Shinar in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE

shi'-nar (shin`ar; Senaar Sen(n)aar): 1. Identification 2. Possible Babylonian Form of the Name 3. Sumerian and Other Equivalents 4. The Syriac Sen'ar 5. The Primitive Tongue of Shinar 6. Comparison with the Semitic Idiom 7. The Testimony of the Sculptures, etc., to the Race 8. The Sumerians Probably in Shinar before the Semites 9. The States of Shinar: (1) Sippar; (2) Kes; (3) Babylon; (4) Nippur; (5) Adab; (6) Surippak; (7) Umma; (8) Erech; (9) Lagas; (10) Larsa; (11) Ur; (12) Eridu; (13) The Land of the Sea; (14) Nisin, Isin, or Karrak; (15) Upa or Upia (Opis); (16) Other Well-known Cities 10. Shinar and Its Climate 11. Sculpture in Shinar 12. The First Nation to Use Writing in Western Asia 13. The System Employed, with an Example 1. Identification: The name given, in the earliest Hebrew records, to Babylonia, later called Babel, or the land of Babel (babhel, 'erets babhel). In Gen 10:10 it is the district wherein lay Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, cities which were the "beginning" of Nimrod's kingdom. In 11:2 Shinar is described as the land of the plain where migrants from the East settled, and founded Babel, the city, and its great tower. 2. Possible Babylonian Form of the Name: Though sometimes identified with the Babylonian Sumer, the connection of Shinar with that name is doubtful. The principal difficulty lies in the fact that what might be regarded as the non-dialectical form singar (which would alone furnish a satisfactory basis of comparison) is not found, and would, if existent, only apply to the southern portion of Babylonia. The northern tract was called Akkad, after the name of its capital city (see ACCAD). The Greek form Sen(n)aar shows that, at the time the Septuagint translation was made, there was no tradition that the `ayin was guttural, as the supposed Babylonian forms would lead us to expect. As the Biblical form Shinar indicates the whole of Babylonia, it corresponds with the native (Sumerian) Kingi-Ura, rendered "Sumer and Akkad," from which, by changing "K" into "Sh" (found in Sumerian), Shinar may have been derived, but this explanation is not free from difficulties. 3. Sumerian and Other Equivalents: This two-fold designation, Kingi-Ura, is that which is commonly used in the inscriptions of the earlier kings, though it cannot then have indicated always the whole country, but only such parts of it as acknowledged their overlordship. Later on the corresponding...