Ishtar Gates: The Forgotten Wonder of the Ancient World

The following is a definition  submitted to the Ancient History Encyclopedia, which is a great free resources for students of any age.



Old Babylonian period Queen of Night relief,
 often considered to represent an aspect of Ishtar.

 

  The Ishtar Gate was constructed by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II circa 575 BCE. It was the eighth gate of the city of Babylon (in present day Iran) and was the main entrance into the city. The Ishtar Gate was part of Nebuchadnezzar's plan to beautify his empire's capital. During the first half of the sixth century BCE, he restored the temple of Marduk, built the renowned wonder: the Hanging Gardens as part of this plan. The magnificence of the Ishtar Gate was so well known that it made the list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. However, it was replaced by the Lighthouse of Alexandria, but some authors (Antipater of Sidon and Calliamchus of Cyrene) still wrote that the "Gates of Ishtar" and "Walls of Babylon" should still be considered one of the wonders. Officially though, it never made on the list.

The Ishtar Gate in Berlin. The Front of the Gate with Bulls and Dragons

The Ishtar Gate and Deities

The Ishtar Gate is named so, because it was dedicated to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar. Although the gate is dedicated to Ishtar, Nebuchadnezzar pays homage to other Babylonian deities through animal representation. The animals represented on the gate are young bulls (aurochs), lions, and dragons (sirrush). These animals are symbolic representations of certain deities: lions are often associated with Ishtar, bulls with Adad, and dragons with Marduk. Respectively, Ishtar was a goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex, Adad was a weather god, and Marduk was the chief or national god of Babylon.

The Ishtar Gate. The Front of the Gate with Bulls and Dragons

The Gate:

The front of the gate is adorned with glazed bricks with alternating rows of dragons and bulls. The beasts are furnished in yellow and brown tiles, while the bricks surrounding them are blue. The blue enameled tiles are thought to be of lapis lazuli, but there is some debate to this conjecture. The gates measured more than 38 feet high with a vast antechamber on the southern side.

Processional Way( much smaller than the original size) lined with lions and flowers.

Processional Way:

Through the gatehouse is Processional Way, which is a brick-paved corridor over half a mile long with walls over 50 feet tall on each side. The walls are adorned with over 120 sculptural lions, flowers, and enameled yellow tiles. The Processional Way was used for the New Year's celebration, through which statues of the deities would parade down. The Processional Way is a path paved with red and yellow stones (a rows of red stone on the outer layers and a yellow row in between). Each one of these stone has an inscription underneath: a small prayed from King Nebuchadnezzar to the chief god Marduk. It was this procession way that led to the temple of Marduk.

 

Excavation:

The Ishtar gate was excavated between 1902 to 1914 during which 45 feet of the original foundation of the gate was discovered. The material excavated by Robert Koldewey was used in a reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate and the Processional Way. In 1930, the reconstruction was finished at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany.


Reconstruction:

Due to size restrictions of the Pergamon museum, the Ishtar Gate is neither complete nor its original size. The gate was originally a double gate, but the Pergamon Museum only utlizes the smaller ,frontal part. The second gate is currently in storage. Originally the gate had a door and roof made of cedar and bronze, which was not built for the reconstruction. A smaller reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate was built in Iraq under Saddam Hussein as the entrance to a museum. However, this reconstruction was never finished due to war.

Ishtar Gate in Iraq

There are several museums in the world that received portions of the Ishtar Gate: Istanbul Archaeology Museum the Detroit Institute of At, Royal Ontario Museum, the Lourve, Munich's State Museum of Egyptian Art, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oriental Institute of Chicago, and many more.

Dedication Plaque:

On the Ishtar Gate, there is a dedication plaque written from Nebuchadnezzar's point of view that explains the gate's purpose and describes it in some detail.

Cuneiform writing of the dedication plaque on the Gate.

Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, the faithful prince appointed by the will of Marduk, the highest of princely princes, beloved of Nabu, of prudent counsel, who has learned to embrace wisdom, who fathomed their divine being and reveres their majesty, the untiring governor, who always takes to heart the care of the cult of Esagila and Ezida and is constantly concerned with the well-being of Babylon and Borsippa, the wise, the humble, the caretaker of Esagila and Ezida, the firstborn son of Nabopolassar, the King of Babylon.

Dedication Plaque on the Gate

Both gate entrances of Imgur-Ellil and Nemetti-Ellil following the filling of the street from Babylon had become increasingly lower.

Therefore, I pulled down these gates and laid their foundations at the water table with asphalt and bricks and had them made of bricks with blue stone on which wonderful bulls and dragons were depicted.

I covered their roofs by laying majestic cedars length-wise over them. I hung doors of cedar adorned with bronze at all the gate openings.

I placed wild bulls and ferocious dragons in the gateways and thus adorned them with luxurious splendor so that people might gaze on them in wonder

I let the temple of Esiskursiskur (the highest festival house of Marduk, the Lord of the Gods a place of joy and celebration for the major and minor gods) be built firm like a mountain in the precinct of Babylon of asphalt and fired bricks.

Lions, Tigers, and Gladiators; Oh My!

 

 

Gladiators

 

 

 

Everyone knows the iconic movie poster above. It invokes the idea and concept of gladiators. There is an understanding that these "fighters" were unique to ancient Rome and fought in amphitheaters or even the most famous amphitheater: the Flavian Amphitheater: i.e The Colosseum. 

 

Where did they fight:

 

The Colosseum completed 80AD.

The Colosseum was capable of holding 50,000- 80,000 spectators.

The Colosseum is situated just east of the Roman Forum.

 

 

The Colosseum housed various forms of entertainment during its lifetime from gladiatorial contests and public spectacles  such as mock sea battles, animal hunts,  executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical Mythology.

 

However, while the Flavian Amphitheater( the Colosseum) is the most recounted of the amphitheaters; there are about 230 remains or sites of other ancient Roman amphitheaters. A list of locations and some pictures may be found here.

 

Who Fought:

 

Gladiator ,from the Latin gladius which means sword, comes to mean swordsman.

 



Gladii; Roman short swords. 

 

Gladiators were  normally slaves , but later on free men also volunteered to be gladiators( to settle a debt or to win large sums of money) and, by the end of the Republic, comprised half the number who fought. Often, they were social outcasts, freed slaves, discharged soldiers, or former gladiators who had been liberated on retirement but chose to return for a period of service.

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus

It is claimed in Suetonius' "The Twelve Caesars (21.6)" that Gladiator use to address the emperor in the Colosseum before their match: "Ave, Imperator, morituri te salutant" or "Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant" ( " Hail, Emperor, thoses who are about to die salute you!)" This moment can be seen in the film Gladiator.





"It's all thumbs to me." Who Judged:

It should be noted however, that similar to the film not all gladiatorial games or ludi were held at Rome's Colosseum , nor were they all viewed by the emperor. There would be an overseer of a gladiatorial match, but that person varied from a  senator, general, wealthy patron, and so on. However, the overseer or editor would usually be the one made the "judgment call" of life and death or thumbs up or down( Pollice Verso , meaning with thumb turned).

 Pollice Verso: 1872 Gladiator painting by Jean-Leon Gerome.
  



 Pollice Verso by Gerome (closer detail of spectators)

There is much debate about the authenticity of the "thumbs up or down" motions of the editor or overseer. Some people believe thumbs up meant to live; others believe it meant to die and visa versa for thumbs dumb.  Regardless of what it is true or isn't true, one thing can be agree upon- the blood and lives taken in gladiatorial games and combat has been numerous.

For more on Pollice Verso (Turned Thumbs) please refer to the University of Chicago's page: Pollice Verso


Types of Gladiators:




Gladiators from the Zliten mosaic 200 AD

The following is a clip from the Gladiator film and it should be advised that it is very bloody. If you choose to view the video (I would advice watching the whole film); please pay close attention to the types of gladiator armor, helmets, and fighting implements.

 



Thraex Helmet

  The first type of gladiator is the one swinging a flail, which was not an ancient weapon, but later he pulls out a mace, which again was not a Roman weapon. However, Hollywood will take their liberties for a good film.  It is very difficult to discern what type of gladiator he is or suppose to be, the only clue is on the top of his helmet. The top of his helmet is a griffin. The griffin being the companion of the avenging goddess Nemesis. He is a Thraex or Thraces for plural. He would usually have a long shield and a curved sword (sica)- however we do not see this. But, the helmet is nice and historical.





The Second Gladiator who is wearing the head of some beast is unknown. Apparently, the ancient Romans would put on mime shows after a fight in which entertainer would wear animal heads, but not during a fight traditionally. Perhaps he is reminiscent of the Time Bandit's Minotaur:

Time Bandit Minotaur





CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D. Murmillo

The third gladiator, who Maximus actually kills, would appear to be a Myrmillo. They were heavily armored and used a gladius.  It is important to note that specific gladiator types were paired against other types. This was done in order to have a fair, even matched, or simple an interesting pairing and combat for spectators. The Myrmillo was apparently a match for the Thread.   A second look at this gladiator may be needed since he also resembles a Semite.

The fourth Gladiator which we see Juba fighting is not a real gladiator either. He appears to have  

helmet with horns, but there are no mosaics or record literature describing such a helmet. However, his blade that he wields is interesting. It would appear to be similar to the blade that a Thraex would have: a sica. Perhaps they all share weapons and gear!

Sica

A retiarius ("net fighter") with a trident and cast net,
 fighting a secutor (79 AD mosaic).

The next and last gladiator that is worth mention would be the one with the net and trident. This gladiator is known as Retiarius "net fighter." The mosaics depicting the trident was once thought to be simply decorative until graves were unearthed revealing gladiators with odd looking marks that fit this weapon.
 

Thus, Hollywood may have some historical accuracies, but time is money. So, does a movie producer spend five extra hours researching proper gladiator equipment, or does he spend two hours to have some historian consult give him the basics to get the feel of ancient Rome.


Gladiators as Sex Symbols

 

Thracian gladiator is the delight of all the girls

There is an inscription on a wall in Pompeii that says the Thracian gladiator Celadus was "suspirum et decus puellarum," literally "the sigh and glory of the girls."
 



The strigil – or stlengis (στλεγγίς) as it’s called in Greek – has a cross-section like a thin piece of celery and is curved like a sickle, but the edges are dull. You couldn’t cut yourself with it. But the strigil (above) is designed to collect the gluey mixture of sweat and oil called gloios (γλοίος) in Greek and strigmentum in Latin. Why? Because ‘gladiator sweat’ was worth a lot of money.

 

Gladiator sweat and fats of the animals fighting in the arena were sold in souvenir pots outside of the games to improve complexion. BBC

 

For more information refer to the post: Love Potion IX

 

 

The Title

 In reference to the title of this post: Lions, Tigers, and Gladiators, some gladiators actual fought animals.  These can be seen in Hollywood's blockbuster Gladiator along in some mosaics.

Maximus fighting a Tiger and Gladiator

 5th Century Mosaic from Istanbul of gladiators fighting a tiger

The following video discuss the making of the Colosseum and the fighting of with the Tigers!



 

 As Hollywood discovers interesting stories and possibly film ideas, it is important to recall what has already been done: Ancient Rome Movies