BABEL, TOWER OF, according to Gen. xi. a structure which was erected in the plain (or valley) of Shinar and here the confusion of tongues is said to have taken place. The name "Babel," however, gives a totally different interpretation of the structure for it is derived from bab, a gate, and ilu, god. The "con fusion" of tongues would be correctly indicated by balal, a Semitic word meaning "to confuse." The myth on which the building of the Tower of Babel rests is to the effect that at the time when all men formed a single unit and began their wanderings over the earth they arrived at the plain of Shinar and conceived the idea of a structure which would enable them to reach to Heaven. The gods were alarmed at the genealogical relationships of the family, which are of some importance for the understanding of German and Austrian his tory. The Babenbergers were a race of administrators of ability well above the average. The most remarkable of them, personally, was Leopold the Pious (q.v.).