11:9, to the verb balal, which means "to confuse or confound" in Hebrew. The Hebrew version of the name of the city and the tower, Bavel, is attributed, in Gen. Some suppose that the Biblical narrative is a reaction to the ancient Mesopotamian system of beliefs reflected in these impressive structures-beliefs that ruled the hearts and minds of some of the greatest civilizations of ancient times. Ziggurats are among the largest religious structures ever built. Escher depicts a more stylized geometrical structure in his woodcut representation of the story. Pieter Brueghel's influential portrayal is based on the Colosseum in Rome, while later conical depictions of the tower (as depicted in Doré's illustration) resemble much later Muslim towers observed by nineteenth century explorers in the area, notably the Minaret of Samarra. This is the type of structure referred to in the Biblical narrative, though artists and biblical scholars envisioned the tower in many different ways. "Reaching heaven" is a common description in temple tower inscriptions. These huge, squared-off stepped temples were intended as gateways for the gods to come to earth, literal stairways to heaven. The Greek form of the name is from the native Akkadian Bāb-ilim, which means "Gate of the god." This correctly summarizes the religious purpose of the great temple towers (the ziggurats) of ancient Sumer (which many believe to be Biblical Shinar in modern southern Iraq). Historicity Historical and linguistic context 9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel (confusion) because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 7 Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 6 And the Lord said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children builded. 4 And they said, Come, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 3 And they said one to another, Come, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and they dwelt there. The story is found in Genesis 11:1-9 as follows:ġ And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. The Tower of Babel by Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1563) As a result, this story is often used within a religious context to explain the existence of many different languages. The normal interpretive account of the story, as found, for example, in Flavius Josephus, explains the tower's destruction in terms of humankind's deficiency in comparison to God: Within a religious framework, humankind is considered to be an inherently flawed creation dependent on a perfect being for its existence, and thus, the construction of the tower is a potentially hubristic act of defiance towards the God that created them. The tower's destruction is not described in Genesis, but is mentioned in the Book of Jubilees, and elsewhere. God, observing the arrogance of humanity, resolves to confuse the previously uniform language of humanity, thereby preventing any such future efforts. Engraving The Confusion of Tongues by Gustave Doré (1865), who based his conception on the Minaret of Samarra.Īccording to Genesis Chapter 11 of the Bible, the Tower of Babel (Hebrew: מגדל בבל Migdal Bavel) was a tower built to reach the heavens by a united humanity.
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