Tower Of Babel | Story, Summary, Meaning, & Facts - Britannica

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External Websites

• Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology - The Tower of Babel: Just a Bible Story?
• Associates For Biblical Research - Is there Archaeological Evidence for the Tower of Babel?
• BYU Religious Studies Center - The Tower of Babel, the Jaredites, and the Nature of God
• CORE - The Tower of Babel: archaeology, history and cuneiform texts (PDF)
• JewishEncyclopedia.com - Tower of Babel
• Jewish Virtual Library - Tower of Babel
• Denison's Digital Commons - The Tower of Babel: The Dispersion of God's People
• Livius - The Tower of Babel
• Bible Odyssey - The Tower of Babel
• Liberty University - Scholars Crossing - Context for Confusion: Understanding Babel in the Book of Beginnings (

Ask the Chatbot a Question Written and fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors Last updated Nov. 28, 2025 •History Table of Contents Table of Contents Ask the Chatbot

Tower of Babel, in biblical literature, structure built in the land of Shinar (Babylonia) some time after the Deluge. The story of its construction, given in Genesis 11:1–9, appears to be an attempt to explain the existence of diverse human languages. According to Genesis, the Babylonians wanted to make a name for themselves by building a mighty city and a tower “with its top in the heavens.” God disrupted the work by so confusing the language of the workers that they could no longer understand one another. The city was never completed, and the people were dispersed over the face of the earth.

The myth may have been inspired by the Babylonian tower temple north of the Marduk temple, which in Babylonian was called Bab-ilu (“Gate of God”), Hebrew form Babel, or Bavel. The similarity in pronunciation of Babel and balal (“to confuse”) led to the play on words in Genesis 11:9: “Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth.”

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• What other famous stories appear in the Book of Genesis?
• How did ancient Babylonians build their ziggurats and towers?
• What does archaeology tell us about the real Tower of Babel?
• How many languages exist in the world today and how are they related?
• What other ancient myths explain the origins of different languages?

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.