What Happened to the Tower of Babel in Ancient Babylon?

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2025-03-02 13:58:34 UTC

A work of art rendering the Tower of Babel in ancient Babylon.

The Tower of Babel, written about by the ancient Greek historian
Herodotus, was said to "reach up to the sky." It was a huge building
which stood as a symbol of the power possessed by the ancient city of
Babylon. Thought to be at least one hundred meters tall, it is even
mentioned in the Bible, but the grand structure no longer towers over
Babylon (now modern-day Iraq). One might rightfully wonder what ever
happened to it.

The Tower of Babel, which stood at the heart of the bustling metropolis
of Babylon, is shrouded in mystery with many researchers and scholars
having speculated at its design, appearance, height, and architectural
make-up. However, they have only really been able to agree on one
thing: the tower was said to reach up to the sky. Herodotus, the
ancient Greek historian known as the father of history, described this
great structure as a wonder of the world.
Ancient Greek historian Herodotus.

The narrative of the Tower of Babel appears in Genesis 11:1-9 as an
origin myth and parable, meant to explain why the world's people speak
different languages. According to the story, a united human race with a
single language migrated eastward, eventually appearing in the land of
Shinar. When the land was reached, the group built a city and tower
with its top stretching all the way to the sky. Having observed the
city and tower, Yahweh confounded their speech so that they were no
longer capable of understanding each other. He then sent everyone to
different ends of the world.

The Tower of Babel also appears in a text called the the Greek
Apocalypse of Baruch, written some time between the fall of Jerusalem
and the founding of the Roman Empire around 70 AD to the 3rd century
AD.

This text, one of the pseudepigrapha, described the rewards of sinners
and the righteous in the afterlife. According to the this, among the
sinners were those who first conceived of the Tower of Babel. In the
account, Baruch is first led-in a dream-to see the resting place of the
souls of "those who built the tower of strife against God, and the Lord
banished them."

He is then shown another place, where, occupying the form of dogs,
"Those who gave counsel to build the tower, for they whom thou seest
drove forth multitudes of both men and women, to make bricks; among
whom, a woman making bricks was not allowed to be released in the hour
of child-birth, but brought forth while she was making bricks, and
carried her child in her apron, and continued to make bricks."

As written in the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch:
...the Lord appeared to them and confused their speech, when they had
built the tower to the height of four hundred and sixty-three cubits.
And they took a gimlet, and sought to pierce the heavens, saying, Let
us see (whether) the heaven is made of clay, or of brass, or of iron.
When God saw this He did not permit them, but smote them with blindness
and confusion of speech, and rendered them as thou seest.

Some scholars have linked the Tower of Babel with known structures,
particularly Etemenaki, a ziggurat dedicated to the Mesopotamian god
Marduk, in Babylon.

The legacy of Babylon's Tower of Babel

Over the years, the Tower of Babel has appeared in many works of art
and other forms, including novels, video games, and TV shows.
Argentinian novelist Jorge Luis Borges wrote a book titled The Library
of Babel, and A.S. Byatt's novel Babel Tower explores the question of
whether language can be shared. The tower even appears in the video
game Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones.

But with all the myth, folktale, and mystery surrounding the Tower of
Babel, it is important to know what actually happened to it and why it
is no longer a standing monument in the Middle East.
Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Credit: Carla216. CC BY 2.0/flickr

Babylon, like many other ancient cities, eventually fell into ruin, and
its citizens plundered the Tower of Babel, using its bricks to build
their own homes. Some time after this (still quite some time ago),
Babylon and its monumental tower sank into the sands of the Iraqi
desert and "disappeared," so to say.

Archaeologists have been working since 1811 to excavate the capital of
the ancient world, but it was aerial photography that provided the
first real clues as to the location of the tower. The photographs show
the tower';s square-shaped outline in the center of the city. Today,
nothing but a waterhole remains.

https://greekreporter.com/2025/03/02/tower-babel-ancient-babylon/

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Eduardo - Brasil
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