h 2009. The organisers claim there has never been an exhibition like it. Judged by the crowds filling the galleries at the Louvre, it is already a popular success.

三站展出的内容并不完全相同。柏林站的展品最多（约800件），伦敦站则最少（104件）；巴黎站有466件。主要是因为大英博物馆暂时无法为大型巡回展览提供足够的展出空间（最近，来自中国的展览都是通过"英国遗产"组织的特批才获准使用古老的"阅览室"）。Irving Finkel，博物馆古代近东部门助理总监表示，伦敦站展览目的在于告诉参观者巴比伦是一个真实的地方，将是三站中"展品最奢华、气势最恢宏的一场展览盛宴"。

The three exhibitions are not uniformly the same. Berlin will have the most exhibits (about 800) and London the fewest (104); Paris has 466. The British Museum does not currently have space for a big travelling show (it had to seek special permission from English Heritage to use the old Reading Room for the recent exhibition from China). Irving Finkel, assistant keeper in the museum\'s Near East Department, says the London show is designed to convince the audience that Babylon was a real place, a "most lavish and grandiose affair".

某些展品因为极易破碎而无法在各大博物馆间流动展出。例如，刻有"汉谟拉比法典"的玄武岩石柱只会在巴黎展出，对于是否将它从卢浮宫的永久展出点移到仅一步之遥的展室这个问题，也让展览的主要负责人Béatrice André-Salvini考虑良久。她最终被说服了，而这部法典很可能会成为最引人注目的展品。法典写于公元前1792-1750年，它制定了详细的法律框架，有些至今还为人熟知：如，"倘人毁他人之目,则毁其目"。它还对利率做出了规定："如果一个商人通过放贷赚钱，借出1谢克尔银子的利息是1/6谢克尔。"

Some objects are too fragile to be moved between the museums. The tall basalt column on which is written the Code of Hammurabi, will not only stay in Paris but Béatrice André-Salvini, the exhibition\'s chief curator, even had qualms about moving it from its permanent place in the Louvre to the exhibition space a stone\'s throw away. She was persuaded otherwise, and the code is perhaps the most remarkable object on show. Written between 1792BC and 1750BC, it lays down a detailed legal framework, some of which remains familiar: "If a man destroys the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye." It also dictates the rate of interest: "If a merchant puts out money on interest, for one shekel of silver he shall receive one-sixth of a shekel."

伦敦和巴黎的观众将有幸看到尼布甲尼撒二世统治时期（公元前605-562年），用来装饰伊什塔门的狮子、牛和龙（包括上图中出现的龙）。这座蓝色的珐琅门，由德国著名考古学家Robert Koldewey发现，也是现今保存下来的唯一的一座巴比伦纪念碑，尽管被发现时，它已经支离破碎。那些精致的动物雕像在柏林经过辛苦地拼接修复后被安放在一座重新修建的伊什塔门上。这些动物雕像将会参加巡回展览，而那座大门则会留在德国。

Both London and Paris will have the pleasure of seeing the lions, cows and dragons (including the dragon shown above) that decorated the Ishtar Gate during Nebuchadnezzar II\'s reign (605-562BC). The blue enamel gate, which was discovered by Robert Koldewey, a renowned German

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