[img]
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/Brueghel-tower-of-babel.jpg/400px-Brueghel-tower-of-babel.jpg[/img]The [b]Tower of Babel[/b] ([url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_language]Hebrew[/url]: מגדל בבל [i]Migdal Bavel[/i] [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_language]Arabic[/url]: برج بابل [i]Burj Babil[/i]), according to the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Genesis]Book of Genesis[/url],[sup][url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel#cite_note-0][1][/url][/sup] was an enormous [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower]tower[/url] built at the city of [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon]Babylon[/url] ([url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_language]Hebrew[/url]: [i]Babel[/i], [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akkadian_language]Akkadian[/url]: [i]Babilu[/i]), a cosmopolitan city typified by a confusion of languages,[sup][url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel#cite_note-Harris-1][2][/url][/sup] also called the "beginning" of [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod_%28Bible%29]Nimrod[/url]'s kingdom. According to the biblical account, a united [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_race]humanity[/url] of the generations following the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deluge_%28mythology%29]Great Flood[/url],
speaking a single language and migrating from the east, participated in
the building. The people decided their city should have a tower so
immense that it would have "its top in the heavens."[sup][url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel#cite_note-2][3][/url][/sup]
However, the Tower of Babel was not built for the worship and praise
of God, but was instead dedicated to the glory of man, to "make a name"
for the builders: "Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a
city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name
for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of
the whole earth.'" (Genesis 11:4). God, seeing what the people were
doing, came down and confounded their languages and scattered the
people throughout the earth.
The Tower of Babel has often been associated with known structures, notably the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etemenanki]Etemenanki[/url], a [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat]ziggurat[/url] dedicated to [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marduk]Marduk[/url] by [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabopolassar]Nabopolassar[/url] ([i]c.[/i] [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/610_BC]610 BC[/url]). A [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumer]Sumerian[/url] story with some similar elements is preserved in [i][url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enmerkar_and_the_Lord_of_Aratta]Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta[/url][/i].
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