Nimrod

Nimrod (/ˈnɪmrɒd/;^[1] Hebrew: נִמְרוֹד, Modern: Nīmrōd, Tiberian: Nīmrōḏ; Classical Syriac: ܢܡܪܘܕ; Arabic: نُمْرُود, romanized: Numrūd) is a biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush and therefore the great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of Shinar (Lower Mesopotamia). The Bible states that he was "a mighty hunter before the Lord [and] ... began to be mighty in the earth".^[2] Some later (non-biblical) traditions, interpreting the story of Jacob's dream in the Bible (Genesis 28:11–19), identified Nimrod as the ruler who had commissioned the construction of the Tower of Babel or of Jacob's Ladder, and that identification led to his reputation as a king who had been rebellious against God.

There is no evidence that Nimrod was an actual historical person in any of the non-biblical historic records, registers, or king lists (including any of the Mesopotamian ones, which are considerably older and more comprehensive than the biblical texts). Historians have failed to match Nimrod with any historically attested figure, or to find any historical, linguistic or genetic link between Mesopotamia and the kingdom of Cush, although in 2002 one scholar suggested that there might be a connection between the biblical Nimrod and one of the exclusively Mesopotamian historical figures, Naram-Sin of Akkad, grandson of Sargon.^[3][4]

In more recent times (during the Islamic era), several sites of ruins in the Middle East have been named after Nimrod.^[5]