Editing Tower of Babel (section)

== Possible origins ==
{{Main|Etemenanki}}

=== 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>

=== Mesopotamian analogues ===
There are similar stories to the Tower of Babel. In the [[Mesopotamian religion|Sumerian myth]] ''[[Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta]]'',<ref name="kramer2"/> [[Enmerkar]] of [[Uruk]] is building a massive [[ziggurat]] in [[Eridu]] and demands a tribute of precious materials from [[Aratta]] for its construction, at one point reciting an incantation imploring the god [[Enki]] to restore (or in Kramer's translation, to disrupt) the linguistic unity of the inhabited regions—named as [[Subartu|Shubur]], [[Hamazi]], Sumer, [[Akkadian Empire|Uri-ki]] (Akkad), and the [[Amorites|Martu]] land, "the whole universe, the well-guarded people—may they all address Enlil together in a single language."<ref>"Enmerkar and the lord of Aratta: composite text." ''Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature.'' Line [http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/c1823.htm#line134 145f.]: an-ki ningin<sub>2</sub>-na ung<sub>3</sub> sang sig<sub>10</sub>-ga den-lil<sub>2</sub>-ra eme 1-am<sub>3</sub> he<sub>2</sub>-en-na-da-ab-dug<sub>4</sub>.</ref>

The [[Eridu Genesis]], an ancient Sumerian [[flood myth]], includes a passage about the unity of human speech before the gods intervened. During the [[Neo-Assyrian period]], a fragmentary text found in [[Nineveh]], from the [[library of Ashurbanipal]] (r. 668–627 BCE), which contains parts of the Eridu Genesis, along with the general interest Ashurbanipal's library had in preserving older traditions, suggest that these stories of language confusion and divine intervention were still relevant during this period.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lambert |first=W. G. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/j.ctv18r6rfr |title=Babylonian Creation Myths |date=2013 |publisher=Penn State University Press |isbn=978-1-57506-247-1 |doi=10.5325/j.ctv18r6rfr}}</ref>

This is further evidenced by the Neo-Assyrian divine punishment motif often found in royal inscriptions, which describe the gods punishing nations for their arrogance, particularly through destruction, scattering, or confusion—a theme seen in the Tower of Babel story.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The annals of Sennacherib, by Daniel David Luckenbill ... |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=gri.ark:/13960/s2vkr0tw6ph&seq=12 |access-date=2025-02-14 |website=HathiTrust |language=en}}</ref>

In the [[Sennacherib's Annals|annals]] of the Neo-Assyrian king [[Sennacherib]] (r. 705–681 BCE), he describes how the gods "confused the plans" of his enemies and scattered their forces, resulting in his victory and the [[Siege of Babylon|destruction of Babylon]] in 689 BCE. These events may have influenced later biblical writers during the [[Babylonian captivity|period of Babylonian captivity]], who viewed the city’s fall as a divine act, reinforcing the idea that Babylon’s pride led to its downfall.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Frame |first=Grant |title=Babylonia 689-627 B.C: a political history |date=1992 |publisher=Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut te Istanbul |isbn=978-90-6258-069-9 |series=Uitgaven van het Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut te İstanbul |location=Istanbul}}</ref>