Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/313

 From that land he (Nimrod, v.i.) went out to Assyria]—where he built four new cities. That the great Assyrian cities were not really built by one king or at one period is certain; nevertheless the statement has a certain historic value, inasmuch as the whole religion, culture, and political organisation of Assyria were derived from the southern state. It is also noteworthy that the rise of the Assyrian power dates from the decline of Babylonia under the Kaššite kings (KAT$3$, 21). In Mic. 5$5$ Assyria is described as the 'land of Nimrod.'

That is here the name of the land (along the Tigris, N of the Lower Zab), and not the ancient capital (now Ḳal'at Šerkāt, about halfway between the mouths of the two Zabs), is plain from the context, and the contrast to in v.$10$.

] (Ass. Ninua, Ninâ, G ) the foremost city of Assyria, was a royal residence from at the latest the time of Aššur-bel-kalu, son of Tiglath-pileser I. (11th cent.); but did not apparently become the political capital till the reign of Sennacherib (Wi. GBA, 146). Its site is now marked by the ruined mounds of Nebī Yūnus (with a village named Nunia) and Kuyunjiḳ, both on the E side of the Tigris opposite Mosul (see Hilp. EBL, 11, 88-138).

] has in Heb. appellative significance = 'broad places of a city' (V plateas civitatis). A similar phrase on Ass monuments, rêbit Ninâ, is understood to mean 'suburb of Nineveh'; and it has been supposed that is a translation of this designation into Heb. As to the position of this 'suburb' authorities differ. Del. (Par. 260 f.) thinks it certain that it was on the N or NE side of Nineveh, towards Dûr-Sargon (the modern Khorsabad); and Johns (EB, iv. 4029) even identifies it with the latter (cf. KIB, ii. 47). Billerbeck, on the other hand, places it at Mosul on the opposite side of the Tigris, as a sort of tête du pont (see ATLO$2$, 273). No proper name at all resembling this is known in the neighbourhood of Nineveh.

(, is the Ass. Kalḫu or Kalaḫ, which excavations have proved to be the modern Nimrûd, at the mouth of the Upper Zab, 20 miles S of Nineveh (Hilp. l.c. 111 f.). Built by Shalmaneser I. (c. 1300), it replaced Aššur as the capital, but afterwards fell into decay, and was restored by Aššur-nasir-pal (883-59) (KIB, i. 117). From that time till Sargon, it seems to have continued the royal residence.

(, etc.)] Perhaps = Riš-îni ('fountain-head'), an extremely common place-name in Semitic countries; but its site is unknown. A Syrian tradition placed it at the ruins of Khorsabad, 'a parasang above Nineveh,' where a Rās'ul-'Ain is said still to be found

correct, and gives a good sense (cf. Is. 23$13$). But (1) (v.$10$) requires an antithesis (see on 1$1$); and (2) in Mic. 5$5$ Nimrod is the hero of Assyria.