The Ishtar Gate: this was this Babylonian monument

The mere mention of Babylon awakens dreams. Constantly cited by the ancients as one of the most splendid cities in the world (Herodotus said of it that no other could be equaled in beauty) and, later, reviled by the first Christians as the center of sin and perdition, comparable only in ravings to the "decadent" Rome.

But what was Babylon really, and why this fascination that has held for millennia? In this article we will focus on one of the findings of archeology most beautiful of the ancient city, the so-called Ishtar Gate.

Ishtar Gate Features

This impressive complex was one of the eight access gates to the city. Undoubtedly, it was his most spectacular entrance, since behind it there was a processional route that it was the core of the Babylonian New Year celebrations, the most important festival on their calendar liturgical. It was built in the 6th century BC. c. by King Nebuchadnezzar II, undoubtedly the most important monarch that the Babylonian civilization had, and who endowed his capital with unparalleled monuments that led to the admiration of his contemporaries.

At the end of the 19th century, the British, French and Germans competed to see who would win the best archaeological remains. That was a real escalation of continuous looting; 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 museums of Prussia, 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.

A monument dedicated to the goddess Ishtar

Of the eight entrances to the city, this was the only one that could be properly identified thanks to a cuneiform inscription. 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 II millennium a. c. The arrival of the god Marduk upset the hierarchy of the divinities of Babylon (because this god, who in his beginnings was a divinity secondary, she became the main deity of the pantheon), Ishtar continued to maintain her status as a powerful and fearsome mistress of love and war. Thus, along with the aforementioned Marduk (sometimes simply known as Bel, “the lord”), Anum, the father of all the gods, Enki, the mistress of subterranean waters, and Shamash (the sun) and Sin (the moon), formed a veritable plethora of gods who got angry, fought and fell in love.

As was common in the pantheons of ancient civilizations, the gods were cut from the same pattern as humans, since they felt the same emotions; the only difference was his extraordinary power and his immortality.

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What was the Ishtar Gate like?

The Ishtar Gate must have been truly impressive, and surely left those who passed through it stunned. Currently, we can see little of her; between 1929 and 1930 the antedoor 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 that the monument had 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 of glazed brick of lapis lazuli blue. Actually, the door consisted of 3 entrances. The first, the front door, which we can see today in the Berlin museum. The second, larger (since it reached 18 meters in height), opened a little further on. 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 depicting serpent-dragons, symbols 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 glazed brick ensemble, done in a striking lapis lazuli blue, which shimmered in the sun.

The Babylonian glazed brick technique, which was actually of Assyrian origin, was well known in antiquity. The elaboration process began with the manufacture of the molds for the animal figures. The glaze of the bricks, which was made up of metallic oxides that gave them their colour, was carried out after a first firing of the clay. Finally, the glazed bricks were fixed to the wall using tar.

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The Babylonian New Year or the renewal of order

Before the door the processional way opened, which constituted the epicenter of Babylon. Along this very long avenue, flanked by walls that presented beautiful friezes with lions (the symbol of the goddess Ishtar), paraded the representation of the god Marduk, heading 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 vernal equinox.

The New Year celebrations not only had the purpose of calculating time, but, similar to what happened in Ancient Egypt, they marked the renewal of the king's forces. In the case of the Babylonians, in one of the twelve days that the celebrations lasted (it has not been been able to determine which), the king was publicly humiliated by the high priest, who struck him on the head. expensive.

Then, having sworn, kneeling before Marduk, that he had done no act 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. In the case of having acted against his people and against the gods, calamities would be unleashed on Babylon.

Other celebrations that are known to take place 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, in which, among other things, the victory of Marduk over the goddess-chaos Tiamat was told. 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 had to be punished.