Gate tagged posts

By Hnapel (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Campaign Chunk Volume 11.09 – Ishtar Gate

The Ishtar Gate was one of eight gates to the inner city of Babylon. It was built around 575 BC by the order of the King Nebuchadnezzar II on the northern side of Babylon. This particular gate, as the name suggests was dedicated to the goddess Ishtar, who is the Mesopotamian goddess of fertility, love/sex, and war. Her symbols were lions and the eight pointed star.

The gate itself was constructed using glazed brick with alternating rows of bas-relief dragons and bulls, symbolizing the gods Marduk and Adad respectively. The bricks were coloured blue, possibly lapis lazuli, with the animals and symbols being coloured yellow and brown...