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Ishtar Gate and Processional Way of Babylon

Nebuchadnezzar's glazed-brick gateway, the Babylon the exiles walked into

Judah, Babylon & Exile · fortification / gate, city / site, inscription · Accepted by scholars · found 1899

Tall blue glazed-brick gate decorated with golden bulls and dragons
Photo: Rictor Norton · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons — The reconstructed Ishtar Gate in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin.

Found 1899 — Robert Koldewey, German Oriental Society, excavations 1899–1917 (gate uncovered 1902 onward)

Where Babylon (Hillah) (Iraq)

Dates from c. 575 BCE · Neo-Babylonian · Reign of Nebuchadnezzar; the Babylonian exile

Now at Pergamon Museum, Berlin (reconstructed front gate); pieces in Istanbul, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum and others; the lower gate remains in situ at Babylon

Names a biblical person Nebuchadnezzar (named in the gate's dedicatory brick inscription)

How Ishtar Gate and Processional Way of Babylon was found

Koldewey's team excavated the city's northern gate and the Processional Way, recovering hundreds of thousands of glazed brick fragments that were shipped to Berlin and reassembled in the 1920s.

What it is

A double gate faced with deep-blue glazed bricks and rows of moulded lions, bulls and mushhushshu dragons — the animals of Ishtar, Adad and Marduk. The reconstructed front in Berlin stands 14 m high. A dedication inscription in Nebuchadnezzar's name describes building the gate 'with lapis-blue glazed bricks' and adorning it with 'wild bulls and fierce dragons'.

Why it matters for the Bible

This is the Babylon of Daniel, Ezekiel and Psalm 137 in its actual splendour. Nebuchadnezzar's boast 'Is not this great Babylon, which I have built?' (Daniel 4:30) reads differently after seeing his gate. The Processional Way, lined with lions, is the route of the New Year festival in which the king took Marduk's hand — the ceremony Cyrus later used to claim the throne. Jeremiah 51:58 predicted Babylon's 'broad walls' would be levelled; the gate's ruins remained buried until 1899.

The Hebrew word: bah-VEL

בָּבֶל

בָּבֶל is pronounced bah-VEL and means Babylon (Akkadian bab-ili, 'gate of god') (Strong's H894).

People this discovery connects to

Places

Events

The Babylonian exile · Nebuchadnezzar's building of Babylon

Ishtar Gate and Processional Way of Babylon in Scripture

2 Kings 17:24 First mention of Babylon in Scripture.

Psalms 137:1 'By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept' — the exiles' view of this city.

Daniel 4:30 Nebuchadnezzar boasts of the great Babylon he built — the gate is his signature monument.

Questions people ask

What is Ishtar Gate and Processional Way of Babylon?
A double gate faced with deep-blue glazed bricks and rows of moulded lions, bulls and mushhushshu dragons — the animals of Ishtar, Adad and Marduk. The reconstructed front in Berlin stands 14 m high. A dedication inscription in Nebuchadnezzar's name describes building the gate 'with lapis-blue glazed bricks' and adorning it with 'wild bulls and fierce dragons'.

When was Ishtar Gate and Processional Way of Babylon discovered?
It was found in 1899 by Robert Koldewey, German Oriental Society, excavations 1899–1917 (gate uncovered 1902 onward), at Babylon (Hillah).

Where is Ishtar Gate and Processional Way of Babylon today?
Pergamon Museum, Berlin (reconstructed front gate); pieces in Istanbul, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum and others; the lower gate remains in situ at Babylon.

Which Bible verses does Ishtar Gate and Processional Way of Babylon relate to?
2 Kings 17:24, Psalms 137:1, Daniel 4:30.

Related discoveries

Sources

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