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The  Bable


A relevant oil painting in the history of art

Archaeological research and image provenance


Refarming and Modern models is Popular Culture

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Lunar eclipses






Origin of the image of Tengu







Artistic creations by artists from various regions on lunar eclipses 02.


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The source of the image and characteristics of the Tree of Heaven.


























Ometeotl: The supreme god of Aztec mythology

  

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In ancient times, all people spoke the same language. They migrated eastward and settled in the land of Shinar, where they decided to build a tower tall enough to reach the heavens—to make a name for themselves and avoid being scattered across the earth. They used baked bricks and tar instead of stone and mortar, and they eagerly began construction.

But the Lord saw their pride and their ambition, knowing that with a common language, nothing would be beyond their reach. To halt their defiance, He confused their speech so they could no longer understand one another. The work on the tower stopped, chaos spread, and the people eventually scattered across the world. The unfinished tower was called Babel (meaning "confusion"), and from then on, humanity was divided by different languages and nations

00.01. A relevant oil painting in the history of art

‘The Tower of Babel’ (1563) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
‘Turris Bable’（1679）by Athanasius Kircher

The tower rises in a spiral form, blending the styles of the Roman Colosseum and Gothic architecture, symbolizing the 'chaotic human ambition'.Details: Workers use cranes and brick kilns, satirizing the engineering frenzy in Europe at the time.


In the copper engraving, the tower is a layered cone, combined with mathematical calculations, in an attempt to "scientificize" the mythological architecture

00.02. Archaeological research and image provenance

The original account appears in the 11th chapter of Genesis in the Bible, emphasizing religious metaphors of linguistic differentiation and human arrogance, but does not describe the specific form of the tower .





19th century German archaeological team (Robert Caldwe): excavation of the Babylonian ruins, confirmation of the square base (90×90 m) and masonry structure of Ettman Angie, found traces of bitumen bonding, consistent with the biblical description.

Ur Ziggurat: The most complete surviving ziggurat (c. 21st century BC), providing a reference for the early form of the Tower of Babel.

Esagila Tablet (229 BCE): A history of the dimensions and restoration of the Etemenanki in Babylon, mentioning that it was "90 meters long on the sides of the base and seven stories high", and is believed to be the prototype of the Tower of Babel

Due to the destruction of the Babylonian ruins, the exact appearance of Ettman Angie is still debated, but the mainstream restoration models are based on a stepped layered design (see the model at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin)

00.03. Reframing and Modern Models in Popular Culture

In modern popular culture, the image of the Tower of Babel has appeared in many artistic creations and various audiovisual works.

Setagaya junior high school
Mitsuki sasaki and azusa noro
Inspired by Pieter Bruegel the Elder's "The Tower of Babel" and Katsuhiro Otomo's (creator of the manga "Akira") conceptual drawings of its internal structure, Tokyo University of the Arts developed a 3-meter-high, ultra-detailed three-dimensional model. Utilizing laser cutting technology, they transformed column and wall designs into precise blueprints, fabricated the components, erected the columns from the ground up, installed the floors, affixed the walls, and progressively elevated the tower. During the coloring process, the artists meticulously rendered both the stone and brick textures to achieve a realistic representation.


The film "Tower of Babel" (2006, directed by Iñárritu): a multi-line narrative that explores the communication gap in modern society.

Game: Assassin's Creed: Origins DLC "The Hidden Ones": Recreate the Babylonian scene of the Stepped Tower.

01.'Heavenly Dog Eats the Moon' is a folk explanation of lunar eclipses in ancient China, belonging to a category of natural myths. Due to a lack of astronomical knowledge, ancient people imagined lunar eclipses as a huge "heavenly dog" devouring the moon, and then using methods such as beating drums and firecrackers to drive away the heavenly dog and "save" the moon. This story combines mythology, astronomical observations, and folk activities, and is still circulating in some parts of China today




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Origin of the image of Tengu
The most well-known images of Tengu today come from ancient Chinese and Japanese legends.

































The earliest record in the Classic of Mountains and Seas states: "There is a beast on Yin Mountain, which looks like a raccoon with a white head and is called a heavenly dog. Its sound is like durian, and it can ward off evil." It resembles a raccoon cat, has a white head, and has a unique call, which can drive away evil spirits (later evolved into devouring the sun and moon)


The Nihon Shoki (720 AD) mentions that "Tengu" is a meteor or comet, symbolizing ominous (influenced by China). The "Turan Grass" (1331) records that the heavenly dog has a "red face, long nose, and holds a feather fan", and its image is stereotyped as a common modern monster.


In the Book of the Past (ancient Indian literature), the demon Rahu was beheaded by Vishnu for stealing the elixir of immortality, and his head turned into a heavenly dog that devoured the sun and moon, triggering a solar eclipse.

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Artistic creations by artists from various regions on lunar eclipsesIn James Turrell's light and shadow installation series' Skyspace ', the lighting changes during a lunar eclipse are simulated through building openings, allowing viewers to experience the' swallowed moonlight '.
Yayoi Kusama's "Infinite Mirror House: Lunar Eclipse" (2019)
Hanging a black sphere (symbolizing the moon) in the mirrored space, the red light point spreads like blood, symbolizing the oppressive feeling of a lunar eclipse.

TeamLab "Lunar Eclipse: Devoured Light" (2020)
Immersive digital exhibition hall, as the audience walks, the "moon" beneath their feet is gradually eroded by darkness, accompanied by sound effects

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The Mayans believed that the Tree of Heaven was a giant sacred tree (the Tree of Heaven in Mayan art is often depicted as a giant ceiba tree with an upright trunk that runs through the Three Realms, roots deep into the Nether Realm, and a crown that touches the upper heavens). Double-headed serpents are often coiled on the branches (symbolizing the passage of divinity) or perched sacred birds (such as the macaw, representing the sun god)

The roots of the tree go deep into the underground world (Xibalba, nine floors), which is the realm of death and rebirth;

The trunk of the tree is located in the human world, supporting the real world;

The canopy extends to thirteen layers of heaven, each representing a different realm of gods, ruled by a specific deity.

The tree is not only a link in physical space, but also a channel for communication between gods, ancestors, and humans. Priests and kings communed with the gods through rituals such as bloodletting or hallucinatory rituals by climbing the symbolic "Tree of Heaven".


Ometéotl (Nahuatl for "twin gods") is the highest creator god in the Aztec mythological system, symbolizing the ultimate origin, duality, and harmony of the universe. This deity is not an anthropomorphic deity in the traditional sense, but an abstract and divine cosmic law that represents the unity of opposites (yin and yang, male and female, life and death, etc.)
02.01. The source of the image and characteristics of the Tree of Heaven. The "Temple of the Cross Complex" at the site of Palenque, Mexico, is the epitome of the Mayan cosmology.


The main relief depicts King K'inich Janaab' Pakal (Pakal the Great) at the time of his death with the soul rising from the root of the World Tree (the underworld) to the canopy (the celestial realm). A two-headed serpent coiled around the tree (symbolizing a divine passage) and a sacred bird perched on top of it (representing the sun god or celestial god)


Chichén Itzá's "Pyramid of Castillo" Every year at the sunset of the vernal equinox, the shadows cast by the steps of the pyramid form a serpentine shape (Kukulkan), symbolizing the communication between the World Tree and the gods.

The holy book of the Kiche Mayans, Popol U, mentions that Hunab Ku, the god of creation, and Kukulkan, the god of feathered quetzalls, created humans in the thirteen heavens.


Bonampak Murals:
In the ruins of Bonanpac, Chiapas, Mexico, a mural depicts a priest conversing with the gods through the World Tree, with a layered background suggesting thirteen heavens.

02.02 Ometeotl: The supreme god of Aztec mythology Ometéotl, as the supreme god of Aztec mythology, is mainly recorded by documents from the colonial period and indirect corroboration of some archaeological remains. Since the Aztec civilization did not develop a complete writing system (such as Mayan hieroglyphs), there is less direct evidence of Ometeotel, but its belief system can still be traced through indigenous oral histories and religious texts recorded by Spanish colonists.

Ometéotl symbolizes the ultimate origin, duality and harmony of the universe. This deity is not an anthropomorphic deity in the traditional sense, but an abstract and divine cosmic law that represents the unity of opposites (yin and yang, male and female, life and death, etc.)

Ometeotel is a hermaphroditic deity that is divided into two incarnations:

Ometecuhtli: "Lord of the Two Gods", the male incarnation, symbolizes heaven, light, and life.

Omecihuatl: "Woman of the Two Gods", the female incarnation, symbolizes the earth, darkness, fertility.

When the two were combined, other gods and worlds were created in the Thirteenth Heaven (Omeyocan, meaning 'Land of the Two Gods').