Editing Tower of Babel (section)

=== Etemenanki ===
[[File:Etemenanki drawing.gif|thumb|Reconstruction of the [[Etemenanki]]]]

Etemenanki ([[Sumerian language|Sumerian]]: "temple of the foundation of heaven and earth") was the name of a ziggurat dedicated to Marduk in the city of Babylon. It was famously rebuilt by the 6th-century BCE Neo-Babylonian rulers [[Nabopolassar]] and [[Nebuchadnezzar II]], but had fallen into disrepair by the time of [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]] the Great's conquests. He managed to move the tiles of the tower to another location, but his death stopped the reconstruction, and it was demolished during the reign of his successor [[Antiochus I Soter|Antiochus Soter]]. Greek historian [[Herodotus]] ({{circa|484|425&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}) wrote an account of the ziggurat in his ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'', which he called the "Temple of [[Belus (Babylonian)|Zeus Belus]]".<ref>{{cite web |title=Herodotus, the Histories, Book 1, chapter 179 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D179}}</ref>

According to modern scholars, the biblical story of the Tower of Babel was likely influenced by Etemenanki. [[Stephen L. Harris]] proposed this occurred during the [[Babylonian captivity]].<ref name="Harris 2002 50–51">{{cite book |last=Harris |first=Stephen L. |author-link=Stephen L. Harris |title=Understanding the Bible |publisher=[[McGraw-Hill]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-7674-2916-0 |pages=50–51}}</ref> [[Isaac Asimov]] speculated that the authors of Genesis 11:1–9<ref>{{bibleverse||Genesis|11:1-9|HE}}</ref> were inspired by the existence of an apparently incomplete ziggurat at Babylon, and by the phonological similarity between Babylonian ''Bab-ilu'', meaning "gate of God", and the Hebrew word {{tlit|he|balal}}, meaning "mixed", "confused", or "confounded".<ref>{{cite book |last=Asimov |first=Isaac |author-link=Isaac Asimov |title=Asimov's Guide to the Bible, vol.1: The Old Testament |publisher=[[Avon Books]] |year=1971 |isbn=978-0-380-01032-5 |pages=54–55}}</ref>