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Babel and Babylon

Babel and Babylon

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Babel and Babylon

The embodiment of past dreams and contemporary desires, cities have continued to reinvent themselves since they first appeared over 4,000 years ago, in the second century BC in Mesopotamia, driven by a wave of demographic growth and booming trade. They created a more concentrated population and ushered in a new form of social organization: providing a viable means for several thousand people to live shoulder to shoulder also meant finding a system of strong government.

Rome, the eternal city

The word "Rome" conjures up not only images of the city itself but also of its history: its past glories, its influence on all of Europe and on Christianity, its remains, which bear witness to its urban organization, and its works of art, which testify to its riches and ability to attract a host of artists and intellectuals. Rome was a hub for all these strengths and in turn stamped its mark on the entire Empire. It is not by chance that all roads lead to Rome!

It is not surprising that the city—and its demiurgic connotations—quickly became a seedbed for all manner of fantasies. The Bible describes the great Mesopotamian ziggurat as a reflection of man's vanity: an attempt to build a tower that would unite men through a common tongue and put them on an equal footing with God. Yet it was God's wrath that destroyed this dream: the Tower of Babel came to represent paradise lost, symbolizing the impossible ideal of a universal community freed of the shackles of fate.

Tower of Babel

The Tower of Babel inspired a number of artists. Brueghel the Elder chose to portray the tower's construction rather than its divine destruction. During a time of religious upheaval, this was perhaps an attempt to promote the universality of man.

Brueghel was a great humanist and keenly aware of the technical advances of his time—knowledge he used to accurately portray the details of the latest building techniques.

Pieter Brueghel the Elder

Not much is known about Pieter Brueghel "The Elder", not even his exact date of birth, which has been estimated circa 1525-1530. However, we do know that he died in 1569. The death certificate states that he died medio aetatis flore (in the prime of his life); he is therefore thought to have lived until around 40 years of age.

Nor do we know where he was born: Breda in the Netherlands or Bree in Belgian Limburg (also called Breda in Latin). His name first appears in 1551 in Antwerp, where he ranked among the masters of the guild of Saint Luke. The following year, he traveled to Italy. It is thought that he rubbed shoulders with both rich patrons and rural folk, whose weddings he attended.

In 1562, he left Antwerp and set up home in Brussels, where he married the daughter of the painter Pieter Coecke van Aelst in 1563. Some stories suggest the latter was also his mentor.

His first son, Pieter Brueghel "The Younger", was born in 1564, and the second, Jan de Velours, in 1568, both of whom took up as painters and continued to promote the Brueghel style after their father's death in 1569—a style that remained highly popular throughout the 16th century.

© BPK, Berlin, Dist RMN

Babel and Babylon

References to Babylon, the "Gateway of the Gods", first appeared in cuneiform texts some 4,500 years ago. However, its significance was not truly apparent until the reign of Hammurabi (1793-1750 BC). A number of dynasties followed in succession, including the Amorites, the Hittites, the Kassites and the Elamites. During this time, Babylon was steadily expanded, embellished, besieged, attacked and pillaged.

Under the influence of the Isin dynasty, around 1100 BC, the god Marduk rose to top the Babylonian pantheon. The Etemenanki ziggurat (literally meaning "temple of the foundation of heaven and earth") was dedicated to the cult of Marduk and was most likely the real-life inspiration for the Tower of Babel found in biblical legend.

Babylon enjoyed its golden years during the Chaldean Dynasty and the rule of Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 BC), who restored the city's key buildings and built a second wall at sufficient distance from the first in order to include enough land to feed the city in the event of a siege.

Although Babylon would later lose its independence, its successive conquerors nonetheless respected and restored the city: the Persians, the Macedonians (under the leadership of Alexander the Great) and the Parthians granted it special status among their conquests. The city was not abandoned until the 2nd century AD, by which time it had already become a legend.