The Ishtar Gate, Research Paper Example

The name of the object is Ishtar Gate, which was the eight gate to inner city of Babylon. It was constructed at around 575 BCE by order of Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II. Ishtar Gate was constructed at the northern side of the city. The type of artwork used in constructing Ishtar gate was architecture and the materials used in construction are bricks. The technique applied in the construction of the Ishtar gate was carving because the materials were trimmed to fit right size and shape. Ishtar gate was excavated between 1902 and 1914. At this time, 45 feet of the original foundation of Ishtar Gate was discovered. The material that discovered was excavated by Robert Koldewey and used to reconstruct Processional Way and Ishtar Gate. Reconstruction was finished in 1930 CE, at Pergamon museum in Berlin Germany. There were many restrictions in Pergamon Museum that Ishtar gate was neither finished not did it remain in its original size. The original gate was a double gate, but the museum utilizes only the front part. Second gate was stored. Original gate had roof; door made of bronze, and cedar since it was not built for reconstruction (Gonzalo & Mª José 86). When Iraq was under Saddam Hussein, smaller reconstruction of Ishtar Gate was built as an entrance to the museum but it was not completed due to war.

Since the gate is leading to the city of Babylon, it represents power of the city. The gate was not only built for decoration but also to protect the city. At the top of the gates are four crenelated towers, which could be used for defense by positioning spearmen and archers. Currently, the large section of the gate have been taken by archeologists from Germany and reconstructed in a museum where it can be toured and by the public in Berlin. The name Ishtar was because the gate was a dedication to Babylonian goddess. Nebuchadnezzar used various animal representations to pay homage to any other Babylonian deities. The animals, which Nebuchadnezzar represented on the gate, are lions, young bulls, and dragons. The animals are symbols representing some deities: dragons were associated with Marduk, bulls with Adad, and lions with Ishtar. Adad was a god for weather Ishtar was the gods of fertility, war, sex, and love, and Marduk was chief of Babylon.

As per the history, the city of Babylon is known for its splendor and power. The remaining and shining example, which symbolizes the power of Babylon, is Ishtar gate and the Process way leading to it. Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt the city of Babylon, which is the capital city of Babylonia in the late period between 600 – 330BC.  At this time, the country of Babylonia was enjoying the last periods of glory before Alexander the great who was spreading Hellenistic culture conquered it. Babylonians revived and deliberated their native traditions after regaining power from Assyrians in 612BC. Babylonians dropped the Assyrian influence and returned to the culture and style of the earlier Babylonian periods (Sen 94). Ishtar Gate was one of the elements of achievements, which resulted from gaining power. Using the decoration and architecture of the time, greatest achievements were found as the Ishtar Gate evidences it. Decorations on the process way and the gate were examples of glazed brick relief. Bulls and dragons on the gate were designed to frighten enemies, honour god, and to proclaim splendor of the city of Babylon. Only gods are represented on the walls of Babylon even the representation of the king is not there.

Sophisticated urban plan was used to rebuild the city of Babylon as an ancient metropolis. The great avenue, which is Ishtar gate, led to eight gates in the city walls. Each of the gates was a dedication leading to a major god of Mesopotamian. These gods included the storm god Adad, Ishtar god of war and love, the sun god of Shamash, the city god Marduk, and Enlil. Ishtar was part of the process way, which was an avenue connecting festival house and the temple of Marduk. Festival house laid outside the city walls. Procession Way was given the name because of the presence of religious precisions along the route. Ishtar gate was leading through the outer and inner walls of the city, and a pair of guard towers was present in both gateways. Both the walls of the Process way and the gate were decorated in the same way using glazed brick relief technique. During the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, the decoration styles reached its technical height.

Ishtar Gate now is at the Pergamon museum in Berlin, Germany. Ishtar gate does not have the same meaning in the museum as it had before. The gate in the museum was not fully constructed since the original was a double gate while in the museum; only the frontal part was utilized. The other parts are in store, which made it lose its meaning and representation. At first, the gate was used as a sign of power in the city of Babylon but in the museum, it is used as a tourist attraction for the public to view (Parkoff 104).  The original gate was used as a dedication to god Ishtar and deities to other gods through the representation of different animals having different meanings. The current gate at the museum does not have any representation of gods. In terms of security, the original gate was highly secured having pairs of guard towers in both gateways. The original gates were used for security purposes the spearmen stayed at the top of the gates to watch and respond to any attack caused by the enemies of the city. The gates in the museum are not used for any security purposes to earn revenue from the tourists.

Works Cited

Gonzalo Martínez, and Mª José Mosquera. Art histories 2: The Babylonians. Vol. 2. Editorial Saure, 2014.

Parkoff, Justin Alan. The Acropolis At Babylon A Reconstruction During The Late 6th Century Bc. Diss. Texas A&M University, 2012.

Sen, Benita. Smart Green Civilizations: Ancient Mesopotamia. TERI Press, 2011.