The tower of Babel in religious legend is a tower built by people in the story of Chapter 11 of the Old Testament of the Bible. According to the chapters, at that time, human beings united to build towers that hoped to lead to heaven; in order to stop human beings' plans, God made human beings speak different languages, so that human beings could not communicate with each other, and the plan failed, and human beings have since scattered things. This event provides an explanation for the emergence of different languages and races in the world.
It can be said that the history can confirm the civilization of a region or a nation, probably some architecture, which gathers the characteristics of architecture, aesthetics, design and culture, but in the wear and tear of time, many of them are only preserved in the story. When people are struggling to find results, they always question whether these glorious buildings were really born, or whether they are the product of mankind. Just like the Babel Tower a thousand years ago, everyone once thought that it was just a legend, how could such a magnificent building be built in that barbaric era?
However, archaeological findings confirm that this is not a myth, it did exist.
At first, archaeologists did not believe that their discovery was the remains of the Tower of Babel. They once thought that it should be the remains of the Hanging Garden, and the amount of engineering of the Hanging Garden is even more grand, the ancient version of the entire modern community, and the artistic conception is quite beautiful.
The work began in March 1899 when archaeologists from Germany began searching for traces of civilization dating back a thousand years on the banks of the Euphrates River, more than 100 kilometers south of Baghdad. The work lasted more than 10 years, and later, an arched building ruin was discovered, made of stone and mud bricks, with a large square well in the middle. The confirmation of this remains, thanks to a stone stele excavated later, which clearly recorded the location and style of the Babel Tower, has since been determined by archaeologists to find the remains of the Babel Tower base more than 2,000 years ago. Moreover, this archaeological work also found the remains of the ancient city of Babylon, which was rebuilt in 605 BC.
The historical Tower of Babel, in the true sense of the word, has been destroyed and rebuilt. The earliest tower of Babel, as early as 689 BC, was destroyed in war, when Babylon was occupied by the Assyrian state. Later, Nebuchadnezzar II established the new Babylon, and he ordered the construction of the Tower of Babel. The tower is 90 meters high, the base of the tower is basically square, and the side length is about 91 meters. The rebuilt Babel Tower, with a total of seven floors, belongs to the kind of layered construction method. The area lacks solid rock, so the buildings used are made of brick, just like other temples and pagodas in the area. However, the building made of this material will look very boring on the outside, just a huge brick wall.
However, the skillful craftsmen, with the help of diagonal bridges and inclined stairs, decorated with supporting piers, visually, let the outer wall be organically "divided". Even now, this technique is quite ingenious and more in line with architectural aesthetics. In the legend, the local construction of the Tower of Babel is to facilitate the heavenly gods and immortals to "rest their feet". It first existed more than 5,000 years ago, when the earth was almost uncivilized, and such a magnificent building naturally made people wonder: Is this really the place where the gods and immortals came from heaven to the mortal world? Or is there something else to be used for? At that time, Nebuchadnezzar II ordered that all people, regardless of ethnicity and region, should send people to repair the tower.
In the eyes of later generations, this tower and those temples should have the same function, and they belong to religious buildings.
For, in the perception of the Babylonians at that time, the throne of Babylon was granted by Marduk, and the monks were naturally The servants of Marduk. Under the influence of the god-given throne, if the people want to obtain god's protection, they naturally have to "dedicate", then this babel tower is the best gift. Every year there is a large-scale event here, and the devotees come to worship. Since the Tower of Babel has such an important religious significance, Nebuchadnezzar II decided to build it again, naturally for his own rights.
In the eyes of archaeologists and historians, those sacrifices were only regular ceremonial activities after the completion of the Tower of Babel, and later spent a lot of manpower to rebuild, and the kings at that time did not use this to consolidate their image as gods. At the same time, he was able to gain the favor of the monks. At that time, Mesopotamia, but religion prevailed, monks can be said to be a group of invisible "rulers", from spirit to wealth, they controlled the local people. Nebuchadnezzar II, who had ascended to the throne, would naturally join forces with them to better maintain his political rule.
Therefore, the Tower of Babel had actually become a gift to the monks at this time.
When later generations read its story, they are always amazed by the wisdom of the people at that time, and they do not think much about the other meaning behind those things, how worldly such a magnificent building should be if it is branded with some political marks. However, these magnificent buildings in history really cannot escape the personal will of the rulers. Just the most brilliant civilization, if there is no more powerful ruler to protect, it will still float in time. Just like this later Tower of Babel, in 484 BC, it was destroyed in the war.
At that time, people may not think that these buildings belonged to them, so these buildings were often the most injured in the war. I think it is also true that when the ruler built it, He had a thought: "This is built for the people, so it should belong to the people." ”
Resources:
【History of Civilization in the Two Rivers Valley" and "Dream of the Tower of Babel"]