Ishtar Gate

The Ishtar Gate was the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon (in the area of present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq). It was constructed c. 569 BC^[1] by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II on the north side of the city. It was part of a grand walled processional way leading into the city.

The original structure was a double gate with a smaller frontal gate and a larger and more grandiose secondary posterior section.^[2] The walls were finished in glazed bricks mostly in blue, with animals and deities (also made up of coloured bricks) in low relief at intervals. The gate was 15 metres high, and the original foundations extended another 14 metres underground.^[3]

German archaeologist Robert Koldewey led the excavation of the site from 1904 to 1914. After the end of the First World War in 1918, the smaller frontal gate was reconstructed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.^[4]

Other panels from the façade of the gate are located in many other museums around the world.

The façade of the Iraqi embassy in Beijing, China includes a replica of the Ishtar Gate.^[5] The façade of the Iraqi embassy in Amman, Jordan also evokes the Ishtar Gate.^[6]

^ Di Chiara, Anita, et al., (January 17, 2024). "An archaeomagnetic study of the Ishtar Gate, Babylon", in: PLOS ONE: "The vertical line is placed at 569 BCE, which is where the mean crosses the LAC. This proposed date for the construction of the gate supports the suggestion that the gate complex was built after the successful Babylonian campaign to Judah and Jerusalem in 586 BCE. However [...] the recorded intensity for the time of the gate’s construction (136±2.1 ZAm2) is significantly different than the one recorded for the time of Jerusalem’s destruction layer (148.9±3.9 ZAm2)."
^ Garcia, Brittany. "Ishtar Gate". World History Encyclopedia.
^ Podany, Amanda (2018). Ancient Mesopotamia: Life in the Cradle of Civilization. The Great Courses. p. 213.
^ Luckenbill, D. D. "Review: The Excavation of Babylon". The American Journal of Theology. 18: 420–425. doi:10.1086/479397 – via JSTOR.
^ "China's Iraq Oil Problem". Fortune. June 30, 2014.
^ media2 (2020-06-07). "The Embassy of Republic of Iraq in Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Makes Unremitting Efforts to Follow Up Affairs of Iraqi Community in Combatting the Coronavirus – وزارة الخارجية العراقية". Retrieved 2023-10-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

[1] Di Chiara, Anita, et al., (January 17, 2024). "An archaeomagnetic study of the Ishtar Gate, Babylon", in: PLOS ONE: "The vertical line is placed at 569 BCE, which is where the mean crosses the LAC. This proposed date for the construction of the gate supports the suggestion that the gate complex was built after the successful Babylonian campaign to Judah and Jerusalem in 586 BCE. However [...] the recorded intensity for the time of the gate’s construction (136±2.1 ZAm2) is significantly different than the one recorded for the time of Jerusalem’s destruction layer (148.9±3.9 ZAm2)."

[2] Garcia, Brittany. "Ishtar Gate". World History Encyclopedia.

[3] Podany, Amanda (2018). Ancient Mesopotamia: Life in the Cradle of Civilization. The Great Courses. p. 213.

[4] Luckenbill, D. D. "Review: The Excavation of Babylon". The American Journal of Theology. 18: 420–425. doi:10.1086/479397 – via JSTOR.

[5] "China's Iraq Oil Problem". Fortune. June 30, 2014.

[6] 2 (2020-06-07). "The Embassy of Republic of Iraq in Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Makes Unremitting Efforts to Follow Up Affairs of Iraqi Community in Combatting the Coronavirus – وزارة الخارجية العراقية". Retrieved 2023-10-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

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