Walls and Openings

Babylonian, Persian and Assyrian

Walls of Babylon
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 Imgur-
Nemed-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.
The Ishtar Gate
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.
Palace at Persepolis
Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire
(ca. 550330 BC).
Palace at Persepolis
Gate of All Nations
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
Apadana (western palace)
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
Throne Hall
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.

Tachara Palace