The original language (1)

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An early Mesopotamian tradition seems to be related to the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. According to the Sumerian story Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta all people originally worshipped Enlil with one voice until Enki (Ea), like Yahweh, introduced diversity and and contention into language. According to Genesis 11, humans settled in the plain of Shinar after the Flood, and began to build a city and a tower there with its top in the heavens. The biblical writer (source J) describes the strange construction of the tower, which was built from brick and bitumen rather than stone and mortar, and seems to resemble a Mesopotamian ziggurat, a temple tower. Since stone is a rare commodity on the mud plains of Babylonia, most buildings were built from brick. In J’s story, Yahweh appears to regard the tower as a threat to his own security, and intervenes to confuse the languages of its builders, so that they stop building the tower and scatter over the face of the earth. The tower is subsequently known as ‘Babel’, which is explained by way of a pun with the Hebrew word for ‘confuse’, balāl.

Bibliography

Stephanie Dalley

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