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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.
</ref> Although some scholars claim the title of the first museum should be in the city of Ur, in the temple of Ennigaldi-Nanna, which did house ancient collections, this structure may date to a slightly later time than that of Nebuchadnezzar's displays.<ref> For more on early museums, see: Walhimer, Mark. 2015. Museums 101. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, pg. 6.</ref> During the Neo-Babylonian period (626-539 BC), there was interest in both the distant past, which by that time Mesopotamian urban complex societies were nearly 3000 years old, as well as capturing war booty from within the Empire as it expanded. King Nabonidus, in fact, commissioned the first known archaeological excavations at the time to uncover ancient remains from Ur.<ref>For more on Nabonidus' excavations, see: Schnapp, Alain, Lothar von Falkenhausen, Peter N. Miller, and Tim Murray, eds. 2013. World Antiquarianism: Comparative Perspectives. Issues & Debates. Los Angeles, California: Getty Research Institute, pg. 132.</ref> In essence, the concept of the museum as a display of the origin of a people as well as of its power was developed. Early museum collections included ancient tablets, statues, and religious relics that would have been seen as continuing to have important relevance. The importance and continuity of ancient religion, in fact, was another motivation to develop museums, in this case within temple complexes.
[[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.]]
