Which city was the ishtar gate. Ishtar Gate in Babylon - what is known in the history of the oldest structure. Babylon - the city of harlots

A long time ago, during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar, the great Babylon had seven gates bearing the names of the gods. Of extraordinary beauty was the gate of the goddess Ishtar, from where the famous Processional Road began, heading to Esagila, the temple of the patron saint of Babylon, Marduk. The ruins of the Ishtar Gate now remain one of the most significant testimonies of the past glory of Babylon, and it is about them that I would like to tell you today.

Ishtar Gate is located in the Museum of the Ancient Near East, which, in turn, is the pavilion of the Pergamon Museum, created in 1899. It contains the finds of German archaeologists of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. on the territory of Mesopotamia.

The Babylonian collection is the result of an expedition led by R. Koldewey, who carried out excavations 90 km south of Baghdad. For almost 20 years, archaeologists have been working on this discovery, and as a result, Babylon appeared before us - a city of fabulous wealth, the Tower of Babel, hanging gardens, inhabited by a myriad of inhabitants . Its size, buildings, the power of the fortress walls - all this once amazed foreigners. This is how he appears before us in the writings of Herodotus and the Old Testament. Later Babylon fell into desolation, and people forgot not only about its existence, but also its exact location. But archeology rediscovered its fortress walls with towers, the royal palace, the Processional road, the remains of the temple of Marduk, and so on.

Inside the city walls, at different ends of the city, there were two dominant buildings: on one side the royal palace, on the opposite side - the pyramidal temple of Esagila. It was a huge structure, each side of which was 400 meters long. To the south of it was the majestic 91-meter ziggurat of Etemenanki ("the temple of the cornerstone of heaven and earth"), which became the basis for the biblical myth of the Tower of Babel. At the top of the tower was the sanctuary of the chief god of Babylonia, Marduk, faced with glazed bricks, and its walls and ceilings were covered with gold and decorated with precious stones.

The road of processions was, perhaps, the best road of the Ancient World, because it was not intended to move along it for people and carts, but for the great god and patron of Babylon, Marduk, who once a year made his way along it to Esagila. And it took its origin exactly at the gates of Ishtar.

Answering the question “why exactly was this gate dedicated to the goddess Ishtar?”, Let me remind you that among the huge pantheon of gods of Mesopotamia, Ishtar was both the central female deity, and the patron deity and deity, who embodied the features of many Mesopotamian and extra-Mesopotamian deities of a similar type. That is why local and universal elements of the sacred are united in her image.

Ishtar was highly revered as the goddess of beauty and love, compared to Venus. The cult of Ishtar originated in the city of Uruk, of which she was the patroness. Among the cities of Babylonia, the seven largest were distinguished, including Uruk. Each patron deity of one of these cities was reflected in the gates of Babylon, which was supposed to symbolize the unity of the country. And since Ishtar was recognized as the wife of Marduk, the main front gate was dedicated to her.

The Babylonian gates of the great Ishtar themselves were made double. The inner ones were twice as large as the outer ones. The glazed brick cladding sparkled in the sun, and the background was decorated with 575 - I believe in accordance with the date of construction, since the Gate was built by order of King Nebuchadnezzar in 575 - golden relief images of revered animals: lions, sirrushes and bulls.

By the way, the gate got its name from the Ishtar temple, which was located nearby. The lion was considered the symbol of the goddess Ishtar, and therefore his images adorn the walls of the Processional Road outside the gate. On the gates themselves there are relief figures of bulls (an animal of the weather god Adad) and sirrush dragons (an animal is the symbol of Marduk).

Let us remember that it was here, at the gate of Ishtar, that the already mentioned Processional Road began, the continuation of which in the city was Aybur-Shaba Street. It is for her on New Year a large procession was arranged, led by a golden statue of Marduk.

The street itself was made up mostly of slabs of pink stone, with red stone inlays around the edges. Its width was 23 meters, and along its entire length it was accompanied by walls of glazed blue bricks seven meters high. Every two meters, the walls were decorated with relief images of lions in frightening poses.

Also impressive is the inscription that Nebuchadnezzar II ordered to be placed on the gate of Ishtar, which reads:

“I am Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, a pious prince, appointed by the will of Marduk, a high priest, beloved of Nabu, judicious, who learned to choose the wise, who understood the divine essence of Marduk and Naboo and honored their greatness ... the firstborn son of Nabopolasar, king of Babylon ...

I demolished this gate and laid its foundation at water table with asphalt and bricks. I ordered them to be built of bricks with blue tiles, on which I depicted wonderful bulls and sirrush dragons. I covered their roofs with magnificent cedars, I put cedar doors studded with bronze in all the openings. I made wild bulls and terrible dragons on the gate. I have adorned them with such splendid splendor that the people would look at them and wonder.

But sooner or later everything falls into decay, so the beauty of the gates of the goddess Ishtar was appreciated only after German scientists conducted research here. In total, about 100 thousand fragments of brick were found, which used to be the gate.

Unfortunately, in 1902, during excavations, the upper part of the Ishtar Gate collapsed. About a thousand fragments were delivered to Berlin, of which the specialists managed to restore the one closest to the original appearance, although, of course, the Ishtar gate presented in the Pergamon Museum is not quite an exact copy of the original, but this is logical - otherwise they could not fit in the museum building ... Here you can also see the restored part of the Processional Road.

Smaller restored parts of the Babylonian heritage are on display in many museums around the world - the Istanbul Archaeological Museum, Detroit Museum, Louvre, etc. The Ishtar Gate in Iraq is still the subject of admiration and a place of pilgrimage for tourists, because the 12-meter-high structure still fascinates with the secrets of ancient times.

Over the past two years, Iraq's Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Liva Sumaysim, has occasionally complained about the looting of fragments of the ancient Ishtar Gate and Processional Road.

In the late 19th - early 20th centuries, blue glazed remains of brick tiles and fragments of the ancient Babylonian Processional Route were excavated from under a fifteen-meter layer of sand. Then, after agreement with the Iraqi government, they were transferred to Berlin. And for 30 years the reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate and the Processional Road, which became the pearl of the Museum of Western Asia, was painstakingly and neatly in German. And in Iraq, the reconstruction of the gate was carried out using modern analogs of bricks under Saddam Hussein.

Remaining in Iraq, the ancient fragments of the gate were kept in the Nebuchadnezzar Museum on the site of ancient Babylon. Before the American invasion of 2003, the museum's vaults were sealed, sending part of the exhibits to the National Museum of Baghdad. The missing bricks are believed to have been stolen from the Nebuchadnezzar Museum.

During the Iraqi campaign of the United States and its allies, which lasted from 2003 to 2011, the ruins of ancient Babylon were further destroyed, and many cultural values, including the heritage of the ancient states of the Sumerians and Babylonians, were plundered. Nevertheless, I really want to hope that the ancient monument will be able to be preserved for new generations.

Diana Augusta Stauer

The walls of Babylon from the inside were lined with belts of frescoes made of blue and green glazed tiles, ornaments and numerous figures of lions, gazelles, dragons and warriors with weapons in their hands. The most rich decorative decoration was probably the double gates of the goddess of love and fertility Ishtar, located in the northern part of the city between the royal palace and the Nin-Mah temple. The height of the gate is 26 meters. From top to bottom, they are covered with blue, blue and green glazed tiles (Fig. 8.6).

Figure: 8.6. The gate of the goddess Ishtar. Layout

Figure: 8.7. Bull ( rimi) and dragon ( sirruh, mushrush) from the gate of the goddess Ishtar (enameled brick)

This color combination caused the visual effect of "moire flicker" - in bright sunlight, the wall began to "breathe", spreading illusory waves from the air currents heated by the Sun.

Figure: 8.8. The gate of the goddess Ishtar. State Museum, Berlin

The wide arch of the gate is edged with traditional rosettes and ornaments. The surface of the towers is also decorated with yellowish-orange figures of bulls and dragons - horned half-crocodiles, half-cats ( mushroom) with scaly bodies and huge bird claws instead of paws (Figure 8.7). A total of 575 such animals were found on the reliefs of Babylon. They were considered sacred animals of Bela-Marduk, the supreme god of Babylon, and Ishtar. Next to the images were placed the cuneiform lines left by Nebuchadnezzar II: “I have placed the terrible rimi (bulls) and scary sirrukhov (dragons) on the walls of the portico and leave these gates in all their splendor to mankind so that it gazes at them with wonder ... ".

At the end of the 19th century, the reliefs of the gate of the goddess Ishtar were dismantled and transported by German archaeologists to the Berlin State Museum, where they are kept to this day (Fig. 8.8).

3. Processional Road of Marduk

From the gate of the goddess Ishtar begins her journey south to the temple of Marduk, the famous "Marduk Processional Road". She also went from west to east from the bank of the Euphrates to the main sanctuary of Babylon - Esagila. The total width of the road is 24 meters. Of these, 7.5 meters are paved with white limestone slabs and edged with a dark pink breccia border. The space between the paved part of the road and the walls was covered with black asphalt. On the lower edge of each slab you can read the inscription: “I, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, son of Nabopalassar, king of Babylon. I paved the Babylonian path of pilgrims for the processions of the great lord Marduk with stone slabs. Oh, Marduk! Oh great lord! Grant eternal life! ... ”.

Figure: 8.9. Processional Road of Marduk. Fragment

The road passed as if through a stone sluice canal. On both sides of it stood seven-meter walls, evenly dissected by towers. A massive cornice with teeth and stripes of relief rosettes covered with multi-colored glazes ran along the top of the walls.

The lower part of the walls on either side of the road is decorated with two bright blue ribbons of ceramic panels. A procession of one hundred and twenty guardian lions unfolded along them - 60 on each side of the road (Fig. 8.9). The animals were of two colors - white and yellow with dark yellow manes and yellow with red-brown manes. The dimensions of the grinning predators are close to natural ones - more than two meters in length. The most likely prototype of these animals can be considered the Persian lion, now exterminated - a pale yellow beast with a brown or black fluffy mane. The figures of the striding predators are full of strength and expression. They are made in the best traditions of Assyrian art (Nimrud, Nineveh, Dur-Sharrukin). It is possible that these frescoes were painted by captive masters from the conquered Assyria.

In the northern part of the city.

Appearance

Ishtar Gate is a huge semicircular arch, bounded on the sides by giant walls and overlooking the so-called Processional Road, along which the walls stretched. The gate is dedicated to the goddess Ishtar and is made of bricks covered with bright blue, yellow, white and black glaze. The walls of the gate and the Processional Road are covered with bas-reliefs of extraordinary beauty, depicting animals in poses very close to natural. The walls of the path are decorated with about 120 bas-reliefs of lions. The walls of the gate are covered with alternating rows of images of sirrushes and bulls. There are about 575 images of animals on the gate. The roof and gate doors were made of cedar. Statues of the gods swept through the Ishtar gate on the Processional Road on New Year's Day.

Reconstruction

The Ishtar Gate and Processional Road were reconstructed in the 1930s. at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin from material found by archaeologist Robert Koldewey. The dimensions of the restored Ishtar Gate are 14 meters high and 10 meters long.

A replica of the Ishtar Gate was built in Iraq at the entrance to a museum, which was never completed.

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The restored Ishtar Gate at the Berlin Museum Pergamon Ishtar Gate is the eighth gate of the inner city in Babylon. Built in 575 BC e. by order of King Nebuchadnezzar in the northern part of the city. Appearance Ishtar Gate represents ... ... Wikipedia

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Named after the Akkadian goddess, the Ishtar Gate was built in Ancient Babylon in 575 BC. But as a wonder of the world and an architectural monument they started talking about only many centuries later. The name of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, Akkadian mythology and an important period in the development of Babylonia are closely connected with the gate of the goddess Ishtar.

Ishtar Gate - the interweaving of history and mythology

Under King Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon reached its prime, both culturally and economically. The period of his reign was marked by successful military campaigns, the attraction of slaves - free labor, an increase in material well-being.

Wishing to immortalize his name, Nebuchadnezzar did not skimp on various architectural projects - the gardens of Semiramis, the royal palace. I got on this list and city \u200b\u200bwall with eight gates... The most famous of them is the gate of the goddess Ishtar.

Ishtar is the goddess of love, fertility, strife and war. It was believed that she was the wife of the patron saint of Babylon - the god Marduk. From the Ishtar Gate to the Esagila Temple, dedicated to her husband, was a Processional Road. The townspeople believed that the main deity of Babylon traveled this path once a year. They themselves carried his statues on New Year's Eve along the Processional Road and the Aybur-Shaba street that continues it.

The appearance of the gate of the goddess Ishtar

The most famous gates of the city wall of Babylon were double. At the same time, their inner part was almost twice the size of the outer one. The building was 26 m high and about 30 m wide. The entrance was a semicircular arch.

Used for construction glazed brick... The main color of the building is bright blue. This gave the gate a special grandeur, immediately setting it apart from the yellow sand and gray houses. It was also believed that the blue color symbolizes the goddess Ishtar.

The roof and sashes were made of cedar and edged in bronze. Against the background of bright blue bricks, 575 relief images of sacred animals - sirrushes and bulls stood out. In menacing poses, they also decorated the walls along the Processional Road, as they were supposed to "accompany" the gods during the festive procession.

The width of the Road was 23 m, the walls along it to a height of 7 m were finished with blue glazed bricks.

Secrets of the Ishtar Gate

One of the main mysteries of the Ishtar Gate in Babylon is the components used to create the decorative covering. It is still believed that they could not exist in ancient times and were particles of cosmic dust.

Several more unanswered questions concern the enamel manufacturing technology. How did the craftsmen manage to maintain the same and high bricks firing temperature? How was the amount of dye for them verified with high precision?

Bricks with a durable decorative coating would require at least 12 hours of firing at 1000 ° C. Today these tasks are handled by qualified specialists and “smart” equipment. It's hard to believe that people have achieved similar results in 570 BC.

Excavation and reconstruction of landmarks

At the end of the 19th century, the German archaeologist Robert Koldewey was able to secure funding for excavations on the territory of Ancient Babylon.

An interesting fact: the excavation lasted about 17 years and was interrupted only by the entry of British troops into Baghdad.

Among the ruins of the once great city, archaeologists have found the collapsed part of the Ishtar gate. Scientists collected and transported to Germany about 100,000 well-preserved bricks. Of these, in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, a copy of the Babylonian gate, keeping the proportions completely, but reducing the size. The height of the reconstruction is 14 m, and the length is 10 m. Visitors to the museum can also see the restored part of the Processional Road.

In the museums of Paris, Detroit, New York, Boston, Istanbul and other major cities of the world, separate fragments from the Babylonian gate are kept.

The Iraqi Museum has its own Ishtar gate, but it was built from modern building materials, stylized as the famous blue brick.

Ishtar was the goddess of love, passion, fertility, nature and was often portrayed as a beautiful woman whose body was overgrown with tender, green shoots.

In those distant times in the 7-5th centuries BC, there were several kingdoms in Mesopotamia: Assyrian, Sumerian, Akkadian and Babylonian. The influence of the Ishtar cult quickly spread throughout the Middle Eastern lands.

Information about Ishtar has been preserved in the oldest literary work: the epic of Gilgamesh, which was written over a thousand and a half years.

Cult of the goddess Ishtar

The name Ishtar translates as "Clear Sky". Blue is the ancient Sumerian sign of the goddess Inanna. The complete sign of Ishtar or Inanna consisted of a ribbon woven into it, which forms two ends and a six-pointed star in the center. Ishtar was also the goddess of the sky.

In Babylon, Ishtar was also considered the patroness of priestesses of love and harlots. There was even temple prostitution.
Every day, several women were supposed to sit in a specially designated place near the sanctuaries of Astarte and give themselves to the passing men for a coin. Only after such a peculiar ritual, women could feel like full housewives. The next year the ritual was repeated.

In the 7th century BC in Babylon, and throughout Asia Minor, the cult of Ishtar was the most important.

Ishtar gate

Babylon was first mentioned in the 3rd millennium BC. during the reign of the Akkadian king Sargon (2369-2314 BC). The descriptions of Babylon were left by Herodotus, Diodorus of Siculus, Strabo. Only Herodotus found Babylon the way it was under the Emperor Nebuchadnezzar II, who became famous for building a lot in Babylon.

It should be noted that for the ancient world Babylon was a fabulously rich kingdom inhabited by a myriad of inhabitants. This is not surprising. Under the Emperor Nebuchadnezzar II, Babylon was inhabited by about 360 thousand inhabitants. Huge for the ancient world.

There were eight gates leading to Babylon, and all of them were named after various gods. The northwestern gate of Ishtar was built in 575 BC. e. by order of Emperor Nebuchadnezzar II.

It was a grand, monumental and very beautiful gate. Unfortunately, now only part of the replica of the gate remains. The gate itself was removed at the beginning of the 20th century.

Ishtar Gate is a huge, semicircular arch, bounded at the edges by high walls and overlooking the so-called Processional Road. The ancient inhabitants of Babylon brought statues of the gods through the gate of Ishtar and celebrated the Israeli New Year.

By the same gate, the coffin with the body of the Great Alexander the Great, who was also considered a lover of women, was brought into the city.

The gate, dedicated to the goddess Ishtar, was made of bricks covered with bright blue, yellow, white and black glaze. The general background of the gate was blue and blue. The color blue was the symbol of Ishtar.

The walls of the gate and the Processional Road were decorated with bas-reliefs of amazing beauty, strikingly reminiscent of living animals in various poses. The walls of the path were decorated with about 120 bas-reliefs of lions.

The walls of the Ishtar gate were covered with alternating rows of sirrushes and bulls. There are about 575 animal images on the gate dedicated to the goddess Ishtar. The roof and gate doors were made of cedar. For a long time, Ishtar was the main goddess of the Babylonian pantheon. She was identified with the planet Venus.