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The gate of the goddess Ishtar in Babylon
The city of Babylon was great during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar.
At that time, it had as many as seven gates bearing the names of the Babylonian gods.
The gate of the goddess Ishtar in Babylon was particularly beautiful, from which the famous Processional Road began, heading to Esagila, the temple of the patron saint of Babylon, Marduk.
The ruins of the Ishtar Gate still remain one of the most significant evidences of the former glory of Babylon.
Description of the gate of the goddess Ishtar in Babylon
The processional road was perhaps the best road of the Ancient World, because it was intended not for people and wagons to move along it, but for the great god and patron of Babylon, Marduk, who once a year made the way along it to Esagila.
And it took its beginning at the gates of Ishtar.
Ishtar was highly revered as the goddess of beauty and love, compared to Venus.
The cult of Ishtar originated in the city of Uruk, of which she was the patroness.
Among the cities of Babylonia, there were seven largest, including Uruk.
Each deity is the patron saint of one of these cities and was reflected in the gates of Babylon, which was supposed to symbolize the unity of the country.
And since Ishtar was recognized as the wife of Marduk,the main front gate was dedicated to her.
The Babylonian gate of the great Ishtar itself was made double.
The internal ones were twice as large as the external ones.
The glazed brick cladding sparkled in the sun, and the background was decorated with 575 relief images of revered animals.
Here the already mentioned Processional Road began, the continuation of which in the city was Aibur Shaba Street.
It was on it that a large procession led by a golden statue of Marduk was arranged for the New Year.
The street itself was composed mainly of slabs of pink stone, with inlays of red stone around the edges.
Its width was 23 meters, and along its entire length it was accompanied by walls of glazed blue brick with a height of seven meters.
Every two meters, the walls were decorated with relief images of lions in frightening poses.
But everything falls into decay sooner or later, so the beauty of the gates of the goddess Ishtar was appreciated only after German scientists conducted a study here.
In total, about 100 thousand fragments of bricks that used to make up the gate were found.
All of them were collected and transported to Berlin, where some time later it was possible to restore the gate to its original size from real Babylonian bricks.
Now the Ishtar Gate is located in the Pergamon Museum (Berlin).
There is also a restored part of the Processional Road.
Smaller restored parts of the Babylonian heritage are on display in many museums around the world – the Istanbul Archaeological Museum, the Detroit Museum, the Louvre, etc.
The Ishtar Gate in Iraq is still an object of admiration and a place of pilgrimage for tourists, because the 12 meter high structure still reflects the past life of a large city.
Restored gates in Berlin
Video about the gate of the goddess Ishtar
Ishtar Gate on the map:
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