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What does it mean? Why was it built?
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Tower of Babel: Construction has never been so confusing (CultureCast #030)
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Transcript
Hey CultureCats, this is Joshua Hwang building a tower to your mind with a 90 Seconds to Culture podcast.
Tower of Babel: Construction has never been so confusing
It is a reference good enough for Elton John, with a whole song called Tower of Babel. And it’s enough to inspire the name of the universal translator Babel fish in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
But what was the Tower of Babel?
It comes from another story from the old testament of the Bible. In the Book of Genesis, sometime after the great flood, people are rebuilding and the first great city was said to be Babel (also known as Babylon). This city was great because it was a combining of minds from east and west; so much so that they all spoke one language.
In tribute to the greatness of the city, and to further their reputation, they decided to build a tower so tall that it would have “its top in the heavens.”
Ah, but since the tower was not built to worship God, but as a testament to the awesomeness of mankind, God was pretty angry. God then gave all the people different languages and scattered them around the earth.
Interestingly, a direct reference to the phrase “Tower of Babel” is never made. Just “the tower” or “the city.”
The Tower of Babel allusion has come to symbolize many things including: punishment for excess pride (or hubris), confusion with language or thought in general, a doomed people, and more.
Sources / Further Reading:
Wikipedia: Tower of Babel
Babel fish from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
[tags]literature, religion, bible, babel, tower of babel, culture, podcast[/tags]
(image from chrisnb20 via flickr)
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