Babylon, the Tower, and very Ancient History

Try a different kind of relativity. Kingston, New York has a corner in town where four buildings exist that were built around the time of the Revolutionary War. Quite a bit older than apartment complexes in the area. St. Augustine was established in 1565. Pretty old, but that would make someone from Europe yawn because they have some very old areas. Rome, Italy is thought to have been founded in 753 BC. Do we have a winner? Not yet. Take a look at Jerusalem, that is old! But then...Babylon.

Tower of Babel by Lucas van Valckenborch, 1594

Babylon is the oldest city. Period. The Bible is the primary historical document, and Genesis tells us that after the global Flood, people weren't interested in obeying God and dispersing around the world. Nimrod was a bad dude (even worse than Corn Pop). He was a tyrant, organizer, city founder, and built the Tower of Babel. Nimrod was the Devil's quockerwodger.

We have the Bible as history, and there are other historical and archaeological records that take us from then until now. Babylon was invaded and ruled many times. Sennacherib of Nineveh destroyed Babylon and flooded it. This changed the water table, troubling archaeologists even today. (The Ninevites were another bunch of bad dudes, hated by many. Jonah didn't want to obey God and preach repentance to them.) The history of Babylon is quite interesting, and once again, we see evidence of what we know from the Bible to be true.

In fact, it was the first city that was established after the global flood of Noah’s day. The flood destroyed every city that existed prior to it (e.g., the city of Enoch, per Genesis 4:17). Outside of Noah’s farm (Genesis 9:20), this was where civilization re-began and, more properly, self-destructed. Like the city of Enoch, Babel was ultimately destroyed and left in ruins. But unlike Enoch, there are archaeological remains of Babel that can be studied today.

You can read it all (it will take a while, though), click on "History and Archaeology of the World’s Oldest City—Babel/Babylon and the Tower of Babel." Just for fun, the horror fiction of H.P. Lovecraft's "The Nameless City" had an impressive remark, "Remote in the desert of Araby lies the nameless city, crumbling and inarticulate, its low walls nearly hidden by the sands of uncounted ages. It must have been thus before the first stones of Memphis were laid, and while the bricks of Babylon were yet unbaked."