Babylon: Myth and Reality.
THE BRITISH MUSEUM'S exhibition Babylon: Myth And Reality provides a penetrating flash of insight to the ancient city during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 BC), its contribution to science and mathematics and the art, films and music it inspired.It ends with a documentary about the damage to the historical archaeological site during the 2003 war and a vision of Babylon as a major tourist attraction in a peaceful Iraq.
Drawing on the combined holdings of the British Museum London, the Musee du Louvre, the Reunion des Musees Nationaux, Paris, and the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, the exhibition, which took two years to organise, explores the continuing dialogue between the Babylon of our imagination and the historic evidence for one of the great cities of antiquity at the moment of its climax and eclipse.
When the curators began planning the show they thought about borrowing from the Baghdad Museum. "But the museum was shut off and the collection wasn't accessible. When the world becomes sane again we hope to stage an exhibition of works from Iraq," Dr Irving Finkel, the British Museum's assistant keeper told The Middle East.
"We discovered that a lot of people did not actually know where Babylon is and many were not absolutely sure whether Babylon was a real place or not," Dr Finkel said. "So we decided that the first goal of the exhibition was to establish that Babylon was a real place, there is the architecture of Nebuchadnezzar, its art and the structure of the city's walls. We have woven a tapestry of myth together with reality."
Dr Finkel emphasised that myth and reality are not in opposition. Babylon was a city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which can be found in presentday Al Hillah, Babil Province, about 85 kilometres south of Baghdad. The tower of Babel is described in the Bible as a building of fired bricks. On display is a brick bearing the name of Nebuchadnezzar, and Dr Finkel is looking forward to hearing from anyone who has a more-recent brick with Saddam Hussein's name engraved during the dictator's attempts to rebuild Babylon.
The 'real' Tower of Babel is called the Etemenanki ziggurat, and was formed by stacking seven square structures of diminishing size one above the other with a small temple on top. The exhibition features paintings inspired by the tower, among them a painting by Lucas van Valckenborch (1595), and Michael Lassel's contemporary oil-on-canvas tower made of ascending shoes to convey displacement.
The exhibition showcases the 'real' Babylon with three massive reliefs of glazed brick featuring a dragon, bull and lion, that ornamented the walls of the processional route leading to the Gate of Ishtar.
The next section looks at some of the best-known legends and myths the city inspired: the Hanging Gardens and Belshazzar's Feast, and the works of art they subsequently inspired.
The legacy of the city is also explored: astrology and the zodiac was a Babylonian invention. The Babylonians divided time into 60 seconds, hours and minutes. Writing began in ancient Mesopotamia and early mathematical concepts were developed there.
In the 20th century two famous films were made about Babylon: the 1916 classic Intolerance and Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927). The 2007 film Coping with Babylon directed by Oliver Hill looks at the significance of Babylon in Rastafarian life and belief. Here Babylon stands for oppression and exile, a meaning that comes directly from the Old Testament, Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian captivity of the Jews.
Babylon as an icon has been featured on commemorative coins and playing cards. The exhibition features a set of playing cards for US troops with a base at the archaeological site and a message telling them its antiquities were not for sale.
The exhibition ends as it begins with the reality on the ground: a documentary showing the fate of the city during and after the 2003 war. Babylon has been damaged by an American military camp, a petrol station and a helicopter pad.
A beautifully illustrated book Babylon, Myth and Reality, by the exhibition's curators Dr Finkel and Michael Seymour traces the history of Babylon and explores how and why the magnificent ancient capital evolved into a universal symbol of the 'city of sin'.
The British Museum has organised a varied programme of activities in conjunction with the exhibition which unites art and archaeology: lunch-time lectures, gallery talks, evening lectures and just before the exhibition closes a retelling of the Babylonian creation myth Enuma Elish (When On High) by Zipang storytellers.
"In the museum's BP lecture theatre the audience will hear--with music, pictures and lines spoken in Babylonian--the myth which 3,000 years ago was recited in front of the statue of the god Marduk by the high priest of Esagila, the main temple in Babylon," storyteller Fran Hazelton explained.
"The myth won't be recited or read, it will be retold. It tells how the younger generations triumphed over the older generations, how male power triumphed over female power, how one god--the god of Babylon--became supreme, how humans were created from clay mixed with the blood of a killed rebel god."
The future of Babylon, like that of Iraq, is undecided. Dr Finkel pointed out that tourists have always visited the ancient city. "If the internal situation is sorted out Babylon will become a major tourist attraction and in due course it could be one Iraq's greatest resources." He envisages a wonderful place with theme parks and museums. The British Museum, which has always had an excellent relationship with Iraqi archaeologists, will have a consultative role to play to make sure that future developments do not affect the archaeology.
* BABYLON: MYTH AND REALITY, RUNS UNTIL 15 MARCH 2009 AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM, GREAT RUSSELL STREET, LONDON WC1B 3DG. TELEPHONE: 0207-323-8000; WWW.BRITISHMUSEUM.ORG
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| Author: | Dabrowska, Karen |
|---|---|
| Publication: | The Middle East |
| Geographic Code: | 4EUUK |
| Date: | Feb 1, 2009 |
| Words: | 960 |
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