© The Schøyen Collection, MS 2063Detail of the Tower of Babel stele, with the engraving of King Nebuchadnezzar II.
A team of scholars has discovered what might be the oldest representation of the Tower of Babel of Biblical fame, they report in a newly published book.
Carved on a black stone, which has already been dubbed the Tower of Babel stele, the inscription dates to 604-562 BCE.
It was found in the
collection of Martin Schøyen, a businessman from Norway who owns the largest private manuscript assemblage formed in the 20th century.
Consisting of 13,717 manuscript items spanning over 5,000 years, the collection includes parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient Buddhist manuscript rescued from the Taliban, and even cylcon symbols by Australia's Aborigines which can be up to 20,000 years old.
The collection also includes a large number of pictographic and cuneiform tablets -- which are some of the earliest known written documents -- seals and royal inscription spanning most of the written history of Mesopotamia, an area near modern Iraq.
A total of 107 cuneiform texts dating from the Uruk period about 5,000 years ago to the Persian period about 2,400 years ago, have been now translated by an international group of scholars and published in the book
Cuneiform Royal Inscriptions and Related Texts in the Schøyen Collection.The Tower of Babel stele stands out as one of "the stars in the firmament of the book," wrote Andrew George, a professor of Babylonian at the University of London and editor of the book.
The spectacular stone monument clearly shows the Tower and King Nebuchadnezzar II, who ruled Babylon some 2,500 years ago.
Credited with the destruction of the temple of Solomon in 586 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar II was also responsible for sending the Jews into exile, according to the Bible.
The first Babylonian king to rule Egypt, he is also famous for building the legendary Hanging Gardens, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, and many temples all over Babylonia.
Calling himself the "great restorer and builder of holy places," he also reconstructed Etemenanki, a 7-story, almost 300-foot-high temple (also known as a ziggurat) dedicated to the god Marduk.
Biblical scholars believe that this temple may be the Tower of Babel mentioned in the Bible.
In the inscription, the standing figure of Nebuchadnezzar II is portrayed with his royal conical hat, holding a staff in his left hand and a scroll with the rebuilding plans of the Tower (or a foundation nail) in his outstretched right hand.
According to George, the relief yields only the fourth certain representation of Nebuchadnezzar II.
"The others are carved on cliff-faces in Lebanon at Wadi Brisa (which has two reliefs) and at Shir es-Sanam. All these outdoor monuments are in very poor condition," he wrote.
The inscription also depicts the Tower of Babel from a front view, "clearly showing the relative proportions of the 7 steps including the temple on the top," the Schøyen Collection stated.
The stele even features a line drawing of the ground plan of the temple, revealing both the outer walls and the inner arrangement of rooms (click
here for a drawing reconstruction).
Moreover, captions clearly identify the tower as the "great ziggurat of Babylon."
King Nebuchadnezzar himself talks about the amazing construction:
"I made it the wonder of the people of the world, I raised its top to the heaven, made doors for the gates, and I covered it with bitumen and bricks," the inscription reads in the translation by professor George.
Depicted in a long series of fanciful paintings, including artworks by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Gustave Doré, and M. C. Escher, the Tower of Babel is mentioned in the Bible, which says the people of Babylon were trying to build a tower to heaven.
God concluded that they were simply trying to gain power and caused the workers to speak many different languages. Unable to communicate with each other, the workers gave up the project.
"Here we have for the first time an illustration contemporary with Nebuchadnezzar II's restoring and enlargement of the Tower of Babel, and with a caption making the identity absolutely sure," the Schøyen Collection stated on its website.
Dated "between 604-562 B.C."? How is that determined? Are the experts asserting this stating the ancients didn't know what day it was...yet were building a 300 ft tall "ziggurat" (aka stepped PYRAMID)?
Let's do a real "secret history" search, shall we? Let's start with the person conventional history labels "Nebuchadnezzar I", shall we?
Start online at any search engine. TRY to find ONE LINK that gives more than a paragraph or two about this person. Try Wikipedia: almost zilch. No family members named, no allies listed...how can this be? GO LOOK.
Perhaps...just perhaps...if we examine the Amarna letters a tad more closely....we will discover WHO "Nebuchadnezzer/Nebuchadresser I (and II???) really was.
He was NebuMatRe's son. Who was "NebuMatRa"?
That was one of the names of Amenhotep III...the GREATEST of the Solomon kings. (Note well: today's Buddhists await the coming of the next Buddha: Maitraya/Matraiya...and Amenhotep III is found portrayed as a statue wearing the Buddha stepped pyramid crown at Leipzieg museum...Buddha = Egyptian "Ptah" Putah/Butah).
Close attention will reveal the god named "Nebu" morphed into the god named Ya/Ea.
So, the article states this Nebuchadrezzer II was the one that destroyed "Solomon's Temple" and "expelled the Jews"...interesting.
Because when NebuMatRa's son, aka AKHENATON was tossed from his throne by the Amun/Amen priests (the CohenGadols) and Ay and Horemheb (biblical Jehoram) , he left for Babylon....his OTHER kingdom.
And the Amarna letter from the Hittite king to Amenhotep III's widow (and Akhenaton's mother), Queen Tiye (biblical Leah) states quite clearly that she is to tell her son, NebuKuddurya/Akhenaton to honor his father's wishes...and that wish was to become a ChakraAtin king...aka ruler of the four corners of the Earth. Atin=Aten...the image of the sun that Akhenaton is famous for.
And in his fury at being tossed from the throne of Egypt....he returned and destroyed his father's temple run bu the Amun/Amen preisthood....and five of the priests (one of then named Hezekial/Hezekaya, the FIRST "king" of Israel) HID THE TREASURE in Tut's tomb.
Tut was his son...and Amenhotep III's grandson.
THAT'S why the misdirection and lies....because in Tut's tomb is found the Ark of the Covenant. The Breastplate of the CohenGadol. The Mercy Seat..and much more.
People: there is photographic evidence of all this. Go to lexiline.com, see for yourself. Look in the index, there are the photo and the verses from bible describing each item...no doubt about it.
Nebuchadrezzer was Akhenaton. I think there was only ONE Nebuchardrezzer.
"Hebrews" originated from the "Kheperu" royalty of Egypt (K=Ka, the spirit/soul of Heperu.....which comes from the older Puru Indian kingdom from the sarai River valley...SARAH....these were Brahma worshiping Hindus that founded the 15th dynasty of Egypt...Brahma=ABram..the original biblical name of ABraham...the so-called "founder" of the Jewish nation).
The article is correct: The "Tower of Babylon" was a stepped pyramid Akhenaton built...aka "ziggurat."