Scientists from all over the world have long believed that the story of how the Tower of Babel was built is a legend about human arrogance, and that's all. So it was until archaeologists from Europe found the exact location of the ancient ruins of Babylon. A hundred kilometers from Baghdad, lifeless hills with steep slopes and flat peaks rose for many centuries. Locals thought these were natural relief details. No one knew that under their feet was the greatest city and great tower of Babel. In 1899, an archaeologist from Germany Robert Koldewey, who went down in history as the man who unearthed Babylon, went here.
Tower of Babel - History
Noah’s descendants were one nation and all spoke the same language. They lived in the Sennaar Valley between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.
They decided to build a city and a high tower - to the skies. They prepared a large number of bricks - home-made, from burnt clay, and actively set about building. But the Lord considered their intention to be pride and got angry - made it so that people began to speak completely different languages, completely ceased to understand each other. So the tower and the city remained unfinished, and the punished descendants of Noah began to settle in different lands, at the same time forming different nations.
The unfinished city was called Babylon, which, according to the Bible, means “confusion”: in that place the Lord mixed the languages of the whole world, and from that place he scattered people throughout the earth.
Along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers huge majestic towers were erected, which were of cult significance. They consisted of several stepped tiers, tapering up. On the flat top was a sanctuary dedicated to a deity. A massive stone staircase led upstairs, along which a long procession of priests rose to the music and chants during the service. The Tower of Babel, judging by the excavations, consisted of 7 tiers, and its height was ninety meters.
Let us return to the excavations led by Robert Koldeveya. He got a complete picture of the scale of Babylon after just a few months of his work. First, a wall of adobe bricks was excavated (7 meters wide, 12 meters high). At a distance of 11 meters from it, heavy earth hid a second wall of burnt brick stones almost 8 m wide, and behind it was a third wall - 3 m wide.
Between the first 2 walls, the space at one time was filled to the top with earth, which turned them into one large, impenetrable and impregnable, rampart. The inner wall every 50 m. Had a watchtower. Subsequently, archaeologist Koldevei counted an amazing number of castle towers - 360! Thus, the entire inner wall of Babylon was more than 18 kilometers! It is precisely by these parameters that Babylon has remained the largest city that was erected by man on our planet.
There were an immeasurable amount of finds in these places - these were city gates studded with copper, fragments of bas-reliefs made of smooth glazed brick, winged majestic lions made by skillfully ancient sculptors. A three-shaft well was also excavated, which once served as a water intake and was equipped with a belt hoist, which was intended for continuous water supply. The arch of the entire underground structure where the well was located was lined with stone. All these artifacts, hiding underground, overshadowed the grandeur and brilliance of the masterpieces of Egyptian culture.
The Tower of Babel, reminiscent of a pillar, is considered a real personification of human pride, and its long-term construction (massive pandemonium) is a symbol of chaos and crowded. It turns out that the legend is not a legend at all, and the Tower of Babel really existed in the Ancient World.