See Babel.
Digital Bible Dictionary, Grupo C Service & Design Ltda., Colombia, 2003
Source: Digital Bible Dictionary
Belief or legend that, after the flood, men tried to build a tower that reached the sky to defend themselves against a possible new flood. (Gen 11.1-9).
God confused their tongues so that they would not complete their purpose and reveal themselves against God. (Gen. 11. 1-9)
The remains of monumental constructions, such as ziggurats and great palaces, could be frequent in Babylon and its surroundings, which is why this event was always located in the city.
For example, the Elsahn ziggurat of Babylon, excavated in 1913, had a side of 90 m. and a height of another 90 (seven floors of 33,18,6,6,6,6 and 15). At the top there was a chapel with the function of an observatory and that was called “house of the wedding” (saharu) or cult to Marduk, lord of the sky.
For the rest, apart from the Bible, there is no other written or archaeological document that could allude to a defensive construction against a new deluge or inundation.
Pedro Chico González, Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy, Editorial Bruño, Lima, Peru 2006
Source: Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy
See BABEL.
Source: Dictionary of the Bible
The “Tower of Babel” is the name of the building mentioned in Genesis 11:1-9.
Contents
- 1 History of the Tower
- 2 Place of the Tower of Babel
- 3 Shape of the Tower of Babel
- 4 Bibliography
History of the Tower
Noah’s descendants had migrated from the “east” (Armenia) first south along the Tigris stream, and then west across the Tigris to “a plain in the country of Shinar.” As their growing numbers forced them to live in towns increasingly distant from their patriarchal homes, “they said: Come on, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let’s become famous, in case we get scattered all over the world. make of the earth”. The work began soon, “and so the brick served as stone and bitumen as mortar.” But God confused his language, in such a way that each one did not understand his neighbor’s and from that point they were scattered over the earth and stopped building the city.
This is the biblical account of the Tower of Babel. So far no Babylonian document has been discovered that clearly refers to this subject. Authorities such as George Smith, Chad Boscawen and Sayce believed they had discovered a reference to the Tower of Babel, but Fr. Delitzch pointed out that the translation of the precise words that determine the meaning of the text is highly uncertain (Smith-Delitzch “Chaldaise Genesis ”, 1876, 120-124; Anmerk., p. 310).
Oppert finds an allusion to the Tower of Babel in a text by Nebuchadnezzar, but this opinion is only a theory (cf. “The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia”, I, pl. 38, col. 2, line 62; pl 41, col 1, I. 27, col 2, 1. 15; Nikel, “Genesis und Keilschriftforschung”, 188 sqq.; Bezold, “Ninive und Babylon”, 128; Jeremias, “Das alte Testament im Lichte des alten Orients”, 2nd ed., Leipzig, 1906, 286; Kaulen, “Assyrien und Babylonien”, 89).
We find a more probable reference to the Tower of Babel in Berossus’ “History” as it has come down to us in two variants by Abydenus and Alexander Polymath respectively (“Histor. Graec. Fragm.”, ed. Didot, II, 512; IV , 282; Eusebius, “Chron.”, I, 18, in PG, XIX, 123; “Praep. Evang.”, IX, 14, in PG, XXI, 705). Great importance is attached to this reference, as it is assumed that Berossus drew his material from Babylonian sources.
Place of the Tower of Babel
Both the holy writer of Genesis and Berossus place the Tower of Babel somewhere in Babylon. There are three main opinions about the precise position of the city.
(1) Pietro della Valle (“Viaggi descritti”, Rome, 1650) placed the tower in the north of the city, on the left bank of the Euphrates, where the ruins called Babil now stand. Schrader tends to be of the same opinion in Riehm’s “Handworterbuch des biblischen Altertums” (I, 138); while in “The Cuneiform Inscriptions” (I, 108) he leaves it to the reader to decide between Babil and Borsippa’s temple. Babil’s position within the boundaries of ancient Babylon agrees with the biblical location of the tower; the very name Babil can be taken as a traditional relic of the name Babel interpreted by the sacred writer as a reference to the confusion of tongues.
(2) Rawlinson (Smith-Sayce, “Chaldean account of the Genesis”, 1880, pp. 74, 171) places the tower in the ruins of Tell-Amram, which Oppert considers to be the remnants of the Hanging Gardens. These ruins are on the same side of the Euphrates as those of Babil and are also within the old city limits. The excavations of the German Orientgesellschaft have uncovered in this place the old national sanctuary of Esaglia, consecrated to Marduk-Bel, with the documentary testimony that the roof of the construction had been made to reach the sky. This agrees with the description of the Tower of Babel found in Genesis 11:4 “with its top in the heavens”. The Etemenanki tower or house of the foundation of Heaven and earth also belongs to this place, which is made up of six gigantic steps.
(3) Sayce (Lectures on the Religion of the Ancient Babylonians, p. 112-3, 405-7), Oppert (“Expédition en Mésopotamie”, I, 200-16; “Études assyriennes”, pp. 91-132) and others are of the common opinion that the Tower of Babel is identified with the ruins of Birs-Nimrud at Borsippa, situated on the right bank of the Euphrates, about 7 or 8 miles from the ruins of the city proper. These are the ruins of the temple of Ezida, consecrated to Nebo, which according to the aforementioned inscription of Nebuchadnezzar, was repaired and completed by that king, since some ruler of old had left it unfinished. These data are too vague to be the basis of an apodictic argument. The Babylonian Talmud (Buxtorf, “Lexicon talmudicum”, col. 313) connects Borsippa with the confusion of tongues; but a long period of time elapsed from the composition of Genesis 11 to the time of the Babylonian Talmud. Furthermore, the biblical account seems to imply that the tower was within the city limits, whereas it is unlikely that in very ancient times the limits reached Borsippa. The historic character of the tower is not diminished by our inability to pinpoint its position with certainty.
Shape of the Tower of Babel
The form of the tower must have been similar to the constructions that still exist in a dilapidated state in Babylon; the oldest pyramids in Egypt present vestiges of the same form. Cubic blocks of masonry, of decreasing size, are stacked one on top of the other, thus forming separate floors, an inclined plane or stairway leading from one floor to another. The towers of Ur and Arach had only two or three storeys, but that of Birs-Nimrud had seven without counting the high platform on which the structure had been erected. Each floor was painted a particular color according to the planet it was dedicated to. Generally the corners of these towers pointed to the cardinal points, while in Egypt this position was occupied by the sides of the pyramids. On top of these constructions there was a sanctuary, in such a way that they served as temples and observatories. The interior consisted of sun-dried mud, while the exterior walls were lined with fire-baked bricks. The peculiar asphalt of the Babylonian neighborhood served as mortar; details all in accordance with the Genesis account. Although some writers claim that every Babylonian city had one of these towers or zikkurat (meaning “pointed” according to Schrader, “set high” according to Haupt, “memorial” according to Vigouroux), no complete specimen has been preserved. The Tower of Khorsabad is perhaps the best preserved, but Assyrian sculpture supplements our knowledge of even this construction. The only indication of the time in which the Tower of Babel was built is found in the name of Peleg (Gen. 11,10-17), the great-nephew of Héber; this places the date between 101 and 870 years after the Flood. The limits are so unsatisfactory because the Greek version differs in its numbers from the Masoretic text.
Bibliography
Besides the works indicated in the course of the article, see RAWLINSON, The Five Great Monarchies, II (London, 1862-7, 1878), 534-5; SCHRADER-WHITEHOUSE, The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament, I (London, 1885-8), 106-14; HOBERG, Genesis, 2nd. ed. (Freiburg, 1899), 129. For a critical opinion, see SKINNER, Genesis (New York, 1910, 228 sqq.).
Source: Maas, Anthony. “Tower of Babel.” The Catholic Encyclopaedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15005b.htm
Translated by Rodrigo de Piérola C. LH M.
Source: Catholic Encyclopedia