Etemenanki

Ziggurat in ancient Babylon Reconstruction of Etemenanki, based on Schmid PlaceEtemenanki, Tower of BabylonEtemenanki, Tower of BabylonLocation within IraqCoordinates: 32°32′11″N 44°25′16″E / 32.536352°N 44.421102°E / 32.536352; 44.421102 Etemenanki (Sumerian: 𒂍𒋼𒀭𒆠, romanized: É.TEMEN.AN.KI, lit. 'Temple of the Foundation of Heaven and Earth') was a Babylonian ziggurat dedicated to the Mesopotamian god Marduk. It is now in ruins, which are located about 90 kilometres (56 mi) south of Baghdad. Some scholars have proposed Etemenanki as the ziggurat that may have influenced the biblical account of the Tower of Babel. Construction It is unclear when Etemenanki was originally constructed. Andrew R. George claims that it was constructed sometime between 1500 and 1000 BCE. He argues as follows: The reference to a ziggurrat at Babylon in the Creation Epic (Enûma Eliš· VI 63: George 1992: 301–2) is more solid evidence, ... for a Middle Assyrian piece of this poem survives to prove the long-held theory that it existed already in the second millennium BC. There is no reason to doubt that this ziqqurrat, described as ziqqurrat apsî elite, "the upper ziqq