Did other peoples tell of a tower to the sky or a time of one language?
What the relationship labels mean
Possible historical contact: The cultures were in contact, so one tradition could have known the other.
Shared literary world: The stories appear to share older roots or a common cultural setting.
Similar human experience: Different peoples responding to similar realities, such as river floods.
Resemblance only: A real similarity worth noticing; no historical connection has been established.
Modern speculative theory: A modern interpretation, not an ancient source. Not supported by authenticated evidence.
Sumer · Mesopotamia
Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta (the "Spell of Nudimmud")
Shared literary world
Composed
c. 2100–1800 BC
Earliest surviving copy
Old Babylonian tablets, c. 1800 BC
A passage describes a time when all peoples addressed the god Enlil in one language, and the god Enki changed the speech in their mouths. Scholars debate whether it looks back to a past event or forward to a hoped-for unity.
Similar
A time when all humanity shared one language
A god changes human speech
Different
No tower or scattering
The meaning of the passage is disputed
Babylon · Mesopotamia
Etemenanki, the ziggurat of Babylon
Possible historical contact
Composed
Rebuilt by Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar II, 7th–6th century BC
Babylon's great temple tower, "House of the foundation of heaven and earth," about 90 meters tall. Nebuchadnezzar boasted of raising its top to the heavens.
Similar
A monumental tower in Babylon built to reach heaven
Built of baked brick and bitumen
Different
A real building honored, not abandoned
Aztec (Cholula) · Central Mexico
The giants' tower at Cholula
Resemblance only
Composed
Recorded by Diego Durán in the 1570s–80s
Earliest surviving copy
Durán's History of the Indies of New Spain
An elder in Cholula told Durán that giants built a tower toward heaven after a flood, and the lord of heaven destroyed it and scattered them.
Similar
A tower to heaven
Divine anger and scattering
Different
Recorded by a Spanish friar after Christian contact, so biblical influence is possible
