Ishtar Gate – One of the 7 Wonders of the World

The Ishtar Gate was a passageway to the inner city of Babylon, constructed by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II in about 575 BCE.

The gate was integral to the ancient Walls of Babylon and was considered one of the original Seven Wonders of the World.

When a Greek poet of the 2nd Century BC compiled the seven wonders of the ancient world, only one city could claim two world wonders, and that was Babylon.

Babylon was the home of the Hanging Gardens and Babylon’s city wall with Ishtar Gate.

Dedicated to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, the gate was constructed using glazed brick with alternating rows of bas-reliefs of dragons and bulls, symbolizing the gods Marduk and Adad.

Ishtar was a goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex. Adad was a weather god, and Marduk was the chief or national god of Babylon.

The gate was decorated with lapis lazuli, a deep-blue semi-precious stone, which was used to produce vibrant blue colors. These blue glazed bricks provide the jewel-like shine.

Through the gate ran the Processional Way, which was lined with walls showing about 120 lions, bulls, dragons and flowers on enameled yellow and black glazed bricks, symbolizing the goddess Ishtar.

A model of the central procession way leading to Ishtar Gate

Located between the Tigris and Euphrates in what is today is Iraq, Babylon was made magnificent by king Nebuchadnezzar II in the 6th Century BC.

He made it one of the wonders of Mesopotamia by building large structures and by decorating the structures with expensive glazed bricks in vibrant blues, reds, and yellows.

Ancient texts describe the many splendors of Babylon, which at its time, was the most significant metropolis in the world.

Model of the gate, showing the double structure

The Ishtar gate was excavated between 1902 to 1914 CE, during which 45 feet (13.7 m) of the original foundation of the gate was discovered.

The material excavated by Robert Koldewey was used in a reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate. In 1930 it was reconstructed using the original bricks and was on display at the Pergamon Museum, Berlin.

Due to size restrictions at the museum, the Ishtar Gate is neither complete nor its original size. The gate was initially a double gate, but the current exhibit only uses the smaller, frontal part.

The excavated remains of the second gate are currently in storage. Many museums around the world have received remains from the original Ishtar Gate.

The Ishtar Gate Processional Way

The Ishtar Gate Processional Way is a red and yellow brick-paved corridor, which was initially over half a mile long with walls on each side, over 15 meters tall.

The walls were decorated with over 120 images of lions, bulls, dragons, and flowers, made from enameled blue, yellow, and brown tiles. It was this processional way that led to the temple of Marduk, which was in the form of a ziggurat.

Ishtar Gate

Artifact: Ishtar Gate
Constructed by: Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II
Date: 575 BCE.
Dimensions: 38 feet (11.5 m)
Excavations: 1902 to 1914 CE
Museum: Pergamon Museum

Ishtar Gate in The Pergamon Museum

Modern reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate at the original ruins of Ancient Babylon in modern-day Iraq

Ruins of Ancient Babylon in modern-day Iraq

A Virtual Tour of Mesopotamian Art

A Virtual Tour of the Pergamon Museum

Babylon’s Ishtar Gate

Ishtar Gate and Babylon: Virtually reunited in 3D

The Ishtar Gate

Conservation Project – Documentation of Ishtar Gate, Iraq

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“Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.”
– Edmund Burke

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Photo Credit: 1 ) By Rictor Norton [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons 2) By Photographer: ALE! [GFDL, GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons 3) By Gryffindor (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons 4) By Gryffindor (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons 5) By BrokenSphere (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons