Tower of Babel

According to the 1st Century Jewish historian, Josephus, the Tower of Babel was built by the Shinar king, Nimrod, who encouraged his people to build a giant tower to heaven in contempt of God. The Tower of Babel was used throughout Western painting as a representation of man’s greed and hubris against God, and God’s subsequent punishment of creating multiple languages to confuse man, making him unable to finish his construction. 

Cubereo’s polemic shows examples of man’s hubris and greed. At the bottom left, a man with golden accents, does his best to flog a helpless black man who is asking for mercy, a clear reference to the history of violence against non-white people by local law enforcement. This became an important issue again in 2014-2016, with the killings of Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, Laquan McDonald, and especially, Michael Brown, whose killing led to months of protest in Ferguson, Missouri.

To the flogging man’s left, a number of 49ers are digging for gold, a reference to Colin Kaepernick’s crusade to draw attention to police brutality by knealing before the national anthem before football games in 2016-2017, and his subsequent ostracization from the National Football League. Meanwhile, a man points in the direction of the scale-bearer, who oversees the trading of bread to the African warriors on the right, for gold to the white prince. This allegory draws attention to the many athletes who put their bodies on the line in professional sports, and who may develop injuries, suffer from CTE, or become bankrupt. At the same time, the sports team’s owners continue to enrich themselves at these “warriors'” expense.

Atop the minaret, a müezzin calls the faithful Muslims to prayer, or perhaps he is calling God for help at what he sees below to detroy the tower and disperse the evil?