of Peleg (8:7). On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. A small handful of artifacts, however, help show an interesting link between Nebuchadnezzar and the biblical colossus. [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. THE ANCESTORS AND SUCCESSORS OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 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." Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer (c. 833) relates the Jewish traditions that Nimrod inherited the garments of Adam and Eve from his father Cush, and that these made him invincible. volume viii., and Winer's Chaldee Gr., Introd., also Adelung's Mithridat, th. In Armenian legend, the ancestor of the Armenian people, Hayk, defeated Nimrod (sometimes equated with Bel) in a battle near Lake Van. 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. 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. History What was the background of Nebuchadnezzars kingdom? Hist. (Jeremiah 1:13, 14, etc.) The cylinders, bearing parallel inscriptions, were found inserted into the walls of a massive, heavily damaged tower at the site. [Abraham] said to him: If so, shall I worship the cloud, which carries the water? Both episodes were voiced by Mel Blanc and produced by Edward Selzer.[55]. : ! [The Bible, Genesis 11:28, mentions Haran predeceasing Terach, but gives no details.]|. 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. Later, Esau (grandson of Abraham), ambushed, beheaded, and robbed Nimrod. Son of Cush and grandson of Ham; his name has become proverbial as that of a mighty hunter. 15 p. 687. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription. He said [to himself]: what shall I do? There is another translation of this text that is even more direct in language. And as an aside, Herodotuss description of a winding ascenttogether with the steles representation of the towershow that some of the famous Renaissance paintings of a stepped tower of Babel are not too far off the mark. 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. Nothing has been disprovedonly the numerous theories of the critics. 13 The testimony of Cicero is precisely similar. -- 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 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. Our aim is to share the Word and be true to it. According to the book of Genesis, the city of Babylon was part of the territory founded by Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah (Genesis 10:8-10). 13.Hist. Nebuchadnezzar 's kingdom and reign had an ancient and volatile history. In rabbinical writings up to the present, he is almost invariably referred to as "Nimrod the Evil" (Hebrew: ). Later, Mesopotamia was conquered by Hurrians and Kassites. 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). However, these Semites were again conquered by different nations, such as the Guti, Elamites, and Sumerians. And what caused such a linguistic phenomenon, that such a rich and luxurious tower would be built and then abandoned, with only its upper head left to finish? 9. Nimrod therefore orders the killing of all newborn babies. He built cities, like wicked Cain, as memorials to man, rather than building altars to the living God as Noah and Abraham did ( Genesis 8:20; 12:7-8 ). The testimony of Cicero is precisely similar. At a young age, Abraham recognizes God and starts worshipping him. To understand aright the history of these times, we must take a cursory glance at the period both preceding and following that of the great Chaldean chieftain. [citation needed], Still other versions have Nimrod persisting in his rebellion against God, or resuming it. Another Muslim historian of the 13th century, Abu al-Fida, relates the same story, adding that the patriarch Eber (an ancestor of Abraham) was allowed to keep the original tongue, Hebrew in this case, because he would not partake in the building. Citing examples of God's power, he asks: "Has He not, in past days, caused Abraham, in spite of His seeming helplessness, to triumph over the forces of Nimrod? 4 3, 5 6, 7 8. The mid-third millennium B.C.E. The records of succeeding ages are too few to enable us to follow the stream of history: we have nothing to guide us but myths, and legends, and traditionary sovereigns, whose names are but the fictions of imagination. This woman appears to have been a representation of the ancient deified Inanna/Ishtar, herself associated in later traditions as the mother-wife of Nimrod. 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. He was the grandson of Ham, the son of Noah, a bold man, and of great strength of hand. Sir Walter Raleigh devoted several pages in his History of the World (1614) to reciting past scholarship regarding the question of whether it had been Nimrod or Ashur who built the cities in Assyria.[5]. They are supposed to have brought with them to Babylon a knowledge of astronomy superior to any then known, since they reduced their observations on the sun, moon, five planets, signs of the zodiac, and the rising and setting of the sun, to a regular system; and the Greeks are said by Herodotus to have derived from them the division of the day into twelve equal parts. He had completed 42 [cubits? In the Recognitions (R 4.29), one version of the Clementines, Nimrod is equated with the legendary Assyrian king Ninus, who first appears in the Greek historian Ctesias as the founder of Nineveh. In the Revelation visions of the apostle John, centuries after Nebuchadnezzar, it became the primary symbol of the world system organized without God and in defiance of the Lord of History, just like Nimrod. Nebuchadnezzar was then restored and even wrote part of the book of Daniel contained in the Holy Bible. Later, some states were united together into numerous Sumerian territories. Praepar., lib. a. 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. [22], In some versions, such as Flavius Josephus, Nimrod is a man who sets his will against that of God. "[50] Although Lee may have been sarcastically referring to the student as a "tyrant or skillful hunter", the modern usage more closely fits his message. : . This stele is primarily dedicated to the tower at Etemenanki; however, the diagram and floor plan depicted on the stele may apply to both structures, given the textual description of both. But Nebuchadnezzars own cylinder inscriptions affirm that his tower was built as an attempt to complete the most ancient [and unfinished] monument in Babylon. 6 chapter. voce Caldai'o", and other authorities quoted by Vaux, p. 41, etc., also Cicero de Divin. 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. Cyclop., Art. : , ibbr-ayi lipn Yahweh, lit. The first Babylonian king to rule Egypt, he is also famous . Greek document, show that it was nearly 100 meters wide and probably the same height (in comparison, the Great Pyramid of Giza is about 140 meters tall). From the Cyropaedia (Book 7:24) we ascertain that the Syriac was the ordinary language of Babylon. 12 Lib. (Simon Kzai, personal "court priest" of King Ladislaus the Cuman, in his Gesta Hungarorum, 12821285. He also said he would be revenged on God, if he should have a mind to drown the world again; for that he would build a tower too high for the waters to reach. 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. Since a remote time, people had abandoned it without order expressing their words . 3 Strabo, lib. 1 See his Notes on Isaiah, chapter 23. p. 132; and Herod. : , ? Sieb., also lib. In Pseudo-Philo (dated c. AD 70), Nimrod is made leader of the Hamites, while Joktan as leader of the Semites, and Fenech as leader of the Japhethites, are also associated with the building of the Tower. And the king believed in the Creator of the heavens and the earth and witnessed of his faith to his empire (Daniel 2:47; 3:28,29). They are not mentioned by name again in the books of Scripture till many centuries afterwards they had become a mighty nation. : , ? 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. Others have attempted to conflate Nimrod with Amraphel, a supposed king in Mesopotamia, but yet again, one who is himself historically unattested. A small handful of artifacts, however, help show an interesting link between Nebuchadnezzar and the biblical colossus. As it had been in ancient times, so I built up its structure . It must never be forgotten that many centuries elapsed between Noah and Solomon, and that the most ancient profane history is comparatively modern. This Amorite Empire, of which Hammurabi was the most significant king, came to embrace all of Mesopotamia and spread into Syria, like the Akkadian Empire of Sargon. Biblical Data: The son of Nabopolassar; became king of Babylon in 604 B.C. Strabo also informs us that the same language was used throughout all the regions on the banks of the Euphrates. He orders the execution of one while freeing the other one. 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. ) 2023 : , , ? About UsContact UsPrayer RequestsPrivacy Policy, Latest AnswersBible LessonsBibleAsk LIVEOnline Bible. Historians, Orientalists, Assyriologists and mythographers have long tried to find links between the Nimrod of biblical texts and real historically attested figures in Mesopotamia. Indeed, Abraham's crucial act of leaving Mesopotamia and settling in Canaan is sometimes interpreted as an escape from Nimrod's revenge. Borsippa is also commonly known as Birs Nimrud, due to the strong traditional connection with Nimrod. Nimrod was a very significant man in ancient times, the grandson of Ham and great-grandson of Noah. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Hebrew names Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah) are figures from the biblical Book of Daniel, primarily chapter 3.In the narrative, the three Hebrew men are thrown into a fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon for refusing to bow to the king's image. An Assyrian inscription, written up to 200 years earlier (eighth century b.c.e. [39], Alexander Hislop, in his tract The Two Babylons (1853), identified Nimrod with Ninus (also unattested anywhere in Mesopotamian king lists), who according to Greek mythology was a Mesopotamian king and husband of Queen Semiramis,[40] with a whole host of deities throughout the Mediterranean world, and with the Persian Zoroaster. 8-10; I Chron. 10; Micah v. 5 [A. V. 6]). The golden age was achieved in the days of King Nebuchadnezzar (605562 b.c.). "[29] Abraham says, "My Lord is He Who gives life and causes death." Such an event would result in some form of a tower of Babelconfusion of languages story being carried by separate cultures all over the world. The king is then perplexed and angered. 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. 10 The lunar year was in common use, but the solar year, with its division of months similar to the Egyptian, was employed for astronomical purposes. 15 Lib. 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. The "Pul" of 2 Kings 15:19, was by no means the founder of the monarchy, as Sir Isaac Newton and others have supposed; he was but one amidst those "servants of Bar," whose names are now legible on the Nimroud obelisk in the British Museum. Unfortunately, certain scholars have used Nebuchadnezzars Tower of Babel Stele to say that the tower Nebuchadnezzar built became the inspiration for the Israelites tower of Babel storythat it was from this late, c. 600 b.c.e. Credited with the destruction of the temple of Solomon in 586 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar II was also responsible for sending the Jews into exile, according to the Bible. "[citation needed]. [24], Whether or not conceived as having ultimately repented, Nimrod remained in Jewish and Islamic tradition an emblematic evil person, an archetype of an idolater and a tyrannical king. 1 cap. Nimrod, according to Genesis 20:8, was a "mighty warrior." The Hebrew word here, gibbor, could potentially also mean "tyrant," though it is used many other times in the Bible simply to refer to. He would suffer with this affliction for 7 years, until one day when he looked up to heaven and gave God the glory. [Nimrod] said to him: Worship the wind! His Successors. Judaic interpreters as early as Philo and Yochanan ben Zakai (1st century AD) interpreted "a mighty hunter before the Lord" (Heb. Its temples and its palaces had become so encrusted in the soil during eight centuries of men, that Strabo knows it only as a waste, and Tacitus treats it as a Castellum; and in the thirteenth century of our era, Abulfaragius confirms the prophecy of Nahum and the narrative of Tacitus, by recording nothing but the existence of a small fortification on the eastern bank of the Tigris. Nimrod is the prototype of a rebellious people, his name being . 2:48, the president of this caste was also a prince of the province of Babylon. 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. The inference from the statement of the Book of Jonah is, that it was populous, civilized, and extensive. The spectacular stone monument clearly shows the Tower and King Nebuchadnezzar II, who ruled Babylon some 2,500 years ago. 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? Jerome, writing c. 390, explains in Hebrew Questions on Genesis that after Nimrod reigned in Babel, "he also reigned in Arach [Erech], that is, in Edissa; and in Achad [Accad], which is now called Nisibis; and in Chalanne [Calneh], which was later called Seleucia after King Seleucus when its name had been changed, and which is now in actual fact called Ctesiphon." This is repeated in the First Book of Chronicles 1:10, and the "Land of Nimrod" used as a synonym for Assyria or Mesopotamia, is mentioned in the Book of Micah 5:6: And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders. (, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Wikisource:Page:Legends of Old Testament Characters.djvu/178, "The Quranic Arabic Corpus - Translation", "QuranX.com The most complete Quran / Hadith / Tafsir collection available! inscriptions are not even the earliest archaeological record we have of a tower of Babelconfusion of languages story. 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. He was succeeded by his son Laosduchius, the Nabuchodonosor of the Book of Judith, whose successor commenced his reign in the fifty-first year of Manasseh, being the hundred and first of the above mentioned era.