The Ishtar Gate: This Was This Incredible Monument Of Babylon
The mere mention of Babylon awakens dreams Constantly cited by the ancients as one of the most splendid cities in the world (Herodotus said that no other could equal it in beauty) and, later, reviled by the first Christians as the center of sin and perdition, comparable only in ravings to “decadent” Rome.
But what was Babylon really, and what is the reason for this fascination that it has held for millennia? In this article we will focus on one of the most beautiful archeology finds of the ancient city, the so-called Gate of Ishtar
This impressive complex was one of the eight gateways to the city. Without a doubt, it was its most spectacular entrance, since behind it a processional route opened that was the core of the celebrations of the Babylonian New Year, the most important festival in its liturgical calendar. It was built in the 6th century BC by King Nebuchadnezzar II, undoubtedly the most important monarch that the Babylonian civilization had and which provided its capital with unparalleled monuments that earned the admiration of its contemporaries.
At the end of the 19th century, the British, French and Germans competed to see who could claim the best archaeological remains. That was a real escalation of continuous plundering; But, controversies aside, the truth is that the Germans were the first to professionally excavate the site of ancient Babylon. Specifically, the archaeologist, architect and historian Robert Koldewey who, at the request of the Prussian museums, launched a project in the Middle East that focused on the capital of Nebuchadnezzar II.
In 1899, after the respective preparations, excavations began, and in 1902 Koldewey and his team discovered one of the most impressive remains: the Ishtar Gate.
Of the eight entrances to the city, this was the only one that could be properly identified thanks to an inscription in cuneiform According to the inscription, it had been ordered to be erected by Nebuchadnezzar II in honor of the goddess Ishtar, one of the most important deities of the Babylonian pantheon.
Although during the second millennium BC the arrival of the god Marduk disrupted the hierarchy of the divinities of Babylon (since this god, who in the beginning was a secondary deity, became the main deity of the pantheon), Ishtar continued to retain its status of powerful and fearsome lady of love and war. Thus, along with the aforementioned Marduk (sometimes known simply as Bel“the lord”), Anum, the father of all the gods, Enki, the lady of the underground waters and Shamash (the sun) and Sin (the moon), formed a veritable pleiad of gods who got angry, fought and they fell in love
As was common in the pantheons of ancient civilizations, the gods were cut from the same cloth as humans, as they felt the same emotions; the only difference was his extraordinary power and his immortality.
What was the Ishtar Gate like?
The Ishtar Gate must have been truly impressive, and surely left everyone who crossed it stunned. Currently, we can see little of it; between 1929 and 1930 the front door was rebuilt in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin although the work took certain licenses that many experts did not like.
For example, the dimensions of the reconstruction were far from being the same as those of the monument in its original location, since the workers had to adapt the measurements to the length and height of the museum. Despite everything, the reconstruction preserves some of the original glazed bricks, which were found in excavations at the beginning of the 20th century.
We must imagine a huge, solidly walled city and, on the south side, a colossal access gate built with lapis lazuli blue glazed brick. In reality, the door had 3 entrances. The first, the front door, which we can see today in the Berlin museum. The second, larger (since it reached 18 meters high), opened a little further ahead. Finally, there was a third section, a narrow passage without decoration that crossed the wall and allowed definitive access to the enclosure.
The decoration of the door, which was built brick by brick, was consolidated during three different phases The first consisted of unglazed reliefs that represented serpent-dragons, symbol of the god Marduk, and lions which, in addition to being the animal that accompanied the representations of Ishtar, was also the animal-symbol of the god Adad. In the second decorative phase, the enamels are added and, finally, in the third decorative period, the relief is added to the animals that star in the decoration. The result was an impressive set of glazed brick, made in a striking lapis lazuli blue, which glistened in the sun.
The Babylonian glazed brick technique, which actually had Assyrian origins, was well known in Antiquity. The manufacturing process began with the manufacture of the molds for the animal figures. The glaze of the bricks, which was made up of metal oxides that gave them their color, was carried out after a first firing of the clay. Finally, the glazed bricks were fixed to the wall using tar.
The Babylonian New Year or the renewal of order
Before the door opened the processional route, which constituted the epicenter of Babylon. Along this very long avenue, flanked by walls that had beautiful friezes with lions (the symbol of the goddess Ishtar), the representation of the god Marduk paraded, leading the group of divinities and accompanied by the king, the high dignitaries and the priests. The procession took place during the Babylonian New Year festivities (the Akitum), which was celebrated for twelve consecutive days after the spring equinox
The New Year celebrations not only had a purpose of calculating time, but, in a similar way to what happened in Ancient Egypt, they marked the renewal of the king’s forces. In the case of the Babylonians, on one of the twelve days that the celebrations lasted (it has not been possible to determine which one), the king was publicly humiliated by the high priest, who hit him in the face.
Then, after swearing, prostrate on his knees before Marduk, that he had done no act that was against Babylon, the king was again invested with royal power, and then a new year began, in which it would be verified if the monarch had really told the truth. If he had acted against his people and against the gods, calamities would be unleashed on Babylon.
Other celebrations that are known to have been celebrated during these festivities were the awakening of the god, which took place on the first day. On this day, the high priest “awakened” the god Marduk through a series of songs; In the same way, during the fourth day the well-known Poem of Creation or Enuma elish, which, among other things, told of Marduk’s victory over the chaos-goddess Tiamat. This was really the symbolism of the aforementioned royal humiliation; The monarch, as the incarnation of the god, had the same mission on earth: to prevent chaos, that is, Evil, from taking over his kingdom. If he didn’t get it, he was to be punished.
