Ashur ( ''ʾAššūr'') was the second son of Shem, the son of Noah. Ashur's brothers were Elam,

Arphaxad Arpachshad ( he, אַרְפַּכְשַׁד – ''ʾArpaḵšaḏ'', in pausa – ''ʾArpaḵšāḏ''; gr, Ἀρφαξάδ – ''Arphaxád''), alternatively spelled Arphaxad or Arphacsad, is one of the postdiluvian men in the ShemTera ...

, Lud, and Aram. Prior to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, there was contention in academic circles regarding whether Ashur or

Nimrod Nimrod (; ; arc, ܢܡܪܘܕ; ar, نُمْرُود, Numrūd) 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 ...

built the

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...

n cities of Nineveh, Resen,

Rehoboth-Ir Rehoboth ( he, רְחוֹבוֹת, ''Reḥovot''; lit. ''broad places'') is the name of three biblical places: * "A well in Gerar dug by Isaac (), supposed to be in Wady er-Ruheibeh, about 20 miles south of Beersheba." Isaac gave it the name Reh ...

and Calah, since the name ''Ashur'' can refer to both the person and the country (compare AV and ESV). Sir Walter Raleigh devoted several pages in his ''History of the World'' (c. 1616) to reciting past scholarship regarding the question of whether it had been Nimrod or Ashur who built the cities in Assyria. Both the JPS Tanakh 1917 and the 1611 King James Bible clarify the language of the Septuagint and

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels us ...

translations of Genesis 10:11-12, by explicitly crediting Ashur as the founder of the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen. The Ge'ez version of the

Book of Jubilees The Book of Jubilees, sometimes called Lesser Genesis (Leptogenesis), is an ancient Jewish religious work of 50 chapters (1,341 verses), considered canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as well as Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews), where it is ...

, affirmed by the 15 Jubilees scrolls found amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls, affirms that the contested lands in Genesis 10:8–12 were apportioned to Ashur. Jubilees 9:3 states,

"And for Ashur came forth the second Portion, all the land of Ashur and Nineveh and Shinar and to the border of India, and it ascends and skirts the river."

The 1st century Judaeo-Roman historian Flavius Josephus also gives the following statement:

"Ashur lived at the city of Nineveh; and named his subjects Assyrians, who became the most fortunate nation, beyond others" (Antiquities, i, vi, 4).

Ashur had three sons called Fares, Mirus and Mokil.

References

{{Authority control Book of Genesis people Noach (parashah) Shem Book of Jubilees

See also

References