The Wichita daily eagle., 1897-11-27

city. Therefore is the name of IT called
! Babel because the Lord did there con-
| found the language Of all the earth.
and froAn thence did TIE Lord scatter
them abroad upon the face of all the
earth. These are the generations Of
Shem.S Shem was hundred years old,
and begat Arphaxad, two years after
| the food"
All scholars agree. however. that il
sudh a Building was ever undertaken,
aud ins part erected, that it was on the
| Babylonsan plains in the neighoorhood
| Of, or within the ancient limits limits
OF, BABYLON. From the dawn of civiliZa-
ton Babylon was regarded as a sacred
locality. the name itself signifying the
I "GateM 81 God"
| But Babylon was not destined to last
Ia alithe glory of It's imperial grandeur
and in the thirteenth chapter Of Isaiah
| the destruction of the great sity is WV
idly pictured by the prophet in the fol-
lowing words:
"And Babylon, the glory Of kingdoms,
the beauty Of the Chaldees' excellency,
shall foe as when God overthrew Sodom
and Gohmorrafl. II shall never be in
habtted. neither Shall 1t be dwelt in
from generation to generation; neither
snail the Arabian pitch tent there; nor
shall the shepherds make their fold
there. But the wild beasts Of the desert
shall lie there, and other houses shall
be full Of doleful creatures, and owls
shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance
there. And the wild beasts OF the is
lands shall cry IN their desolate houses,
and dragons in their pleasant places,
and her time Is near to come, and her
days shall not be prolonged"
This IS a perfect pen picture OF the
Babylon OF today.
All is gone and in the entire world
there is today hardly a place so dread
and uninviting as the scene that breaks
upon the vision OF the traveller as he
first looks out over that Bafbylonian
plain. But not for long does the feel
ing oe desolation hang over him, for
II the distarc5 rises mound that IN
scantly attracts his attent ton, sending
his thoughts back TO the dawn Of human
history. 1t is the mound that tradition
points TO as marking the spot where
stvod the tower so famouse in history
It was here. then, according to the
Biblical aoount, that the descendants of
Noah journeyed. and began the building
OF city. the oruwuing glory Of which
was to be the Tower Of Babel
Long before its completion the Lord
interyened. and by confusing the
tongues OF the people compelled the
abandonment Of their colossal under
taking.
In considering the evidence Bearing
upon the existence Of the tower, It must
not be forgotten that the Babylonlans,
like the ancient Egyptians, rebuilt their
temples on the original foundations.
Thus on the spot where the tower was
begun great temples were subsequently,
erected, the last OF which was that Of
the famous NebuchadnezZar, and which
was doubtless not a great tower con-
structed to escape the terrors OF another
hood. but a magnificent temple rising up
IN the midst of ne new city OF the plain,
alike for worship and - commemorate
the glory and pride of man.
The present ruins. known as B.rs MINI
rod, consist OF a huge, irregular mound
crowned by the remains of a tower that
IlocS ioV iCcL 4EDlfl lIc pl4lH DrIOW. L ne
accompanying illustration accurately pic
lures the excavations that have been go
ing on and gives clead idea Of exactly
how the base Of the tower looks today.
n the excavations Of the interior OF the
mound many inscribed bricks have been
unearthed, and most Of them bear Nebu-
chadnezzar's name in cuneiform charac-
tere. On one OF these bricks Is an in
scription nat the tower was never COM
pleted, and that il had been abandoned
since avery remote period
DR.. William Hayes Ward says:
What is usually spoken OF as the Tow
er Of Babel is the temple pyramid, in
seven stages, built Eve know not how
early) IN honor OF the god Nebo. at Bor-
sippa, dczen miles from Babylon. %
the west es the Euphraies, and repaired
by the great king Nebuchadnezzsr. who
vas named after that god. The ruin is