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Dick Osseman | all galleries >> Istanbul >> Museums - Müzeler >> Istanbul Ancient Orient Museum >> Ishtar Gate animals > Istanbul Ancient Civilizations Museum May 2014 8529.jpg
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28-May-2014 Dick Osseman

Istanbul Ancient Civilizations Museum May 2014 8529.jpg

Text at museum: From monumental “procession street”: this street opened for religious and military purposes comes out of Babylon runs from the Ishtar Gate and reaches the building where new year festivities were held. This street, originally measuring 16 meters in width and 300 meters in length was decorated with colored brick reliefs of the lion, the sacred animal of the goddess Ishtar, on either side.

I must confess I am not quite certain if all of these are from the same source, partly because the bull is not mentioned in the text I quote. However, I think we can suppose they are all from about the same spot.

Over the years I tried to get better colour and resolution, these come closest.

From other sources I gather it is from 575 BC. By King Nebuchadnezzar II. I also understand that to see the gate in a restored version you should travel to Berlin, Germany. I give a link to the English Wikipedia article (I think the German may be somewhat better), where you can also see a reference to these pictures.

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