Tower of Babel

Tower of Babel (Hebrew Bābhel, from Assyro-Babylonian bāb-ili,”gate of God”), according to the Old Testament (see Genesis 11:1-9), tower erected on the plain of Shinar in Babylonia by descendants of Noah. The builders intended the tower to reach to heaven; their presumption, however, angered Yahweh, who interrupted construction by causing among them a previously unknown confusion of languages. He then scattered these people, speaking different languages, over the face of the earth.

The story possibly was inspired by the fall of the famous temple-tower of Etemenanki, later restored by King Nabopolassar and his son Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylonia. The Genesis account appears to play on the Babylonian word bāb-ili (“gate of God”) and on the Hebrew words Bābhel (“Babylon”) and bālāl (“to confuse”). The English words babel and babble are derived from the story.