Oriental Antiquities

Arslan Tash Ivories and Hazael in the Louvre Museum

Statuette of the Assyrian Demon Pazuzu

Se Faire de l'Argent

Prism of the Expeditions of King Ashurbanipal in the Louvre Museum

Reliefs of the Deportation of the Elamites in the Louvre Museum

Hideaway Vase

Standing Statue of Manishtushu Trampling the Defeated

Statue of the Goddess Narundi in the Louvre Museum

Svastika and cross in the Louvre Museum

Table Decorated with Serpents and Deities Spouting Water

Sit Shamshi, an example of Canaanite high place in the Louvre Museum

Worshipper of Larsa at the Louvre Museum

Electrum Goblet

Cylinder Seals and Stamps from Susa.

Palace of Darius I in the Louvre Museum

Frieze of Archers in the Louvre Museum

Contract in Babylonian and biblical chronology

Darius Hystaspes and decree for the Jews

Xerxes I or Assuerus in the Book of Esther

Mosaic of a Woman Playing the Harp

Art of dance in the Louvre and in the Bible

Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar II, King of Sidon

Astarte

Bible, Boats and Byblos

Urn Containing Calcified Remains and Child sacrifice

Tayma Stele

Triad of Beelshamên and Canaanite pantheon

Funerary Relief and Mourning in the Bible

Colossal Vase and sea from Solomon's Temple.

Mesha Stele or Moabite Stone, Bible and Name of God

Seal Inscribed in Hebrew and divine Name

Model Shrine

Letter from Biridiya and Megiddo

Statue in Human Form

Stele of the Priest Si Gabbor and Death in the Bible

Stele of the Storm God Baal in the Louvre museum

Trivet Decorated with Pomegranates

Golden Calf' in the Louvre and worship of images in the Bible

Fertility Idol and Babylon

Murex

Babylon and The Tower of Babel

Cylinder Seal of the Priest-King at the Louvre Museum

Bas relief of Dudu at the Louvre Museum

Ebih II at the Louvre Museum

Stele of Vultures at the Louvre Museum

Stele of a King of Akkad at the Louvre Museum

Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, king of Akkad

Art of Seals at the Louvre Museum

Architect with a Plan and Gudea prince of Lagash

Libation Vase of the God Ningishzida

Gilgamesh and the biblical flood at the Louvre Museum

Cylinder of Gudea at the Louvre Museum

Teraphim at the Louvre Museum

Statue with Gushing Vase at the Louvre Museum

Statue of Ur Ningirsu

Lament for the Destruction of Ur at the Louvre Museum

Weight with Crescent Moon at the Louvre Museum

Libation to the God Shamash at the Louvre Museum

Code of Hammurabi at the Louvre Museum

List of the Kings of Larsa

Goddess Ishtar at the Louvre

Demon Humbaba at the Louvre Museum

Divinatory Livers at the Louvre Museum

Zodiac Calendar at the Louvre Museum

Palace of Mari , Model of the Ruins of the Louvre Museum

Painting of the Organiser of the Sacrifice from Mari

Lion passant at the Louvre Museum

Kudurru of King Melishipak II at the Louvre Museum

Esagila Tablet

The Righteous Sufferer , tablet of the Louvre museum

Tablet of the God Enki Tablet of the Louvre Museum

Head of a Horned Dragon and Marduk

Victory Stele and Assyrian cruelty in the Louvre Museum

Sargon II in the Louvre Museum

Hebrew Siloam Inscription in the Louvre Museum

Transport timber Cedar of Lebanon, reliefs ot the Louvre Museum

Human-Headed Winged Bulls in the Louvre Museum

Stele of the Scribe Tarhunpiyas

Figurine of a Hittite God in the Louvre Museum

Arslan Tash Ivories and Hazael in the Louvre Museum

Statuette of the Assyrian Demon Pazuzu

Se Faire de l'Argent

Prism of the Expeditions of King Ashurbanipal in the Louvre Museum

Reliefs of the Deportation of the Elamites in the Louvre Museum

Hideaway Vase

Standing Statue of Manishtushu Trampling the Defeated

Statue of the Goddess Narundi in the Louvre Museum

Svastika and cross in the Louvre Museum

Table Decorated with Serpents and Deities Spouting Water

Sit Shamshi, an example of Canaanite high place in the Louvre Museum

Worshipper of Larsa at the Louvre Museum

Electrum Goblet

Cylinder Seals and Stamps from Susa.

Palace of Darius I in the Louvre Museum

Frieze of Archers in the Louvre Museum

Contract in Babylonian and biblical chronology

Darius Hystaspes and decree for the Jews

Xerxes I or Assuerus in the Book of Esther

Mosaic of a Woman Playing the Harp

Art of dance in the Louvre and in the Bible

Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar II, King of Sidon

Astarte

Bible, Boats and Byblos

Urn Containing Calcified Remains and Child sacrifice

Tayma Stele

Triad of Beelshamên and Canaanite pantheon

Funerary Relief and Mourning in the Bible

Colossal Vase and sea from Solomon's Temple.

Mesha Stele or Moabite Stone, Bible and Name of God

Seal Inscribed in Hebrew and divine Name

Model Shrine

Letter from Biridiya and Megiddo

Statue in Human Form

Stele of the Priest Si Gabbor and Death in the Bible

Stele of the Storm God Baal in the Louvre museum

Trivet Decorated with Pomegranates

Golden Calf' in the Louvre and worship of images in the Bible

Fertility Idol and Babylon

Murex

Babylon and The Tower of Babel

Cylinder Seal of the Priest-King at the Louvre Museum

Bas relief of Dudu at the Louvre Museum

Ebih II at the Louvre Museum

Stele of Vultures at the Louvre Museum

Stele of a King of Akkad at the Louvre Museum

Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, king of Akkad

Art of Seals at the Louvre Museum

Architect with a Plan and Gudea prince of Lagash

Libation Vase of the God Ningishzida

Gilgamesh and the biblical flood at the Louvre Museum

Cylinder of Gudea at the Louvre Museum

Teraphim at the Louvre Museum

Statue with Gushing Vase at the Louvre Museum

Statue of Ur Ningirsu

Lament for the Destruction of Ur at the Louvre Museum

Weight with Crescent Moon at the Louvre Museum

Libation to the God Shamash at the Louvre Museum

Code of Hammurabi at the Louvre Museum

List of the Kings of Larsa

Goddess Ishtar at the Louvre

Demon Humbaba at the Louvre Museum

Divinatory Livers at the Louvre Museum

Zodiac Calendar at the Louvre Museum

Palace of Mari , Model of the Ruins of the Louvre Museum

Painting of the Organiser of the Sacrifice from Mari

Lion passant at the Louvre Museum

Kudurru of King Melishipak II at the Louvre Museum

Esagila Tablet

The Righteous Sufferer , tablet of the Louvre museum

Tablet of the God Enki Tablet of the Louvre Museum

Head of a Horned Dragon and Marduk

Victory Stele and Assyrian cruelty in the Louvre Museum

Sargon II in the Louvre Museum

Hebrew Siloam Inscription in the Louvre Museum

Transport timber Cedar of Lebanon, reliefs ot the Louvre Museum

Human-Headed Winged Bulls in the Louvre Museum

Stele of the Scribe Tarhunpiyas

Figurine of a Hittite God in the Louvre Museum

Arslan Tash Ivories and Hazael in the Louvre Museum

Babylon and The Tower of Babel

The Tower of Babel

RF 2427
Richelieu 2nd floor room 13

“And the beginning of his kingdom came to be Ba´bel.” (Genesis 10:10).
It is through these words that the Bible mentions both Babylon and the word ‘kingdom’ for the first time.

The Tower of Babel of Valckenborch

Moses derives the word “Babel” from the verbal root balal, meaning ‘to muddy or confuse’, thus giving this term the sense of 'Confusion’. The locals claimed that Bab meant ‘Gate’ and ilou ‘God’, which gives Babilou, ‘God’s Gate’. These two meanings associate Babylon with its religion.
The oldest textual reference mentioning Babylon goes back to the archaic Sumerian dynasty period; around 2500 BC, the governor of a place called Bar-bar, in ancient Akkadian, described himself as the builder of the god Marduk’s temple.
“ Nim´rod made the start in becoming a mighty one in the earth. ” (Genesis 10:8, 9). This short phrase concerning Nimrod is very significant, as he became a ‘mighty hunter opposing’ God (verse 9) , by rebelling against his sovereignty. There are those who believe that Marduk, a major Babylonian god, was perhaps a deified Nimrod.

A common religious source ?

Babylon, a marvellous but cursed city,
was nothing more than a heap of ruins.
And it would therefore be easy
to forget the heritage subsequent civilisations were to benefit from.

However, with regard to peoples
of the past, everywhere the most disconcerting coincidences
are revealed in rituals, ceremonies
and traditions as well as in
the relationships between gods.
All of these peoples have been able
to draw their religious concepts
from a common source.

Numerous cultural and religious phenomena came into being in the Ancient East and some religions are an original development of these.
Christianity [...] took root more than any other religion in this fascinating Mesopotamian tradition.

Béatrice André-Salvini

“The Church began in Chaldea.”
Cardinal J.H. Newman

These aspects are common to mythology the world over, whether in terms of fundamental belief in the immortality of the soul, the cult of the sun or mother-goddesses, in the concept of a Trinitarian god or in facts relating to creation or to a flood that destroyed wrong-doers, all can find a biblical explanation in the dispersal of humankind from Babylon, each cultural group having distorted or embellished their original heritage. ,
“Now all the earth continued to be of one language and of one set of words.” - Genesis 11:1.

What is called "cuneiform writing" is writing

where the characters are wedge
or nail shaped.
Although the Bible makes no allusion to
an antediluvian writing, after the confusion
of the original language, various writing
systems appeared. A111

The first epigraphic cuneiform document, written in Babylonian, was brought to Europe by the botanist A. Michaux. This was a kudurru called “The Michaux Stone”.
11th Century BC. Paris, BnF

What is called the Table of Peoples (Genesis 10) names the descendants of the sons of Noah and these are systematically classified by groups, ‘according to their languages’. Genesis 10:5
Far from being a human invention, it appears that by confusing the language of man, God produced completely new languages that differed not only in terms of grammar and roots, but also in the mental outlines of expression of thought. Linguistic research confirms the account in the Bible.

The most ancient vestiges of written language date back 5,000 years
at the most. And mankind's history
began in SumerA113 A114

Concerning the place from which ancient languages spread, Sir Henry Rawlinson remarked that ‘we would be obliged to chose the plains of Shinar as the centre from which the various linguistic paths radiated’. - Genesis 11:2 A115 , A116

There are texts engraved in stone

or on tablets in existence
which are sometimes much older
than the oldest existing manuscript
of the Bible.

However, the Bible is unique

as it presents a profound

and powerful message.

It is believed that the Hebrew in the Bible corresponds to the 'only language' in use before the events of Babel due to its remarkable immutability during the millennium in which the Hebrew Scriptures were written. There are undoubtedly texts engraved in stone or on tablets, clay prisms and cylinders in existence which are sometimes somewhat older than the oldest existing manuscript of the Bible.
However, the Bible is unique as it presents a profound and ‘powerful’ message (Hebrews 4:12). At the least, it merits a careful read without any preconceived ideas.