When entering the mandala-like exhibition currently presented at the Asian Art Museum, worlds of history and meaning draw the visitor onward.

In the ruins of Babylon, in modern-day Iraq, the Cyrus Cylinder was discovered in 1879. It tells, in Babylonian script, the story of how Cyrus II, also called Cyrus the Great, conquered Babylon and freed its people from the city’s despotic ruler.

Stoppard’s masterpiece “Arcadia” is currently showing at the Geary Theater in San Francisco.