Babylonia

For now with respect to the number just spoken of, it must be acknowledged that he would want the country of Babylonia for them, or some one like it, of an immeasurable extent, to support five thousand idle persons, besides a much greater number of women and servants.

With the exception of a few examples from the empire at home (a look at cults of eastern immigrants in Rome, or jewels from a tomb in Italy), the exhibition covers a vast geographic arc, starting in south-western Arabia, jumping to modern Jordan, skipping to Judea and Phoenicia, then proceeding eastwards to Baalbek in the Beqaa valley, the two extraordinary Syrian sites of Palmyra and Dura-Europos, then Hatra in northern Iraq, and finally Mesopotamia (Babylonia, Ctesiphon), stopping on the edges of Iran.

Was it the same for our ancestors in ancient Babylonia?

Nesselrath, taking apart his thesis in three ways: First he accuses Nesselrath of ignoring recent research on Babylonia under the Persian empire, especially that based on cuneiform sources, which seem to show a prosperous Babylonia rather than one in general decline that began under the Teispids (a view which Nesselrath assumes from one sentence in Berossus).

It is not just the Code of Hammurabi and the legendary Hanging Garden built by King Nebuchadnezzar for his wife that the empire Babylonia should be remembered though.

In 586 BCE, Babylonia conquered Jerusalem, destroyed the Hebrew temple and scattered many of the city's Jews into exile, including in Babylon.

He died in Babylonia, the present day Iraq, in 323 B.C.

The group is looking at interesting archaeological artefacts of the past, such as: the Alfred Jewel, Babylonia battery and King John's Treasure.

"It was like hitting the jackpot," said Filip Vukosavovic, an expert in ancient Babylonia, Sumeria and Assyria who curated the exhibition at the Bible Lands Museum.

Among his topics are professional and lay Old Babylonia prophets, the prophetic message, other aspects of Neo-Assyrian prophecy, the messengers in the Hebrew Bible, and a comparison of prophecy in the three traditions.

Other "useless" interpretations: Emily King's multi-venue "Sidelines" exhibit, an examination of seemingly valueless collections (sticks, album covers, magazines, and nail polish), and Joseph Grima's "Utilitas Interruptus," which explores the fall of once-significant structures from Babylonia to the 21st century.