Historia Dynastiarum.

Dyn. I.

The Tower of Babel.

Nimrod, the first king in the Babylonian region.

In the seventieth year of Reu, people said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly, and let us build a lofty tower reaching toward the heavens, so that we may have a name, lest we be scattered over the face of the earth." They did so in the land of Shinar, which is Samaria. Nimrod, son of Cush, was the one who conceived and built the tower with his craft, and he was the first king to arise in the land of Babylon.

The origin of his wearing a crown.

He was the one who saw the likeness of a crown in the heavens, took a similar one, and placed it upon his head, wherefore it was said that his crown descended from heaven. God Almighty said, "This is the beginning of their work, and they will not be stopped from anything they intend. I will scatter their languages so that one will not understand what the other says."

It perishes.

Confusion of tongues. Three cities founded by Nimrod.

God scattered them over the face of the earth and sent a violent wind that demolished the tower. Nimrod the tyrant died therein, and the languages of the people were altered; for this reason, the name of that place was called Babel. Nimrod built three cities: Erech, Accad—which is Edessa—Nisibis, and Ctesiphon.

Serug.

First to mint coins.

Origin of idols.

Serug, son of Reu, fathered Nahor. His age, according to the Septuagint account, was one hundred and thirty years, and according to the Jewish account, thirty years. His total days were three hundred and thirty years. It is said that Serug introduced the minting of dirhams silver coins and dinars gold coins. In his days, people increasingly adopted the making of idols, and the demons appeared to them through them, performing astonishing signs.

Semiramis, Queen of the Chaldeans: established measures, weights, and the arts of weaving and dyeing.

And Semiramis, Queen of the Chaldeans, created measures and weights, and the weaving of...