Page:The Chaldean Account of Genesis (1876).djvu/203

 Nimrod, and the name of Shamas, or Samas the sun-god, who is most probably represented as his father, may read Kusu, the same name as that of the father of Nimrod.

The next passage in Genesis after the one describing Nimrod's dominion also in my opinion refers to Nimrod, and relates the extension of his kingdom into Assyria. Our version makes Assur the moving party here, but I prefer to read with the margin, "Out of that land he went forth to Assyria," instead of "Out of that land went forth Assur." These verses will then read (Genesis, x. 11, 12): "Out of that land he went forth to Assyria, and builded Nineveh, and Rehobothair, and Calah, and Resen, between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city."

As my identification of Izdubar with Nimrod has met with some objection, I think it will be useful to notice the various accounts of this hero, and the different hypotheses propounded with respect to his identification.

The two passages already quoted from Genesis afford the only reliable information with respect to Nimrod outside the cuneiform inscriptions. According to Genesis Nimrod was a "son of Cush," that is a Cushite, or Ethiopian, and he distinguished himself as a mighty hunter, his prowess being so great that his name passed into a proverb. He afterwards became king, commencing his reign in Shinar or Babylonia, and still later extended his empire into Assyria, where he laid the foundations of that state