Rediscovering Babel: Landmark, Legend, and the Masonic Mythos

The ancient landmark establishing the Legend of Hiram Abiff as essential to the Third Degree of Freemasonry has had far-reaching implications for how the Craft has preserved and prioritized its mythic history. While the Hiramic legend has rightly assumed a central place in Masonic ritual, other powerful symbolic narratives—such as the story of the Tower of Babel—have been sidelined or forgotten. Christopher B. Murphy's article in Philalethes (2024) revives this neglected tradition, showing how the Babel narrative once formed an integral part of Masonic identity. By revisiting the Tower of Babel within the context of the landmarks and legends of Freemasonry, we can gain a fuller understanding of how myth shapes Masonic culture—and what may have been lost through the narrowing of the Craft’s ritual focus.

The Function of Landmarks and the Centrality of Hiram

Landmarks are foundational tenets within Freemasonry, intended to define and preserve its essential characteristics. Albert G. Mackey's influential list of twenty-five landmarks includes Landmark No. 22, which asserts that the Legend of the Third Degree—the story of Hiram Abiff—must be retained inviolate (Mackey, 1914). This canonization of the Hiramic legend established a narrative orthodoxy in Masonic ritual, making it the mythic heart of the Master Mason Degree. As Brent Morris (2006) notes, landmarks serve not only as historical guideposts but also as ideological boundaries that safeguard the identity of the Craft. While this process has preserved cohesion, it has also marginalized other legendary material.

The Tower of Babel in Masonic Lore

As Murphy (2024) demonstrates, the story of the Tower of Babel once held a significant place in Masonic myth. Early manuscripts such as the York MS No. 1 and Sloane MS 3329 describe Nimrod, the biblical king of Shinar, as the first to organize Masons and teach them signs and tokens. Rather than presenting the Babel narrative as a tale of divine wrath, these Masonic interpretations frame it as the origin of fraternal communication and the Masons’ symbolic language. Murphy emphasizes that the so-called “confounding of tongues” was understood not as a curse but as a divine stimulus for the creation of symbolic modes of recognition.

The Babel myth's decline in prominence coincided with the ritual dominance of the Hiramic drama in the eighteenth century. As Robert Macoy (1868) explains, the structure of modern Masonic degrees reflects a deliberate focus on Solomon’s Temple, with less emphasis on pre-Solomonic myths like Babel. This structural change solidified the narrative framework of the Craft but reduced the visibility of other legendary traditions that had once enriched its symbolic ecosystem.

Mythic Breadth Versus Ritual Economy

The narrowing of Masonic mythology can be attributed in part to what Murphy (2024) calls the transformation of myth into lore. The Hiramic legend, by virtue of being enacted in degree work, becomes lived experience for the initiate, while stories like Babel survive only in text or lecture. This ritual prioritization reflects a broader shift in Freemasonry’s myth-making—from a wide-ranging, fluid cosmology to a structured set of degree-specific dramas. As Stevenson (1988) observes in his study of the origins of Freemasonry, the Craft in its earliest speculative forms drew freely from biblical, classical, and esoteric sources. Over time, however, its mythos was streamlined to support the formalization of the ritual system.

This shift has pedagogical consequences. Modern Masons often lack exposure to the richer mythic context from which the Hiramic legend emerged. As Murphy argues, this limits the symbolic vocabulary available to contemporary Brethren. The Tower of Babel offers a mythic lens through which to view themes of unity, dispersion, and the sacredness of communication—values that remain deeply relevant to the Craft but are now underrepresented in ritual life.

Conclusion

Revisiting the Tower of Babel in Masonic tradition does not challenge the established landmarks; rather, it complements them. While the Hiramic legend remains foundational to the Third Degree, broader mythic stories such as Babel can deepen our understanding of Masonic values and origins. As Murphy (2024) urges, reclaiming these stories restores a fuller picture of the Craft’s symbolic heritage and reopens channels of insight that were once central to the speculative art. The lesson of Babel is not merely a tale of divine disruption, but a call to preserve the unifying language of the Craft across time, culture, and silence.

References

Mackey, A. G. (1914). Encyclopedia of Freemasonry (Vol. 2). Masonic History Company.

Macoy, R. (1868). General History, Cyclopedia and Dictionary of Freemasonry. Masonic Publishing Company.

Morris, S. B. (2006). The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Freemasonry. Alpha Books.

Murphy, C. B. (2024). “Let Us Build a City and a Tower”: Masonic Traditions of the Tower of Babel. Philalethes: The Journal of Masonic Research and Letters, 77(4), 138–146.

Stevenson, D. (1988). The Origins of Freemasonry: Scotland's Century, 1590–1710. Cambridge University Press.