Ishtar Gate, Essay Example

Identification of the image

During the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar II, one thing you would not miss seeing around the city was the Ishtar Gate. The Ishtar Gate is a building that was found in Babylon and was an entrance to the city on the northern side. The gate is believed to have been constructed in the sixth century and was a dedication to the Babylonian goddess named Ishtar by King Nebuchadnezzar II.  A double gate, this ancient building was around 12m high and was considered one of the things that drew attention in the city. From the excavation, it was established that the gate had double towers which were 12m and decorated with blue and black glazed bricks with yellow reliefs that were alternating (Bromiley, 1988).

Formal Analysis

People could use the gate to gain access to the temples, streets and other areas of the in the city. It was constructed using burnt-brick, glazed tiles, stone, bas-reliefs, and cedar. The people and their rulers must have liked the use of bricks since the city is described by Kleiner (2009) as being a mud-brick city although dazzling was its important monuments including the Ishtar Gate. There was also fine clay that the constructors used to press onto the wooden forms (King, 2008). Ishtar Gate was the eight gates around the walls of the city which provided entry after they had built a protective wall around it and something noticeable is its Processional Way, an avenue that led onto the gate. Out of all those gates, the Ishtar Gate was probably the most noticeable and was also used for a number of functions including the New Year’s Festival. This was the time when the way leading to the gate was decorated and the rules and other leaders matched up marking their sacred traditions.

The Processional Way was a sacred procession way running from the gate and parallel with the Euphrates (Bromiley, 1988). This avenue was long and Ishtar Gate depicted an artistic construction that impressed any visitor who came to the city and also the creative nature of the king who gave the orders for its construction as well as the architectures. The design was specific and every detail was considered carefully especially when it came to the kind of materials used. This is perhaps why after so many years in ruins, people were still able to excavate the remains from the site of the building and many of them can be found in specific museums.

The outer wall of the gate was adorned by colored reliefs. Before the gate were two symbols of a lion which are said to be depicting the goddess Ishtar. The decorations in the Ishtar Gate also included dragons and young bulls. The dragons were associated with the god Marduk and had the appearance that mixed features of a snake, lion and eagle. There were beliefs for a long time that the animals used by the Babylonians in thus building were only known to them and this may be due to the way they looked but later on they were indentified.

These animals that formed part of the decorations were made of bricks and these bricks were formed in a reusable mould (King, 2009). This ensured that each of the relief appeared perfect as much as possible so that defects could not be noticeable anywhere. There were also a collection of 120 motif lions adorning the sides of the streets, each of the sides with 60 lions inscribed onto the blue walled background. During that time, the Babylonians constructed buildings out of an elaborate process of molding bricks hence each of the brick in Babylon was molded and glazed separately before being set in a proper sequence on the wall (Kleiner, 2009).

These decorations presented a unique style of using animals as they were beautifully arranged around the wall and the Processional Way. For the colors, the designers chose blue and gold for the ceramic bricks and the decorations depicted not just a simple mix of colors but alternating as well so it created a variety. The blue color provided the background while the other features appeared to be inscribed on a foreground surface on the brick.

Historical and Cultural Context

The Babylonians were good in design and construction and this can be seen from the many artistic buildings they had. Their ruler at that time also seemed to like architecture as he is said to have been initiated a number of monumental designs in the city. This is the city that decided to build a wall around its territory as a way of protecting itself and provided eight inlets. The reason why the gate on the northern side was build uniquely from the rest is not well known but the inscriptions by the ruler that appear somewhere on the gate provide some information about the gate. It may be because Nebuchadnezzar wanted something special for the sex and warfare goddess Ishtar whom he later dedicated it to. It is described as being a pre 20^th century sculpture model but is definitely an ancient building comprising of plants and animals.

Hence, this gate existed many years ago and had probably been forgotten except for the fragments of glazed brick that were discovered sometimes around the 1851 (King, 2008). There is an inscription that was written by Nebuchadnezzar II which easily tells the context of the building. The city was also known for its wonders and before its destruction; the Ishtar Gate was one of such buildings in the world. Since it was built by the ruler at that time, the historical period can be estimated to be around 604-562 BC when Nebuchadnezzar was reigning in Babylon. After its excavation, the building was taken to Berlin and can be found in the Pergamon Museum. Out of all the ancient things that have been found, the Ishtar Gate remains one of the most striking features from the Babylonians.

Critique of the Artwork

The Ishtar gate was undoubtedly one of the best buildings during its time and the uniqueness it had was in the choice of materials, colors and in decorations; no wonders it was one among the seven wonders.  The materials used gave it an own appearance such that they had to be excavated to be used to rebuild it and some can be found in a museum which presents an exciting item to look at for the architectural designers.  The decorations on the Ishtar Gate were done specially by Nebuchadnezzar as he was also enlarging the citadel ( Bromiley, 1988 ).They were also of high quality, the more reason why some people had to spend large sums of money to have them excavated and be preserved. Something else unique about this gate was that the there was a specific way in which the bricks and reliefs were formed and by the same method (King 2009). This explains the amount of work which went into its successful completion during all the years it was under construction.

However, the building was constructed using a lot of materials which can be said to be an exaggeration of the building which was supposed to be just an entrance. Besides, the building was meant to be an element for beautifying the city back then. The building also took a lot of years to build and this was due to its elaborate architectural design and size. A great deal of attention was given to each and every piece of item that was to be used for the building so that it would come out perfect. This is perhaps the reason why the building was not just considered a monument but a sacred place as well where the people honored their gods. The building is hard to criticize as it is just one of the examples of how far people can go with creativity when it comes to architectural designs.

Works cited

Bromiley, G. W. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: A-D. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. 1988

Kleiner, F. S. Gardner’s art through the ages: the Western perspective. Bostom, MA: Wordsworth, Cengage Learning. 2009.

King, L. Ishtar Gate. 2009. Retrieved from<http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+Ishtar+Gate:+Leo+King+has+researched+this+artistically+decorated…-a0216897151>