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The Babylonian Ishtar-Gate on Iraqi Dinar

2020-02-11 Tue

Each country has a beautiful and magnificent history and many awe-inspiring places. There are many countries that have boasted about their historical attractions and depicted some tourist places on banknotes. One of them is 25 Dinar Banknote issued by Central Bank of Iraq, which adorned Ishtar Gate beautifully on its reverse face.

The Ishtar Gate was the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon (present day Iraq). This enormous brunt-brick gate structure was constructed by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II in circa 575 BCE. The Ishtar Gate was more than 38 feet (12 meters) high and was decorated with glazed brick reliefs of dragons and young bulls. The animals which are in yellow and brown tiles look amazingly magnificent against the bright blue color of the bricks surrounding them. These animals are said to be symbolic representations of deities like: lions are associated with Ishtar, bulls with Adad, and dragons with Marduk. The gate leads to a Processional Way. The remnants of the original gate and Processional Way have been housed in Berlin’s Pergamum Museum.

Image Source: https://www.allnumis.com/