The Tower of Babel is not a Legend after all?

Tower of Babel

According to the statement of a group of scientists from England, they managed to find irrefutable proofs of the existence of the Biblical Tower of Babel. A tablet with some writings and a piece of rock dating from 2500 years ago have to come forth as the witnesses of history, belonging to the time of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II – the ruler, in whose lifetime Babylonia reached prosperity.

As of today, these artifacts are kept in the collection of an antiquarian and businessman from Norway, Martin Schoyen; in his possession there is the largest private collection of ancient manuscripts, which includes cuneiform tablets, or, in other words – virtually, the first known written documents.

A number of scientists studying the Bible trace the connection between the legends of building the Tower of Babel and construction of ziggurats in Mesopotamia which were to function as temples. In both cases the tops of the towers were ideal for performing the rituals of religious nature, as well as for astronomic observations.

The biggest of ziggurats (its height reached 91 meters) was located exactly in Babylon. It was called Etemenanki, or “the house where the heaven meets the earth.” Scientists were unable to establish the age of the tower, but during Hammurabi’s reign (1792-1750s BC) it had been already standing. During the devastation done to Babylon during its seizure by an Assyrian king Sennacherib in 689 BC, Etemenanki was also destroyed. Later, the ziggurat was rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar II. The Jews, whom this cruel king forced to resettle in Babylon, after he destroyed the JudeanKingdom, could have known about the ziggurats of this country.

Etemenanki was torn down and rebuilt more than once. During the last restoration works of the tower, the width of its foundation reached 90 meters, while the height was also the same. In total, for the construction of the ziggurat over 85 million bricks were used. A monumental stairway led to the upper platform of the tower, where a two-storey temple was located.

The Tower was part of a temple complex on the bank of the EuphratesRiver. From the clay tablets with inscriptions discovered by the scientists, one may conclude that each section of the Tower had its own use for religious rituals.

Upon one of the stones, the image of Nebuchadnezzar II in a chariot was found. In his left hand he holds a staff, in his right – a scroll with the plan of the tower’s reconstruction.

The tower is mentioned in chapter 2 Noah in the Book of Genesis. According to the legend, all ancient people communicated after the Flood in one language. Later, to make a name for themselves, people decided to build a tower to reach the heavens. Bit God did not quite like the thought, so he gave the peoples different languages, after which the builders could not communicate among themselves anymore and settled in different corners of the earth. This is how the Bible explains many languages on our Earth.

The original article is at this address: http://tainy.net