The ziggurat of Babylon is the work of king Nebuchadnezzar II (6th century B.C.) and remains the greatest ever built. Regardless, only its outline is left, leaving behind a square with sides 90 m long. Archaeological, iconographical and textual clues allow for a restitution. Its six levels and pinnacle temple probably made the tower about 60 m high. This is the building called the “Tower of Babel” in the Bible, where it is presented as an offence to the god of the Jews, in complete opposition with classical sources, which refer to it as one of the wonders of the world.
- Location of the Etemenanki, the ziggurat dedicated to the god Marduk, in its complex (infography C. Schuppert)
- The remains of the ziggurat of Babylon today: a negative imprint of the tower and its axial staircase (photo P. Modlinski)
- Top of the Neo-Babylonian stele of the Etemenanki. Black stone, total height of the preserved stele 47 cm. Schøyen Collection of Oslo, MS 2063 (drawing A. García from A. R. George’s copy)
- Virtual reconstruction of the ziggurat of Babylon from Juan Luis Montero Fenollós (infography J. A. Hidalgo and M. J. Miñarri)