Via Artdaily.org: An exhibition at the British Museum is displaying art objects from the ancient city of Babylon, c. 6th Century B.C. That’s the date when Israel was captured (586 B.C.) and taken into Babylonian captivity.
The exhibition will take a focused look at this important city under the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar (605–562BC), telling the story through 100 objects from stunning loans from Paris and Berlin and the Museum’s own collection. These include glazed brick panels from the Ishtar Gate and Processional Way at Berlin, not seen in Britain before; together with important cuneiform tablets that bear on the history of the period, such as that listing subsistence rations for Jehoiachin, the exiled king of Judah. [2Kings 24:8-16]
From Paris comes the famous tablet describing the dimensions of the ziggurat that provided the inspiration for the Tower of Babel, and another describing the New Year celebrations that took place in and around the Processional Way. Other loans include a newly-excavated Stela of Nabonidus from Saudi Arabia which exemplifies the vengeful destruction wrought on Babylonian monuments by the later Persian administration.
Detail from the Processional Way, clay tiles, baked and glazed. (Click to enlarge.)
The exhibition will continue from Nov. 13, 2008 until March 15, 2009.
