Etelemanki

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Etemenanki: The Tower of Babel

I have created a 3D representation of one of the Zigurats that has most influenced human culture, both in its original Mesopotamia, the cradle of humanity, and also in current culture for giving rise to the biblical story of “The Tower of Babel”.

The ziggurat of the creation of heaven and earth; that was the name of the main ziggurat of the imposing city of Babylon in the 6th century BC, during the Chaldean dynasty. A ziggurat dedicated to the worship of the god “Marduk,” the patron god of Babylon, his temple called “Esagila” is located at the top of the ziggurat. According to the Babylonian creation poem “Enûma Elish,” this temple would be created immediately after the creation of the world.

Today only the remains of this great construction remain, which at its peak had about seven stories in height, approximately 90 meters according to some historians. As I mentioned before, it was so large that many historians believe this ziggurat would give rise to the famous biblical tale of “The Tower of Babel.”

The information read here was compiled from various sources such as National Geographic’s and accounts from the Greek historian Herodotus.

I made my 3D representation based mainly on a sketch made by the Dutch historian Jona Lendering, as well as reading of several ancient documents where the building is mentioned. I used Autodesk Maya for modeling, Uv’s and texturing, V-Ray 6 as the render engine, Photoshop for composition and Houdini to model objects that required simulation.