Babylon: for eons its very name has been a byword for luxury and wickedness. "By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept;" wrote the psalmist; "as we remembered Zion." One of the greatest cities of the ancient world; Babylon has been eclipsed by its own sinful reputation. For two thousand years the real; physical metropolis lay buried while another; ghostly city lived on; engorged on accounts of its own destruction. More recently the site of Babylon has been the centre of major excavation; yet the spectacular results of this work have done little to displace the many other fascinating ways in which the city has endured and reinvented itself in culture. Saddam Hussein; for one; notoriously exploited the Babylonian myth to associate himself and his regime with its glorious past. Why has Babylon so creatively fired the human imagination; with results both good and ill? Why has it been so enthralling to so many; and for so long? In exploring answers; Michael Seymour's book ranges extensively over space and time and embraces art; archaeology; history; and literature. From Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar; via Strabo and Diodorus; to the Book of Revelation; Brueghel; Rembrandt; Voltaire; William Blake; and modern interpreters like Umberto Eco; Italo Calvino; and Gore Vidal; the author brings to light a carnival of disparate sources dominated by powerful and intoxicating ideas; such as the Tower of Babel and the city of sin.
#5835490 in Books 2016-12-08Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 .0 x .0 x .0l; .0 #File Name: 1781858233352 pages
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