Click on each thumbnail for a larger image.
A look at ruins from atop Saddam Hussein's palace. |
Another look at ruins from atop a palace. |
A view of Babylon from the palace. |
The Ishtar Gate is the main entrance into Babylon. It was built in about 575 BC and dedicated to the goddess Ishtar. The reliefs on the gate are dragons and bulls symbolizing the gods Marduk and Adad. |
The Lion of Babylon was the symbol of the goddess Ishtar. On the sculpture, the lion's back has marks indicating that it was meant for a precious saddle upon which the goddess Ishtar would sit. |
King Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562) was the most important king of the Babylonian Empire. He restored old religious monuments and improved canals and is best known for his Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The Hanging Gardens were on a terrace supported by brick arches. (If you look closely, you can see 3 different types of brick. Along the very bottom, only about 4 layers high, are the original bricks.) |
There were no fewer than 575 reliefs located throughout the ruins: of lions (symbols of Ishtar); dragons (symbols of Marduk); and bulls (symbols of Adad, god of lightning). |
The painting is located just within the Ishtar Gate on the inside left wall. It is a depiction of Babylon in 600 B.C. |
A chamber located about 15 feet below the ground, where blocks of ice were kept for storage. (Personally when I walked down I could feel the rapid temperature change and understood how the ice was maintained in 120+ degree heat.) It is now inhabited by bats (Those are the spots left by them on the ceiling.). |
Un-repairable ruins |
