The Ishtar Gate

Book excerpt: Today, one approaches the Processional Way and the Ishtar Gate from the back. In ancient times, of course, a visitor to the Babylonian capital walked or rode along the Processional Way toward the towering Ishtar Gate. Along the way he could not but admire the magnificent walls lining the Processional Way decorated with roaring lions. To get the best idea of what the ancient visitor might have seen and felt as he approached the city of Babylon, one need only go to the beginning of the Processional Way to retrace one's way toward the Ishtar Gate. The modern visitor should not be disturbed by the structural division between the galleries housting the Processional Way and the Ishtar Gate. In ancient Babylon, too, the street with its bastions and the forecourt were distinct from the Ishtar Gate. --