The Gates of Ishtar

The Gates of Ishtar

The Ishtar Gates were originally constructed in 575 BCE. It is not known the names of the many people who constructed this grand piece of architecture but we do know it was Nebuchadnezzar II who ordered it to be built as part of the Processional Way leading to the Temple of Marduk. In the late 19th, Robert Koldway discovered the gates in Babylon, present day Baghdad, Iraq. At this time the gate and the walls of the Processional way were in ruins and were found in hundreds of thousands of pieces under the earth. A careful excavation process began on the gates and walls. With in a few years the Ishtar Gates had been reconstructed, where they are now on display in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany.

The gate was constructed of mud bricks, this is important as it was a resource readily available in Neo-Babylonian period. These mud brick were formed using a wood mold. Once the bricks were dry they were painted with a lead based glaze. These painted bricks were then fired in a kiln. When the glaze has been fired it creates a glass like coating on the brick giving the brick a fade resistant colors of vibrant blue with various animals painted in yellow. The animals were involved in a different process. Animals were molded in relief, after drying they were painted, fired then cut down in order to be made a part of the gate.

The Gates of Ishtar were indeed impressive. The fact it is built 40 feet high gives it a sense of overwhelming importance. On each side of the Processional Way leading to the gate and beyond are giant lions. These Lions represent Ishtar, and they went through the entire processional, 120 in all, 60 on each side of the wall. Each lion is sculpted with differentiated feet, meaning on one lion the right foot forward on the next the left foot is forward. This is important, because since it is a processional way people would walk through there on the way to the temple. The differentiated pattern of the feet gives the illusion of the lion being a part of the procession. The gates extended to the north city walls and were flanked with crenellated towers. This not only added to the size of the gates, discouraging would-be attackers, but it also added protection as they could be used was watch towers.

Since the gates were made of glazed brick the color quality has with stood the tests of time. The contrast of the yellow and blue colors int he gates and processional walls cause the animals represented to be pop and catch the attention of the viewers eye. The position of the animals os also very important to the dynamic of the composition. Each animal is turned toward the center of the gateway. All the lions on the walls are facing the temple of Marduk. Both of these elements give a single directionality, leading everyone and everything to the temple. This helps to focus the attention forward and keep the focus on the worship of Marduk. The edges and corners of the gate are lined with a blue-green glazed brick offering even more contrast to help emphasize the direction the person walking through should be facing. This green also helps in focussing the viewer ahead to the Temple.

This gate was the most important of all the gates because it offered the background for all the rituals and festivities such as the beginning of the agricultural new year. This festival was very important for this community as agriculture was one