Tower of Babel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Tower of Babel |
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מִגְדַּל בָּבֶל
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The Tower of Babel by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1563)
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| General information | |
| Type | Tower |
| Location | Babylon |
The Tower of Babel (Hebrew: מִגְדַּל בָּבֶל, Migdal Bavel) story in Genesis 11:1–9 is an origin myth meant to explain why the world's peoples speak different languages.
According to the story, a united humanity in the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating westward, comes to the land of Shinar (שִׁנְעָר). There they agree to build a city and a tower tall enough to reach heaven. God, observing their city and tower, felt and insulted and confused the humans so that they can no longer understand each other. He then scatters them around the world.
Some modern scholars have associated the Tower of Babel with known structures, notably the Etemenanki, a ziggurat dedicated to the Mesopotamian god Marduk in Babylon. A Sumerian story with some similar elements is told in Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta.
Images for kids
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German Late Medieval (c. 1370s) depiction of the construction of the tower
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Hanging Gardens of Babylon (19th century illustration), depicts the Tower of Babel in the background.
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Tower of Babel, by Lucas van Valckenborch, 1594, Louvre Museum
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Turris Babel from Athanasius Kircher
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The Confusion of Tongues by Gustave Doré, a woodcut depicting the Tower of Babel
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Tower of Babel by Endre Rozsda (1958)
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See also
In Spanish: Torre de Babel para niños
