In 1913, not far from Baghdad, Robert Koldewey is leading the excavations of Babylon on behalf of the German Oriental Society. And in doing so, he lays bare the foundations of the Western world.
As if Robert Koldewey didn’t suffer enough from the opinions of his assistant Buddensieg, he also suffers from appendicitis. The excavation of Babylon involves human problems and a task of biblical proportions. What drives Koldewey to document the Mesopotamian treasures on the Euphrates is a change that is taking place between the East and West that will shake the foundations of the world to the present day.
The cradle of civilization is exposed, stone by stone, to one of the last universal scholars – and with it, the origins of one of the oldest histories of the Bible, the Tower of Babel.
Kenah Cusanit’s literary expedition to the heart of the West is an archaeological examination of modernity that resonates, enchants and impresses. Her debut combines the history of ideas, contemporary history and adventure. Babel is a novel that changes our view of the present.