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Tour de Babel

The Tower of Babel is a Near Eastern myth that is recorded in the Jewish Tanakh's first book (Genesis); it is meant to explain the origin of different languages. According to the story, a united humanity of the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating eastward, came to the land of Shinar (Hebrew: שנער‎‎). There they agreed to build a city and a tower "tall enough to reach heaven"; seeing this, God, viewing such behavior as rude and disrespectful, confounded their speech so that they could no longer understand each other and scattered them around the world.
The Tower of Babel has been associated with known structures according to some modern scholars, notably the Etemenanki, a ziggurat dedicated to the Mesopotamian god Marduk by Nabopolassar, king of Babylonia (c. 610 BCE). The Great Ziggurat of Babylon was 91 metres (300 ft) in height. Alexander the Great ordered it demolished circa 331 BCE in preparation for a reconstruction that his death forestalled.
Val van de toren van Babel
42 Media in collection ∙ page 1 of 1

Babel from BL Add 27210, f. 3

The confusion of the language at the building of the tower of Babel (Gen. 11): the builders of Babel are murdering each other. Detail of a miniature depicting scenes from Genesis. Image taken from f. 3 of Hagga... more

Tower of Babel from BL Royal 17 E II, f. 8

Miniature of the building of the Tower of Babel, at the beginning of Book 1. Image taken from f. 8 of Le recoeil des histoires de Troyes (Le livre nomme Hercules). Written in French.

Tower of Babel from BL Royal 17 E II, f. 8

Detail of a miniature of the building of the Tower of Babel, at the beginning of Book 1. Image taken from f. 8 of Le recoeil des histoires de Troyes (Le livre nomme Hercules). Written in French.

Tower of Babel from BL Eg 1894, f. 5v

Miniature of the construction of the Tower of Babel, with masons carrying materials up a ladder, mixing mortar, and on the right, Nimrod (identified by an inscription over his head) is advised by sages to stop... more

Tower of Babel from BL Royal 15 D III, f. 15v

Detail of a miniature of the building of the Tower of Babel, with a section of a decorated initial 'D'. Image taken from f. 15v of Bible historiale, the early version. Written in French.

Tower of Babel and Zoroaster from BL YT 28, f. 51

Miniature of the building of the Tower of Babel; miniature of Zoroaster with two demons, from Pseudo-Aristotle's Secreta secretorum. Image taken from f. 51 of Secreta secretorum (ff. 1-43); Il Tesoro (translati... more

Tower of Babel from BL YT 28, f. 51

Detail of a miniature of the building of the Tower of Babel, from Pseudo-Aristotle's Secreta secretorum. Image taken from f. 51 of Secreta secretorum (ff. 1-43); Il Tesoro (translation of Li Livres dou Tresor) ... more