Behind | The Sumerian Epic of Enmerkar

In the cuneiform account quite similar to Genesis 11, the building of a tower was highly offensive to the gods. Overnight they threw down the tower and scattered the builders. The text describes another result of divine judgment: the builders’ speech became strange. 

Sumer in ancient Mesopotamia was perhaps the location of the first written language. And there is some evidence of its development. At the beginning, the culture and language was unified, but then the record shows a discontinuity in the language as people spread across the ancient Near East. This parallels the biblical record of judgment—a people judged for trying to build a name or monument for themselves and their gods.