At Cholula they related that Xelhuaz began to build a tower on Mount Tlalok to commemorate his having been saved along with his brothers from the Flood. And the tower he built in the form of a pyramid. The clay was baked into bricks in the province of Tlamanalco, at the foot of the Sierra Cocotl, and to bring them to Cholula a row of men was placed, that the bricks might be passed from hand to hand. The gods saw this building, whose top reached the clouds, with anger and dismay, and sent fire from heaven, and destroyed the tower.[295] Footnote 279: Pirke of Rabbi Eliezer, c. xi. Footnote 280: Ibid. c. xxiv. Footnote 281: Ibid. c. xi. Footnote 282: Targums, ed. Etheridge, i. p. 187. Footnote 283: Bechaji, Comm. in 1 Mos. xi.; Pirke of R. Eliezer, c. xi.; Talmud, Sanhedrim, 109a; Targums, i. pp. 189-90, &c. Footnote 284: Talmud, Sanhedrim; see also the history of Nimrod in Yaschar, pp. 1107-8. Footnote 285: Herbelot, s. v. Nimroud. Footnote 286: Hist. Dynast., p. 12. Footnote 287: Mémoires conc. les Chinois, i. p. 213. Footnote 288: Euseb., Præp. Ev., ix. 14; Cory, Ancient Fragments, pp. 34-50. Footnote 289: George Syncellus, Bibl. Græc., v. p. 178. Footnote 290: Euseb., Præp. Ev., ix. 17. Footnote 291: Mos. Chorene, i. 9. Footnote 292: Müller, Glauben u. Wissen. d. Hindus; Mainz, 1822, i. p. 303. Footnote 293: Allgem. Hist. d. Reisen, vi. p. 602. Footnote 294: Luken, p. 287; Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 517, &c. Footnote 295: Humboldt, Ansichten d. Cordilleren, i. p. 42. XXIV. ABRAHAM.[296] 1. HIS YOUTH AND EARLY STRUGGLES. Abraham or Abram, as he was first called, was the son of Terah, general of Nimrod’s army, and Amtelai, daughter of Carnebo. He was born at Ur of the Chaldees, in the year 1948 after the Creation. On the night on which Abraham was born, Terah’s friends, amongst whom were many councillors and soothsayers of Nimrod, were feasting in the house. On leaving, late at night, they observed an unusual star in the east; it seemed to run from one quarter of the heavens to another, and to devour four stars which were there. All gazed in astonishment on this wondrous sight. “Truly,” said they, “this can signify nothing else but that Terah’s new-born son will become great and powerful, will conquer the whole realm, and dethrone great princes, and seize on their possessions.” Next morning they hastened to the king, to announce to him what they had seen, and what was their interpretation of the vision, and to advise the slaughter of the young child, and that Terah should be compensated with a liberal sum of money.