From: Dick Fischer (dickfischer@earthlink.net)
Date: Wed Jul 02 2003 - 11:04:45 EDT
Rich wrote:
>The story of the tower of babel is an allegory. the lesson is that
>homogenous populations are strong and multicultural diverse populations
>whose disparate cultures conflict are weak.
In the vicinity of Babylon there is still today under the sand a mound of
mud bricks lined with tar just as they built all the ziggurats in the
principle cities of southern Mesopotamia from 3000 to 2000 BC.
The ziggurat at Babylon was restored by Nabopolassar, the founder of the
Neo-Babylonian dynasty, about 625 to 605 BC. These are his words:
"The lord Marduk commanded me concerning Etemenanki, the staged
tower of Babylon, which before my time had become dilapidated and
ruinous, that I should make its foundations secure in the bosom of
the
nether world, and make its summit like the heavens."
His firstborn son, Nebuchadnezzar, continued in the efforts started by his
father, carrying out building the tower at Babylon until 562 BC. When
finished, a seven stage structure and its temple complex reached nearly 300
feet in height.
The <http://www.genesisproclaimed.org/resources/articles/0009.htm>tower of
Babel was described by Herodutus when he visited Babylon in 460 BC. Here
is how Herodotus described the tower:
"In the midst of the temple a solid tower was constructed, one
stadium
in length and one stadium in width. Upon this tower stood
another, and
again upon this another, and so on, making eight towers in all,
one upon
qanother. All eight towers can be climbed by means of a spiral
staircase
which runs round the outside. About halfway up there are seats where
those who make the ascent can sit and rest. In the topmost tower
there
is a great temple, and in the temple is a golden table. No idol
stands there.
No one spends the night there save a woman of that country,
designated
by the god himself, so I was told by the Chaldeans, who are the
priests
of that divinity."
Whether the narrative in Genesis 11 was intended as an allegory you can
judge for yourself, but the tower itself was real.
Dick Fischer - Genesis Proclaimed Association
Finding Harmony in Bible, Science, and History
www.genesisproclaimed.org
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