Communication Culture & Technology

Presented by :Mostafa Mahmoud Marai

( 3141300 )* References: _ BBC Culture _ Ancient History Encyclopedia _ Ishtar Gate page on Facebook

The Great Entrance To BabylonISHTAR GATE

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.

• 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 muchof the ancient city’smagnificence wouldbecome most at risk. The greater part of the gate remains inPergamon museum inGermany.

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,

• 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.

• 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.

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.

• 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.

• 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.