Damnatio memoriae in Babylon

Inside the ancient city of Babylon, they are taking the walls apart - brick by brick. Not looters, who have already trashed the restaurant, the tourist shop and the main entrance, but the museum's caretakers, who have a very different goal in mind.

Every day, Babylon's archeologist and director roam through the city's labyrinths removing the last vestige of Saddam Hussein: hundreds of bricks inscribed with his name. "In the era of President Saddam Hussein, the President of Iraq, God preserve him," they read, "who rebuilt Babylon, as protector of the great Iraq and the builder of civilization." Since thieves torched the city's small tourist shack, the bricks have become the hottest souvenir at Babylon, where they are snatched up by Marines for a buck a piece. . .

"We vowed to remove his name when he left the throne," said Mohammed Taher, Babylon's museum director who now spends his days giving guided tours to Marines. . .

In his heyday, Saddam sought to recreate Babylon in his image. Soon after he officially took power in 1979, Saddam ordered the rebuilding of the city's walls and, like Nebuchadnezzar who ruled Babylon in sixth century B.C., he directed his builders to place his name on hundreds of bricks in the fortress. He rebuilt the city's amphitheatre, where he held the Babylon Festival every fall to celebrate the nation's cultural richness.

The "rebuilding", of course, was a hideous totalitarian fantasy, a false past trampling roughshod over the real. Read the full article here.

Posted by David on May 9, 2003 10:06 PM