Babel: History, Mythology, and Meaning

Episode 2. Babel: History, Mythology, and Meaning The Tower of Babel story in Genesis: what is its true meaning? How does the city-building theme found in Mesopotamian texts like the Sumerian King List and Enuma Elish inform our understanding of it? And was there a real Tower of Babel? If so, who built it? Let's analyze the text of Genesis 11 and find out what today's scholars say. Hashtags: #TowerOfBabel, #Genesis, #Mythology, #AncientBabylon, #Etemenanki Contents: 00:00 Logo 00:04 Prologue 00:51 Just what is “Babel” anyway? 01:33 The Mesopotamian fascination with cities 03:29 Analyzing the story 11:47 Etemenanki, the “historical” tower of Babel 14:17 From Babylon to Israel 17:00 Credits Related blog post: ⦾ The Tower of Babel: Did It Exist, and What Does the Story Mean? https://isthatinthebible.wordpress.co... Transcript: ⦾ https://isthatinthebible.files.wordpr... Academic works cited in this video: ⦾ Thomas L. Thompson, The Mythic Past, 2000 Amazon link: https://amzn.to/2TCfwb4 ⦾ Edwin M. Good, Genesis 1–11: Tales of the Earliest World, 2011 Amazon link: https://amzn.to/3dCENc4 ⦾ Patrick D. Miller, Jr., “Eridu, Dunnu, and Babel: A Study in Comparative Mythology”, in Biblical and other Studies in memory of Shelmo Dov Goitein (Hebrew Annual Review 9), 1985 ⦾ Karel van der Toorn and Pieter Willem van der Horst, “Nimrod Before and After the Bible”, Harvard Theological Review 83/01 (Jan 1990) ⦾ E.A. Speiser, “Word Plays on the Creation Epic’s Version of the Founding of Babylon”, Orientalia 25/4 (1956) ⦾ Ellen van Wolde, “The Tower of Babel as Lookout over Genesis”, in Words Become Worlds: Semantic Studies of Genesis 1–11, 1994 Amazon link: https://amzn.to/3dH8j0m ⦾ Philip Michael Sherman, Babel’s Tower Translated: Genesis 11 and Ancient Jewish Interpretation, 2013 Amazon link: https://amzn.to/3hwBGU7 ⦾ Theodore Hiebert, “The Tower of Babel and the Origin of the World’s Cultures, Journal of Biblical Literature 125/1 (Spring 2007) ⦾ Ronald Hendel, “Genesis 1–11 and Its Mesopotamian Problem”, in Cultural Borrowings and Ethnic Appropriations in Antiquity, 2005 ⦾ Arie van der Kooij, “The City of Babel and Assyrian Imperialism”, Congress Volume Leiden 2004, 2006 Amazon link: https://amzn.to/3ArudOT (Books purchased through Amazon affiliate links pay me a small commission in store credit.) Music: 1. Beyond the Stars (www.FesliyanStudios.com) 2. Cold Isolation (www.FesliyanStudios.com) 3. Beyond These Walls (Scott Buckley, www.scottbuckley.com.au) 4. Chronicle (Scott Buckley, www.scottbuckley.com.au) 5. Tranquility (www.FesliyanStudios.com)