Walls and Openings

Babylonian, Persian and Assyrian

Babylon means "babilu" (gate of god). an ancient city in the plain of shinar on the Euphrates River, about 50 miles south of Modern Baghdad. became the capital of Babylonia and the Babylonian Empire. was of overwhelming size and appearance. -------------------------------------------

The brick wall was :

56 miles long, 300 feet high, 25 feet thick another wall 75 feet behind the first wall, the wall extended 35 feet below the ground

Consisted of 250 towers that were 450 feet high

Walls of Babylon

The Babylonian walls ImgurNemed-Enlil and Enlil.

Nebuchadnezzar II around 600 BC added to the East Wall (Osthaken) the city walls. Nebuchadnezzar's goal was to make Babylon bigger and more beautiful than it ever was a city. Nebuchadnezzar let the enemies to be awestruck, and the inhabitants of the city brought to marvel. An ancient text has been preserved by Nebuchadnezzar in cuneiform, which states: "What no King has done before me, I did, 4000 Ellen Country (about two kilometers sideways) of the city, distant, unapproachable, I had a huge wall eastward to enclose Babylon. I completed Babylon.

Walls of Babylon

The decay of the masonry must have been advanced at the beginning of the third century BC, now high. Only widely scattered remains of walls and bricks from the desert, oil rigs and pipelines are evidence of the former magnificent. The construction of the wall had pragmatic reasons. In the cities of antiquity, it is acting strongholds. After Nebuchadnezzar's death, the city under Cyrus the Great and Alexander the Great was taken. Both rulers were preparing to besiege the city. When Babylon fell apart over the years, dropping from the metropolis to a small town, in the end declined even to a small village, the faded beauty and grandeur of the ancient wonders walls of Babylon.

Walls of Babylon

The Ishtar Gate and the wall were dated between 604-506 BC.

Both gate and wall were reconstructed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, 47 feet height and 32 feet width.
Dedicated to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, the gate was constructed using glazed brick with alternating rows of bas-relief muuu (dragons) and aurochs.

The gate is built across the double walls of the city fortification and has a pair of projecting towers on each wall.

The Ishtar Gate

The Ishtar Gate

The Ishtar Gate was more than 38 feet (12 metres) high and was decorated with glazed brick reliefs, in tiers, of dragons and young bulls. The gate itself was a double one, and on its south side was a vast antechamber.

The Ishtar Gate

Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (ca. 550330 BC).

Palace at Persepolis

The Gate of all Nations, referring to subjects of the empire, consisted of a grand hall that was a square of approximately 25 metres (82 ft) in length, with four columns and its entrance on the Western Wall. A pair of Lamassus, bulls with the heads of bearded men, stand by the western threshold. Another pair, with wings and a Persian head (Gopt-Shh), stands by the eastern entrance, to reflect the Empires power.

Palace at Persepolis Gate of All Nations

Darius built the greatest palace at Persepolis in the western side. This palace was called the Apadana. The King of Kings used it for official audiences.
The palace had a grand hall in the shape of a square, each side 60 meters (200 ft)long with seventy-two columns. Thirteen of which still stand on the enormous platform. Each column is 19 meters (62 ft) high with a square Taurus and plinth. The walls were covered with a layer of mud and stucco to a depth of 5 cm, which was used for bonding, and then covered with the greenish stucco which is found throughout the palaces. The walls were tiled and decorated with pictures of lions, bulls, and flowers.

Palace at Persepolis

Apadana (western palace)

Next to the Apadana, second largest building of the Terrace and the final edifices, is the Throne Hall or the Imperial Army's hall of honour (also called the "Hundred-Columns Palace). This 70x70 square meter hall was started by Xerxes and completed by his son, Artaxerxes I by the end of the fifth century BC. In the beginning, the Throne Hall was used mainly for receptions for military commanders and representatives of all the subject nations of the empire later it served as an imperial museum.

Palace at Persepolis

Throne Hall

Tachara Palace