The
Tower of Babel (Heb.Băbhel, from Assyro-Babylonian băb-ili,
"gate of God"), was, according to the Old Testament
(see Gen. 11:1-9), a tower erected on the plain of Shinar in
Babylonia by descendants of Noah. The builders intended the
tower to reach to heaven; their presumption, however, angered
Jehovah, who interrupted construction by causing among them a
previously unknown confusion of languages. He then scattered
these people, speaking different languages, over the face of
the earth.
The story possibly was inspired by the fall of the famous temple-tower of Etemenanki, later restored by King Nabopolassar (r. 626-605 BC) and his son Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylonia. The Genesis account appears to play on the Babylonian word bă b-ili ("gate of God") and on the Hebrew words Bă bhel ("Babylon") and bă lăl ("to confuse"). The English words babel and babble are derived from the story.
The ruins of an immense Babylonian ziggurat, or stepped pyramid, have been found near this fabled location and the romantic notion is that these remains are all that is left of the Tower Of Babel.
The illustration shows detail of The Tower Of Babel from a work by the 16th-century Flemish artist, Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
