Tower of Babel

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Tower of Babel

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A story told in Genesis 11:1-9. Mankind, after the deluge, traveled from the mountain of the East, where the ark had rested, and settled in Shinar. Here they attempted to build a city and a tower whose top might reach unto heaven, but were miraculously prevented by their language being confounded. In this way the diversity of human speech and the dispersion of mankind were accounted for. The story finds a parallel in the Sumerian myth, Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta:

Then Enki, the lord of abundance whose commands are trustworthy,
The lord of wisdom, who understands the land,
The leader of the gods,
Endowed with wisdom, the lord of Eridu
Changed the speech in their mouths, brought contention into it,
Into the speech of man that until then had been one.

The Tower of Babel finds itself most famously depicted by Pieter Brueghel.

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