The Tower of Babel

[Zetetica]

If we trust The Book if Jasher, it’s written that the labourers who built the Tower of Babel mourned if a brick fell from the tower, yet cared not if a man fell.

This is because it took a full year to reach the top of the in-process tower from the base. How tall would such a structure need to be for such to be possible?

 

[“Paisios”]

If we trust The Book if Jasher, it’s written that the labourers who built the Tower of Babel mourned if a brick fell from the tower, yet cared not if a man fell.

This is because it took a full year to reach the top of the in-process tower from the base. How tall would such a structure need to be for such to be possible?

To paraphrase Douglas Adams “You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-boggingly big it would have to be”.
I’ll leave the math to someone smarter than me. But I’ve climbed and come down 4000 ft mountains in a day, so if we were to assume one person (brick laden) were to do 4000 ft a day for 313 days (assuming one days off a week), to allow for some rest and food, that would come to ~1250000 feet...but of course, it likely would have been numerous workers in shifts, not likely going straight up but around a built up path, so who knows?

 

[Freodin]

If we trust The Book if Jasher, it’s written that the labourers who built the Tower of Babel mourned if a brick fell from the tower, yet cared not if a man fell.

This is because it took a full year to reach the top of the in-process tower from the base. How tall would such a structure need to be for such to be possible?

Not that tall at all.

You just would have some really lazy workers.

 

[Lazarus Short]

The Jasher account may have exaggerated at bit...or maybe most of that year was spent in each brick getting certified by the government. Paperwork, paperwork...

 

[Halbhh]

If we trust The Book if Jasher, it’s written that the labourers who built the Tower of Babel mourned if a brick fell from the tower, yet cared not if a man fell.

This is because it took a full year to reach the top of the in-process tower from the base. How tall would such a structure need to be for such to be possible?

heh, depends on how slow they go, eh? Seems poetic. But, just for the math fun, it's not hard to imagine a factor of 5 or even 10 difference in rate of ascent depending on what's being carried, or even a larger factor if they had places they had to stop to rest and/or allow other parties to bypass them on a regular basis. Even with a factor of 20 slower than just ordinary climbing with a backpack you still are talking rather tall, what an athletic person could climb in like (365-52(sabbath))/20 * 4000 ft/ (number from post #2) is ~ 60,000 ft, which is well above breathable atmosphere. Everest is ~ 30,000 ft, which some acclimated Sherpas can climb without oxygen. But the engineering for strong brick material says it can stack about 200ft unless having something like steel structure to help it, that is a wall instead of a more wide base tapering design. But if one instead uses stone (say just some bricks only higher up for some rooms higher up, but stone on the lower section), and tapering, then this was interesting (though only to illustrate non metal structures, but how do we know they could not have had metal to help reinforce, etc.):

Begun in 1848, the Washington Monument (Washington, DC, USA) received its capstone in 1884 at the height of169m (555 ft). A free-standing obelisk made of limestone, granite, and gneiss, the monument was surpassed as the tallest structure just 5 years later by the Eiffel Tower (301m / 986 ft.), but that was easy to do, since it was made entirely of metal. So, the Washington Monument remained as the tallest stone or masonry structure ever made. Recently, however, there have been some contenders for that title, including by some structures you have never heard of.

The San Jacinto Monument in Texas was completed in 1939 to commemorate the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. It claims to be the tallest monumental column in the world, topping out at 173m (567 ft), including the two terraces on the which the column sits. However, the structure is constructed with reinforced concrete, which means it has lots of metal behind that concrete facade.
NEW UNDER SOL: World's Tallest Non-Metal Structures; You've Never Heard of Them

We happend to have visited the San Jacinto monument by chance in person, traveling to see my father near Baytown, TX quite a few years back. Also, while it's interesting to imagine, what's more key than the height is the attitude (mankind making themselves a shrine to their own accomplishment).

 

[Residential Bob]

Maybe they were encountering some language barriers.

 

[Halbhh]

ah, yes, the real meaning of the story -- to slow us down (I think not only from arrogance, but also from self-destruction), our languages were multiplied. Even today, I'm lucky if I can really understand well even just another American from a truly different region like New Englander, or a more rural Appalachia, or even the ways some natives talk in places like New Orleans.

 

[Nithavela]

If we trust The Book if Jasher, it’s written that the labourers who built the Tower of Babel mourned if a brick fell from the tower, yet cared not if a man fell.

This is because it took a full year to reach the top of the in-process tower from the base. How tall would such a structure need to be for such to be possible?

In short, impossibly tall. Its just a story.

 

[Tinker Grey]

Book of Jasher (Pseudo-Jasher) - Wikipedia

 

[Der Alte]

The Jasher account may have exaggerated at bit...or maybe most of that year was spent in each brick getting certified by the government. Paperwork, paperwork...

I\
I must disagree with you here. It would be "parchment work, parchment work."

 

[Strathos]

I thought the book of Jasher was lost.

 

[Tinker Grey]

I thought the book of Jasher was lost.

Kind-a the point of my link. A fake one was written in the 1700s.

 

[Zetetica]

In short, impossibly tall. Its just a story.

Why do you consider The Tower of Babel to be “just a story”?

 

[Dave-W]

If we trust The Book if Jasher,

We don’t. At all.

 

[A Realist]

Kind-a the point of my link. A fake one was written in the 1700s.

Yep, and if that's the one the OP if referring to, then this whole thread is useless. It's like us debating how tall the two towers were in Lord of the Rings.

And if it's referring to the one mentioned in the bible, this book is an unknown book and no one knows its contents.

 

[Zetetica]

We don’t. At all.

I don’t consider it an authority but then, why do you think I posted it here, rather than in a Christian only section?

 

[Tinker Grey]

Yep, and if that's the one the OP if referring to, then this whole thread is useless. It's like us debating how tall the two towers were in Lord of the Rings.

And if it's referring to the one mentioned in the bible, this book is an unknown book and no one knows its contents.

Yeah. I found a PDF of the book referenced in the Wiki. If you search for Babel you will find the source of the comments on a brick falling, etc.

 

[John Bowen]

Good post we should all be reminded of the lesson of the tower of Babel .How the towers of mens power will collapse under their own weight if not in accordance with God .

 

[Freodin]

Good post we should all be reminded of the lesson of the tower of Babel .How the towers of mens power will collapse under their own weight if not in accordance with God .

You should really read the original ToB story in Genesis again. The moral of the story is rather different.

Not that this ever kept Christians from interpreting things like they want.

 

[1am3laine]

If we trust The Book if Jasher, it’s written that the labourers who built the Tower of Babel mourned if a brick fell from the tower, yet cared not if a man fell.

This is because it took a full year to reach the top of the in-process tower from the base. How tall would such a structure need to be for such to be possible?

Stupendously large. Even GOD noticed the building and came down to see it.


I talk about the tower of babel in the link below.
The Secrets of The Gospel: Tower of Babel