Shinar, The Land of

The land of Shinar designates ancient Babylonia — the broad alluvial plain of Mesopotamia watered by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now southern Iraq. It appears in the Septuagint as Senaar and is identified in Assyrian inscriptions with the region of Shumeru (Sumer), the homeland of one of the world's earliest civilizations. Shinar is first mentioned in Genesis 10:10 as the location of Nimrod's kingdom, encompassing Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh.

The tower of Babel was built in the land of Shinar (Genesis 11:2), making it the site of humanity's archetypal act of collective pride and the subsequent dispersion of languages and peoples. Later, Amraphel king of Shinar was one of the four eastern kings who defeated the cities of the plain in the time of Abraham (Genesis 14:1). Daniel and his companions were brought to Shinar — Babylon — in exile (Daniel 1:2). In Zechariah's apocalyptic vision, the woman in the ephah is transported to the land of Shinar, where a house is built for her (Zechariah 5:11), using the ancient name to evoke wickedness enthroned in its primordial seat.