"Tower of Babylon" is a science fantasy novelette by American writer Ted Chiang, first published in 1990 by Omni.

[1] The story revisits the Tower of Babel myth as a construction megaproject, in a setting where the principles of pre-scientific cosmology (flat Earth, geocentrism and the Firmament) are literally true.

Hillalum and the other miners begin the four-month ascent to the top of the tower through a double spiral staircase.

Hillalum witnesses the sun setting at the edge of the world and perceives that the dark of night is the Earth's shadow.

The tower's construction did not enrage Yahweh because it was a futile attempt all along, as He made it geometrically impossible for humans to enter Heaven.