Sons of Cain, Builders of Empires. Paradise Lost Gives Rise to the Birth of City-States. – Part II
After brutally slaying his brother Abel, Cain had to flee Eden and settled in the land of Nod. He laid the foundations of the city Enoch, so named after his firstborn son, Enoch. Cain craved the blessings of the Garden of Eden his parents had experienced and he set out to reproduce the first simulated Garden of Eden. It was here, east of Eden, that Cain’s lineage followed a sedentary lifestyle and the origin of states was established.
Re-creation of the port at Eridu, an ancient “Court of the King of the World”. ( Public Domain )
The Lineage of Cain
As for when and how Cain died, that remains unknown. His son, Enoch eventually took over as the ruler of the city that Cain had established. Enoch’s name means “initiated,” which tells us that Enoch was a man who introduced a new field of thought or esoteric knowledge. He was indeed the co-founder of the city at his birth. Enoch used his special knowledge to control the citizens and in doing so, could possibly have been the first person to unite the community through fear and propaganda.
- Ancient Syria: Another Cradle of Civilization?
- The Royal Road of the King of the World, and the Ancient Center of the Earth
- Paradise Lost: In Search of Eden
God took Enoch. Illustrators of the 1728 Figures de la Bible, Gerard Hoet (1648–1733), published by P. de Hondt in The Hague in 1728 – (Public Domain)
The Seeds of Tyranny
Enoch had a son by the name of Irad. The name Irad means “fugitive” in Strong’s Concordance. Alfred Jones translates the meaning as “City of Witness” while Roswell Hitchcock translates Irad to mean “wild ass; heap of empire; dragon.”
I doubt the meaning of Irad’s name was initially negative. However, it is a good indication that Irad was not a good leader. Irad was lawless, wild ass, difficult to deal with, determined to get his way and remove those opposing him. The “heap of empire” may be a way of saying that he controlled a vast amount of land, however, there is no indication of conquest mentioned. Another way of looking at the term could be that the city of Enoch under Irad’s rule was tyrannical, because his name is associated with the word “dragon.” The dragon appears to symbolize stately power.
The despot
Once Irad passed away, his son Mehujael ascended the throne. Mehujael means "Destroyed of God." Mehuja means, “to wipe, to blot, to abolish.” The second part of the name is el, the common abbreviation of Elohim. Another interpretation is that he was “smitten of God.”
