Nimrod is a biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush and therefore a great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of Shinar. The Bible states that he was "a mighty hunter before the Lord [and] ... began to be mighty in the earth". Later extra-biblical traditions identified Nimrod as the ruler who commissioned the construction of the Tower of Babel or Jacob's Ladder based on the Biblical dream of Jacob in Genesis 28:11–19, which led to his reputation as a king who was rebellious against God.
Nimrod by David Scott, 1832
Pieter Bruegel's The Tower of Babel depicts a traditional Nimrod inspecting stonemasons.
Nimrod by Yitzhak Danziger
Abraham sacrificing his son, Ishmael. Abraham cast into fire by Nimrod. From Zubdat-al Tawarikh, a 1583 Ottoman Turkish manuscript.
Cush or Kush, according to the Hebrew Bible, was the oldest son of Ham and a grandson of Noah. He was the brother of Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan. Cush was the father of Nimrod.
A page from Elia Levita's 16th-century Yiddish–Hebrew–Latin–German dictionary contains a list of nations, including the word "כושי" Cushite or Cushi, translated to Latin as "Aethiops" and into German as "Mor".
