Babylon

Pique Assiette mosaic made of broken ceramic, handmade ceramic shapes, smalti tile, shells, coral, stones, buttons, and glass on tile backer board.

Ancient crumbling cities have always intrigued me. I imagine what they must have looked like during their hey-day and the people that built them. Babylon, one of the most famous cities from any ancient civilization, was the capital of Babylonia in southern Mesopotamia, about 60 miles south of present day Baghdad, Iraq. The beauty of the city with its hanging gardens and elaborately decorated structures was at one time the largest city in the world with over 200,000 residents and one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World. This is my interpretation of what the city must have looked like at the reign of Emperor Hammurabi between 1792-50 BC, who was revered as a god, and established new rules for his people: the Code of Hammurabi, which consists of 282 laws. Carved onto a four-ton piece of basalt, which is now on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris, the code is one of the earliest examples of the idea of an accused being considered innocent until proven guilty.