Creating Judaism

This week I had a chance to see the exhibition, “Glass, Gilding, and Grand Design: Art of Sasanian Iran (224-642)” at the Asia Society in New York. The exhibit was particularly interesting in helping to understand the cultural context in which the Babylonian Talmud took shape. I was struck by the (already well-noted) similarity of some Sasanian art and mosaics to those in the Greek and Roman worlds, as well as several motifs that are not to be found in the art of the west. This is well worth a visit before it leaves on May 20.