NIMES 



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NING-PO 



NIMES, neem, a city in the southern part of 

 France, important industrially for its manu- 

 factures of wines and brandy, silks, cotton goods 

 and carpets, and of historic interest because of 

 its well-preserved Roman antiquities. Among 

 several notable monuments of the period of 

 Roman glory are a magnificent amphitheater, 

 two temples, and a great aqueduct known as 

 the Pont du Card. (For an illustration of the 

 latter see the article AQUEDUCT.) Nimes is the 

 capital of the department of Card. It lies to 

 the north and west of an extensive plain cov- 

 ered with vineyards, and at the base of a range 

 of hills belonging to the Cevennes system. 

 Lyons is 174 miles northeast by rail. The city's 

 modern public buildings of imposing architec- 

 ture, and its wide, handsome streets are in 

 striking contrast to the remains of Roman oc- 

 cupation. Among its institutions are a school 

 of music, a seminary for priests, training col- 

 leges, industrial and art schools, a normal school 

 for Protestant women and a library containing 

 over 110,000 volumes. One of the most at- 

 tractive features of the place is the beautiful 

 Jardin de la Fontaine (Fountain Gardens). In 

 the days of the Roman Empire Nimes was one 

 of the most magnificent cities in the provinces. 

 During the Reformation it was a center of Cal- 

 vinism. Alphonse Daudet, the novelist, was 

 born here. Population in 1911, 80,437. 



NIM'ROD, a picturesque character of the 

 time of the scattering of peoples some cen- 

 turies after the Flood. He was a grandson of 

 i and the son of Cush, and is described in 

 .TW X as a mighty hunter, ruler and builder. 

 Originally he ruled the cities of Babel, Erech, 

 Accad and Calneh in the Land of Shinar, or 

 Babylon, and was credited with the founding of 

 Nineveh and adjacent cities at a later date. 

 Nirorod's real in hunting gave rise to the say- 

 inir. "like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the 

 Lord," which remains the popular impression 

 of the hero. To-day if a man is called a Nim- 

 rod it means that he enjoys hunting. 



NINEVEH, mn'eveh, a city of ancient As- 

 syria, founded, according to Biblical narrative, 

 by Nimrod, and becoming, in its later history, 

 ipital of the empire (see ASSYRIA). On 

 decline of the Assyrian power, Nineveh 

 was taken, in 606 B.C., by a combined attack 

 of the Medes and Babylonians, and so com- 

 pletely destroyed that even its site was for- 

 got t- 



In 1820, an nan named Rich ex- 



amined mounds lying >n the left bank of Hi. 

 Tigris, opposite the town of Mosul, and con- 



cluded that beneath them were the ruins of 

 Nineveh. In 1842, Botta, and later Loftus, 

 Hormuzd Rassam and George Smith, made ex- 

 cavations, with results of the greatest interest. 

 Royal palaces, on raised platforms, filled with 



NINEVEH 



TheGreatCity 



works of art and having alabaster pavements 

 sculptured in carpetlike designs were uncov- 

 ered ; also libraries containing great numbers of 

 stone slabs, prisms, cylinders and tablets in 

 cuneiform inscription. Among the latter are 

 tablets bearing legends of the Creation and 

 the Flood, and a pair of colossal winged bulls 

 and several cylinders describing the ware of 

 Sennacherib, recorded in the Scriptures. <> 

 records bear out the vivid prophecies in Nakum 

 and Zcphaniah of Nineveh's downfall. From 

 results of the excavations, the inner wall of the 

 my i> thought to have had a circuit of about 

 eight miles. There were elaborate outworks, 

 moats and defenses. The population is esti- 

 mated to have been at least 175,000. Many 

 relics of the Ninevite civilization are now in 



ossession.of the British Museum. 

 Consult Hllprecht'a Exploration* in Bible Land* 

 during the Nineteenth Century. 



NING-PO, ningpo', a walled city of China, 

 one of the live porta opened to foreign com- 

 merce by the Treaty of Nanking (1842). It is 

 situated on the east coast of the province of 

 Chekiang, sixteen miles inland on the Ri 



