From Uruk to L.A.: Ancient Mesopotamia at the Getty Villa

American Friends of the Louvre was pleased to invite you to an online lecture on Ancient Mesopotamia organized by the Getty and presented by Ariane Thomas, director of the Department of Ancient Near Eastern Antiquities at the Louvre. Ms. Thomas discussed the advancements made by the Mesopotamian civilization in relation to artifacts displayed in the exhibition “Mesopotamia: Civilization Begins” recently on view at the Getty Villa.

Ancient Mesopotamia is considered the birthplace of writing and with it, recorded history. Its people also built the world’s first cities and developed the oldest known political and administrative systems, mostly centered in what is now Iraq. Although our present lifestyle and beliefs seem very different, we are the heirs to these fundamental “firsts.”

A Q&A followed the lecture with Thomas and Timothy Potts, Maria Hummer-Tuttle and Robert Tuttle Director of the J. Paul Getty Museum.