The TowerThe tower of Babel, located in Shinar was not a spiraling tower as it has been depicted in many paintings throughout history, but rather a ziggurat. This is the same structure used by the Incas, Mayans, Aztecs, Babylonians, and Egyptians on pyramids built in the same time period as the tower. It also makes sense that after they were scattered throughout the earth they would take this design with them. In the Babylonian language the word Babel means “gateway to heaven.” They believed that by ascending to the top of the ziggurat into a holy sanctuary at the top and performing rituals that they would gain god like powers and eventually become gods. (This is the basic belief of many religions today, especially Hinduism, except without the ziggurat.) Thus, the sin of the people was that they refused to fill the earth as Yahweh had commanded them and that they were trying to become gods (make a name for themselves) by ascending to the top of the tower.
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