Shinar
Shinar (/ˈʃaɪnɑːr/; Hebrew שִׁנְעָר Šinʿār, Septuagint Σενναάρ Sennaár) is the name for the southern region of Mesopotamia used by the Hebrew Bible.
Etymology
Hebrew שנער Šinʿar is equivalent to the Egyptian Sngr and Hittite Šanḫar(a), all referring to southern Mesopotamia. Some Assyriologists considered Šinʿar a western variant or cognate of Šumer (Sumer), with their original being the Sumerians' own name for their country, ki-en-gi(-r), but this is "beset with philological difficulties".[1]
Sayce (1895) identified Shinar as cognate with the following names: Sangara/Sangar mentioned in the context of the Asiatic conquests of Thutmose III (15th century BCE); Sanhar/Sankhar of the Amarna letters (14th century BCE); the Greeks' Singara; and modern Sinjar, in Upper Mesopotamia, near the Khabur River. Accordingly, he proposed that Shinar was in Upper Mesopotamia, but acknowledged that the Bible gives important evidence that it was in the south.[2][3] Albright (1924) suggested identification with the Kingdom of Khana.[4]
Hebrew Bible
The name Šinʿar occurs eight times in the
In Genesis 14:1,9, King Amraphel rules Shinar. It is further mentioned in Joshua 7:21; Isaiah 11:11; Daniel 1:2; and Zechariah 5:11, as a general synonym for Babylonia.
Jubilees
The
In popular culture
The region's name in its Greek form is used in the title of Chants of Sennaar, a video game that draws motifs from the Tower of Babel narrative.[6]
References
- S2CID 161371511.
- ^ a b c "SHINAR - JewishEncyclopedia.com". www.jewishencyclopedia.com.
- ^ Sayce, Archibald Henry (1895). Patriarchal Palestine, pp. 67-68.
- ^ W. F. Albright, Shinar-Šanḡar and Its Monarch Amraphel. American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 40/2, 1924, 125-133.
- ^ Rohl, David, Legends: The Genesis of Civilization (1998) and The Lost Testament (2002)
- ^ Schreier, Jason. Two Hobbyists Made One of This Year’s Best Video Games. Bloomberg, October 13, 2023.