Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [79]
But Boorstin’s interpretation is not shared by everyone, and there are disagreements over the rationale for the ziggurats. Historian Gwendolyn Leick argues that there is nothing in Mesopotamian literature to substantiate that the ziggurat was meant to imitate or evoke a natural mountain. Instead, she writes, “In areas prone to flooding this was a practical device, and the towering sanctuaries must have been reassuring sights as high and therefore safe places, not necessarily to keep the people safe, but to protect the gods, upon whose benevolence all life depended.”
By all accounts, the grandest of these ziggurats was the temple complex in the city of Babylon that may have been first built around 1900 BCE, then expanded by Nabopolassar and continued by his son Nebuchadrezzar, a project that took forty-three years. Designed to signify the triumph of Babylon over its enemies, Nebuchadrezzar’s ziggurat was clearly awesome, involving the production of at least 17 million bricks. Many historians and archaeologists agree that this was the same tower described in Genesis.
After Nebuchadrezzar conquered Jerusalem, he took Judah’s king as a captive to Babylon, and, in 586 BCE, destroyed Jerusalem’s Great Temple. Thousands of Jews, among the nation’s elite, were taken into captivity in Babylon, one of the most significant events in the history of Israel and the development of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible. During this time, many of the books of Hebrew scripture were first written down.
In the bustling capital city, the captive Israelites would have heard many languages—with hints of ancient Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Persian filling the air of the ancient bazaars. Clearly, the story of the Tower of Babel had great significance to the exiled Israelites, because it provided an interesting play on the name of the city of Babylon. In Babylonian, the city’s name means “the gate of the gods,” but in Hebrew, the word for Babylon is related to a word meaning “to confuse.” The author of the biblical Tower of Babel story was essentially using a bilingual pun, a typical Hebrew literary device, to disparage the people who had captured the Israelites and held them captive.
Finally, the Tower of Babel reflects a classic story line, in which the gods become annoyed when people get a little too full of themselves. The theme that the gods—or God—don’t want competition from mankind is a common one in myths, and usually it does not end up well for humanity. Mankind overreaching—whether by building high towers, trying to fly, or stealing fire—has been a mythic concept opposed not only by the God of the Hebrew Bible but by gods in other mythologies. However, it just may be part of human nature to strive for the heavens, whether that means building towers in the desert, erecting skyscrapers in the city, or sending rockets into space.
MYTHIC VOICES
Now the Lord said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
—Genesis 12:1–3 (King James Version)
Was the Bible’s Abraham a man—or another Mesopotamian myth?
Mesopotamia was a land in which myths and men mixed. Gilgamesh was both real and