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Stairway to Heaven

© Anita Stratos

"And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech." (Genesis 11:1)

The rest of the story in Genesis tells of a people who settled on the plains of Shinar, building from fired bricks a city where they could remain together and a tower that would reach to heaven. But when God came down to see the city and tower, He was displeased as this went against His design, which was for people to spread throughout the earth and propagate. So He confused their language so they couldn't understand each other, forcing them to separate and inhabit various areas of the earth. This is why the tower that the people had built in Shinar was called Babel, because it was there that God confounded the language of the earth. (The meaning of the word "Babel" is being debated: some say it means "confusion", as when a person is babbling; others say it means "gateway of the gods".)

Is this historical fact or one interpretation as to why there are so many different languages on the face of the earth? Many Christians believe it to be fact as it is written; skeptics claim it to be nothing more than explanatory myth. Biblical archaeologists are in search of proof, and some claim to have found it.

It's easy enough to cast off these Biblical scenarios of God visiting earth and causing sweeping changes of one sort or another, but it's not so easy to accept them simply on faith. So let's take a look at the historical evidence that supports the existence of the legendary Tower of Babel.

Archaeologists have uncovered the foundations of several such towers, called ziggurats, in the area of Babylon in southern Mesopotamia. It was a structure built to support a stairway to heaven so gods could travel from their realm to ours. The actual towers were approximately 300 feet high and had within them areas for the gods to enjoy refreshments, rest, and other amenities to make their trips easier.

The baked bricks used in building these towers were used as building material in other areas of the world as well – could this mean that the people who created the ziggurats did indeed spread throughout the world, bringing their construction methods with them? Also, the shape of the ziggurats, that of stepped pyramids, are found in other world cultures from Egypt to South America.

Besides uniformity in architecture, pottery of that period is also found in other geographical areas. Archaeologists have called this uniformity "striking", and experts say that they have never witnessed a single culture influencing such a vast area before. Individual settlements have been discovered that are identical with Babylonian culture. After some time, those settlements did develop their own styles of culture, all of which points to a strong possibility that the origins of these new cultures began in Babylon.

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