ISHTAR GATE

enormous burnt-brick entryway located over the main thoroughfare in the ancient city of Babylon (now in Iraq). It was built in about 575 BC, the eighth fortified gate in the city. The Ishtar gate structure was more than 38 feet (12 metres) high and was decorated with glazed brick reliefs, in tiers, of dragons and young bulls. The gate itself was a double one, and on its south side was a vast antechamber. Through the gatehouse ran a stone- and brick-paved avenue, the so-called Processional Way, that has been traced over a length of more than half a mile. The sides of the street were decorated with brick lions passant. It has been estimated that there were 120 lions along the street and 575 dragons and bulls, in 13 rows, on the gate. Not all of these reliefs were visible at the same time, however, for the level of the street was raised more than once; and originally even the lowest rows, which were irregularly laid, may have been treated as foundation deposits. The Iraq antiquities department reconstructed the thoroughfare at one of the higher levels.