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Johann Adam Schall von Bell, Chinese name Tang Ruowang (May 1, 1592 – August 15, 1666) was a German Jesuit and astronomer. He spent most of his life as a missionary in China and became an adviser to the Shunzhi Emperor of the Qing dynasty.
The Tower of Babel (Hebrew: מגדל בבל‎ Migdal Bavel Arabic: برج بابل‎ Burj Babil), according to the Book of Genesis, was an enormous tower built in the plain of Shinar (Hebrew: שנער‎).<br/><br/> According to the biblical account, a united humanity of the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating from the east, came to the land of Shinar, where they resolved to build a city with a tower 'with its top in the heavens...lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the Earth'. God came down to see what they did and said: 'They are one people and have one language, and nothing will be withholden from them which they purpose to do'. So God said, 'Come, let us go down and confound their speech'. And so God scattered them upon the face of the Earth, and confused their languages, and they left off building the city, which was called Babel 'because God there confounded the language of all the Earth'.(Genesis 11:5-8).<br/><br/> The Tower of Babel has often been associated with known structures, notably the Etemenanki, a ziggurat dedicated to Marduk by Nabopolassar (c. 610 BC). The Great Ziggurat of Babylon base was square (not round), 91 metres (300 ft) in height, but demolished by Alexander the Great. A Sumerian story with some similar elements is preserved in Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta.
Matteo Ricci, SJ (October 6, 1552 – May 11, 1610; simplified Chinese: Lì Mǎdòu; courtesy name: Xītài) was an Italian Jesuit priest, and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China Mission.<br/><br/> Xu Guangqi (simplified Chinese: 徐光启; traditional Chinese: 徐光啟; pinyin: Xú Guāngqǐ; April 24, 1562 – November 8, 1633), who later adopted the baptismal name Paul (simplified Chinese: 保禄; traditional Chinese: 保祿), was a Chinese scholar-bureaucrat, agricultural scientist, astronomer, and mathematician in the Ming Dynasty.