The Primordial Water

Crossed by the only two rivers known to have flowed through the biblical Garden of Eden-whose significance and dangers may have inspired the myth of the Flood-ancient Mesopotamia is also the land where irrigation was first invented and developed. These early human attempts to control water through the artificial transformation of the natural environment led to the invention and development in Mesopotamia of the first known hydraulic structures (early canals, bridges, aqueducts, pipeline networks, artificial lakes, etc.). They were sources of change for the region and its inhabitants, whose long-term strengths and weaknesses will be highlighted. Deliberately drawing solely on the Louvre's collections-whose richness makes such a project possible-the exhibition is integrated into the department's permanent galleries to examine the entire collection of Oriental antiquities through the lens of water and its environmental lessons from past to present.