Etemenanki ( noise. Γ.TEMEN.AN.KI π πΌ π π "The House of the Foundation of Heaven and Earth") is a ziggurat in ancient Babylon. It is not known exactly when the initial construction of this tower was carried out, but it already existed during the reign of Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC) . The tower was destroyed and reconstructed several times. The last and largest reconstruction, which turned the tower into the tallest structure of ancient Babylon, was during the period of the New Babylonian Kingdom . He was dedicated to the supreme god Marduk .
This reconstruction of the ziggurat was carried out in the second half of the 7th century. BC e. architect Aradahhesu. Its height was supposedly 91 meters. It had 7 tiers, on top of the last of which was a temple. To date, it has not been preserved, only the location of the ziggurat in the city has been established. In 331 BC e. Alexander the Great ordered to dismantle the building for subsequent reconstruction, which prevented his death [1] [2] . It was finally destroyed at the behest of the Seleucid , superstitious Antiochus I , who stumbled there during the sacrifice. In the Hellenistic period, the tower was dismantled, and a theater was built from its bricks.
Etemenanks are the alleged prototype of the Tower of Babel .
Notes
- β Diodorus of Sicily , 2.9.9; Strabo , " Geography ", 16.1.5.
- β RJ van der Spek. Darius III, Alexander the Great and Babylonian scholarship // Achaemenid History XIII. - Leiden, 2003 .-- S. 289β346 .