Mesopotamia: Civilization Begins

Travel a few millennia back in time to see jewelry, sculptures and cuneiform writing from the ancient Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians. The objects on loan from the Louvre are broken up into three galleries, each themed to a different “first”—cities, writings and kings—and filled with items that date from the initial Mesopotamian cities in about 3200 B.C. to Alexander the Great’s conquest of Babylon in 331 B.C. Timed reservations are currently required to visit the Getty Villa (and do note that you may have a brief wait when moving between the exhibition’s limited-capacity galleries).