FINDING NIMROD AND HIS TOWER

FINDING NIMROD AND HIS
TOWER
Mark La Porte
THE BIG QUESTIONS
1. Who was Nimrod and when did he build his
Tower?
2. Where was the Tower?
3. Why the “confusion of languages”?
A WORD OF CAUTION
There are numerous theories and ideas about each one of these
topics
My approach has been to look for evidence that matches the
Biblical narrative and is supported by archeology in the form of
contemporary (c. 2000 - 1800 BC) documents and the physical
artifacts.
There are many scholars (and possibly you) that will disagree
with my conclusions, but I am comfortable with them.
Feel free to come to your own understanding.
WHO WAS NIMROD?
FINDING NIMROD : THE BIBLE
AND ARCHEOLOGY
Start with Genesis
Look at the Biblical place names and what archeology tells
us about Nimrod’s world
Examine how Nimrod has been described over the ages
What does the archeological record says about the identity
of Nimrod
NIMROD - MANY IDENTITIES
Via the Greeks, Nimrod becomes Ninus and the husband of
Semiramus ”Queen of Heaven” and the founder of the
Assyrian Empire. The Greeks were always fascinated with
strong women, i.e. Amazons.
The Egyptians associated him and his mighty bow with the
constellation Orion.
Nimrod is most famous to us as the builder of the ill fated
Tower of Babel.
INTERESTING DIVERSIONS
Bishop Eusebius of
Caesarea in the 4th
Century from his reading
of the Ancient Greeks
connects Nimrod to Ninus.
The Greeks were
fascinated with Ninus and
his wife Semiramis.
Semiramus and her dead
and murdered husband
Ninus
JW “WATCHTOWER” FODDER
The Two Babylons,
subtitled The Papal
Worship Proved to Be the
Worship of Nimrod and
His Wife published in
1853 by the Presbyterian
Free Church of Scotland
theologian Alexander
Hislop (1807–65).
DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY
Hislop ultimately traces Catholic doctrines
back to the worship of Nimrod, claiming
that the Roman Catholic Church is the
Whore of Babylon in the Bible Book of
Revelation 17:5, and that "the Pope
himself is truly and properly the lineal
representative of Belshazzar". He claims
that the Christogram IHS really stands for
Isis, Horus, Seth.
Poor Eusebius
of Caesarea
BACK TO BASICS
Nimrod has thus garnered a bunch of ink over the centuries
despite only being in Genesis 10:8-10 and a mention in 1
Chronicles 1:10.
Of course, his connection with Babylon stokes many a
flame
It is probably best to stick with the Bible
We can also try to connect pre-Biblical texts such as
Sumerian texts that pre-date Moses
THE TOWER, FACT AND
IMAGINATION
Pieter Bruega
Pieter
Bruegel
the
Elder
NIMROD : GREAT GRANDSON
OF NOAH
Starting with Genesis 10 “The Book of Nations” we find the first mention of
Nimrod
8 Cush was the father of Nimrod, who became a mighty warrior on the earth.
9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a
mighty hunter before the Lord.”
10 The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, in
Shinar.
NIMROD : RULER OF SHINAR AND BUILDER
OF THE TOWER
Genesis 11
1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.
2 As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them
thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.
4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that
reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves;
otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
WHO WAS THIS NIMROD?
THEORIES ABOUND
Some modern scholars maintain that
1. Nimrod is to be identified with the Babylonian hero Izdubar or
Gishdubar (Gilgamesh); others, identify Nimrod with Marduk, the
Babylonian Mercury.
Those who identify Nimrod with Marduk, however, object that the
name of Izdubar must be read, as is now generally conceded,
“Gilgamesh".
MUSLIMS AND THE TWO
NIMRODS
Muslims believe that there were two Nimrods: the first was
the son of Cush; the second was the well-known tyrant and
contemporary of Abraham; he was the son of Canaan and
therefore a great-grandson of the first Nimrod.
The latter Nimrod tosses a young Abraham into a furnace.
Abram then emerges unscathed and Nimrod proclaims
“Thou hast a powerful God; I wish to offer him hospitality.”
Muslims believe that the tower was built for Nimrod’s army
to have access to God so they could punish him for the
flood.
LET US RETURN TO
ARCHEOLOGY
While possibilities for Nimrod abound, it is more useful to look at the actual record in
stone. A quick summary
Pre-flood period prior to 3000 BC, Sumerian culture and platform temples at Eridu
Flood c. 3000 BC
Post-flood Sumerian civilization with Nimrod 2800 BC centered in Ur and Eridu
Babylonia emerges around 2000 with the Akkadians who culturally blend with the
Sumerians. Abraham grows up in Ur and heads for the Promised Land
Hammurabi builds the first great Babylonian Ziggurat temples around 1800 BC
Nebuchadnezzar rebuilds the Babylonian temples 600 BC
SHINAR
Shinar (/ˈʃaɪ.nɑːr/;[1] Hebrew ‫שׁנְ עָ ר‬Šinʻar,
ִ
Septuagint
Σεννααρ Sennaar) is a biblical geographical locale of
uncertain boundaries in Mesopotamia.
The name Shinar occurs eight times in the Hebrew Bible, in
which it refers to Babylonia. This location of Shinar is
evident from its description as encompassing both Babel
(Babylon) (in northern Babylonia) and Erech (Uruk) (in
southern Babylonia).
MESOPOTAMIA (IN GERMAN)
WHO WERE THESE
MESOPOTAMIANS?
WHAT ARCHEOLOGY SAYS
•
•
Timeline of Mesopotamia begins with the earliest
evidence of human culture around 5000 BC. By 4400
BC there was both pottery and metallurgy technologies
emerging.
Sometime around 3900 BC came the Ubaid period, the
first historical culture from southern Mesopotamia.
PRE-FLOOD SUMERIA, THE
UBIAD PERIOD
Eridu
ERIDU TEMPLE TODAY
(2011)COMPLEMENTS OF US
ARMY
ERIDU
Arguably the oldest city
in the world
Located 12 km south of
Ur and built around its
temple, the home of
Enki, the Sumerian
water god and source of
life
After the great flood the
center of Sumerian
power will move north to
Uruk
THE TEMPLE OF ENKI
The Temple of Enki was originally built by Enoch
or Uanna (Enoch is most remembered as being
the father of Methuselah) as a shrine dedicated to
Enki or Eya
Enki is associated with the gifts of civilized life,
intelligence and creation. The common translation
although only an educated guess is “Lord of the
Earth”.
By the time of Nimrod, Eridu and its temple were in
their 17th rebuild due to constant flooding
Enki
TEMPLE OF ENKI AT ERIDU
By 3200 BC
only a brick
platform
remains
Then the
flood
POST-FLOOD SUMERIA
Some Archeologists pick a date of 3114 BC as the time of
the Biblical Flood. I heavily lean on the agnostic British
archeologist David Rohl who provides a strong narrative
and the science to back up the Biblical account of the flood.
In brief: Sumerians in the south come first - 3000 BC;
Akkadians further north emerge around 2400 BC; the
Akkadian Empire of Sargon dominates the area around
Babylon by 2000BC; Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar rule
from Babylon later
MESOPOTAMIA - HOME OF
THE SUMERIANS AND THE
AKKADIANS
Two cultural groups form the principle elements in the population of
Mesopotamia before the beginning of history and in the millennium after
(the 3rd millennium BC). These are the Sumerians and the Akkadians.
They lived peacefully together.
The people responsible for the first monumental temples and palaces, for
the founding of the first city states and most likely for the invention of
writing are the Sumerians.
There were four main classes of people in ancient Sumer - the priests,
the upper class, the lower class, and the slaves. The priests were
powerful. They were in charge of making sure everyone behaved in a
way that would make the gods happy.
SUMERIAN AND AKKADIAN
LANGUAGE
Akkadian was the native language of Babylonia in the north
Sumerian was the most ancient language of the region and
the language of the Enmerkar/Nimrod stories as recorded
on the tablets
The two languages were frequently mixed. The old
Ziggurat built by Enmerkar/Nimrod was placed by Genesis
to be in the sacred precinct of ancient Babylon or Bab-Ily in
Akkadian.
IS CUSH MERKIAGKASHER?
The Sumerian Dynasty of Uruk and its list of kings is
chronicled in the royal cuneiform archives in Babylon.
Cush (or Merkiagkasher in the Sumerian chronicles), the
grandson of Noah founds the the first great post-flood
empire around 3,000 BC.
Cush is succeeded by his son, Enmerkar around 2850 BC.
There is a strong argument for this ruler to be Nimrod.
ENMERKAR - NIMROD
8 Cush was the father of Nimrod, who became a mighty
warrior on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the
Lord; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter
before the Lord.” (Genesis 10:8-9).
Enmerkar (Enmer the hunter) is argued to be the historic
figure behind Nimrod, the mighty hunter. He would later be
deified as the Mesopotamian hunter god, Ninurta.
King Enmer claimed descent from a people who originated
in the Zagros Mountains from where Noah’s family
migrated.
THE KINGDOM OF ARATTA
The Kingdom of Aratta or “the mountains of Ararat”
(Genesis 8:4) contains a sacred spring dedicated to the
goddess Inanna.
The Babylonians knew her as Istar and the Canaanites as
Astarte. She is the Ashtaroth of the Bible and the Egyptian
Iset or Isis in Greek.
King Emmer (Nimrod) coveted this cult and its goddess for
his kingdom of Uruk and desired to make her his own
He conquered Aratta to accomplish this takeover
ARATTA AND THE NEW
TEMPLE
It was Nimrod’s plan to have the people of Aratta supply the
building materials and labor to construct new temples at both
Uruk and at old Eridu.
The story of this is recorded in “Enmerkar and the Lord of
Aratta’s Epic”
Enmerkar and his son Lugalbanda will eventually add Aratta to
their expansive empire and acquire the resources to build his
temple.
Enmerkar is definitely a “potentate”
ENMER BECOMES NIMROD
The grateful Sumerians of Eridu elevated King Enmer-kar
(Enmer the hunter) to godhood as Asar, son of “Enki”.
Later Sumerians named him Ningirsu, the god of war and
agriculture
His name is Hebraised in Genesis10:8-12 into “nmrd”
meaning “we shall rebel” as the king who will oppose
Yahweh.
A GREAT SHRINE OF THE
GODS
Enmer not just interested in renovating the old shrines of Eridu
The mud brick platform was to be a home for all the gods
In Genesis 11:1-9 we see that Yahweh will humble Enmer/Nimrod
The building of this first Ziggurat will come to sudden halt as
described in the Sumerian story “Ninurta’s Pride and Punishment”
as well as the matching account in Genesis
The builders are dispersed and the site remains in ruins until
around 2000 BC during the Sumerian Third Dynasty of Uruk
GERMAN
“TOWER
OF BABEL”
BUILDING
TECHNIQU
E
BABYLON, FROM WHENCE COMETH
THEE?
The earliest mention of Babylon is from around 2000 BC
Ziggurats will be constructed near and in Babylon but not
until the Second Millennium BC.
The first Babylonian Ziggurat will be built during the time of
Hammurabi around the time of Abraham
The Tower of Babel refers to Nimrod’s challenge to Yahweh
around 3000 BC not the Babylon of the Hanging Gardens
HAMMURABI, THE LAW GIVER
The first written law code is
from the Babylonian ruler,
Hammurabi
This stele (stone) dates from
around 1754 BC
While TV theorists associate
the laws on the stele with
Moses, there is no known
connection
THE FAMOUS STELE
Hammurabi’s Law Code
Today a copy resides
modestly in the Berlin
Pergamon Museum next to
a radiator
The original is in the Paris
Louvre
Hammurabi is depicted in
the US Congress building
along with Moses
ENMERKAR IS NIMROD?
“ The centre of his (Nimrod’s) empire were Babel, Erech
and Akkad, all of them in the land of Shinar.”(Genesis
10:10)
The “first potentate on Earth” (Genesis 10:8) attempted to
build a temple or gateway to the gods and failed
Many Archeologists conclude that the The Tower of Babel
refers to Nimrod’s tower in Third Millennium Sumerian Eridu
not Second Millennium Babylon of Abraham’s time
THE CONFUSION OR BABEL
OF LANGUAGES ?
Genesis 10:5 describes a post-Noah era where
descendants of Shem, Ham and Japheth and have different
languages
Genesis 11:1 says all people spoke the same language
God decides to bring the tower project to a halt by
confusing their languages
Perhaps the order of the story is not in the same order as
the events. Perhaps the folks building the tower were only
residents of Shinar (Sumer).
THE CONFUSION OF
TONGUES
Gustav Dore,
mid-19th Century
HOW BEGAT 72?
Chapter 10 in Genesis lists Noah’s immediate descendants
Japheth had 15, 30 for Ham and 27 for Shem. They total 72.
Isadore of Seville (c.600) is one of the first scholars to determine
which nationalities came from whom. The effort continues
The Book of Mormon relates that God allowed a man named
Jared to keep his language as they migrated to North America
Of course, present day Iraqis still seem to have difficulty
communicating with each other
HOW LONG TO LEARN A
LANGUAGE ?
In Genesis, the builders of the tower instantly started speaking new
languages that were incomprehensible to their compatriots
This certainly has a New Testament parallel on the Day of Pentecost
although the purpose was far different.
The study of the origin of languages is a long one
Whether languages take a long time to evolve or they develop quickly is
a matter of vehement and vociferous scholarly debate
The opinions vary widely but do include options compatible with the
Genesis account
“TURRIS
BABEL”
“LORD OF
THE RINGS”
VERSION
REALITY: URUK IN 2008
URUK ZIGGURAT DURING
THE TIME OF NIMROD
ENTRANCE TO THE TEMPLE
OF INNANA FROM URUK
Currently residing
in the Berlin
Pergamon
Museum
RECONSTRUCTED ZIGGURAT
OF UR (URUK) BY SADDAM
HUSSEIN
American GIs on top
1939 UR RECONSTRUCTION BY
LEONARD WOOLLEY OF FLOOD
FAME
BRICKS WITH TAR MORTAR
UR OF THE CHALDEES
TODAY - ABRAHAM’S HOME
TOWN
It is assumed
that Abraham
grew up here
2000 BC
before
departing for
the Promised
Land
MESOPOTAMIAN RELIGION
Mesopotamian religious practices varied through time and
distance, it was basically characterized by polytheism.
Mesopotamian mythology suggests a number of gods and
goddesses.
There were hundreds of thousands of deities. Each god had
priests, temples and followers.
SUMERIAN SUPPLICANTS
Votive statues
Enlarged eyes
into the soul
Bare feet in the
presence of god
A WHO’S WHO OF DEITIES
Enlil was the god of the air and the storms. Enlil produced
storms or stopped them in order to help men. Enki was the
god of water and the earth. Enki was also the patron of
wisdom. The goddess of love and war was Inanna.
GIFTS FOR THE GODS
Ashur was the patron god of Assyria and Marduk of
Babylon. Enki was associated with the city of Eridu. Dingir
was the Sumerian name for the gods and they were called
as ilu in Akkadian language.
ENTER ABRAHAM
It it obvious that the people of Shinar did not get the
message about the nature of God even after the Flood.
Despite growing up in this theological zoo, Abraham clearly
hears God’s message and departs for the Promised Land
ABRAHAM ENROUTE
ASSYRIAN
OENOPHILE
S
IN
ISTANBUL
CUNEIFORM WIDELY
ADOPTED
Cuneiform writing originated in southern Mesopotamia, and
was created in the Sumerian culture, in order to write in the
Sumerian language. Later it was used for Akkadian,
Babylonian and Assyrian writing.
Cuneiform developed into the dominant writing style of the
Middle East, and even spread to Egypt, where hieroglyphic
writing was normally preferred.
The use of clay that sometimes was fired created a durable
writing medium.
HOW DURABLE?
The British Museum has over
130,000 “tablets”
The Iraq National Museum in
Bagdad has more (or at least it
used to).
Most are prosaic records such as
the number of goats owned by a
taxpayer. Some are literature like
the “Epic of Gilgamesh”.
BIBLICAL BABYLONIA
The Book of Daniel
describes the world of
Nebuchadnezzar, the
destroyer of the first temple
Nebuchadnezzar is usually
credited with the building of
the famous Hanging
Gardens
ETEMENANKI
The 300 foot tall temple
dedicated to the god
Marduk built in Babylon
during the time of the
Babylonian Captivity
Some scholars consider
it to the inspiration
behind the Tower of
Babel
Today it is in ruins
BABYLON MODEL WITH
TEMPLE
BASE OF
NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S
ZIGGURAT IN BABYLON
TODAY
NEBUCHADNEZZAR, IN THE
HOUSE?
In Berlin?