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Babel
Russian short-story writer. Born Jewish in Ukraine, Babel grew up in an atmosphere of persecution that is reflected in his stories. M. Gorky encouraged him to travel abroad to expand his horizons. Out of his experience as a soldier in the war with Poland came the stories in Red Cavalry (1926). His Odessa Tales (1931) include realistic and humorous sketches of the Jewish ghetto outside Odessa. Initially well regarded in the Soviet Union, in the late 1930s Babel's writing was found incompatible with official literary doctrine. He was arrested in 1939 and died in a Siberian prison camp. He is often thought of as Russia's greatest writer of short stories after A. Chekhov.
In the Old Testament, a high tower built in Shinar (Babylonia). According to Genesis 11:1-9, the Babylonians wanted to build a tower "with its top in the heavens." Angry at their presumption, God disrupted the enterprise by confusing the languages of the workers so that they could no longer understand each other. The tower was left unfinished and the people dispersed over the face of the earth. The myth may have been inspired by a tower temple located north of the Marduk temple and known as Bab-ilu ("Gate of God").
Babeuf
French political journalist and agitator. During the era of the French Revolution he advocated an equal distribution of land and income. For his part in a conspiracy to overthrow the Directory and institute a return to the Constitution of 1793, he was guillotined. His tactical strategies provided a model for left-wing movements of the 19th cent.
Babylon
Ancient ruined city on the Euphrates River, Iraq. It lay about 55 mi (89 km) south of Baghdad, near the modern city of Al Hillah. Babylon was one of the most famous cities in antiquity. Probably settled in the 3rd millennium BC, it came under the Amoritic kings around 2000 BC. It became the capital of Babylonia and was the chief commercial city of the Tigris-Euphrates valley. Destroyed by Sennacherib in 689 BC, it was later rebuilt. It attained its greatest glory as capital of the Neo-Babylonian empire under Nebuchadnezzar II (605-538). Taken by Alexander the Great in 331 BC, it was where he died. Evidence of its topography comes from excavations, cuneiform texts, and descriptions by Herodotus. Most of the ruins are from the city built by Nebuchadnezzar. The largest city in the world at the time, it contained many temples, incl. the great temple of Marduk with its associated ziggurat, apparently the basis for the story of the Tower of Babel. The Hanging Gardens, a simulated hill of vegetation-clad terracing, was one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Basel
City (pop., 1996: 174,000; metro. area pop.: 404,000), NW Switzerland. It straddles the Rhine at the point where France, Germany, and Switzerland meet. It was originally a settlement of the Celtic Rauraci tribe. Its university, the first in Switzerland, was founded by Pope Pius II ...
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