We explain what the Tower of Babel was according to the Old Testament and the characteristics of the myth. In addition, its history, height and the origin of its name.
What is the Tower of Babel?
The Tower of Babel is a biblical story from the Old Testament found in the book of Genesis. According to what is narrated in the Bible, the Tower of Babel was a gigantic building built by the descendants of Noah with the purpose of reaching heaven. God considered this as an act of arrogance, and decided to punish them.
For this purpose, God (Yahweh) made each of the people speak a different language, making it impossible for them to agree to continue building the tower. The people then abandoned the tower and dispersed throughout the world, giving rise to the different languages we know. You must read about Aphrodite once.
The story of the Tower of Babel is one of the best known and most popular in the Bible. It offers both a mythical explanation of the origin of the different human languages and a teaching against pride and arrogance. It is a religious narrative that has no direct historical evidence. However, some scholars have proposed that it could have roots in real historical and cultural events.
Characteristics of the myth of the Tower of Babel
The myth of the Tower of Babel has the following characteristics:
- It is a biblical myth narrated in the Old Testament, but which is also present in other religious texts. It is part of the biblical foundation myths, that is, those that explain the origin of things.
- It tells the origin of human languages, but also the punishment inflicted by God on Noah’s descendants for having attempted to build a tower that reached to heaven.
- It became an important symbol in Western culture, as a metaphor for the negative consequences of human pride.
- Although numerous efforts have been made to find archaeological records that link it to a historical event, there is no conclusive evidence that allows us to identify the real existence of the tower.
When we talk about biblical myths, we refer to the stories contained in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament. They are understood as myths because they offer explanations about the origin of the world, humanity, natural phenomena and other aspects of human existence from a religious and spiritual perspective. Maybe you should definitely read about Earth Day once.
What does the myth of the Tower of Babel tell?
The story of the Tower of Babel is found in chapter 11 of the book of Genesis, in the Bible. It tells of the following events:
- In ancient times, all of humanity spoke the same language and lived in the same region.
- The people decided to build a city on the plain of Shinar with a tower so high that it reached the sky, as a monument to their greatness and a symbol of their unity.
- God, seeing the arrogance of humanity, decided to intervene: He confused their languages so that they could not understand each other. This caused chaos and the dispersion of people throughout the Earth.
- The construction of the tower was abandoned and the city was called Babel (which in Hebrew means “confusion”), due to the confusion of languages. The dispersion of humanity throughout the Earth led to the emergence of different cultures and civilizations.
Debate on the Tower of Babel
Throughout history, different scholars have attempted to attribute to the myth of the Tower of Babel a real historical reference.
Some consider that the story of the Tower of Babel could be inspired by the construction of ancient ziggurat towers in Mesopotamia, a historical region that roughly corresponds to present-day Iraq, Syria, and parts of Turkey and Iran. Ziggurats were temples built with stepped terraces, which were mostly pyramid-shaped.
In line with this hypothesis, some scholars link the Tower of Babel to a particular construction in ancient Babylon, known as the Etemenanki. These are archaeological remains located near the present-day city of Hillah, in Iraq.
However, there is no evidence to support this relationship. While the events narrated in the myth may evoke the time when ziggurats existed, there is no historical source to corroborate that the Tower of Babel actually existed.
Description of the Tower of Babel
The description of the Tower of Babel in the Bible is relatively brief and does not provide specific architectural details. However, there are some implicit characteristics that can be inferred from the narrative:
Height:
The Tower of Babel is described as a structure that the builders intended to raise “up to heaven.” This description suggests that the tower was of great height 5,433 cubits and 2 palms, or 2,484 m (8,150 ft).
Purpose:
The builders of the Tower of Babel intended to build a tower that would be a monument to their own greatness and a symbol of human unity and power.
Architecture:
From what the myth tells, it can be inferred that the Tower of Babel was a monumental structure and that it had a distinctive shape that made it stand out in the landscape.
Materials:
Since the story takes place in the region of Mesopotamia, it is possible to imagine it using common construction materials of the time, such as baked clay bricks.
Origin of the name of the Tower of Babel
According to biblical studies, the name of Babel derives from the Hebrew verb balal, which means “to confuse” (Genesis 11.9). Another view holds that the term was linked to the name of a region or geographical place.
Within this latter approach, some authors suggest that the term could be related to the city of Babylon; others link it to a temple known as Bab-ilu, the “gate of God.”
