The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-06-05
The Tower OF Bable.

pairing miniature model OF the Tower
Of Bable for the Exposition at Allan
ta. It will be in all respects, as far
as possible, faithful reproduction Of
the famous original. The latter was
the greatest Of the many magnificent
temples of Babylon being 140 feet
high. That does not seem much COM
pared with the Washington Monu-
ment, but people in those days were
not accustomed to tall structures, and
the ancient capital of Assyria was
situated in the midst Of a vast plain
where there were no natural elevations
to serve for comparisons. The model
in question will be 5 feet 8 inches
square on the first story. When it is
stated that the first story Of the actual
Tower Of Babel was 272 feet square, q
notion will be given of the proportion:
The original building was constructed
in diminishing stories, each one being
a smaller square than that beneath.
This was common style Of architec-
ture in Assyria, and from itwas evolv-
ed the Egyptian pyramid. The sto-
ries for the model are square wooden
frames of different sizes, 80 made that
they may be superposed one upon
another. These frames, after being
put together, will be faced on the out
side with a veneer Of plaster of Paris
which will initiate the sun-dried bricks
of which the tower was composed.
The building of the model is under
the charge Of DR.. Palmer. The work,
however, is superintended by DR..
Cyrus Adler, who has made an e1haus:
tive study Of the historic Tower Of
Babel. Mechanically speaking, the
most difficult part of the job is the
casting of the plaster of Paris that is
to initiate the bricks. Every brick on
the exterior of the structure is repre-
sented, and this is accomplished by
making a single mold, in which the
little bricks are laboriously indicated.
From this mold many casts are made,
and SO the whole surface is covered.
The Babylonians had no stone, and so
were obliged to employ for all their
buildings such sun-dried bricks, which
were made and squared by hand. They
did not understand the use Of lnolds
for the purpose. Naturally structures
of such material soon crumblei and
did not last very long.
The Tower of Babel stood upon an
elevated platform of earth 600 feet
square. This was surrounded and re-
tanned by wall Of bricks 10 feet high.
Both platform and wall will be repre-
sented in the model, which will be
quite an imposing affair when finished.
The stories will be painted in different
colors to initiate the original building,
according to descriptions given Of it
in Assyrian literature. The first story
was black, in honor Of Saturn; the
second story orange, for Jupiter; the
third story red, for Mars; the fourth
story covered with plates Of gold, for
the sun; the fifth story white, for
Venus; the sixth story dark blue, for
Mercury, and the seventh story GOV.
cred with plates Of silver, in honor Of
the moon.
The old Babylonians were worship
ers Of the sun and knew lot about
astronomy. The Tower of Babel was
an observatory from which the priests
gazed upon the stars in the heavens,
drawing portents from them-presum-
ably for sale at so much portent.
The model will have no windows, for
it is not known whether or not the
original ediice possessed any. No
body as yet has been able to discover
how the houses of the Assyrians were
lighted. It may be that all the light
required for this mighty temple was
admitted from the top, which was pre-
sumably open to the sky. The stairs
were on the outside and not on the in:
side of the building. They also will
be shown. In fact, no detail will be
omitted that may help to give notion
of the exact appearance of this won
derful edi6ce Of antiquity. Washing
ton Star,