Babel

(bā'bl.) [Heb., confusion.] (Script.) A lofty tower, which the posterity of Noah began to build in a plain in the land of Shinar, the attempt being followed by their dispersion and the confusion of tongues (Gen. xi.) The general opinion is, that the site of B. was afterwards occupied by the city of Babylon, and it is supposed by many that the tower itself, being later finished, was consecrated to Belus, and is the same as the temple of that god described by Hero dot us, which is found in the dilapidated remains of Birs-Nimroud, situated abt. 6 m. S.W. of Hillah. [s. 66]