BAB 



vcllers, led by a tradition of the inhabitants, have judged 

 a place about eight or nine miles to the well, or north- 

 weft of Bagdad, to be the tower of Babel. This is call- 

 ed the tower of Nimrod, and is confpicuous at a great 

 diftance, being infuiated in an exttnfive plain between 

 the Euphrates and Tigris, and refexbling by its ruins a 

 fliapelcfs mountain more than a tower. Rauwolf fnp- 

 poles he found the ruins of Babylon upon the Eu- 

 phrates, near Felujia, about 36 miles to the fouth-weft 

 of Bagdad ; and Delia Valle was direacd, by another tra- 

 dition, to feek it about two days journey lower, near an 

 ancie?-.t city called Hel'a, feated on the fame rivtr. After 

 ail, there is no end of conjeftures ; the ruins defcribed by 

 many authors feeming to be rather the remains of fome 

 later ftruAures raifed by the Arabs, than thofe of the 

 original tower of Babel.' The time of this eriterprife is 

 generally allowed to hai-c been before the birth of Pcleg, 

 about the year 2247 B.C. in the year of the flood lot 

 according to the Hebrew calculation ; in the year 401, 

 according to the Samaritan ; and, according to the Sep- 

 tuao-int, in 53 1. The perfons concerned in this under- 

 taking were, according to the hillory, the pofterity of 

 Noah ; who jounitying from the eaft, found the plain of 

 bhinar, where they dwelt, and concurred in this enter- 

 prife. There is no reafon, therefore, for excluding the 

 family of Shem, as fome have done, from any fliare in this 

 memorable tranfadlion. Bryant, however, maintains that 

 Shem and his poilerity had no concern in it ; and that the 

 chief agents were the fons of Chus, or Chuthites ; and that 

 they were the ancient Titans, or wordiippers of fire. Anal. 

 Anc. Myth, vol.iii. p. 31. 91. The motives which induced 

 them all to unite and co-operate in the execution of this de- 

 fign hnve been ditftrently affigned. Accordingly, the mean- 

 inT of the paffagc which announces it, has been differently 

 interpreted. It is as follows ; " And they faid, go to, let 

 us build us a city and a tower, whofe top may reach unto 

 heaven ; and let us make us a name, kit we be fcattered 

 abroad upon the face of the whole earth." Some have fup- 

 pofed, th.at they apprehended a fecond deluge, and in order 

 to fecure for thcmfelves a refuge in cafe of danger, they 

 determined to ere.5l this lofty building. Others, who ima- 

 gine, that if this had been their pvu-pofe, they rtiould have 

 felcAed an eminence, and not a plain, _ for the fite of their 

 propofed edifice, fuppofe that they engaged in this under- 

 taking in order to prevent that feparation and difpcrfion of 

 which tliey had been previoudy admouidied. The fcrip- 

 ture, fay thefe perfons, exprefsly affign the reafon of their 

 conduft, which was " to make for themfeUes a name," or 

 eftabliih a memorial of themfelves, " left they ihould be 

 fcattered," or, as the words are otherwife rmdered, " be- 

 fore they (hould be fcattered abroad." Other interpreters 

 allege, that the word CJi*' T^-"'"! ^^ould be tranflated 

 •* a fign," aad not " a name ;" and they render the paffage 

 " let us make us a fign, left we be fcattered ;" and thus 

 as Perizonius (Orig. Babyl. c. 10. p. 16S. c. 11. p. 193. 

 c. 12. p. 223.) explains it, the tower was 'to ferve them 

 as a beacon, or mark, by the fight of which, or of a fignal 

 from the top of it, they might avoid ftraying in the open 

 plains with their flocks (the firft men being Ihepherds), 

 and be brought back again into the city, which they had 

 built for a place of abode, as they were unwilling to be dif- 

 perfed. As to the exprefiion " of its top reaching unto 

 heaven," it is a Hebrew phrafeology, merely denoting its 

 great height ; and for this purpofe we read of cities walled 

 up to heaven. Some, however, have fuppofed, that the 

 phrafe was intended to denote the ufe to which this tower was 

 to be appropriated, or that it was to be confecrated to the 

 heavens, or to the worfliip of the fun, moon, and liars, of 



BAB 



the fire and air, and other natural powers, as deities ; and 

 as it indicated a tendency towards idolatry, the true God 

 intcrpofed to prevent a total and irreclaimable dcfeclion. 

 ^Vhatfver was the defign with whicli this edifice was con- 

 ilructed. Almighty God thought proper to reftrain the 

 execution of it (Gen. xi. 6.), by the confufion of language 

 a!ul difperfion which enfued. See Contusion of Lan- 

 guages, and Dispersion of Mankind. From this confijiw, 

 the city and tower were denominated Babel. By altering 

 in the word Babel the fecond belh into a lamed, the paffage 

 (Gen. xi. 9.) might be thus rendered, "the name of it was 

 callcil Ballel, becaufe there the Lord did ballel, that is, con- 

 found the lip of all the earth ;" or thus, " the name of it 

 was called confufwK, becaufe there did the Lord confound 

 the lip of all the earth." Some have fuppofed, deviating 

 indeed too far fiom the literal hillory (vid. Bocharti Oper. 

 t. i. p. 36.), that Mofes did not mean any particular tower, 

 but tliat he fpoke in general of a turreted city, or a city 

 with turrets on its walls. Such a city, compared with 

 the caverns in which the firft men unqueftionably lodged, 

 might well appear a tower with a heavenly or very elevated 

 top, like the habitations of the Anakims ; thefe being fur- 

 mounted with natural rocks or peaks, and that with arti- 

 ficial elevations. See Gen. xi. 4. Deut. i. 2S. 



The materials of which this tower was conftrufled were, 

 as the fcripture informs us (Gen. xi. 3.), burnt bricks in- 

 flead of ftone, and flime inftead of water. According to 

 an eaftera tradition, three years were employed in making 

 and bm-ning thefe bricks, and each of them was 13 cubits 

 long, 10 broad, and 5 thick. The (lime was of a pitchy 

 fubftance, or bitumen, brought from a city in the neighbour- 

 hood of Babylon, called Is or Hit. Oriental writers, on 

 whofe report we'can repofe little confidence, pretend that 

 the city was 313 fathoms in length, and 151 in breadth ; 

 that the walls were 5533 fathoms high, and 33 broad ; and 

 that the tower itfelf was no lefs than 10,000 fathoms or 

 12 miles high. St. Jerome affirms, from the teftimony of 

 eye-witnefles, who, as he fays, had examined the re- 

 mains of the tower, that it was four miles high. But it is 

 needlefs to recount more of thefe fables. See Babylon. 



BABEL-MANDEB, fometimes called Babel-Man- 

 del, in Geography, a nan'ow ftrait at the entrance into the 

 Red fea, which connefts it with the Indian ocean, lying 

 between the fouth-we-ftern coall of Yemen or Arabia Felix, 

 and tlie coaft of Adel in Africa, and formed by the project- 

 ing land of Arabia on the eaft, and that of Abyflinia on 

 the weft. N. lat. 13° 50'. E. long. 43° 50'. The whole 

 breadth of this ftrait is about 30 geographical miles ; and 

 within it, about a league from the coaft of Yemen, is the 

 fmall barren ifland of Perim, fometimes called Babel-mandel, 

 which lias a good port, but is without frefli water. This 

 iftand is called by Arrian the ifle of Diodorus. Near the 

 African coaft are fevcral fmall ifiands, and on the continent 

 is the town of Zeila, which is fubjeft to the Imam of Ye- 

 men. Vcffels that navigate this ftrait moft commonly pafs 

 between the ifle of Ptrim and Arabia, though the paffage 

 is narrow, on account of the number of fmall ifiands on the 

 African coaft. The currents are ftrong, and the fwellhigh, 

 fo that it is difficult to pafs without a fair wind; hence 

 this navigation has been dreaded by the unfliilful mariners 

 of the adjoining countries. In ancient times the navigation 

 of the Arabian gulf, which is even now flow and difficult, 

 was confidercd by nations around it to be fo extremely peril- 

 ous, that it led them to give fuch names to feveral of its 

 promontories, bays, and harbours, as convey a ftriking idea 

 of the imprcffion which the dread of this danger had made 

 upon their imagination. Accordingly, the entry into the gulf, 

 they called Babel-mandeb, which fignifies the gate or port 



of 



P,:.,nJU., A C.-.L. 



