Nimrod: The Tower of Babel

In Genesis 10: 6-12 we first see the linage 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. ¹¹ From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah ¹² and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah—which is the great city.

In Genesis 11 we read of the rise of Nimrod’s tower:  

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.”

⁵ But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. ⁶ The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

Sumerian King List

The Sumerian Kings List, similar to Genesis, records extremely long life-spans before the flood, and also pretty long life-spans after the flood (by comparison with our life-spans today).

Sumerian King List Basic Outline

Sumerian Kings List first three sections

Sumerian Kings List Three Opening Sections Summary

For simplest understanding I have divided up the first three major sections of the Sumerian Kings List into these three parts:

1) Preflood (lines 1-39 of the list)

• This section covers eight (8) antediluvian kings that reigned for a total, according to their Sumerian numeric system, of: 241,200 years. This section is often compared to the ten (10) generations from Adam to Noah as it does have both similarities and differences.

2) Expansion of families and tribes directly following flood (lines 40-94)

• This section is generally thought to be a dynasty or consecutive list of kingships. However, it appears more like (or similar to) what is found in Genesis 10, a listing of families and tribes, sons and grandsons, founding what would later make-up the beginning small brick built cities later called: Sumer and Akkad.

3) The Empire Rises (lines 95-133)

• This section we see a consolidation of the power of princes and tribes and kings. We see the rise of the Temple on Inanna (E-ana), the diminishment of the city of Kish (Cush), and the naming titles change to Lord (En) and King (Lugal) in the direct linage of the “sun-god” Utu (likely Ham the Biblical father of Cush).
• So, just as Genesis 10:8-12 it reads; “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. ¹¹ From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah ¹² and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah—which is the great city.
• The same rise and consolidation of power over the tribes, princes and tongues witnessed in both Genesis 10 and 11 appears nearly identical to lines 95-133 of the Sumerian Kings List.

Sumerian Sexagesimal System

It is commonly believed and accepted that the list is using the sexagesimal number system. This means they were using a base of 60 or sexagenary. It is a numeral system with sixty as its base, like later Babylon.

Sumerian Sexagesimal Cuniform System

This sexagesimal system, as seen above, makes it particularly difficult for us to understand precisely what they are saying when they give common life-span amounts of years, like: “Dumuzid the shepherd (the same name of Inanna‘s later consort), ruled for 36,000 years.”

Never-the-less, it is clear from the collections of their texts that they are expressing a literal belief that there were incredibly long life-spans before the flood, and also extraordinarily long life-spans for a time after the flood.

Sumerian Kings List

For more on the Sumerian Kings List, please click here.

Nimrod: Sumerian Enmerkar

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

Sumerian King List Basic Outline

To understand the rise of Nimrod as lord and king of ancient Sumer, we will look at the third section of the Sumerian Kings List (lines 95-133).

Sumerian Kings List first three sections

The third section of the Sumerian Kings List (lines 95-133) contains the rise and consolidation of power over the tribes, princes and tongues witnessed in both Genesis 10 and 11.

Sumerian Kings List (lines 95-133):

Sumerian Kings List Section Three (3)

These are the names of the kings as they are given in order in section three (lines 95-133) of the Sumerian Kings List:

• Utu (Ham)
• Mesh-ki-ang-gasher (Cush)
• Enmerkar (Nimrod)
• Lugalbanda (Chedorlaomer of Elam)
• Dumuzid (Tammuz, consort of Inanna, also called, Enkidu)
• Gilgamesh (son of Lugalbanda)

Nimrod’s name in Sumerian: Enmerkar

Enmerkar

In Sumerian En means Lord. The Me (Mes) means secret knowledge from the gods (from Enki). In the case of Mer it is the root of Merman, or later gods such as Dagon. And, lastly, the Kar means hunter.

Nimrod we read was a mighty hunter.

Epic of Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh is written in ancient Akkadian. However, the name Gilgamesh appears to come from the Sumerian name Bilgames (????).

Gilgamesh King of Uruk

Sumer and Akkad are the two major opening empires of earth following the flood of Noah. These two major areas (Sumer and Akkad) follow the fertile land down the Tigris and Euphrates. They would later be called ancient Assyria.

Also, on the map below, we see just askew the lands of Sumer and Akkad, the land of Elam.

Gilgamesh tells us on his epic that his father is Lugalbanda, the King of Elam. Lugalbanda may be the Biblical Chedorlaomer of Elam. This would also be supported by the fact that Lugalbanda is clearly spoken of in other texts as the second-in-command under Enmerkar, the Biblical King Nimrod.

Sumer, Akkad & Elam

The entire story of Gilgamesh is one of being brought up as a rich and oppressive ruler of Uruk (ancient Sumer). His best friend is Enkidu (also called “Dumazid” and later “Tammuz”).

Enkidu and Baphomet

Enkidu means “Enki created”. Enkidu would later become Tammuz, the Greek god Pan, and then the Baphomet.

In Gilgamesh’s Epic, following the death of Enkidu, Gilgamesh goes on a journey to find Utnapishtim.

Utnapishtim is the name for Noah in Akkadian on the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Babyonian Ark Tablet

The image above is the Babylonian Ark Tablet. The Ark tablet is said to be a 3,700-year-old tablet, cast of clay, and inscribed with Cuniform script on the obverse and reverse sides. It gives a version of the Mesopotamian flood story, and the oldest known record for how to build a boat saving vessel. The tablet is housed at the British Museum.

The Babylonian Ark Tablet, similar to Gilgamesh and Sumerian Kings List, is recording a verision of the flood of Noah.

Accordingly, it appears to contain the detail of animals entering the Ark two-by-two.

Literally most of the earliest writings we have cover the global flood, Noah (under a variety of names) and his ark.

Eridu Genesis

The Sumerian Flood Account (known as the Eridu Genesis) is a Mesopotamian text relating to the Great Flood also covered in later works such as the Atrahasis and The Epic of Gilgamesh.

Eridu, Iraq is commonly considered the first city in the world, as it was considered such by the ancient Sumerians. It is among the most ancient of the ruins from Mesopotamia. Eridu is said by the Sumerians to have been created by the gods and was home to the great god Enki (also known as Ea by the Akkadians).

Eridu is the likely location of Nimrod’s Tower of Babel.

Eridu: The Tower of Babel

Eridu in the days of Nimrod (Enmerkar in Sumerian) was a lush sea port city. The map below shows Mesopotamia as it was (roughly) in those times.

Sumerian “Tower of Babel” in Eridu