The next is an ancient pyramid built by the Mexi- cans in America; it agrees in figure with the former, and has on the outside an as- cent of stairs leading up one side to the up- per story, proceed- ing to the chapels on its summit. This as- cent implies that the chapels were used from time to time, and no doubt it marks the shortest track for that pur- pose, as it occupies one side only.
12. Literature. — Kircher, Turris Babel(Amst. 1778); Zentgravius, De turri Babel (Vitemb. 1774) ; Hoyno- vius, Do turri Babylonica (Regiom. 1694) ; Colombus, De causis tur. Bab. (Regiom. 1675) ; Cyrill. Alex. De Turri (in his Opp. i, 44) ; Heidegger, De Turn Babel (in his Hist. Patriarch, i) ; Saurin, Tour de Babel (in his Disc, i, 135; and Dissert, p. 75); Calmet, Le Tour de Babel (in his Commentairc, i, pt. 1, diss. 34) ; De- lany, Of the. Building of Babel (in his Rev. Examined, ii, 79) ; Berington, Tlie Tmcer of Babel (in his Disser- tations, p. 407) ; Drew, Babel, (in his Sc7-ip(. Studies, p. 39) ; Deyling, De. ortu Babelis (in his Observat. iii, 24) ; Dietric, Turris Babylonica (in his Antiq. p. 110); Pe- rizonii Origg. Babylon, c. 9; Hezel, Ueb. d. Babyl. Stadt u. Thurmbau (Hildb. 1774); anonymous, Trac- latus de locis qnibusd. difficil. (Frcf. 1839) ; Kurtz, Hist, of the Old Covenant, § 29.
Ba'bi (Bafti v. r. Bnftai), a chief Israelite whose "son" returned from Babylon (1 Esdr. viii, 37) ; evi- denth- the Bebai (q. v.) of the genuine text (Ezra ii, 11), which also recurs in the same verse of Esdras.
Babi, or Babists, a Persian sect of Mohammed- ans, whose founder, according to one account, was
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BABI
594
BABI
Moollah Sadik; according to others, a certain Bab, who, coming forth in 1835 as a prophet, was shot by order of the shah of Persia. It is probable that both names refer to the same person, and that Sadik as- sumed the name of Bab, i. e. Papa, Father; or, accord- ing t>> another version, the Gale, through which alone truth and eternal bliss can be reached. A more re- cent account is given by Gobineau, Les Religions et les Philosophies d'Asie Centra/e (cited in The Nation, June 22, 1866, from which this account is taken). About 18-13 a youth of Shiraz, named Mirza Ali Mo- hammed, after reading the Christian Scriptures, as well as the Oriental Sacred Books, came out as a prophet, to reform or destroy Islamism. He is said to have been endowed with many graces of person and manner, and to have soon made many prose- lytes. Inspired by success, he now declared that, in- stead of the Gate, he was the Point; that is, the very creator of truth ; no longer a simple prophet, but a liv- ing manifestation of divinity. The title of the Bab was now conferred upon a priest of the Khorassan, Moollah Housseln Bousrhewich, who became the act- ive chief and soon the warrior -apostle of Babism. Houssei'n was sent on a missionary tour into Irak and Khorassan, taking with him the writings of his master. He made a great sensation by his preaching. Another missionary was a woman, possessed of extraordinary beauty and eloquence. About 1848, Houssei'n and the Babists generally gathered at a place called Sheik Te- bersi, and built a huge tower, providing it for a siege. They now gave out political predictions, in which the advent of the Bab as universal sovereign was an- nounced. All who died fighting for the new faith were to rise again, to become princes of some of the countries over which the Bab would extend his sway. Two large armies sent against the Babists were sur- prised and routed. A third expedition, though it suc- ceeded in withstanding the sortie of the Babists, and in mortally wounding the Babist chief, Moollah Hous- seln, retired. The next campaign was more success- ful. For four months the Babists held out, in spite of tremendous odds, but at last, worn out by famine, they tried to force their way through the enemy's lines, but were overpowered, and when the}' surrendered only 214 were living. The survivors, and multitudes of others, even those who professed to renounce the heresy, were cruelly put to death. A similar Babist insurrection in Khamseh was also put down. Mean- while Ali Mohammed had been living in semi-conceal- ment at Shiraz. After the insurrection of Mezenderan he was brought before a court of royal commissioners and Mohammedan priests. In the examination which took place, the Bab, as he was still popularly called, gained the advantage. Seeing this, the discussion was abruptly broken off, and the Bab, with two of his disciples, was condemned to death, which was inflicted the next day. Even-thing now seemed to be finished ; but the new Bab, Mirza Iaia, whom a divine mark had pointed out at the age of fifteen as the successor to the office, established himself at Bagdad, where he kept up communication with his followers through the pil- grims to the shrines there. The Babists were now forbidden from making any more attempts at insur- rection until the Bab should decide that the hour had come and should give them the signal. In 1852 an attempt was made to assassinate the king, but failed. The attempted assassins were recognized as Babists. Forty others were arrested, among them the feminine apostle, Gourret-Oul-Ajm, the Consolation of Eves. The next, day Bhe publicly confessed her Babism, was burnt at the stake with insult and indignity, and her ashes were scattered to the wind. The rest of the prisoners were distributed each to a courtier as his es- pecial victim. Then was seen at Teheran a si«bt never to be forgotten. Through the streets, between the lines of executioners, marched men, women, and Children, with burning splinters flaming in 'their