Nimrod and the Dread of the Empire: Antipersona

This article aims to provide a hermeneutic reconstruction of the figure of the biblical Babel’s mysterious protagonist and a negative cultural protagonist, Nimrod. An interpretative discourse is undertaken on the basis of the rich source data: biblical, apocryphal and pseudoepigraphical texts, and rabbinic literature, extracted by M.J. Bin Gorion (Berdyczewski) and L. Ginzberg, to mention the two most important compilers of Jewish legends and Hebrew myths. The concept of dread of the empire, found in rabbinic literature and elucidated by José Faur, appears to be crucial for understanding the complex figure of Nimrod. The reconstruction is performed with the aid of Andrzej Wierciński’s Antipersona category.

This article aims to provide a hermeneutic reconstruction of the figure of the biblical Babel’s mysterious protagonist and a negative cultural protagonist, Nimrod. An interpretative discourse is undertaken on the basis of the rich source data: biblical, apocryphal and pseudoepigraphical texts, and rabbinic literature, extracted by M.J. Bin Gorion (Berdyczewski) and L. Ginzberg, to mention the two most important compilers of Jewish legends and Hebrew myths. The concept of dread of the empire, found in rabbinic literature and elucidated by José Faur, appears to be crucial for understanding the complex figure of Nimrod. The reconstruction is performed with the aid of Andrzej Wierciński’s Antipersona category.