2. The earliest seat of empire was in the south part of the Babylonian plain. The large mounds which for a vast number of centuries have covered the ruins of ancient cities have already yielded some evidences of the dates and names of their founders, and we can assign the highest antiquity to the towns represented by the mounds of NiflFar (perhaps the early Babel, though also identified with Calneh), Warka (the Biblical Erech), Mugheir (Ur), and Senlvcreh (Ellasar), while the name of Accad is preserved in the title Kinzi-Akkad, by which the founder or embellisher of those towns was distin- guished (Kawlinson, i, 435). The date of their foun- dation may be placed at about B.C. 2200. We may remark the coincidence between the quadruple groups of capitals noticed in the Bible, and the title Kiprat or Kiprat-arba, assumed by the early kings of Babylon, and supposed to mean " four races" (Piawlinson, i, 438, 447).
3. The Babylonian emjiire extended its sway north- ward along the course of the Tigris at a period long anterior to the rise of the Assyrian empire in the 13th century B.C. We have indications of this extension as early as about 1800, when Shamas-Iva, the son of Ismi-dagon, king of Babylon, founded a temple at Kileh- shergat (supposed to be the ancient Asshur). The ex- istence of Nineveh itself can be traced up by the aid of Egyptian monuments to about the middle of the loth century B.C.; and though the historical name of its
founder is lost to us, yet tradition mentions a Belus as king of Nineveh at a period anterior to that assigned to Ninus (Layard's Nineveh, ii, 231), thus rendering it prob- able that the dynasty represented by the latter name was preceded by one of Babylonian origin. — Smith.
It is impossible with certainty to identify Nimrod with any names as yet deciphered on the Assyrian mon- uments. Von Bohlen throws discredit on the whole
Ancient Assyrian Statue supposed to represent Nimrod.
story by identifying him with the historical Merodach- Baladan. Remembering, however, that the Septuagint and Josephus write the name Nebrod or Nebrodes, we have the less difficulty in identifying the deified Nimrod with Niprii, Bil-Nipru, or Bel-Nimrod, signifying "the lord," "the hunter;" Enu, another title, being the cor- responding or Cushite term for Bil, Bel, or Baal. Thus Babylon is called the city of Bil-Nipru; and its forti- fications are named in Nebuchadnezzar's inscriptions Ingur-Bilu-Nipru. The chief seat of his worship as a god was at Nipru (Niffar or Calneh) and at Calah (Nim- rild). The son of Bil-Nipru and his wife Beltis or Belta- Niprata, was Nin, the Assyrian Hercules, and epony- mously connected with Nineveh. Whether this identifi- cation be accepted or not, it maybe added, in conclusion, that the shadow of Nimrod has never left his countrj'. The famous ruined palace is named after him, and so is a temple — the Birs; a dam across the river is called Sukr el-Nimrud ; and Layard tells us that when the head of one of those singular figures was laid bare, his attention was turned to it by the wild exclamation, " O be3^ ! hasten to the diggers ; they have found Nimrod himself!" while the workmen were amazed and terrified at the sudden apparition. Arabian stor)- prattles of him as a worshipper of idols and the persecutor of Abraham. — Fairbairn. .Sec Friistneich, De venutore Nimrodo (Alt- dorf, 1700) ; Jour. Sac. Lit. April, 18G0.
ITimrud. See Assyria; Babylonia; Nineveh.
Nim'shi (Ileb. Nimshi', "".IJTSD, saved; Sept, Na- /ifffffi, V. r. 'Safiiffcti, Nnju£(73'i', 'Afieati), the grandfather
NIN"
111
NINEVEH
of Jehu (2 Kings ix, 2, U, 20), but often briefly called his father (1 Kings xix, 16 ; 2 Chron. xxii, 7). B.C. cir. 950.
Win is the name of an Assyrian divinity. He rep- resents the classical Hercules, and is spoken of as •' the champion who subdues evil spirits and enemies." He is given the form of a huge bull, man-headed and wing- ed. A representation of Nin is now in the British Mu- seum, in the Assyrian transept. See Nijirod.
Ninde, William W., a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born at Lyons, N. Y., Dec, 1809 ; was converted at Cazenovia Seminary about 1815; en- tered the Genesee Conference in 1828 ; was set off with the Oneida Conference in 1829; and from that to the Black River Conference in 1835 ; and stationed in Os- wego in 1835-6, and in Syracuse, 1837-8. In 1843 he was made presiding elder of Rome District, and attend- ed the General Conference at New York in 1844 as re- serve delegate, in place of George Gary, missionary to Oregon. He died at Delta, N. Y., Feb. 27, 1845. Ninde was a man of rare eloquence and power in the pulpit. A creative imagination, a sound judgment, respectable culture, large knowledge, and the sweet baptism of sanctifying grace made him one of the most indepen- dent, and at the same time one of the most persuasive preachers of his conference ; and his pastoral and ad- ministrative abilities were excellent. "Ninde," says Dr. George Peck, in his Life ami Times (N. Y. 1874, 12mo), " was one of the most gifted of our young min- isters. His discourses were eloquent, and often power- ful, overwhelming. He was a devoted, earnest Chris- tian. He died early, but his name is still held in grate- ful remembrance" (p. 190). He was some time secretary of his conference, and his early death was a loss to the Church. See Minutes of Conferences, iii, 624; Black River Conf. Memorial, p. 94; Sprague, Annals of the A mer. Pulpit, vol. vii. (G. L. T.)