And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
The beginning of his kingdom. Since kingdoms in the early ages of the World were very inconsiderable, consisting frequently but of a single town, with the surroundiing country, we may believe that Nimrod's kingdom was comprehended within narrow limits, and that the cities here mentioned were all situated to the south at equal, at least not remote, distances from each other. Accordingly, the localities with which they have been identified by recent researches lie in the plain between the Euphrates and the Tigris. х Ree'shiyt (H7225), "beginning," if applied to Babel only, may signify that it was the first in respect to dignity and importance as well as to time, the chief city, the capital. But it is more probable that it refers to the four cities, as comprising the territory of which Nimrod's kingdom was at first composed.]
Babel (see the note at Genesis 11:9) was doubtless the original of the imperial city Babylon, which retains the same name, with the addition of a Greek termination. Its traditional site was at the ruins near Hillah, fifteen miles east of Birs Nimroud.
Erech, [Septuagint, Horech] - the Huruk of the cuneiform lists, has been identified with the Orchoe of the classics, the Urka, or Warka, or Irak of modern times. It is situated about four miles from the nearest point on the east or left bank of the Euphrates, distant south-east from Babel (Hillah) about from 80 to 110 miles, as variously estimated, and distinguished by the magnitude and importance of its remains. These comprise a mass of immense mounds, extending over a circular area of six miles, and encompassed by an earthen rampart, rising in some places to the height of 40 feet. These mounds, which are called El Assayah, the place of Pebbles, are supposed to cover the debris of the ancient city, whose greatness may be traced by the ruins of brick buildings, heaps of broken pottery, and grave-site relics, for three miles beyond the rampart.
Accad - [Septuagint, Archad]. (It is written Accar, or Akar by eminent scholars.) It is generally supposed to be the Sittace of the Greeks, the Akkerkuf of modern times, about nine miles from the Euphrates, where it approaches nearest the Tigris, about 55 miles north and 13 miles west from Babel. In the neighbourhood is a primitive monument, 125 feet in height and 400 feet in circumference at the base, called by the Arabs Tel Nimroud, and by the Turks Nimroud Tepasse-both signifying the Hill of Nimroud, and covering a mass of ruins. Although, however, the prevailing opinion has long been to assign the site of Accad to Sittace, as containing some elements of the ancient name. Sir H. Rawlinson is strongly inclined to prefer placing it at Sinkhara, 15 miles south-east of Warka, on the ground that its true form, Sikkara, comprehends all the radical letters of the name Accar, with the prefix of a sibilant, which is frequent in proper names both in the Hebrew and Aramaean languages.
Calneh - or Canneh (Ezekiel 27:23). The locale of this city was long fixed by the concurrent authorities of ancient and modern writers at Ctesiphon, opposite to Seleucia, on the banks of the Tigris, about 18 miles below Baghdad, chiefly on account of resemblance to the name of a province thereabout called Chalonites. Rawlinson, and more particularly Loftus ('Researches in Chaldea and Susiana') believe the true site of Calneh to be at Niffer, about 56 miles south-east by east of Babylon. It is a slightly altered form of the ancient name which, in the cuneiform tablets, is read Nipur, and in the Talmud, Nopher. 'The Chaldean god Anu-our Scriptural Noah-was worshipped there' says Rawlnson, 'under the form of the fish god Oannes; and his worship must have been tolerably early introduced into that city ere it could have acquired by the time of Moses the appellation of Calneh (chalanee in the Septuagint translation), which is clearly Kal-Ana-the Fort of Ana, or Anu.'
These four cities were all situated "in the land of Shinar" - i:e., Lower Babylonia. Their position, as defined, shows how far 'the beginning of Nimrod's kingdom' extended; because the space from Erech in the south to Accad in the north formed a territorial line of about one hundred and thirty miles. The invasion of Shinar by this Cushite conqueror was followed by more serious and lasting consequences than the terror or expulsion of the Shemite population. It changed the existing aspect of the ancient world insomuch that history from that time appeared in an entirely new phase; because "the beginning of his kingdom" was founded on the overthrow of the old natural and hereditary system of patriarchal government, by converting society into a state. He established a monarchical rule, which, in process of time, seems to have assumed the character of a pure despotism.