CHAP. I . ] HE ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH IDOLATRY. 25
Calneh,1 all of which are within the limits, as now defined, the«£t
of the land of Shinar.2 clties-
Pursuing his conquests, we are told that Nimrud went forth
to war against Assyria, and there he built Nineveh, and the
city Rehoboth,3 and Calah,4 and Resen, between Nineveh the
great city and Calah.5 On this occasion no doubt some of
the sons of Asshur were expelled for the second time, the
remainder being subjected; the Pyramid at Nimrud or Resen6
was probably constructed7 as a step towards the establishment
of the conqueror’s secular and priestly authority: for, (as it has Nimrud aims
been rendered) he (Nimrud) profaned to be mighty in the authority^
earth;8 concerning which thing it shall be said, like Nimrud
the mighty destroyer in the presence of Jehovah.9 This
appears to allude to his determination to abolish the remains of
the primeval patriarchal worship, of which no doubt the
Cherubim was the type; and to establish throughout his
dominions the religion which had been adopted by his grandfather
in Phoenicia. There was already a temple on the
mount at Erech10 dedicated to the moon,11 and it is probable
that at this time the patriarchal worship was much corrupted
among the Shemitic people of Mesopotamia.
I Or Chalanne, afterwards Carchemish, on the Mesopotamian Khabur.
—See above, vol. I., p. 117. 2 Ibid.
8 Below the Khabur.—See above, pp. 52, 119.
4 Now Sar-puli Zohab, on the slopes of the Zagros, and on the high road
leading from Baghdad to Kirman-Shah, vol. IX ., p. 36, of Royal Geog.
Journal.
5 Gen., chap. X., v. 11, 12. See the Holy Bible, containing the
authorized version of the Old and New Testaments, with 20,000 emendations.
London, Longman, Brown, and Co., 1842.
6 See above, vol. I., pp. 21, 22.
7 The recent excavations, and the interesting Assyrian remains found
beneath this structure, have determined this site.
8 Committed profanation by abolishing the true worship, and substituting
idols, in order to become popular.—Note on Gen., chap. X., v. 8, Bellamy*^
translation.
0 Gen., chap. X., v. 9, Bellamy’s translation.
10 Irka, Irkd, or Trkah. Compare Bryant’s Mythology, vol. I I ., p. 524,
and Harcourt’s Doctrine of the D eluge, vol. I., p. 194.
II The Babylonian Juno.—Jackson’s Chronology of the most Ancient
Kingdoms, vol. I I I ., p. 33.