Fascinating new Paris exhibition explores the myths of languages

An amazing new exhibition has just opened at the world-renowned Louvre Museum in Paris, France. Simply entitled Babylon, it seeks to ‘reconcile Babylon’s history with its legend’ and explore all the vast and powerful connotations of that very name.

For Babylon’s influence was not only significant in terms of the spheres of history, politics and warfare. The myth of Babylon continues today as a shaping force of languages and translations in biblical and classical lore.

Babylon, an ancient Mesopotamian city site located in present-day Iraq, featured prominently in the Hellenistic tradition of the “wonders of the world” with her walls, hanging gardens and bridge over the Euphrates. However, the story of the tower of Babel in Genesis (11: 1-9) remains the largest contributing factor to Babylon’s prolonged fame. This tale tells how the settlers of Shinar began to construct a tower to reach the heavens and were subsequently punished by a plethora of mutually incomprehensible languages without a means of translation. Babylon was thus a cursed city of confusion and chaos and from the Middle Ages, the myth of Babel has been virtually indistinguishable from the history of Babylon.

Not the best start for the future of modern-day translation services! But a fascinating history and well-compiled exhibition nonetheless – it comes with a glowing recommendation of being a great way to spend a day in Paris… that is, if anyone needed any extra suggestions for what to see in the French capital!

The Louvre offers a thorough, accurate and informative translation service from French to English on the exhibition homepage. The site unfortunately lacks a Spanish translation, but there are some sections partially translated into Japanese.