Ishtar Gate
Nebuchadnezzar II's blue glazed-brick gate to Babylon, lined with Marduk's snake-dragons, now rebuilt in Berlin.
- Built
- c. 575 BCE by Nebuchadnezzar II
- Location
- Northern entrance of Babylon, on the Processional Way
- Decoration
- Blue glazed bricks with lions, aurochs and mushhushshu dragons
- Excavated by
- Robert Koldewey, 1899–1914
- Now
- Reconstructed in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin
What is Ishtar Gate known for?
The Ishtar Gate was the eighth gate of the inner city of Babylon, built about 575 BCE by Nebuchadnezzar II. It opened onto the Processional Way used in the New Year festival. Its walls were faced with brilliant blue glazed bricks bearing rows of animals in relief: aurochs for the storm god Adad, and mushhushshu, the snake-dragon of Marduk. Lions for Ishtar lined the Processional Way.
German excavations under Robert Koldewey uncovered the gate in the early 20th century. Its bricks were shipped to Berlin, where the smaller front gate was reconstructed in the Pergamon Museum. Other panels are in museums around the world, and a replica stands at the site in Iraq.
The mushhushshu on the gate is the same creature Marduk is shown with in Babylonian art, so the gate is one of the most vivid surviving images of the god's world.
Its glazed bricks still show Marduk's snake-dragon, the mushhushshu.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeMarduk
- PersonNebuchadnezzar II
- PlaceBabylon
- PlacePergamon Museum
Sources
- Smarthistory, 'The Ishtar Gate and Neo-Babylonian art and architecture'Reference
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Babylon'Reference
- Wikipedia, 'Ishtar Gate'Reference
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