to Zoar (see Kir OF MOAB).
A name resembling Nimrim has been found By
de Saulcy, Seetzen, and Tristram in Bory Nemeira
and Wady N’meirah about eight miles south of Dra’a (Zoar), in one of the richest and most The ‘ Waters of Nimrim’ were found by Klein at a spot higher
luxuriant spots in the country.
up, where were the ruins of an old town and irri-
rated garden bearing the name ‘the Springs of imeivah’; in close proximity was also found the ‘brook of the willows,’ spoken of in connexion
with Nimrim (Is 15’).
These passages call attention to the abundance begotten by those waters, the and hay ; and Tristram relates that the greenness, exuberant fertility, and gered fountains are still as marked as ever (Bible Places, p. 353).
Lireraturs.—Dillmann, Jesaja, ad loc.; Cheyne, Proph. of
Isaiah’, ad loc. (accepts, while Dillm. rejects, identity with Beth-nimrah of Nu); Buhl, GAP 124, 272; de Saulcy, i. 283 ff., ii. 52; Seetzen, ii. 354, iii, 18; Palmer, Desert of the Exodus, 465. C. WARREN.
NIMROD (7523, Νεβρώδ, Nemrod).—A son of Cush, who ‘began to be a mighty one in the earth,’ and a great hunter, and who is described as having had, as the beginning of his kingdom, the cities Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar or Babylonia (Gn 10°), There have been many speculations as to the identity of this ancient hero and the meaning of his name. To all appearance, his greatness rested as much upon his prowess as a hunter as upon his success as a ruler of men; but it is to be noted that the ex- pression ‘a mighty hunter before the Lord’ is, to all appearance, merely another way of saying ‘a very great hunter indeed,’ and may perhaps be ironically intended. That violence on insolence are associated with the character of the hero (see Josephus, Ant. 1. iv. 2) on account of the expres- sion 153 gibbér, in no way affects the question of his career and identity. With regard to this, it may be noted that the derivation of Nimrod from the root > mdrad, ‘to rebel,’ rests on a false eer and there is also no real ground to connect him with the building of the tower of Babel, to which his name is attached by tradition (see Mirkhond*), though we shall see further on what connexion, if any, he may have had with that erection.
Among the later attempts at identification, the most important is that which made him to be one with Izdubar or Gistubar, as the name was then read, and it was confidently expected that the true reading of this name when found would turn out to be very similar to the Hebrew form Nimrod —an expectation which seemed to be confirmed by the reading of Namrasit as the Semitic form of Gisdubarra, pointed out by Hommel. There is hardly any Assyriologist who would not have liked to welcome this explanation, for it had in it much inherent probability. When, however, the Babylonian pronunciation of the name read as Izdubar or Gistubar appeared, it turned out to be Gilgames, the Gilgamos of Aelian, as pointed out by Oppert. The supposition that Nimrod was the
* Rauzat-us-Safa, translated by E. Rehatsek (Oriental Trans- ation Fund, vol. i. pt. i. p. 140).
It appears to have been in the neighbourhood of one of the few passes leading down to the Dead Sea. In the
ss and herbage
NIMROD
same as the hero Gilgame& therefore fell to the ground.
There was then no alternative but to fall back upon the suggestion, made by Josef Grivel (TSBA iil. 136 ff.) in 1874, that Nimrod is none other than the god Merodach. Little need exists to through all Grivel’s reasons for supposing that the two were identical, many of these being untenable ; but it may be noted that his view was based prima- rily upon the likeness he had noticed between the shorter form of the name of Merodach in Accadian and the biblical Nimrod. Notwithstanding the difference that appears to exist between these two names, it is certain that they are very closely related. The name Merodach is, as is well known, of Accadian origin, the full form being Amar- utuk or Amar-uduk, and the meaning apparently ‘the brightness of day.’ From this it will be seen that he was a solar hero, and that his name is compounded with that of the Sungod, one of whose names, in Accadian, was Utuki—the same word as the final element, utuk or uduk. As the syllable -uk was, to all intents and purposes, a termination or lengthening, we have in Amaruduk a word containing all the consonants of Nimrod except the initial nm. The addition of this con- sonant is apparently due to the same cause as the initial m in Nisroch and Nibhaz (see these articles), namely, the desire to disfigure the name of 8 heathen deity. The vowels of this newly formed word have also been brought more or less into conformity with that of Nisroch and of Nibhaz (cf. JRAS, 1899, p. 459).
In Gn 108 the expression ‘Cush begat Nimrod’ apparently means only that he was of Cushite nationality (he is not mentioned among the sons of Cush in ν. 7), and not a Semite. This would agree with the evidence furnished by the name, for Amaruduk is not Semitic, but Accadian, which is regarded by many as a Cushite language. Amar- uduk or Merodach was son of Ea or Aa, whose name is also Accadian.