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   From: internetado@alt119.net   
      
   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/   
      
   --   
      
   Eduardo - Brasil   
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