Ishtar Gate facts for kids

The Pergamon Museum in Berlin shows a reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate.

The Ishtar Gate was a magnificent entrance to the ancient city of Babylon. This city was located in what is now Iraq. King Nebuchadnezzar II ordered its construction around 569 BC. It was the eighth gate to the inner city and stood on the north side. The gate was part of a grand pathway that led into Babylon.

The original gate had two parts: a smaller front gate and a larger, more impressive back section. Its walls were covered in shiny blue bricks. These bricks were decorated with animals and gods made from colorful bricks. The gate was about 15 meters (nearly 50 feet) tall. Its foundations went another 14 meters (about 46 feet) deep underground.

A German archaeologist named Robert Koldewey led the team that dug up the gate. This excavation happened between 1904 and 1914. After World War I, the smaller front gate was rebuilt in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

Other parts of the gate's decorations are now in museums worldwide. You can even see replicas of the Ishtar Gate on the outside of some Iraqi embassies, like in Beijing, China, Amman, Jordan, and Islamabad, Pakistan.

A Look Back in Time: History of the Gate

One of the mušḫuššu dragons from the gate.

King Nebuchadnezzar II ruled Babylon from 604 to 562 BC. This was a golden age for the Neo-Babylonian Empire. He is famous for capturing Jerusalem. King Nebuchadnezzar ordered the Ishtar Gate to be built. He dedicated it to Ishtar, a powerful Babylonian goddess.

The gate was made with special glazed bricks. These bricks showed alternating rows of animals in low bas-relief. You could see mušḫuššu (dragon-like creatures), aurochs (ancient bulls), and lions. These animals symbolized important gods: the mušḫuššu for Marduk, the aurochs for Adad, and the lions for Ishtar.

The gate's roof and doors were made from cedar wood. The bricks were covered in a blue glaze. This glaze was meant to look like lapis lazuli, a precious deep-blue stone. The blue bricks made the gate shine like a jewel. Through the gate ran the Processional Way. This path had walls decorated with about 120 lions, bulls, dragons, and flowers. These symbols honored the goddess Ishtar. During New Year celebrations, statues of the gods were carried through the gate and down this special path.

The Art and Symbols of the Gate

The front of the Ishtar Gate featured repeated designs of two main Babylonian gods. Marduk, the chief god of Babylon, was shown with his dragon, the Mušḫuššu. This dragon had a snake-like head and tail, a scaled body like a lion, and strong talons. Babylonians believed Marduk protected them from evil.

An aurochs above a flower ribbon, with some missing tiles replaced.

The second god on the gate was Adad, the storm god. His sacred animal was the aurochs, a type of wild bull that is now extinct. Adad controlled both destructive storms and helpful rain. The gate also had decorative borders and patterns of rosettes, which often symbolized fertility.

The bricks for the Ishtar Gate were made from fine clay pressed into wooden molds. Each animal design was also made from clay bricks using reusable molds. The builders carefully planned the brick seams. They made sure no seams appeared on the animals' eyes or other important features. The bricks were first dried in the sun and then fired in a kiln.

The background of the gate was a vibrant blue. This color mimicked the valuable lapis lazuli stone. Gold and brown glazes were used for the animal figures. The borders and rosettes were glazed in black, white, and gold. These glazes were made from special mixtures of minerals. After glazing, the bricks were fired again at a higher temperature.

The gate's construction, using wood and "lapis lazuli" bricks, might have connected it to the goddess Inanna (who was also known as Ishtar). In ancient stories, Inanna wore lapis lazuli to show her divine power. The materials of the gate were seen as part of the goddess herself.

After glazing, the bricks were carefully put together. The small gaps between them were sealed with bitumen, a natural black substance similar to asphalt. The Ishtar Gate was just one part of the amazing city of Babylon. The city also had palaces, temples, walls, gardens, and other gates. It is estimated that Babylon was decorated with over 15 million baked bricks.

The main gate led to the Southern Citadel. It was part of Babylon's strong defensive walls, called Imgur-Bel and Nimitti-Bel. The Ishtar Gate had three entrances. The central entrance had a double gate structure, meaning two sets of double doors. There were also doors on each side of the main entrance, also with double doors.

The Grand Processional Way

The Ishtar Gate in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

Once a year, the Ishtar Gate and the Processional Way were used for a New Year's parade. This was a religious festival celebrating the start of the farming year. In Babylon, these celebrations lasted twelve days. The New Year began after the barley harvest, around the vernal equinox (March 20 or 21 today).

The Processional Way stretched over 800 meters (about half a mile) north from the Ishtar Gate. Its walls were decorated with brick images of lions, the symbol of the goddess Ishtar. It also showed the dragon of Marduk, the lord of the gods, and the bull of Adad, the storm god. Ishtar was seen as a powerful goddess of war and a protector of the city and its rulers. The gate itself had special crenelated buttresses on its sides, adding to the city's protection.

Sixty fierce lions, representing Ishtar, decorated each side of the Processional Way. Their fur and manes were shown in different colors. On the east side, the lions stepped forward with their left foot. On the west side, they used their right foot. Each lion was made from forty-six molded bricks. The lions were set against a blue background with an orange border at the bottom. With their white bodies and yellow manes, these lions made Babylon's Procession Street look truly grand.

The New Year's festival honored Marduk and the king, who was Marduk's representative on Earth. It also gave thanks for the land's fertility.

The Processional Way was paved with large stones set in bitumen. At some points, it was as wide as 66 feet (20 meters). This important street ran from the Euphrates River, through the temple areas and palaces, and finally to the Ishtar Gate.

King Nebuchadnezzar II's Message

The cuneiform inscription of the Ishtar Gate in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

The Ishtar Gate has a special inscription written in Akkadian cuneiform. It is made from white and blue glazed bricks. This inscription is a dedication from King Nebuchadnezzar II, explaining why he built the gate. On the gate's wall, the inscription is 15 meters (about 49 feet) tall and 10 meters (about 33 feet) wide. It contains 60 lines of writing. The inscription was created when the gate was built, between 605 and 562 BC.

Here is what the inscription says:

Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, the pious prince appointed by the will of Marduk, the highest priestly prince, beloved of Nabu, of prudent deliberation, who has learnt to embrace wisdom, who fathomed Their (Marduk and Nabu) godly being and pays reverence to their Majesty, the untiring Governor, who always has at heart the care of the cult of Esagila and Ezida and is constantly concerned with the well being of Babylon and Borsippa, the wise, the humble, the caretaker of Esagila and Ezida, the first born son of Nabopolassar, the King of Babylon, am I.

Both gate entrances of the (city walls) Imgur-Ellil and Nemetti-Ellil following the filling of the street from Babylon had become increasingly lower. (Therefore,) I pulled down these gates and laid their foundations at the water table with asphalt and bricks and had them made of bricks with blue stone on which wonderful bulls and dragons were depicted. I covered their roofs by laying majestic cedars lengthwise over them. I fixed doors of cedar wood adorned with bronze at all the gate openings. I placed wild bulls and ferocious dragons in the gateways and thus adorned them with luxurious splendor so that Mankind might gaze on them in wonder.

I let the temple of Esiskursiskur, the highest festival house of Marduk, the lord of the gods, a place of joy and jubilation for the major and minor deities, be built firm like a mountain in the precinct of Babylon of asphalt and fired bricks.

Discovering and Rebuilding the Gate

The Excavation Story

A photo from the 1930s showing the in situ remains of the excavation site in Babylon.

The Pergamon Museum in Berlin has a reconstructed Ishtar Gate and Processional Way. This was built using materials dug up by Robert Koldewey and his team. The reconstruction is 14 m (46 ft) high and 30 m (100 ft) wide. Koldewey's excavation took place from 1902 to 1914. During this time, they uncovered 14 m (46 ft) of the gate's foundation.

Before Koldewey, Claudius Rich, a British historian, explored Babylon in the early 1800s. His detailed maps and records were the first ever published about the ruins. Rich and others thought a large mound in Babylon was a royal palace. Koldewey's later excavations confirmed this, finding two palaces of King Nebuchadnezzar and the Ishtar Gate. Robert Koldewey, a successful German archaeologist, began his work in Babylon in 1899.

Early excavation methods often damaged ancient mud-brick structures. However, Koldewey's team, including architect Walter Andrae, was very careful. Andrae helped document and reconstruct Babylon. Many artifacts, including 118 of the 120 lion friezes from the Procession Street, were carefully moved to Germany for study and display. The gate's ceramic pieces were taken apart, numbered, and packed in barrels. They were then transported by river and ship to Berlin.

Reconstructing a Masterpiece

Rebuilding Babylon's Ishtar Gate and Processional Way in Berlin was a huge and complex project. Hundreds of crates filled with glazed brick fragments arrived. These fragments were carefully cleaned and then pieced back together. Any missing pieces were recreated using new bricks fired in special kilns to match the original colors. The part displayed in the Pergamon Museum is the smaller, front section of the double gate. The larger back part was too big for the museum and is kept in storage.

Where Else to See Parts of the Gate

Parts of the Ishtar Gate and animals from the Processional Way are in many museums around the world. Only four museums have the dragon figures. Lions are found in several museums. The Istanbul Archaeology Museums have lions, dragons, and bulls. The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen, Denmark, has one lion, one dragon, and one bull. The Detroit Institute of Arts has a dragon. The Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg, Sweden, has one dragon and one lion. Other museums, like the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, each have lions.

A Modern Replica

A smaller copy of the Ishtar Gate was built in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. It serves as the entrance to a museum that was never finished. This replica, completed in 1987, aimed to use similar building techniques to the original. It looks like the restored original but is smaller. The replica was built to help connect modern Iraq with its ancient history. This reproduction has suffered damage since the Iraq War (see Impact of the U.S. military).

Gallery

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  Robert Koldewey's drawing of what a complete Ishtar Gate might have looked like.

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  The Processional Way as rebuilt in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin.

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  Aurochs and mušḫuššus from the gate in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums.

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  Mesopotamian lions and flowers decorated the processional street.

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  One of the striding lions from the Processional Way.

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  Tiles to the side of the gate.

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  The Ishtar Gate replica in Babylon in 1968, much smaller than the original.

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  Mušḫuššu dragon in Istanbul, Ancient Orient Museum, Ishtar Gate.

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  Mušḫuššu dragon in Istanbul, Ancient Orient Museum, Ishtar Gate.

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  Lion in Istanbul, Ancient Orient Museum, Ishtar Gate.

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  Lion in Istanbul, Ancient Orient Museum, Ishtar Gate.

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  Bull in Istanbul, Ancient Orient Museum, Ishtar Gate.