SACRED History does not record many facts connected with the immediate descendants of Noah. The scene of the Confusion of Tongues continued to attract around it a large number of the early inhabitants of the world, and here was established one of the earliest of the great empires of the earth by NIMROD, a son of Cush, and grandson of Ham. Of great powers and gigantic stature, he first obtained wide-spread renown by his exploits as _a mighty hunter_, and the services he rendered the surrounding populations by ridding them of the terror of noxious and terrible animals. In process of time, however, he combined with his exploits as a hunter the conquest of men, and founded a great empire on the plains of Shinar, the chief towns of which were Babel, Erech (_Edessa_), Accad (_Nisibis_), and Calneh (_Ctesiphon_). Thence (for such seems to be the meaning of Gen. x. 11) he extended his dominions along the course of the Tigris into Assyria, amongst the descendants of Shem, where he founded a second group of cities, Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen. At a period when men’s lives were prolonged so far beyond the period now allotted them, it is probable that this great conqueror may have carried on his successful invasions for nearly 200 years, and after death was worshipped under the title of Belus, or Bel, _the Lord_. Certainly the vast ruins that overspread the site of the ancient Babylonian empire seem to tell of the days when there were great heroes in the earth; and to Nimrod the modern Arabs ascribe all the great works of ancient times, the _Birs-Nimrûd_, near Babylon, _Tel Nimrûd_, near Baghdad, and the _Mount of Nimrûd_, near Mosul[13]. Whether the practice of idolatrous worship was introduced, as some have supposed, by this great hero of the ancient world, or not, certain it is that mankind became more and more addicted to idolatry. Though the knowledge of the one true God, and the promise of salvation, had been handed down by tradition, and though His invisible attributes, _even His eternal power and Godhead_, were clearly to be discerned in the works of creation (Rom. i. 19, 20), yet mankind _glorified Him not as God, neither were they thankful_. They began _to worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator_. The sun, moon, and stars, the principle of fire, even the inferior animals and departed heroes, came to be regarded with veneration, and usurped the worship due only to the Supreme. With idolatry came its usual consequences, a deep moral degeneracy, cruelty, tyranny, and licentiousness.