The Tower of Babel before archaeology. The Ziggurat of Babylon according to European travellers (XII-XVII centuries)

Abstract

Until the excavation of the ziggurat of Babylon, universally known as the “Tower of Babel”, by German archaeologists in 1913, many were the European travelers, between the 12th and the 17th centuries, that thought they have found the famous biblical monument. In this article are collected the reports of some of these travelers, who had mistaken the Tower of Babel with other Mesopotamian buildings.