Hebrew name for the city of
Babylon, chiefly associated with the
Tower of Babel which, in the Genesis story in the Old Testament, was erected in the plain of Shinar by the descendants of Noah. It was a ziggurat, or staged temple, seven storeys high (100 m/328 ft) with a shrine of Marduk on the summit. It was built by Nabopolassar, father of Nebuchadnezzar, and was destroyed when Sennacherib sacked the city in 689
BC.
© RM 2012. Helicon Publishing is division of RM.