[[File:463174537 ac80e56a15 b.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 1. The so-called Lion of Babylon is likely to be a basalt statue showing an unfished lion attacking a man. The piece was likely recovered in Syria and brought to Babylon to be displayed in its royal museum.]]Today we think of museums as areas that display the past, our culture, or natural history of our world. This certainly has developed to be the modern norm; however, when museums first developed they were for the private display of monarchs, showing war trophies and past societies. This evolution went further development in the Renaissance and Enlightenment, with the rise of intellectual wonder and development of social education. [[File:463174537 ac80e56a15 b.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 1. The so-called Lion of Babylon is likely to be a basalt statue showing an unfished lion attacking a man. The piece was likely recovered in Syria and brought to Babylon to be displayed in its royal museum.]]
==Early Developments==
The world's first museum known to us appears to be from Babylon, now in southern Iraq, found within the palace of king Nebuchadnezzar II, the well known king who sacked Jerusalem in the Bible (Figure 1).<ref>For more information on Nebuchadnezzar II's palace and his museum, see: Wiseman, D. J. 1991. Nebuchadrezzar and Babylon. The Schweich Lectures 1983. Oxford ; New York: Published for the British Academy by the Oxford University Press.
