NIM'ROD ( Heb. Nimrod). According to Gen. x. s seq. (I. Citron. i. 10), the founder of the Babylonian, and later of the Assyrian Empire; also "a mighty hunter before ,Jehovah." No ex planation of the name and legend has as yet received common assent. The mythical theory which found in Nimrod Orion or the sun is now generally abandoned, and the dispute lies be tween a mythological and an historical per sonage. (1) According to the mythological view, Nimrod is identified either with the Babylonian god Marduk, a theory which would well explain his name, through the correspondence of three radicals (see Nisnocu), or lie is identified with thlgamesh (q.v.), the hero of the Babylonian epic, who appears typically in art as engaged in combat with a wild beast, and is associated with Erech, one of Nimrod's cities. (2) Advo cates of the historical view seek, by reason of the exact historical details, a character in Babylo nian annals whose name may be the original of Nimrod. Such a person is suggested in a cer tain Kassite. King of Babylonia of the fourteenth century ff.c., Nazi-marattash (the latter com ponent being supposed to be a god of hunting). But at present under any theory the legend must be regarded as made up of several sources. Yet, while the name is a problem, the biblical refer ence is of great interest as giving a correct tradition of early Babylonian history. Cush, the
father of Nimrod, is now identified with the Kassites, an Elamitic race, which ruled Babylonia for the greater part of the second Millennium B.C. (See KAssyrEs.) The four cities of Nim rod's kingdom mentioned in Genesis x. 10 are ancient and famous. That "out of that land he went forth into Assyria [the proper translation], and built Nineveh," etc. (Gen. x. 11-12), corre sponds with the facts of the ethnical and social origin of Assyria from Babylonia. Of the four cities here mentioned, Rehoboth and Resen are not yet identified. In Micah v. 6, "the land of Nimrod" is in parallelism to "the land of Assyria." The characterization of Nimrod as a huntsman (an ancient and doubtless pre-Israelite saying), would be appropriate to a mythological character or to many an Oriental monarch. The mythological expression "a mighty hunter before Jehovah" Nvouhr mean that Nimrod attracted the attention of the deities by his prowess. or even rivaled them in the art of hunting. Con sult: Maspero, Dawn of riviliwt ion (London, 1894) ; Sayce, Patriarchal Palestine (London, 189:5).