The document discusses the Ishtar Gate in Babylon, which was built in 575 BC and was a major entranceway into the city decorated with enameled bricks depicting dragons and bulls. It provided visitors with their first impression of Babylon's grandeur. Most of the gate remains on display at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin after being excavated in the early 1900s. The dedication plaque left by King Nebuchadnezzar II who rebuilt Babylon describes the gate's purpose as allowing people to gaze upon it in wonder. However, the archaeological site suffered damage when US and Polish troops used it as a base after the 2003 Iraq invasion, though the gate fragments in Berlin allow its magnificence to still be

1. Presentedby :
Mostafa Mahmoud Marai
( 3141300 )
* References:
_ BBC Culture
_ Ancient History Encyclopedia
_ Ishtar Gate page on Facebook

2. The Great Entrance
To Babylon
ISHTARGATE

3. Background about the great gate of Ishtar and
the Babylon civilization
• When Antipater of Sidon, the Greek poet of the 2nd
Century BC, compiled the seven wonders of the ancient
world, only one city claimed two sites: Babylon. Yet the
two he listed – the Hanging Gardens and the city’s wall –
were just a couple of the many wonders to be found in the
magnificent ancient city.
• Located between the Tigris and Euphrates in what today is
Iraq, Babylon was largely rebuilt by the its king
Nebuchadnezzar II in the 6th Century BC, using vibrant
glazed bricks in blues, reds and yellows. Ancient texts from
Herodotus to the Old Testament describe its
overwhelmingly opulent temples, shrines and palaces. At
its peak, with more than 200,000 inhabitants, it was the
largest metropolis in the world.

5. • Symbolic of all of that splendor was a visitor’s first
introduction to the city: the monumental Gate of Ishtar,
built in 575 BC out of enameled bricks, in cobalt blues and
sea greens, decorated with reliefs of 575 dragons and bulls.
When German archaeologists began excavating the city in
1899, a surprising amount of that millennia-old
magnificence remained – including the gate. It was in the
century following,
however, that much
of the ancient city’s
magnificence would
become most at risk.
The greater part of
the gate remains in
Pergamon museum in
Germany.

7. The communication message included in
Ishtar gate
• It’s clear that structuring such a great building of Ishtar
gat was meaningful and having a message that match
the grandeur of the construction.
The dedication plaque:-
• On the Ishtar Gate, there is a dedication plaque written
from Nebuchadnezzar's point of view that explains the
gate's purpose and describes it in some detail.
Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, the faithful prince
appointed by the will of Marduk, the highest of princely
princes, beloved of Nabu, of prudent counsel, who has
learned to embrace wisdom,

8. • who fathomed their divine being and reveres their
majesty, the untiring governor, who always takes to
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 firstborn son of Nabopolassar,
the King of Babylon.
• Both gate entrances of 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.

10. • I covered their roofs by laying majestic cedars length-
wise over them. I hung doors of cedar 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 people 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 celebration for the major and minor gods) be built
firm like a mountain in the precinct of Babylon of
asphalt and fired bricks.

11. A critical assessment for the message and
the message medium
• There is no doubt that Ishtar gate have a clear indication
of the human progress made by Babylon civilization
which already make it one of the greatest civilizations
known to humanity leaving behind a heavy legacy of
architectural, artistic and literary heritage, so Ishtar gate
formed as a symbol of all this magnificence represented
in the design strength and the massive artistic
intelligence, as for its stability and balance was pretty
scary mater made it rare and distinctive architecture.

12. • And now with more exponential let me inform you why I
head for the land of Iraq in this presentation, that was due
to the systematic process experienced by our countries - as
Arab - of erasing our culture, history and identity in many
ways.

13. • This is exactly what happened in 2003 when US and
Polish troops used the archaeological site as a base after
the 2003 invasion of Iraq, causing extensive damage.
• But just as ancient Babylon ultimately fell so too would
Saddam’s Iraq, causing concern for the conservation of
the country’s ancient artifacts. In 2003 and 2004,
American and Polish troops turned the area of the
ancient city’s archaeological site, including the Gate of
Ishtar, Processional Way and Temple of Ninmah, into a
military base, complete with helicopter pad.
• Today, it is too soon to tell what will happen with the
site and its preservation. But in the meantime visitors to
Berlin’s Pergamon Museum, which has the gate’s largest
section on display, can gaze on it in wonder, just as
Nebuchadnezzar intended.