BABEL, a tower, built by the posterity of Noah after the flood ; remarkable for its great height, and for the disappointment of the builders, by the confu sion of their language, (Getz. xi:1-9.) The land of Shinar, in which the posterity of Noah settled, lay along the river Tigris, from the mountains of Armi nia to the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates ; and the plain of Shiner, where the tower was built, was undoubtedly the place, or near to the place, where the famous city Babylon afterwards stood ; upon the banks of the great river Euphrates, and not far from its junction with the Tigris. Josephus, and some others, ascribe this great design to Nimrod ; hut, al though it might correspond very well with the cha racter which Scripture has given of that enterprising prince, yet Bochart (in his Phaleg. lib. i. cap. 10.) has shewn, that Nimrod was either not born, or was very young, when this tower was built. But there is no doubt, that Nimrod and his subjects did after wards settle at. Babel, and there built Babylon, became the capital of the Assyrian empire. It has also been a common opinion, that Shem and his pos terity had no hand in this great undertaking ; but, from the Mosaic history, it seems perfectly clear, that the whole human race were actually engaged in it. Its date is differently computed, according as chronologers follow the LX X interpreters, who make it 531 ; the Samaritan copy, which makes it 396 ; or the Hebrew, which allows it to be no more than 101 years after the flood. It is believed to have been about the time of the birth of Peleg ; for in Gen. x. 25. we read, that " unto Eber were born two sons, and the name of the one was Peleg ;" which being de rived from a Hebrew word signifying to divide, the reason why that name was given to him is added, " for in his days was the earth divided." From the account given of Peleg's ancestors, in the subsequent chapter, it appears, that he was born in the 101st year after the flood ; though the confusion of the language of the builders, and their consequent disper sion, might not take place for many years afterwards.
Its dimensions, as given by ancient historians, maybe deemed suitable for a building, which seems to have been designed to he the palace, or citadel, of the empire of the world. The Scripture tells us, that it was built of burnt bricks instead of stone, and of slime instead of mortar. According to an ancient tradition, three years were employed in making the bricks ; each of which was thirteen cubits long, ten broad, and five thick ; and they were cemented by bitumen, or a pitchy sub stance, of which, according to Herodotus, great quan tities are to be found on the banks of the river Is, in the neighbourhood of Babylon. When some eastern writers tell us, that this tower was no less than twelve miles high, the assertion refutes itself. Even the affirmation of St Jerome, (though he rests it upon the testimony, as he says, of eye-witnesses,) that its ruins were four miles high, is as little worthy of cre dit. If the opinion of the learned Bochart be cor rect, that the tower in the temple of Belus in Baby lon is the same with the tower of Babel, the descrip tion which Herodotus has given of the former, is ap plicable to the latter. He tells us, that it was a square tower, built in the form of a pyramid ; each side of which, at its base, measured a furlong : and its height, according to Strabo, was also a furlong, or 660 feet ; exc,Aing, by 60 feet, the highest of the pyramids of Egypt, according to the late mea surement of these stupenduous monuments of anti quity by the French. Around the outside of the building, there was a winding passage from the bot tom to the top, and so very broad as to permit car riages to pass each other ; which gave it the ap pearance of eight square towers, built one above an other, and gradually decreasing in size to the top of the building. It contained many large rooms, with arched roofs supported by pillars ; these became parts of the temple of Belus, after it was convert ed into a place of idolatrous worship ; and, in the highest tower, there was an observatory for astrono mical purposes, a science in which the Babylonians eminently excelled.