the most important episode from the story of ancient mankind in book. Genesis (11.1-9). According to the biblical account, Noah's descendants spoke the same language and settled in the valley of Shinar. Here they began the construction of a city and a tower, "as high as the heavens, let us make a name for ourselves," they said, "before [in MT "lest"] we be scattered over the face of the whole earth" (Gen 11.4). However, the construction was stopped by the Lord, who "confounded the tongues." People, no longer understanding each other, stopped building and scattered over the earth (Genesis 11:8). The city was named "Babylon". Thus, a story about V. b. (Gen 11.9) is built on the consonance of Hebrew. the names "Babylon" ( , ) and the verb "mix" ( , ). According to legend, the construction of V. b. Nimrod, a descendant of Ham, led (Ios . Flav . Antiq. I 4. 2; Epiph . Adv. haer. I 1. 6).

The biblical story about V. b. gives a symbolic explanation of the reason for the emergence of a variety of world languages, which can be correlated with the modern. understanding of the development of human languages. Research in the field of historical linguistics allows us to conclude that there is a single proto-language, conventionally called "Nostratic"; the Indo-Europeans emerged from it. (Japhetic), Hamito-Semitic, Altaic, Uralic, Dravidian, Kartvelian and other languages. The followers of this theory were such scientists as V. M. Illich-Svitych, I. M. Dyakonov, V. N. Toporov and Vyach. Sun. Ivanov. Besides, the story about V. would. is an important indication of the biblical understanding of man and historical process and, in particular, on the secondary nature of the division into races and peoples for the human essence. In the future, this idea, expressed in a different form in ap. Paul, became one of the foundations of Christ. anthropology (Col 3:11).

In Christ. traditions of V. b. - a symbol, firstly, of the pride of people who consider it possible to reach heaven on their own and have as their main goal "to make a name for themselves", and, secondly, the inevitability of punishment for this and the futility of the human mind, not sanctified Divine grace. In the gift of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, scattered humanity receives the once lost ability of complete mutual understanding. Antithesis V. b. represents the miracle of the founding of the Church, which unites the nations by the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4-6). B. b. is also a prototype of modern technocracy.

The image of the "city and tower" in the book. Genesis reflected a whole complex of mythological universals, for example, the idea of ​​the “center of the world”, which was supposed to be a city built by people. The historically attested temples of Mesopotamia did fulfill this mythological function (Oppenheim, p. 135). In the Holy Scripture construction V. b. described from the standpoint of Divine Revelation, in the light of which it is primarily an expression of human pride. Dr. aspect of the story about V. b. is an indication of the prospects for the progress of human civilization, and at the same time in the biblical narrative there is a negative attitude towards the urbanism of the Mesopotamian civilization (Nelis J. T. Col. 1864).

The image of V. b. undoubtedly reveals parallels with the Mesopotamian tradition of temple building. The temples of Mesopotamia (ziggurats) were stepped structures from several. terraces, located one above the other (their number could reach 7), on the upper terrace there was a sanctuary of a deity (Parrot. R. 43). Holy Scripture accurately conveys the realities of Mesopotamian temple construction, where, unlike most other states, in Dr. In the Near East, sun-dried or baked brick and resin were used as the main material (cf.: Gen 11.3).

During active archaeological research, Dr. Mesopotamia, many attempts were made to find the so-called. "prototype" V. b. in one of the excavated ziggurats, the assumption of the Babylonian temple of Marduk (Jacobsen . P. 334), which had a Sumerian, can be considered the most reasonable. the name "e-temen-an-ki" is the temple of the cornerstone of heaven and earth.

Find the remains of V. b. already tried in the 12th century. Up to the end. XIX - beginning. 20th century 2 ziggurats were identified with it, in Borsippa and Akar-Kufa, on the site of ancient cities located at a considerable distance from Babylon (in the description of Herodotus, the city was so large that it could include both points). With a ziggurat in Borsippa V. b. identified Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, who twice visited Babylonia (between 1160-1173), German. researcher K. Niebuhr (1774), eng. artistic R. Kerr Porter (1818) and others. In Akar-Kufa V. b. saw the German L. Rauwolf (1573-1576), the merchant J. Eldred, who described in con. 16th century ruins of the tower. Italian traveler Pietro della Valle, who compiled the first detailed description of the city of Babylon (1616), considered V. b. most sowing. from its hills, which retained the ancient name "Babil". Attempts to find V. b. in one of the 3 tell - Babil, Borsippa and Akar-Kufa - continued until the end. 19th century

In the beginning. 20th century borders dr. Babylon were identified and neighboring cities were no longer perceived as part of it. After the excavations of K. J. Rich and H. Rassam in Borsippa (Birs-Nimrud settlement, 17 km southwest of Babylon, II-I millennium BC), it became clear that in connection with V. b. we cannot talk about her ziggurat, which was part of the temple of the goddess Nabu (Old Babylonian period - 1st half of the 2nd millennium BC; restructuring in the Neo-Babylonian period - 625-539). G.K. Rawlinson identified Akar Kuf with Dur-Kurigalza, the capital of the Kassite kingdom (30 km west of Babylon, founded in the late XV - early XIV century, already abandoned by the inhabitants in the XII century BC) , which ruled out the possibility of his ziggurat dedicated to the god Enlil (excavated in the 40s of the 20th century by S. Lloyd and T. Bakir), to consider V. b. Finally, the excavations of Babil, the sowing. from the hills of Babylon, showed that he was hiding not a ziggurat, but one of the palaces of Nebuchadnezzar II.

Find V. b. inside Babylon was one of the tasks assigned to the germ. expedition of R. Koldevey (1899-1917). In the central part of the city, the remains of a foundation platform were discovered, which in 1901 were identified with the foundation of the Etemenanki ziggurat. In 1913, F. Wetzel carried out cleaning and measurements of the monument. His materials, published in 1938, became the basis for new reconstructions. In 1962, Wetzel completed the study of the monument, and H. Schmid conducted a detailed analysis of the materials collected over a century and published (1995) a new, more reasonable periodization and reconstruction of the Etemenanki ziggurat.

Iconography

Biblical story about the construction and destruction of V. b. was illustrated already in early Christ. period. The earliest surviving image is in the London manuscript of the book. Genesis (Cotton Genezis. London. Otho. B. VI. Fol. 14, 14v, 15, late V - early VI century). In her miniatures and in the mosaics repeating them, c. San Marco in Venice (XII century) also shows the separation of people (separation of languages) after the destruction of the tower. In Byzantium. illuminated Oktatevkhah, as a rule, there is a scene of the destruction of V. b. (Vat. gr. 747. Fol. 33v, 11th century; Vat. gr. 746. Fol. 61v, 12th century). Along with the illustrations of the books of St. Scripture construction V. b. ("Pandemonium") as one of the most important episodes world history depicted in medieval miniatures. works of historical content: Christian topography of Cosmas Indikoplova, chronographs, pales, which were widely used in Old Russian. bookishness. In the mosaics of San Marco V. b. depicted as a building rectangular base; in the front lists of the Christian topography of Kosma Indikoplova (for example, RNB. OLDP. F 91. L. 25 rev., early 16th century) it looks like a faceted tower with windows and an extended top; in the illustrations of the front Pskov Paley (GIM. Syn. 210. L. 65, 65 ob., 1477) the construction of the V. b. (in the form of a pillar) and its destruction. In these scenes, builders with various tools are usually depicted, carrying a stretcher with a stone, aligning the masonry to a plumb line.

From a book illustration, the scene of the construction of V. b. hit the icons of St. The Trinity in Action” (for example, an icon from the middle of the 16th century, Russian Museum): the tower looks like an octahedron with an open top, in front of it is King Nimrod giving orders to the builders, in the heavenly segment - the Lord. In Western European art image V. b. found in illustrations of the Bible, Psalms, world chronicles, in the Middle Ages. maps, in wall paintings and stained-glass windows, as well as in easel painting (for example, “ tower of babel» artist P. Brueghel the Elder, 1563, Kunsthistorisches Museum. Vein). In addition to the rectangular, polyhedral or round shape V. b. may have the form of a stepped structure (for example, on the frescoes of the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, mid-XIV century) or a spiral pyramid (as in P. Brueghel).

Lit.: Unger E . Der Turm zu Babel // ZAW. 1927. Bd. 45. S. 162-171; Dombart T . Der Stand der Babelturmsproblem // Klio. 1927. Bd. 21. S. 135-174; GressmannH. The Tower of Babel. N.Y., 1928; Wetzel F ., Weisbach F . H. Das Hauptheiligtum des Marduk in Babylon, Esagila und Etemenanki. Lpz., 1938. (Osnabrück, 1967); Vincent L.-H. De la tour de Babel au temple // RB. 1946. T. 53. P. 403-440; Parrot A. Ziggurat et tour de Babel. P., 1949; Barur G. F ., Mauville A . The Tower of Babel // Priestly Studies. 1953 Vol. 21. p. 84-106; Protaseva T . N . Pskov Palea 1477 // DRI. M., 1968. [Issue:] The Art of Pskov. pp. 97-108; Nelis J. T. Tour de Babel // Dictionnaire Encycl. de la Bible. Tournhaut, 1987. Col. 1864; Jacobsen T. Babel //IDB. Vol. 1. P. 334; Oppenheim A . L. Ancient Mesopotamia: Cost of a Dead Civilization. Chicago, 1977 Vicari J. Les ziggurats de Tchoga-Zanbil (Dur-Untash) et de Babylone // Le dessin d "architecture dans les sociétés antiques. Leiden, 1985. P. 47-57; Klengel-Brandt. Tower of Babel: Legend and history: Per. from M., 1991; Allinger-Csollich W. Birs Nimrud II: "Tieftempel" - "Hochtempel": Vergleichende Studien Borsippa-Babylon // Babylonische Mitteilungen. 1998. Bd. 29. S. 93-330; Schmid H. Der Tempelturm Etemenanki in Babylon, Mainz, 1995; Albrecht S. Der Turm zu Babel als bildlicher Mythos: Malerei - Graphik - Architektur // Babylon: Focus mesopotamischer Geschichte, Wiege früher Gelehrsamkeit, Mythos in der Moderne / Hrsg. J. Renger. Saarbrücken, 1999. S. 553-574.

Another mystery of history, to which modern scientists still cannot find an answer, is connected with the death of the biblical Babylon and the famous Tower of Babel in Borsippa. This tower, half burned down and melted to a glassy state by a monstrous temperature, has survived to this day as a symbol of God's wrath.

It is a clear confirmation of the veracity of the biblical texts about the terrible fury of heavenly fire that hit the Earth in the middle of the second millennium BC.

According to biblical legend, Babylon was built by Nimrod, who is usually identified with the giant hunter Orion. This is a very important circumstance in astral legend, determining one of the five places of the previous appearances of the "revenge comet" in the night sky, which will be told in the appropriate place.

Nimrod was the son of Cush and a descendant of Ham, one of the three sons of Noah: “Cush also begat Nimrod: this one began to be strong on earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, A mighty hunter like Nimrod before the Lord. His kingdom at first consisted of: Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Halne, in the land of Senaar. / Gen. 10:8-10/

The biblical myth tells that after Noah's flood, people attempted to build the city of Babylon (from the Sumerians. Bab-ily - "the gates of God") and the Tower of Babel "as high as the heavens."

And here it is appropriate to say that in mythological texts the names “gates of God”, “gates of heaven”, as well as “gates of hell” are used to designate places of cosmic explosions, in the epicenter of which all living things died from heavenly fire.

Enraged by unheard of human insolence, G-d “confounded their tongues” and scattered the builders of the Tower of Babel throughout the earth, as a result of which people ceased to understand each other: “And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building. And the Lord said, Behold, there is one people, and all have one language; and this is what they began to do, and they will not lag behind what they have planned to do. Let us go down and confuse their language there, so that one does not understand the speech of the other. And the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth; and they stopped building the city. Therefore a name was given to her: Babylon; For there the Lord confounded the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord scattered them over all the earth” (Gen. 11:5-9/.

Therefore, another meaning of the word Babylon is reproduced from the Hebrew word balal - “mixing”.

Turris babel Athanasius Kircher, 1679
This deliberate biblical distortion of the name of the city, based on the similarity of the sound of words, actually reflects the historical reality. The results of archaeological excavations indicate that the time of the death of Babylon is the time of the great migration of tribes and peoples, the mixing of their languages ​​​​and customs, the development and capture of new territories.

Not far from the city of Babylon are the ruins of Borsippa with the preserved ruins of a burnt ancient temple and a huge temple tower, which is considered to be the legendary Tower of Babel mentioned in the Bible.

True, some archaeologists dispute this name, on the grounds that within the city of Babylon there was a temple tower of no less respectable size.

As archaeologists have determined, the tower from Borsippa previously consisted of seven tiers of steps, standing on a massive square base.

Previously, they were painted in seven colors: black, white, purplish red, blue, bright red, silver and gold. Even now, the remains of the tower are impressive. Its melted skeleton, standing on a hill, rises 46 meters above the base of the tower.

The walls of the tower, built of baked bricks, as well as the huge cult premises inside, were badly damaged by fire.

From the heat of an unthinkable temperature, the upper, most of the tower literally evaporated, and the remaining, smaller part of the tower melted into a single glassy mass, both from the inside and from the outside.

Here is how Erich Zehren writes about it: “It is impossible to find an explanation for where such heat came from, which not only heated, but also melted hundreds of burnt bricks, singeing the entire skeleton of the tower, all its clay walls.”

It is also curious to cite the testimony of Wilhelm Koenig, who tried to comprehend the cause of the unthinkable heat that literally melted the stepped ziggurat tower in Borsippa: “Ordinary building bricks can only melt in a very strong fire.

ROMANESQUE PAINTER, French The Building of the Tower of Babel Fresco - Abbey Church, Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe

And here is how Mark Twain, traveling through Mesopotamia in 1867, described the tower from Borsippa:
“... it had eight tiers, two of which stand to this day - a giant brickwork, scattered in the middle from an earthquake, scorched and half melted by the lightning of an angry G-d.”

It must be said that to date, no researcher has been able to satisfactorily explain this monstrous melting, under the influence of an unthinkable temperature, due to which the upper part of the masonry turned into steam, and the remains of the melted tower seemed to split from top to bottom.

Attempts to explain this melting by a lightning strike of high power cannot be considered convincing, which is clearly seen from the information on linear lightning given below.

By modern ideas, linear lightning is a giant spark that occurs between clouds, or between a cloud and the surface of the earth. Their average size is several kilometers, but sometimes there are lightnings up to fifty and even one hundred and fifty kilometers. The average discharge current is from 20 to 100 kiloamperes, but sometimes reaches 500 kiloamperes.

The average temperature of the lightning channel is 25000-30000 degrees Kelvin.

It is quite obvious that not a single, even super-powerful lightning could fuse the Tower of Babel into a single monolith. And even more so to destroy the temple adjacent to it, as well as the city of Babylon, located a dozen and a half kilometers from it, the circumference of which, according to the data specified by archaeologists, was 18 kilometers, and the thickness of the walls is estimated at 25 meters.

Pieter Brugel - THE TOWER OF BABYLON 1563
According to Herodotus, the city of Babylon was an almost regular quadrangle, and was located on both sides of the Euphrates River. Each side of this quadrangle was approximately 22 kilometers, and the thickness of the walls was 50 cubits (a cubit is about 52 cm), and six chariots in a row could simultaneously pass through them.

And the height of the walls, and it is almost impossible to believe, reached 100 meters. The walls of the city had 100 copper gates, and 250 towers rose on the walls themselves. The whole city was surrounded by a wide and deep moat.

In the middle of the second millennium BC, Babylon was the cultural, spiritual and political center of Chaldea, and one of the richest and most powerful cities in all Ancient World. It was the time of prosperity and greatness of Babylon. The city had the largest reserve of gold in the world, and nothing seemed to shake its power.

Contemporaries called it "beauty of Chaldea", "granary of Chaldea", "pride of Chaldea", "glory of kingdoms", "golden city". Biblical texts report that "Babylon was a golden cup in the hand of the Lord."

So what destroyed Babylon and melted the Tower of Babel to a glassy state?

There is no doubt that this monstrous temperature, which is comparable only to the heat of a nuclear explosion, arose as a result of a giant electric discharge explosion of a falling celestial body, whose column of fire covered the temple tower, and the released energy of the discharge, in the form of a colossal power of the blast wave, fell on the city of Babylon, turning it into piles of ruins in a matter of minutes.

The death of the city was so terrible that the compilers of biblical texts find it difficult to select epithets to denote its terrible destruction.

Babylon, which was "a golden cup in the hand of the Lord," suddenly, in one day, "became a terror among the nations," "a deserted wilderness," a "heap of ruins," a "house of desolation," and a "dwelling of jackals."

This is what the biblical prophecies look like about the destruction of Babylon, which came true: “Behold, a fierce day comes, with anger and flaming fury, to make the earth a desert and destroy her sinners from it. The stars of heaven and the luminaries do not give light from themselves; the sun is darkened at its rising, and the moon does not shine with its light. I will punish the world for evil, and the wicked for their iniquities, and I will put an end to the arrogance of the proud, and I will humble the arrogance of the oppressors; ... For this I will shake heaven and earth will move from his place because of the wrath of the Lord of hosts, in the day of His burning wrath .... And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God, like Sodom and Gomorrah. It will never be inhabited, and in the generations of generations there will be no inhabitants in it. /Is. 13:9-11,13,19-20/

It must be said that the power of an electric discharge explosion of a large meteorite can amount to hundreds of thousands of megatons of TNT, which significantly exceeds the power of modern thermonuclear charges, so the death of Babylon surrounded by cyclopean walls, with its giant ziggurats, as biblical texts testify, lasted less than one hour.

The city was literally swept off the face of the earth by a colossal blast wave, turning into huge mountains of charred rubble and debris.

The ruins of ancient Babylon are located on the banks of the Euphrates, about a hundred kilometers from the modern capital of Iraq, Baghdad, and after the explosion they were giant mountains of garbage and are located near the Arab settlement of Gillah that arose later.

The Arabs called these hills of rubble Amran ibn Ali, Babil, Jumjuma and Qasr.

The location of ancient Babylon was initially known to archaeologists, and some of them, including the fortunate Layard and Oppert, even made trial excavations on its ruins, but realizing the huge amount of earthwork and the amount of money needed for this, did not dare to organize serious archaeological research.

And only at the very end of the nineteenth century, in the spring of 1899, the German archaeologist Robert Koldewey, having received a fabulous sum of half a million gold marks for the production of works, ventured to start excavations, of course not assuming that it would take him eighteen years to get to the ruins of the capital ancient Chaldea.

In order to carry out a volume of excavation work that had never been done before, he had to order a field railway from Germany and lay a railway track to the excavation site. It must be said that Railway the first, and, it seems, the only time, was used in archaeological work of this magnitude.

The thickness of the layer of earth, mixed with desert sand, ash and ashes, over the ruins of Babylon exceeded ten meters, but hard labour in the hellish conditions of the desert, he was rewarded with discoveries that brought Robert Koldewey the well-deserved world fame.

Based on the excavations of the expedition of Robert Koldewey, it became possible to reproduce the reconstruction of Ancient Babylon, in the ruins of which, during the excavation of the gates of the goddess Ishtar, images of the syncretic animal "Sirrush" were found, consisting of parts of four syncretic animals: a fantastic quadrupedal animal, which could not be identified, an eagle, a snake and a scorpion, which allows us to consider it a prototype of the Great Sphinx.

Biblical texts call Babylon a city of sin and debauchery, but in fact it was a real city of the gods. Archaeologists have unearthed dozens of temples of the supreme god Marduk and hundreds of sanctuaries of other deities on its territory. For example, according to cuneiform texts, the city had "53 temples, 55 sanctuaries of the supreme god Marduk, 300 sanctuaries of earthly and 600 heavenly deities, 180 altars of Ishtar, 180 altars of Nergal and Adadi and 12 other altars."
But this did not save him from the fury of cosmic fire and flood.

Remains of the original Tower of Babel excavated by Robert Koldewey
It must be said that none of the researchers and archaeologists wants to pay attention to the fact that the ruins of Babylon, destroyed by an electric discharge explosion, were also flooded by the waters of Noah's flood.

Babylon, which was excavated by the workers of Koldevey, was a city built on the ruins of numerous, even more ancient buildings, but many years of attempts to get to these cultural layers were unsuccessful, groundwater constantly flooded the mines.

The catastrophe that destroyed Babylon undermined all the foundations of the Babylonian kingdom and caused its decline.

historical documents absolutely accurately recorded the date, which is considered the beginning of the Neo-Babylonian kingdom - 1596 BC. in modern chronology.
And this once again indicates that the death of the Old Babylonian kingdom was the result of a cosmic catastrophe in 1596 BC, which modern historians are not yet aware of.

Tower of Babel bible illustration by Gustave Dore

tower of babel- the legendary building of antiquity, which was supposed to glorify its builders for centuries and challenge God. However, the daring plan ended in infamy: having ceased to understand each other, people could not complete what they started. The tower was not completed and eventually collapsed.

Construction of the Tower of Babel. Story

The history of the tower is based on spiritual roots and reflects the state of society in a certain historical stage. Some time passed after the Flood and the descendants of Noah were already very numerous. They were one people and spoke the same language. From texts Holy Scripture we can conclude that not all the sons of Noah were like their father. The Bible briefly speaks of Ham's disrespect to his father and indirectly points to the grave sin committed by Canaan (Ham's son). These circumstances already show that some people did not learn the lessons from the global catastrophe that occurred, but continued on the path of resisting God. Thus was born the idea of ​​a tower to heaven. The authoritative historian of antiquity, Josephus Flavius, reports that the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bbuilding belongs to Nimrod, a strong and cruel ruler of that time. According to Nimrod, the construction of the Tower of Babel was supposed to show the power of the united mankind and at the same time become a challenge to God.

Here's what the Bible says about it. People came from the east and settled in the Shinar Valley (Mesopotamia: the basin of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers). Once they said to each other: “... let's make bricks and burn them with fire. ...let us build ourselves a city and a tower, its height to the heavens, and make a name for ourselves, before we are scattered over the face of all the earth” (Gen. 11:3,4). Many bricks of baked clay were made and the construction of the infamous tower, later called the Babylonian, began. One of the traditions claims that the construction of the city was started first, while the other tells about the construction of the tower.

Construction began, and, according to some legends, the tower was built to a considerable height. However, these plans were not destined to come true. When the Lord came down to earth to “see the city and the tower,” He saw with regret that the true meaning of this undertaking was arrogance and a daring challenge to Heaven. In order to save people and prevent the spread of evil on such a scale, as happened in the time of Noah, the Lord broke the unity of people: the builders stopped understanding each other, speaking in different languages. The city and the tower turned out to be unfinished, and the descendants of the sons of Noah dispersed to different lands, forming the peoples of the Earth. The descendants of Japheth went north and settled in Europe, the descendants of Shem settled in Southwest Asia, the descendants of Ham went south and settled in southern Asia as well as in Africa. The descendants of Canaan (Son of Ham) settled Palestine, which is why it was later called the land of Canaan. The unfinished city was called Babylon, which means "mixing": "for there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord scattered them over all the earth."

The Bible notes that the Tower of Babel was supposed to fulfill the insane task of the builders who decided to "make a name for themselves", that is, to perpetuate themselves, to rally around a certain center. The idea to build a tower of unprecedented size “to heaven” spoke of a daring challenge to God, an unwillingness to live in accordance with His will. Finally, in the tower, its creators hoped to take refuge in the event of a repetition Flood. Josephus Flavius ​​described the motives for creating the tower as follows: “Nimrod called the people to disobedience to the Creator. He advised to build a tower higher than the water could rise if the Creator again found a flood - and thereby take revenge on the Creator for the death of the ancestors. The crowd agreed, and began to consider obedience to the Creator a shameful slavery. With great desire, they began to build the tower.”

The tower being erected was not an ordinary structure. At its core, it carried a hidden mystical meaning, behind which the personality of Satan was visible - a gloomy powerful being who once decided to claim the throne of God and raised a rebellion among the angels in Heaven. However, being defeated by God, he and his overthrown supporters continued their activities on earth, tempting every person and wanting to destroy him. Behind King Nimrod there was invisibly the same fallen cherub, the tower was for him another means of enslaving and destroying mankind. That is why the answer of the Creator was so categorical and immediate. Construction of the Tower of Babel was stopped, and then she herself was destroyed to the ground.Since that time, this building has been considered a symbol of pride, and its construction (pandemonium) is a symbol of crowds, destruction and chaos.

Where is the Tower of Babel located? Ziggurats

The historical authenticity of the Biblical story of the tower to heaven is now beyond doubt. It has been established that in many cities of that time on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates majestic ziggurats were built, designed to worship deities. Similar ziggurats consisted of several stepped tiers, tapering upwards. On a flat top there was a sanctuary dedicated to one of the deities. A stone staircase led upstairs, along which, during worship, a procession of priests ascended to music and chants. The most grandiose of the discovered ziggurats was found in Babylon. Archaeologists dug up the foundation of the structure and the lower part of its walls. Many scientists believe that this ziggurat is the Tower of Babel described in the Bible. In addition, descriptions of this tower on cuneiform tablets (including the name - Etemenanki), as well as its drawing, have been preserved. It was found that it was being restored after the destruction. The found tower, according to available data, included seven to eight tiers, and the height assumed by archaeologists was ninety meters. However, there is an opinion that this tower is a later version, and the original was incomparably larger. Talmudic tradition says that tower of babel height reached such a level that a brick falling from above flew down for a whole year. Of course, this should hardly be taken literally, but we can talk about values ​​​​an order of magnitude larger than scientists suggest. Indeed, the found tower was obviously a fully completed structure, while the structure described by the Bible, according to legend, was never completed.

Babylonian myth of the Tower of Babel

The tradition that the Bible tells us is not the only one. A similar theme is present in the legends of peoples living in different parts of the Earth. And although the legends about the Tower of Babel are not as numerous as, for example, about the Flood, there are still quite a lot of them and they are the same in meaning.

So, the legend of the pyramid in the city of Choluy (Mexico) tells about the ancient giants who decided to build a tower to heaven, but was destroyed by the celestials. The legend of the Mikirs, one of the Tibetan-Burman tribes, also tells of giants-heroes who planned to build a tower to heaven, but whose plan was stopped by the gods.

Finally, in Babylon itself there was a myth about the "great tower", which was "the likeness of the sky." According to the myth, its builders were the underground gods of the Anunnaki, who erected it in order to glorify Marduk, the Babylonian deity.

The description of the construction of the Tower of Babel is contained in the Koran. Interesting details are contained in the "Book of Jubilees" and "Talmud", according to which the unfinished tower was overthrown by a hurricane, and the part of the tower that remained after the hurricane fell underground as a result of an earthquake.

It is significant that all attempts by the Babylonian rulers to recreate even smaller versions of the tower failed. Due to various circumstances, these buildings were destroyed.

Sinaar country

The story of the Tower of Babel, set forth in the Book of Jubilees, an apocryphal book that basically sets out the events of the book of Genesis in the countdown of "jubilees", is very interesting. Anniversary is understood as 49 years - seven weeks. A feature of this book is the exact chronology of events in relation to the date of the creation of the world. In particular, here we learn that the tower took 43 years to build and was located between Assur and Babylon. This land was called the country of Sinaar... read

Mystery of Babylon

At the moment when the builders of the Tower of Babel set to work, the spirit of self-destruction of mankind invisibly entered into action. Further on, the Bible speaks of the mystery of Babylon, which is associated with the highest measure of wickedness. When the builders of the tower were halted by the division of tongues, the mystery of Babylon was put on hold, but only until a time known only to God...read more

The EU is a restored empire

Despite the past millennia, the spirit of Babylon in humanity has not faded away. At the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century, Europe was united under the banner of a single parliament and government. In essence, this meant the restoration of the ancient Roman Empire with all the ensuing consequences. After all, this event was the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy relating to the end of time. Surprisingly, the building of the European Parliament turned out to be built according to a special project - in the form of an unfinished "tower to heaven." It's not hard to guess what this symbol means... read

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7 Wonders of the World. Tower of Babel.

Tower of Babel.

The Tower of Babel (Heb. מִגְדָּל בָּלַל‎ Migdal Bavel) is the tower to which the biblical tradition is dedicated, set forth in chapter 2 “Noah” (verses 11:1-11:9) of the book of Genesis.

The Tower of Babel is not included in the "official" list of wonders of the world. However, it is one of the most prominent structures of ancient Babylon, and its name is still a symbol of confusion and disorder.

Jan Collaert 1579

According to an ancient biblical legend, after the Flood, more than four thousand years ago, all people lived in Mesopotamia (from the east people came to the land of Shinar), that is, in the basin of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and everyone spoke the same language. Since the land of these places was very fertile, people lived richly. They decided to build a city (Babylon) and a tower as high as the heavens to "make a name for themselves".

Marten Van Valckenborch I (1535-1612)

For the construction of a monumental structure, people used not a stone, but an unbaked raw brick; to connect bricks, bitumen (mountain resin) was used instead of lime. The tower grew and grew in height.

Theodosius Rihel 1574-1578

Finally, God was angry with the unreasonable and conceited people and punished them: he forced the builders to speak in different languages. Because of this, the stupid proud people ceased to understand each other and, having abandoned their tools, stopped building the tower, and then dispersed in different directions of the Earth. So the tower turned out to be unfinished, and the city where construction took place and all languages ​​\u200b\u200bmixed was called Babylon. Thus, the story of the Tower of Babel explains the appearance of various languages ​​after the Flood.

A number of biblical scholars trace the connection of the legend of the Tower of Babel with the construction of high temple towers called ziggurats in Mesopotamia. The tops of the towers were used for religious rites and astronomical observations.

Fresco 1100.

The highest ziggurat (91 m high, one rectangular step and seven spiral ones - 8 in total) was located in Babylon. It was called Etemenanki, which means "the house where the heavens meet the earth." It is not known exactly when the original construction of this tower was carried out, but it already existed during the reign of Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC).

Assyrian king Sennacherib in 689 BC e. destroyed Babylon, Etemenanki suffered the same fate. The ziggurat was restored by Nebuchadnezzar II. The Jews, forcibly resettled by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon after the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah, got acquainted with the culture and religion of Mesopotamia and, undoubtedly, knew about the existence of ziggurats.

During excavations in Babylon, the German scientist Robert Koldewey managed to discover the foundation and ruins of the tower. The tower referred to in the Bible was probably destroyed even before the era of Hammurabi. To replace it, another was built, which was erected in memory of the first. According to Koldewey, it had a square base, each side of which was 90 meters. The height of the tower was also 90 m, the first tier had a height of 33 m, the second - 18, the third and fifth - 6 m each, the seventh - the sanctuary of the god Marduk - was 15 m high. By today's standards, the structure reached a height of 30 storey skyscraper.

Calculations suggest that about 85 million bricks were used to build this tower. A monumental staircase led to the upper platform of the tower, where the temple rushed into the sky. The tower was part of a temple complex located on the banks of the Euphrates River. Clay tablets with inscriptions found by archaeologists suggest that each section of the tower had its own special meaning. The same tablets give information about the religious rituals that took place in this temple.

The tower stood on the left bank of the Euphrates in the Sahn plain, which literally translates as “frying pan”. It was surrounded by the houses of priests, temple buildings and houses for pilgrims who flocked here from all over Babylonia. The description of the Tower of Babel was left by Herodotus, who thoroughly examined it and, perhaps, even visited its top. This is the only documentary description of an eyewitness from Europe.

Tobias Verhaecht, The Tower Of Babel.

The Tower of Babel was a stepped eight-tiered pyramid lined with burnt bricks on the outside. Moreover, each tier had strictly specific color. At the top of the ziggurat there was a sanctuary lined with blue tiles and decorated with golden horns (a symbol of fertility) at the corners. It was considered the dwelling place of the god Marduk, the patron of the city. In addition, inside the sanctuary were the gilded table and bed of Marduk. Stairs led to the tiers; religious processions rose along them. The ziggurat was a shrine that belonged to all the people, it was a place where thousands of people flocked to worship the supreme deity Marduk.

The upper platforms of ziggurats were used not only in cult, but also in practical purposes: for the review of the surrounding area by the warrior-guards. Cyrus, who took possession of Babylon after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, was the first conqueror to leave the city intact. He was struck by the scale of Etemenanki, and he not only forbade anything to be destroyed, but ordered that a monument be erected on his grave in the form of a miniature ziggurat, a small Tower of Babel.

Hendrick III van Cleve (1525 - 1589)

And yet the tower was again destroyed. Persian king Xerxes left only the ruins that Alexander the Great saw on his way to India. He, too, was struck by the gigantic ruins - he, too, stood in front of them as if spellbound. Alexander the Great intended to build it again. “But,” as Strabo writes, “this work required a lot of time and effort, because the ruins would have to be removed by ten thousand people for two months, and he did not fulfill his plan, as he soon fell ill and died.”

Lucas van Valckenborch 1594

Lucas van Valckenborch 1595

At present, only the foundation and the lower part of the wall remain from the legendary Tower of Babel. But thanks to cuneiform tablets, there is a description of the famous ziggurat and even its image.

Pieter Brueghel the Elder. Tower of Babel 1564.

The subject of the Tower of Babel is widespread in Christian iconography - in numerous miniatures, manuscripts and printed editions of the Bible (for example, in a miniature of an English manuscript of the 11th century); as well as in mosaics and frescoes of cathedrals and churches (for example, the mosaic of the Cathedral of San Marco in Venice, the end of the 12th - the beginning of the 13th century).

Fresco of the Tower of Babel from the Venetian Cathedral of San Marco.

In Iraq, there are still towers of this type - very high, stepped or spiral. In Babylon itself, almost nothing reminds of the tower, only part of the wall and the foundation, as well as beautiful ancient reliefs, have been preserved there. royal palace in excavations.

The current building of the European Parliament is modeled after a painting of the unfinished Tower of Babel painted in 1563 by Pieter Brueghel the Elder. The motto of the European Parliament in French: "Many languages ​​- one voice" distorts the meaning of the biblical text. The building was built in such a way as to give the impression of being unfinished. In fact, this is the completed building of the European Parliament, the construction of which was completed in December 2000.

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In European painting, the most famous painting on this subject is Pieter Brueghel the Elder's "Babylon Pandemic" (1563). A more stylized geometric structure was depicted by M. Escher in an engraving in 1928.

Literature

The plot of the Tower of Babel has been widely understood in European literature:

• Franz Kafka wrote a parable on this subject called "The coat of arms of the city" (Emblem of the city)
• Clive Lewis, The Foulest Might novel
• Victor Pelevin, novel "Generation P"
• Neil Stevenson in The Avalanche gives an interesting version of the construction and meaning of the Tower of Babel.

Music

It should be noted that many of the above songs contain the word Babylon in the title, but they do not mention the Tower of Babel.

Theater

Categories:

• ancient babylon
• Non-embodied ultra-tall structures
• Plots of the Old Testament
• Concepts and terms in the Bible
• Ziggurat
• tower of babel
• Genesis
• Jewish mythology

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See what the "Tower of Babel" is in other dictionaries:

And the confusion of languages, two legends about Ancient Babylon (combined in the canonical text of the Bible into a single story): 1) about the construction of the city and the confusion of languages, and 2) about the construction of the tower and the scattering of people. These legends are dated to the "beginning of history" ... ... Encyclopedia of mythology

TOWER OF BABYLON. Painting by Pieter Brueghel the Elder. a building that, according to biblical tradition (Genesis 11:1-9), the descendants of Noah erected in the land of Shinar (Babylonia) in order to reach heaven. God, angered by the plan and actions of the builders, ... ... Collier Encyclopedia

In the Bible, there is a legend dated to the beginning of the history of mankind (after the flood), when they built a city and a tower to heaven (the first great construction of people). If the city was built by settled residents who knew how to burn bricks, then the tower was built by nomads from the East; ... ... Historical dictionary

TOWER OF BABYLON- the most important episode from the story of ancient mankind in the book. Genesis (11.19). According to the biblical story, the descendants of Noah spoke the same language and settled in the valley of Shinar. Here they began the construction of a city and a tower "as high as the heavens... Orthodox Encyclopedia

tower of babel- Babylonian pandemonium. Tower of Babel. Painting by P. Brueghel the Elder. 1563. Museum of the History of Art. Vein. Babel. Tower of Babel. Painting by P. Brueghel the Elder. 1563. Museum of the History of Art. Vein. Tower of Babel in ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary"The World History"

Babel Tower- the most important episode from the story of ancient mankind in the book of Genesis (see Gen. 11, 1-9). According to the biblical story, the descendants of Noah spoke the same language and settled in the valley of Shinar. Here they began the construction of the city and the tower, ... ... Orthodoxy. Dictionary-reference