NIMEGUEN, Nimwegen, or Nymegen (Dutch, Nijmegen), probably the oldest of all the cities of the Netherlands, is situated in the province of Guelderland, on the south bank of the Waal, 80 miles from the sea and 17 miles north-west of Cleves. Built partly on a row of five hills— Hessenberg or Hezelberg, Marienberg, Gruitberg, Klokken-berg, and Hunnenberg or Hoenderberg—so that stairs are necessary to lead to the higher portions, Nimeguen stands out with a boldness quite unusual in a Dutch town. Till past the middle of the present century it was strongly fortified, its old walls, erected in 1447, having been strengthened from time to time with extensive bastions and outworks. The beautiful park—the Valkhof—at the east end of the town is the site of Charlemagne’s palace, which was still habitable in 1787, but, being greatly damaged during the French bombardment of 1794, was in 1796 sold for what it would bring. Two portions were fortunately preserved,—the vault of a chapel (“Pagan’s Chapel ”), with two white marble Corinthian pillars, and an octagonal baptistery (“Roman Chapel”). Near the Valkhof stands a lofty tower, the Belvidere, erected by the duke of Alva. The great church (St Stephen’s), which forms one of the most striking features in the general view of the town, was originally built between 1254 and 1273, but in its present condition dates mainly from the 15 th and 16 th centuries. The immense nave is roofed with circular vaulting and supported by thirty-five slender pillars. In the choir is the monument of Catherine of Bourbon (1469), wife of Adolphus, duke of Guelderland. The town-house, built in 1554, is adorned with medallions representing the kings and emperors who had been benefactors of Nimeguen, and contains the great hall in which ...the treaty of 1678 was concluded. On the ground-floor is a cumbrous and strong safe in which the town’s charters from that of Henry IV. in 1230 were preserved with the most jealous care, the garrison being called out and the gates closed when it was necessary to consult any of them. Other buildings of note are the theatre (1838-39), the old burghers’ almshouse, the Protestant hospital (1849), and the Roman Catholic or Canisius hospital (1866). Between 1656 and 1679 Nimeguen was the seat of a university; it has now nothing higher than a gymnasium. Tools, gold and silver work, leather, furniture, tobacco, &c., are the chief products of the local industry; and a good deal of traffic is carried on both by means of the river and (since 1865) the railway. The population of the town in 1870 was 19,196; that of the commune increased from 22,929 (15,984 Roman Catholics, 5806 Dutch Reformed, 408 Jews) in 1875 to 24,984 in 1879.
The name Nimeguen appears for the first time as Noviomagum in the Tabula Peutingeriana, but several antiquaries seek to identify the town with the Oppidum Batavorum of Tacitus. Charlemagne’s palace continued to be the temporary residence of kings and emperors for many generations. Prince Henry, son of Conrad II. (1026), and the emperor Henry IV. (1164) were both born within its walls. In 1247-48 William, king of the Romans, pawned the town to Reinaid of Guelders, but in 1316 the people refused to remain under his authority. The Burgundians, who entered after a four weeks’ siege in 1473, were expelled in 1477. In 1494 the archduke Maximilian was successfully repulsed. The duke of Alva, with ten companies of Spanish soldiers, took possession in 1568; but in 1579 Nimeguen joined the Union. In 1584 the duke of Parma’s attempt to recover the town proved a failure; next year, the people having expelled the states garrison, he was successful; and, Martin Schenk having lost his life in a rash coup de main in 1589, the Spaniards were left in possession till 1591. Between 1672 and 1674 the town was held by the French; they attacked it again in 1703 without success, got easy possession of it in 1794, and remained till 1814.
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NIMROD(Nεβpωδ, LXX.), apart from the mere mention of his name in Micah v. 5 (A.V., v. 6), occurs only once in Scripture, namely, in Gen. x. 8-12 (1 Chron. i. 10), where, in a Jehovistic portion of the genealogy of the nations there given, we are told that “Cush begat Nimrod, who was the first mighty one in the earth (he was a mighty hunter before Jehovah, wherefore it is said—A mighty hunter before Jehovah even as Nimrod), and the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech and Accad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar. Out of that land he went forth into Asshur and builded Nineveh,” &c. Just as Enos was the first to call upon the name of Jehovah, and Noah the first to plant vines, so is Nimrod the first mighty ruler in the earth, and as such at the same time a mighty hunter before Jehovah, after the manner of the Oriental sovereigns of old. By the Hebrews the Assyrio-Babylonian empire was at all periods regarded as the prototype of the worldly power; and it is of this kingdom that Nimrod here figures as the founder—not in its prehistorical but in its historical form as actually subsisting at the time of the writer. This is apparent, not only from the general character of the genealogical table, but also from the enumeration of the cities in the land of Shinar and Asshur. As founder of the kingdom, Nimrod represents both kingdom and people; the genealogy knows no distinction between the hero and the nation,—the latter is the family of the former. When, therefore, Nimrod is said to be descended from Cush, the mighty nation of Asshur and Babel (which in Gen. x. 22 is regarded as belonging to...
Shem) is also by the Jehovist assigned to Cush. Shem for him seems to have a very narrow meaning, expressing merely the contrast between the Hebrew lords and their Canaanite subjects; Cush, on the other hand (like *Ivδoι with the Greeks), is a very comprehensive and vague word, which does not readily admit of clear geographical or ethnological definition, and therefore also cannot be brought into contrast with Shem if Shem be used in its modern application as indicating race. A god spoken of as “Marri with his hounds” was still worshipped in Harran after the introduction of Christianity (Assem., Bibl. Or., i. 327); that this Marri is akin to Nimrod is suggested on the one hand by his hounds and on the other by the etymology of the two names derived from the synonymous roots mry and mrd. Nimrod looks like a Syriac imperfect of the root mrd, in which case it would seem to follow that the legend arose among the Syrians, the next neighbours of the Babylonians and Assyrians, and from them had passed over to the Hebrews. Then, further, Nimrod may be a modification of the name Merodach, the Babylonian chief god, the final syllable -aclι being dropped. To the later Jews Babylon was the complete embodiment of the enmity of the heathen world against the kingdom of God, and the idea they formed of Nimrod was influenced by this view. The arrogance of his character, which seemed to be implied in his very name, was conceived of as defiance of God, and he became a heaven-storming Titan. As such he built the tower of Babel, and as such was he identified with the giant in bonds in the constellation of Orion. Jewish legend made choice of Abraham to be his antithesis, the representative of God’s kingdom over against the heathen autocrat. Nimrod cast the bold confessor of the true God into the fire of the Chaldøeans (UrKasdim), whence, according to Gen. xv. 7, Isa. xxix. 22, Jehovah delivered him. The Jewish material was afterwards treated by Mohammed and the Arabian theologians, who mixed it up with other elements.
Compare Philo, De Gigantibus, sec. 15 (Mang., p. 272); Jos., Λnt., i. 4, 2; 6, 2; Chron. Pasch,, p. 36 (Cedren., p. 14); Jerome and Jonathan on Gen. xi. 28; Tabari, i. pp. 319-325.
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He is generally supposed to have been the immediate son of Cush, and the youngest, or sixth, from the Scriptural phrase, Cush begat Nimrod,” after the mention of his five sons, Gen. x, 8. But the phrase is used with considerable latitude, like father” and son,” in Scripture. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar: out of that land he went forth to invade Assyria; and built Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resin, between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city,” Gen. x, 8–12. Though the main body of the Cushites was miraculously dispersed, and sent by Providence to their destinations along the sea coasts of Asia and Africa, yet Nimrod remained behind, and founded an empire in Babylonia, according to Berosus, by usurping the property of the Arphaxadites in the land of Shinar; where the beginning of his kingdom was Babel,” or Babylon, and other towns: and, not satisfied with this, he next invaded Assur, or Assyria, east of the Tigris, where he built Nineveh, and several other towns. The marginal reading of our English Bible, He went out into Assyria,” or to invade Assyria, is here adopted in preference to that in the text: And out of that land went forth Ashur, and builded Nineveh,” &c. The meaning of the word Nineveh may lead us to his original name, Nin, signifying a son,” the most celebrated of the sons of Cush. That of Nimrod, or Rebel,” was probably a parody, or nickname, given him by the oppressed Shemites, of which we have several instances in Scripture. Thus _nahash_, the brazen serpent” in the wilderness, was called by Hezekiah, in contempt, _nehushtan_, a piece of brass,” when he broke it in pieces, because it was perverted into an object of idolatrous worship ...by the Jews, 2 Kings xviii, 4. Nimrod, that arch rebel, who first subverted the patriarchal government, introduced also the Zabian idolatry, or worship of the heavenly host; and, after his death, was deified by his subjects, and supposed to be translated into the constellations of Orion, attended by his hounds, Sirius and Canicula, and still pursuing his favourite game, the great bear; supposed also to be translated into _ursa major_, near the north pole; as admirably described by Homer,-- Ἄρκτον θ’, ἣν καὶ ἄμαξαν ἐπίκλησιν καλέουσιν, Ἤ τ’ αὐτου ϛρέφεται, καὶ τ’ Ὠρίωνα δοκεύει. _Iliad_ xviii, 485. And the bear, surnamed also the wain, by the Egyptians, who is turning herself about there, and watching Orion.” Homer also introduces the shade of Orion, as hunting in the Elysian fields,-- Τὸν δὲ μέτ’, Ὠρίωνα πελώριον είσενόησα Θῆρας ὁμοῦ εἰλεῦντα, κατ’ ἀσφοδελον λειμωνα· Τοὺς αὐτος κατέπεφνεν ἐν οἰοπόλοισιν ὄρεσσι Χερσὶν ἔχων ρὅπαλον παγχάλκεον, αἰὲν ἀαγές. _Odyss._ xi, 571. Next, I observed the mighty Orion Chasing wild beasts through an asphodel mead, Which himself had slain on the solitary mountains: Holding in his hands a solid brazen mace, ever unbroken.” The Grecian name of this mighty hunter” may furnish a satisfactory clue to the name given him by the impious adulation of the Babylonians and Assyrians. Ὠρίων nearly resembles, Ὀυρίαν, the oblique case of Ὀυρίας, which is the Septuagint rendering of Uriah, a proper name in Scripture, 2 Sam. xi, 6–21. But Uriah, signifying the light of the Lord,” was an appropriate appellation of that most brilliant constellation. He was also called Baal, Beel, Bel, or Belus, signifying lord,” or master,” by the Phenicians, Assyrians, and Greeks; and Bala Rama, by the Hindus. At a village called Bala-deva, or Baldeo in the vulgar dialect, thirteen miles east by south from Muttra, in Hindustan, there is a very ancient statue of Bala Rama, in which he is represented with a ploughshare in his left hand, and a thick cudgel in his right, and his shoulders covered with the skin of a tiger. Captain Wilford supposes that the ploughshare was designed to hook his enemies; but may it not more naturally denote the constellation of the great bear, which strikingly represents the figure of a plough in its seven bright stars; and was probably so denominated by the earliest astronomers, before the introduction of the Zabian idolatry, as a celestial symbol of agriculture? The thick cudgel corresponds to the brazen mace of Homer. And it is highly probable that the Assyrian Nimrod, or Hindu Bala, was also the prototype of the Grecian Hercules, with his club and lion’s skin. Nimrod is said to have been a mighty hunter before the Lord;” which the Jerusalem paraphrast interprets of a sinful hunting after the sons of men to turn them off from the true religion. But it may as well be taken in a more literal sense, for hunting of wild beasts; inasmuch as the circumstance of his being a mighty hunter is mentioned with great propriety to introduce the account of his setting up his kingdom; the exercise of hunting being looked upon in ancient times as a means of acquiring the rudiments of war; for which reason, the principal heroes of Heathen antiquity, as Theseus, Nestor, &c, were, as Xenophon tells us, bred up to hunting. Beside, it may be supposed, that by this practice Nimrod drew together a great company of robust young men to attend him in his sport, and by that means increased his power. And by destroying the wild beasts, which, in the comparatively defenceless state of society in those early ages, were no doubt very dangerous enemies, he might, perhaps, render himself farther popular; thereby engaging numbers to join with him, and to promote his chief design of subduing men, and making himself master of many nations.
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NIMÁR, a district in the Central Provinces, India, lying between 21° 4' and 22° 26' N. lat. and between 75° 50' and 77° 1' E. long., and bounded on the N. and W. by Dhar and Indore states, S. by Khandesh and West Berar, and E. by Hoshangâbâd. The area is 3340 square miles, of which only 659 are under cultivation. The population in 1881 was 231,341 (embracing 199,454 Hindus, 24,426 Mohammedans, 5282 aborigines,—the most numerous tribe of these being the Bhils). Khandwa town is the administrative headquarters. The district consists of two portions of the Nerbudda and Tapti valleys, separated by a range of hills, a section of the Sâtpurâ range, about 15 miles in breadth. On the highest peak, about 850 feet above the plain and 1800 above sea-level, stands the fortress of Asirgarh, commanding a pass which has for centuries been the chief highway between Upper India and the Deccan. The district contains extensive forests, but the only tract reserved by Government is the Pun<isa forest, which extends for about 120 miles along the south bank of the Nerbudda, and contains very fine young teak, besides sdj (^Terminalia tomentosa) and anjan (flardwickia binata) of great size. The only towns with a population exceeding 5000, in 1881, were Khandwa, the district capital (15,142), and Burhanpur (30,017). The principal line of road is that from Khandwa to Indore. The Great Indian Peninsular Railway traverses the district.
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NÎMES, or Nismes, a city of France, chief town of the department of Gard, a bishop’s see and seat of a court of appeal, lies 450 miles south-south-east of Paris by the Clermont-Ferrand Railway, and 80 miles north-west of Marseilles. The importance of the place is due to its central position between the Rhone, the Cevennes, and the sea, to the richness of the surrounding district, which before the ravages of the Phylloxera was clothed with vines, to its commerce and industry, and lastly to its archaeological treasures. No town in France can show so many remains of the Roman period. The amphitheatre is still in a good state of preservation. Occupied during the Middle Ages by a special quarter, with even a church of its own, it was cleared in 1809, and since then has been well kept in repair. It is built of large stones without mortar. In form it is elliptical, measuring 437⅜ by 332∣ feet externally; the arena is 327 by 222 feet. The elevation (70 feet in all) consists of a ground story of 60 arches, an upper story of 60 arches, and an attic with consoles pierced with holes for sunnorting the velarium or awning. There are four main gates, one at each of the cardinal points; and no fewer than one hundred and twenty-four doorways gave exit from the tiers of the amphitheatre to the inner galleries. Originally designed for gladiatorial shows, or stag or boar hunts, the area has in recent times been sometimes used for bull-fights. The celebrated Maison Carrée, a temple in the style of the Parthenon, but on a smaller scale, 82 feet long by 40 wide, is one of the finest monuments of the Roman period, and probably dates from the time of the Antonines. It contains a collection of antique sculptures and inscriptions. The temple of Diana,—possibly a building connected with ...the neighbouring baths,—is now overgrown with fig trees and climbing plants, but preserves a few fragments of statues and some rustic columns. The Tour Magne (Turris Magna), situated on the highest point in the city, 375 feet above sea-level, is still 92 feet in height, and was formerly a third higher. Admittedly the oldest monument of Nîmes, it has been variously regarded as an old signal tower, a treasure-house, or the tomb of a Greek family settled in Gaul along with the earliest Phoenician colonists. Attached to the ramparts erected by Augustus, and turned into a fortress in the Middle Ages by the counts of Toulouse, the Tour Magne was restored about 1840. From the top there is a magnificent view extending from Canigou at the east end of the Pyrenees to Mont Ventoux, an outpost of the Alps; northward it takes in the vine-and olive-clad Garrigues and the Cevennes, eastward the valley of the Rhone and the Vaucluse and Alpine ranges, and southward the Mediterranean and the Aigues Mortes ramparts. Near the Tour Magne has been discovered the reservoir from which the water conveyed by the Pont du Gard was distributed throughout the city. Two gates, that of Augustus dating from 16 b.c., and the Porte de France, both semicircular arches, are preserved as historical monuments. Many of the finest buildings known to have existed have disappeared. When it still possessed its capitol, the temple of Augustus, the basilica of Plotina erected under Hadrian, the temple of Apollo, the hot baths, the theatre, the circus, constructed in the reign ot Nero, the Campus Martius, and the fortifications built by Augustus, Nîmes must have been one of the richest of the Roman cities of Gaul. The cathedral (St Castor), occupying, it is believed, the site of the temple of Augustus, is partly Roman and partly Gothic in style. It contains the tombs of Flèchier and Cardinal de Bernis. The church of St Paul, a modern Romanesque building, is adorned with frescos by Flandrin; St Baudile (modern Gothic) is of note for the two stone spires which adorn its façade; and the court-house has a fine Corinthian colonnade and a pediment. Other buildings and institutions of note are the hospitals, the barracks, the old citadel (dating from 1687, and now used as a central house of detention), the picture gallery in the old lycée, the public library (50,000 volumes), and the museum of natural history.
The esplanade in front of the court-house has in the centre a handsome fountain with five marble statues by Pradier. The Fountain Gardens, in the north-west of the town, owe their peculiar character as well as their name to a spring of water which after heavy rains is copious enough not only to fill the ornamental basins (constructed in the 18th century with balustrades and statues on ancient foundations) but also to form a considerable stream. Neither the spring, however, nor the Vistre into which it discharges, is sufficient for the wants of the city, and water has consequently been brought from the Rhone, a distance of 17 miles. A beautiful avenue, the Cours Neuf, runs south for nearly a mile from the middle walk of the garden.
At the close of the Middle Ages the industries of Nîmes were raised to a state of great prosperity by a colony from Lombardy and Tuscany; and, though the plague, the wars of religion, and the revocation of the edict of Nantes were all sufficiently disastrous in their effects, before the Revolution about half of the whole community, or from 10,000 to 12,000 persons, had come to be engaged in manufactures. Since then, however, the numbers of this class have hardly increased, while the population of the city has been doubled. The silk manufacture (reeling, spinning, weaving) no longer occupies all hands. Upholstery materials (which have - almost displaced shawls), carpets, handkerchiefs, tapes, braidings, hosiery, leather, clothes, and boots and shoes are also produced; and, coal being worked in the neighbourhood, a number of foundries have been established. Nîmes is, besides, one of the great southern markets for wine and brandy, silks and cocoons; and there is a good trade in grain, groceries, and colonial wares. The population of the city in 1881 was 61,210; that of the commune was 62,394 in 1871, and 63,552 in 1881.
Nemausus, the ancient Nîmes, derived its name from the sacred wood in which the Volcae Arecomici (who of their own accord surrendered to the Romans in 121 b.c.) were wont to hold their assemblies. Constituted a colony of veterans by Augustus, and endowed with numerous privileges, it built a temple and struck a medal in honour of its founder. The medal, which afterwards furnished the type for the coat of arms granted to the town by Francis I., bears on one side the heads of Caesar Augustus and Vipsanius Agrippa (the former crowned with laurel), while on the other there is a crocodile chained to a palm-tree, with the legend Col. Nem. It was Agrippa who built the public baths at Nîmes, the temple of Diana, and the aqueduct of the Pont du Gard. The city-walls, erected by Augustus, were nearly 4 miles in circuit, 30 feet high, and 10 feet broad, flanked by ninety towers, and pierced by ten gates. Hadrian on his way back from Britain erected at Nîmes two memorials of his benefactress Plotina. In the very height of its prosperity the city was ravaged by the Vandals; the Visigoths followed, and turned the amphitheatre into a stronghold, which at a later date was set on fire along with the gates of the city when Charles Martel drove out the Saracens. Nîmes became a republic under the protection of Pippin the Short; and in 1185 it passed to the counts of Toulouse, who restored its prosperity and enclosed it with ramparts whose enceinte, less extensive than that of Augustus, may still be traced in the boulevards of the present day. The city took part in the crusade against the Albigenses in 1207. Under Louis VIII. it received a royal garrison into its amphitheatre; under Louis XI. it was captured by the duke of Burgundy, and in 1420 was recovered by the dauphin (Charles VII. ). On a visit to Nîmes Francis I. enriched it with a university and a school of arts. By 1558 about three-fourths of the inhabitants had become Protestant, and the city suffered greatly during the religious wars. From the accession of Henry IV. till the revocation of the edict of Nantes (1685) the Protestant community devoted itself to active industry; but after that disastrous event great numbers went into exile or joined the Camisards. Louis XIV. built a fortress (1687) to keep in check the disturbances caused by the rival religious parties. Nîmes passed unhurt through the storms of the Revolution; but in 1815 Trestaillon and his bandit followers pillaged and burned and plundered and massacred the Bonapartiste and Protestants. Since then the city has remained divided into two strongly-marked factions—Catholics and Protestants; happily, however, there has been no repetition of such scenes. Domitius Afer (Quintilian’s master), Jacques Saurin the Protestant divine, Nicot the introducer of tobacco into France, Séguier the archaelogist, Guizot, and Reboul (the Provencal poet whose statue adorns the Promenade de la Fontaine) are among the celebrated natives of Nîmes.
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