Gallery Talk: Building Big in Ancient Mesopotamia and the Modern Imagination

Join Caitlin Clerkin to explore connections between ancient Mesopotamian ideologies about building and modern imaginings of marvelous constructions at ancient Babylon and Babel. We’ll look together at Mesopotamian building inscriptions and European and American prints ranging from the 15th to the 20th century that imagine towers and cityscapes at Babylon and Babel. Given that artistic references to Babylon and Babel have become more symbolic over time, this talk will also consider the ethical problem and the alienating impacts of imagining actual ancient places in primarily metaphorical terms.