Genesis 11:3

brick for stone, &c. For a description of building with bricks held together with bitumen in Babylonia, see Herodotus, i. 179. The writer here is evidently more familiar with building in stone and mortar than in brick and bitumen: another indication that the story is Israelite in origin.

slime That is, bitumen, LXX ἄσφαλτος, Lat. bitumen. The Hebrew word ḥêmaris found here and in Genesis 14:10; Exodus 2:3. The word for bitumen or pitch used in Genesis 6:14 (kopher) resembles the Assyrian; and the fact that it is not used here tells for the Israelite character of the story.