Babylon: Myth and Reality
The British Museum, London
IT SOON becomes apparent that there is a great deal more myth than reality in this engrossing exhibition which offers a glimpse into the legendary city of Babylon. For many, the very word conjures up a world of mystery and magic – a city where seemingly impossible structures were built and the system for measuring time was devised. Babylon was often seen as a universal symbol for the “city of sin”. No surprise, then, that the recent television series on the salubrious goings on in a hotel was named Hotel Babylon.
Babylon: Myth and Reality focuses on the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar, a despotic figure who not only reconstructed the city but waged war on Syria, Egypt and Judah. Following the capture of Jerusalem he destroyed both the city and the Temple and deported many of the prominent citizens along with a sizable portion of the Jewish population to Babylon.
Determined to assert his power, Nebuchadnezzar erected a large idol for worship during a public ceremony on the plain of Dura. When three Jews, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, renamed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to facilitate their assimilation into Babylonian culture, refused to take part, he had them cast into a fiery furnace. They emerged unscathed without even the smell of smoke, the event described in the Bible in the book of Daniel.
Nebuchadnezzar virtually rebuilt the city, constructing canals, aqueducts, temples and reservoirs. Most spectacular are the glazed ceramic brick panels that lined the magnificent Ishtar Gate and Processional Way. Each features a stylised animal, such as a lion, that was modelled in low relief and richly coloured. Technically and artistically, they were far in advance of work in other countries.
Less spectacular but perhaps more significant are the series of cuneiform tiles and cylinders impressed with lettering that tell the history of the period, such as that listing subsistence rations for Jehoiachin, the exiled king of Judah. Now deciphered by scholars, they offer a unique insight into contemporary life and times.
Over the past 200 years, archaeologists have painstakingly pieced together the “real’”imperial capital, which was a great centre of scientific learning, for the arts and for commerce.
Like all investigations, the facts often dispel the myths. The great Tower of Babel was not, as many later artists depicted it, a circular castle, but was made up of a series of blocks piled one on top of the other to create a great stepped tower or ziggurat that inspired the biblical story of the Tower of Babel. Intended as a foundation platform between heaven and hell, the Tower was still a huge structure that literally dwarfed the figures who climbed up it.
There is no direct evidence for the renowned Hanging Gardens of Babylon, built for his homesick wife and thought to be one of the great wonders of the ancient world. For centuries, Babylon has stirred the imagination of artists, such as Blake, John Martin and Degas painted their own impressions of the city, which, if they bear little relationship to the actual building, still have the power to fire the imagination.
More recently, Saddam Hussein built a palace on the site, which is about 50 miles from Baghdad, and the current occupation has seen the American constructs a helicopter base on part of the area. Such events have not helped further investigations into this elusive city. Crammed into a tiny space in the museum, if the exhibition never quite captures the sense of grandeur of the city it offers an informed taste of its magnificence.
Emmanuel Cooper
Babylon: Myth and Reality continues until March 15 2009
