According to the Bible, Nineveh and three other cities in Assyria were founded by Nimrud.
The author(s) of Genesis believed that Nimrud, son of Kush, had been the first king of Babylon, and from that land he went out to Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah, that is the great city.
Nimrud was the great-grandson of Noah, the grandson of Ham, and the sixth son of Cush. Identified as a Cushite Black, Nimrod destroys the historical myth that attempted “to explain the origin and natural subordination of black cultures and peoples and the negativity of blackness.” He was a mighty strong man, and sly and tricky, and a great hunter and trapper of men and animals.
Nimrud grew up to be a strong hunter. The people who lived in the city of Babel began to look to Nimrod as their hero. One reason they did is because he protected them from wild animals that came near the city. His followers grew in number, and soon Nimrud became the mighty king of Babylon, and his empire extended over other great cities.
The beginning of his kingdom is said in the Genesis passage to be Babel, Erech, and Akkad in the land of Shinar.
Most scholars accept that the land of Nimrud is Assyria, but Assyria has in their view become a code name for any foreign power that threatened Israel or Judah.
The scriptural names for the land are 'Shinar' and 'Mesopotamia,' the latter being the ancient Greek word for 'he land between the (two) rivers.' Here is where the Garden of Eden was located. And Mesopotamia provided the stage where from Nimrud became a mighty ruler.
Nimrud: King in the land of Shinar
