Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-06
MORE THAN 80 LOCALITIES
CHOSEN. AS SITE OF EDEN
EgyptOIogy Professor at American U. Attempts to
\ Reconstruct Biblical Geography, Aided
bv Modern knowledge.

| divinitieS on elevations such as hills
and mountains. In Babylonia all is fiat
so the Sumerians constructed towers
| to resemble the hills and mountains
of their fatherland. The church
| steepleS of today are the direct de-
scendants of these old Sumerian temple
towers; so, too, are the minarets OF
mosques and the medieval bell towers.
| Babel, says Dr. Duncan, was only g
rather ambitious sample of these
| Sumerian towers the ruins OF which
recently have been uncovered. 1t has
been used for centuries as brick quarry
From AsSyrian and Babylonian records
| he SAYS, it is possible to reconstruct
this tower. Compared with the Wash
ington Monument it was a rather UNI
pretentious structure. It consisted OF
| seven platforms and its total height
was only about 225 feet. 1t was sit
uatsd close to the Temple of Marduk
| the supreme god of Babylon.
Common to Sumerian Temples.
I'm modern language" DR.. Duncan
| saws. the Tower of Babel was the
/ seven-story Steeple of the Church OF
Marduk In Babylon. Such SteepleS and
| towers were common to all the Sumer-
ian temples in Babylonia. The one at
Ur, connected with the temple of the
moon god, now is being excavated. The
Tower of Babel was evidently built by
some very early Sumerian king. For
some reason, the structure was left un-
finished. For many centuries IL re-
manned a vast ruin, inspiring wonder
and awe. In the course of centuries
folk lore was busy weaving tales of a
confusion of tongues and separation
of the builders who were guilty Of aim
ing to erect a structure that should
reach the very Heaven where Jehovah
had His abode. Political disturbances,
lack of funds, earthquake or storm may
have stopped all work upon the tower.
The builders then would scatter to their
homes in Babylonia and other lands
where different dialects would be
spoken"
The first language, says DR.. Dun
can, will never be known. It long was
assumed that Adam and Eve spoke
Hebrew, but it now is known that He
brew is a late Semetic language which
was first spoken about 1000 BIC, the
time of David. It was derived from a
primitive Semetic tongue spoken in
Arabia, which still was long way re-
moved from any primitive human Ian
guage.
There was a real flood, DR.. Duncan
holds on the basis of the archaeological
evidence. but it probably was no more
significant than the Mississippi flood of
last year. Both the Babylonian and
Biblical flood stories, he believes, can
be explained on the basis of an I'M
usually heavy winter in the mountains
near the source of the TigriS and Eu-
pirates followed by melting SHOWS in
the Spring, possibly augmented by pro-
longed rains and winds sweeping in
from the Persian Gulf.
Really Now 1886 AID.
Another interesting fact which Dr.
Duncan derives from Biblical archeol-
ogy is that we really are living in the
year 1886 AID, rather than 1928, as
time is measured from the birth of
Christ. HouSe-to-house censuseS were
taken every IA years under the Roman
governors of Palestine. Christ was
born during the taking of a census.
There are definite records of a census
under Quirinius, governor of Syria, in
AID, so the Nativity must have taken
place ID years before, during the pre-
vious census. This would put the birth
of Christ in the year BIC.
The Bible writer's, DR.. Duncan holds,
were expressing divinely inspired
thoughts in the symbols of their time
and are alone responsible for their
geography and bad arithmetic, which
do not affect the authority of the gen.
eral revelation which they convey. The
thoughts were inspired, but they used
their own symbols to convey the
thoughts.
DR.. Duncan, who besides his posi-
ton on the faculty of American Uni
versity is head of the local Y. M. C. A.
School of Religion, has worked for
years with Egyptian, Assyrian, Baby
lorian and Hebrew records in his eff
forts to bridge over in fact the OBJ
scure passages in the Bible and is con-
sidered one of the foremost authorities
in America on Bible antiquities. In his
latest book, he locates with consider
able exactness some of the obscure geo.
graphical references in the Old Tesla
ment and Is able to bring the spirit of
many of the Bible stories in harmony
with the findings of modern science.
T. H.