iN I M 
a good port. It was fituated north-weft of Acra, nearly 
eaft ofZephyrium, and fouth-fouth-weft of theBofphorus 
or Panticapteum. ' 
NIMPTSCH, a town of Silefia, in the principality of 
Brieg, near the Lohe, with a caftle on an eminence. The 
Lutherans and Roman Catholics have each a church : 
twenty-five miles fouth-weft of Brieg, and twenty-four 
fouth of Brefiau. Lat. 50. 37. N. Ion. 16.45. E. 
NIM'RAH, or Nimrim, a city of the Gadites, fome- 
wlrere about the head of the river Arnon. Num. xxxii. 3. 
36. But, if Nimrim ftood where Jerome places Bename- 
rium, near the Dead Sea, an(i a little north-eaft of Zoar, it 
muft have been a different place from Nimrah. Thefe 
places feem to have had their names from the plenty of 
“leopards” about them. The waters of Nimrim were 
defolate, when the fathers therein, or the inhabitants 
ail the banks thereof, were cut off, or carried into cap¬ 
tivity, by the Affyrians and Chaldeans. If xv. 6. Jer. 
xlviii. 34. 
NINI'RITZ, a town of Saxony, in the circle of Neu- 
ftadt: four miles north of Neuftadt. 
NIM'ROD, in Scripture-hiftory, the fixth fon of Cufh, 
and in all appearance much younger than any of his bro¬ 
thers: for Mofes mentions the fons of Raamah, his fourth 
hrother, before he fpeaks of him. What the facred hifto- 
rian fays of him is fhort; and yet he fays more of him 
than of any other of the pofterity of Noah, till he comes 
to Abraham. He tells us, that Nimrod began to be a might1/ 
one in the earth ; that he was a mighty hunter before the Lord, 
even to a proverb; and that the beginning of his kingdom 
was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of 
Shinar. Gen. x. 8-10. 
From this account he is fuppofed to have been a man of 
extraordinary ftrength and valour. Some reprefent him 
as a giant; all confider him as a great warrior. It is ge¬ 
nerally thought, that by the words a mighty hunter, is to 
be underftood that he was a great tyrant; But lome of 
the rabbins interpret thofe words favourably, faying, that 
Nimrod was qualified by a peculiar dexterity and ftrength 
for the chafe, and that he offered to God the game which 
he took ; and feveral of the moderns are of opinion that 
this paffage is not to be underftood of his tyrannical op- 
preffions, or of hunting of men, but of beafts. It muft 
be owned, that the phrafe before the Lord may be taken 
in a favourablefenfe, and as a commendation of a perfon’s 
good qualities; but in this place the generality of expo¬ 
sitors underhand it otherwile. 
Hunting muft have been one of the moft ufeful employ¬ 
ments in the times juft after the difperfion, when all 
countries were over-run with wild beafts, of which it was 
neceflary they fhould be cleared, in order to make them 
habitable; and, therefore,nothingfeemed more proper to 
procure a man efteern and honour in thofe ages than his 
being an expert hunter. By that exercife, we are told, 
the ancient Perfians fitted their kings for war and govern¬ 
ment ; and hunting is ftill, in many countries, confidered 
as one part of a royal education. 
There is nothing in the fhort hiftory of Nimrod which 
carries the lead air of reproach, except his name, which 
fignifies a rebel; and that is the circumftance which feems 
to have occafioned. the injurious opinions which have been 
entertained of him in all ages. Commentators being pre- 
poffeffed in general, that the curfe of Noah fell upon the 
pofterity of Ham, and, finding this prince ftigmatized by 
his name, have interpreted every paffage relating to him 
to his difadvantage. They reprefent him as a rebel againft 
God, in perfuading the defeendants of Noah to difobey 
the divine command to difperfe, and in letting them to 
build the tower of Babel, with an impious defign of 
fealing heaven. They brand him as an ambitious ufur- 
per, and an infolent oppreffor ; and make him the author 
of the adoration of fire, of idolatrous worfliip given to 
men, and the firft perfecutoron the fcore of religion. On 
the other hand, fome account him a virtuous prince, who, 
far from advifing the building of Babel, left the country, 
Vol. XVII. No. 1163, 
N l M 1)3 
and went into Affyria, becaufehe would not give his con- 
fent to that project. 
Nimrod is generally thought to have been the firft king 
after the flood; though fome authors, fuppofinga planta¬ 
tion or difperfion prior to that of Babel, have made kings 
in feveral countries before his time. Mizraim is thought, 
by many who contend for the antiquity of the Egyptian 
monarchy, to have begun his reign much earlier than 
Nimrod ; and others, from the uniformity of the lan¬ 
guages fpoken in Affyria, Babylonia, Syria, and Canaan, 
affirm thofe countries to have been peopled before the 
confufion of tongues. 
The four cities Mofes gives to Nimrod conftituted a 
large kingdom in thofe early times, when few kings had 
more than one; but, whether he became poffeffed of thofe 
cities by conqueft or otherwife does not appear. It is 
moft probable he did not build Babel, all the pofterity of 
Noah feeming to have been equally concerned in that at¬ 
tempt; nor does it appear that he built the other three, 
though the founding of them, and many more, with other 
works, are attributed to him by fome authors. It may feem 
alfo a little ftrange that Nimrod fhould be preferred to 
the regal dignity, and enjoy the moft cultivated part of 
the earth then known, rather than any other of the elder 
chiefs, or heads of nations, even of the branch of Ham. 
Perhaps it was conferred on him for his dexterity in hun¬ 
ting; or, it may be, he did not affume the title of king 
till after his father Cufh’s death, who might have been 
fettled there before him, and left him the fovereignty; 
but we incline to think that he feized Shinar from the 
defeehdants of Shem, driving out Afliur, who from thence 
went and founded Nineveh, and other cities in Affyria. 
Gen. x. 11. 
The Scripture does not inform us when Nimrod began 
his reign. Some date it before the difperfion ; but fuch a 
conjefture does not feem to fuit with the Mofaical hiftory; 
for before the difperfion we read of no city but Babel, nor 
could there well be more, while all mankind were yet in 
a body together; but, when Nimrod affirmed the regal 
title, there feem to have been other cities; a circumftance 
which (hows it was a good while after the difperfion. The 
learned writers of the Univerfal Hiftory place the begin¬ 
ning of his reign thirty years from that event; and in all 
likelihood it fhould be placed rather later than earlier. 
Authors have taken a great deal of pains to find Nim¬ 
rod in profane hiftory : fome have imagined him to be the 
fame with Belus, the founder of the Babyloniffi empire ; 
others take him to be Ninus, the firft Aflyrian monarch. 
Some believe him to have been Evechous, the firft Chal¬ 
dean king after the deluge; and others perceive a great 
refemblance between him and Bacchus, both in actions 
and name. Some of the Mohammedan writers fuppofe 
Nimrod to have been Zohak, a Perfian king of the firft 
dynafty: others contend for his being Cay Caus, the 
fecond king of the fecond race ; and fome of the Jews, 
fay he is the fame with Amraphel the king of Shinar, 
mentioned - by Moles. But there is no certainty in thefe 
conje&ures, nor have we any knowledge of his immediate 
fucceffors. 
The Scripture mentions nothing as to the death of 
Nimrod ; but authors have taken care that fuch an effen- 
tial circumftance in his hiftory fhould not be wanting. 
Some of the rabbins pretend he was flain by Efau, whom 
they make his contemporary. There is a tradition that he 
was killed by the fall of the tower of Babel, which was 
overthrown by tempeftuous winds. Others fay that, as he 
led an army againft Abraham, God fent a fquadron of 
gnats, which deftroyed moft of them, and particularly 
Nimrod, whole brain was pierced by one of thofe infedls. 
Anc. Univ. Hift. 
NIMS, a river of France, which rifesnear Schoneck, in 
the department of the Forefts, and runs into the Prum 
near its union with the Sour. 
NIM'SHI, [Heb, refeued from danger.] A feripture- 
name. 
B b NIN- 
