0:00:00.000,0:00:05.645 [music] 0:00:05.645,0:00:07.944 Dr. Steven Zucker: We're in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin 0:00:07.944,0:00:10.545 and one of the most astonishing objects they have 0:00:10.545,0:00:12.138 --well it's not an object 0:00:12.138,0:00:13.979 Dr. Beth Harris: It's a gate for a city 0:00:13.979,0:00:16.397 --there were eight double gates that formed 0:00:16.397,0:00:19.375 part of the walls around the ancient city of Babylon 0:00:19.375,0:00:20.762 Dr. Zucker: It's huge 0:00:20.762,0:00:22.692 Dr. Harris: It doesn't just impress us 0:00:22.692,0:00:24.556 it impressed people--but it was built 0:00:24.556,0:00:26.875 --in fact it was called one of the Wonders of the World 0:00:26.875,0:00:29.210 Dr. Zucker: So Nebuchadnezzar--of biblical fame 0:00:29.210,0:00:32.126 ascended to the throne and proceeded to rebuild 0:00:32.126,0:00:34.637 the already ancient city of Babylon 0:00:34.637,0:00:38.362 --this is a city that has its roots in the third millenia B.C. 0:00:38.362,0:00:41.160 --but it had become a major political center 0:00:41.160,0:00:44.477 under King Hammurabi in the 1700s B.C.E. 0:00:44.477,0:00:48.906 --the city had remained populated but regained importance in the 6th century 0:00:48.906,0:00:51.830 under Nebuchadnezzar II and under his father 0:00:51.830,0:00:55.640 --and what we are seeing here is part of the enormous building campaign 0:00:55.640,0:00:58.109 that Nebuchadnezzar II had undertaken 0:00:58.109,0:01:01.493 Dr. Harris: We may recognize Nebuchadnezzar from the Bible 0:01:01.493,0:01:03.179 --from the book of Daniel 0:01:03.179,0:01:07.673 --he's the ruler of Babylon who conquers and destroys the temple in Jerusalem 0:01:07.673,0:01:11.262 --and whose responsible for the exile of the Jews 0:01:11.262,0:01:13.289 Dr. Zucker: Clearly he was very powerful 0:01:13.289,0:01:15.843 --he was able to undertake this enormous building campaign 0:01:15.843,0:01:18.010 --you know he fortified and strengthened 0:01:18.010,0:01:20.923 eleven miles of wall around the city of Babylon 0:01:20.923,0:01:24.096 --he reconstructed the great ziggurat in Babylon 0:01:24.096,0:01:27.057 which had the Temple of Marduk at its top 0:01:27.057,0:01:30.041 and it's probably the source of the story of the Tower of Bable 0:01:30.041,0:01:34.680 --he created palaces and he created this extraordinary gate 0:01:34.680,0:01:36.893 Dr. Harris: And hanging gardens which were also considered 0:01:36.893,0:01:38.729 one of the wonders of the world 0:01:38.729,0:01:41.556 --so the city of Babylon had eight double gates 0:01:41.556,0:01:44.146 --the one we are looking at is one of those gates 0:01:44.146,0:01:47.124 --and actually the smaller of the double gate 0:01:47.124,0:01:49.915 --the other one would have been even larger 0:01:49.915,0:01:51.875 if that's possible to imagine 0:01:51.875,0:01:54.523 Dr. Zucker: In fact so large that the museum can't actually put it on display 0:01:54.523,0:01:56.746 even in this very large space 0:01:56.746,0:01:59.432 --this gate which would of course would have only been opened 0:01:59.432,0:02:02.293 for the friendly--is at the end of a long processional way 0:02:02.293,0:02:06.696 --lined with beautiful lions that speak very clearly of pride 0:02:06.696,0:02:09.663 --of power--and of Nebuchadnezzar's rule 0:02:09.663,0:02:11.971 Dr. Harris: The lions that we see on processional way 0:02:11.971,0:02:15.493 represent Ishtar--one of the Babylonians goddesses 0:02:15.493,0:02:19.357 --the goddess of war and wisdom and sexuality 0:02:19.357,0:02:21.554 Dr. Zucker: They're raised up to eye-level 0:02:21.554,0:02:24.323 and they're a little bit smaller than life size 0:02:24.323,0:02:25.973 but they are pretty big 0:02:25.973,0:02:27.573 Dr. Harris: And they are frightening 0:02:27.573,0:02:29.739 --they're mouths are open in these ferocious roars 0:02:29.739,0:02:31.736 Dr. Zucker: It's true they are snarling aren't they 0:02:31.736,0:02:33.687 Dr. Harris: They are--but the fact that they are placed 0:02:33.687,0:02:36.092 in this very regular way--makes them seem 0:02:36.092,0:02:38.628 as though they are trained or controlled 0:02:38.628,0:02:40.644 by King Nebuchadnezzar himself 0:02:40.644,0:02:42.856 Dr. Zucker: It makes us fear not only the lions 0:02:42.856,0:02:44.908 but it makes us fear the king 0:02:44.908,0:02:46.889 --the image of a lion is beautiful 0:02:46.889,0:02:50.024 --this faience of raised to create kind of relief sculpture 0:02:50.024,0:02:53.074 --so in addition to the lions--there are two other animals forms 0:02:53.074,0:02:55.337 that decorate the gate and they're both meant 0:02:55.337,0:02:57.458 to be as ferocious as the lions 0:02:57.458,0:02:59.889 --a kind of ancient bull known as an auroch 0:02:59.889,0:03:02.091 --these were supposed to be terribly fierce 0:03:02.091,0:03:04.703 --and then alternating with the rows of auroch 0:03:04.703,0:03:06.973 are a kind of mesopetamian dragon 0:03:06.973,0:03:09.222 which is really a composite beast 0:03:09.222,0:03:11.957 --the front paws are those of lions 0:03:11.957,0:03:15.057 --the head and neck come from a snake or serpent 0:03:15.057,0:03:17.619 --the hind legs come from an eagle perhaps 0:03:17.619,0:03:19.202 Dr. Beth Harris: And their tails 0:03:19.202,0:03:21.126 have a stinger like a scorpion 0:03:21.126,0:03:23.645 Dr. Zucker: Those dragons are associated with Marduk 0:03:23.645,0:03:25.688 --the patron god of the city 0:03:25.688,0:03:28.905 --and Nebuchadnezzar associated himself directly with Marduk 0:03:28.905,0:03:31.016 --the aurochs--that is these bulls 0:03:31.016,0:03:33.503 --are associated with the god Adad 0:03:33.503,0:03:35.343 --a god associated with storms 0:03:35.343,0:03:37.136 --with the fertility of the land 0:03:37.136,0:03:38.624 --with the harvest 0:03:38.624,0:03:41.119 --all of these animals speak to protecting the city 0:03:41.119,0:03:42.892 --but also providing for the city 0:03:42.892,0:03:44.624 Dr. Harris: They are ferocious animals 0:03:44.624,0:03:48.674 --but they're also represented in a very regular way 0:03:48.674,0:03:51.634 along the procession and on the tower and archway of the gate 0:03:51.634,0:03:54.902 --so that there is symmetry 0:03:54.902,0:03:57.305 --a sense of order in the way they are represented 0:03:57.305,0:04:00.725 Dr. Zucker: One of the most extraordinary aspects of these towers 0:04:00.725,0:04:03.167 --of the gate as a whole--is the color 0:04:03.167,0:04:06.652 --this is an arid place where the sun is bright--where is gets really hot 0:04:06.652,0:04:11.138 --and you can imagine how brilliant the blues and greens would have been 0:04:11.138,0:04:17.101 not in the context of the museum--but in the context of the edge of a desert 0:04:17.101,0:04:19.336 --in Mesopotamia there was a real problem 0:04:19.336,0:04:21.416 --you know the Egyptians were able to build 0:04:21.416,0:04:23.772 their Great Pyramids and other monuments 0:04:23.772,0:04:26.070 out of the native stone that surrounded them 0:04:26.070,0:04:28.691 --but in Mesopotamia they didn't have that 0:04:28.691,0:04:31.492 --this was a river valley--Babylon is on the banks of the Euphrates 0:04:31.492,0:04:34.109 --in fact the Euphrates cuts right through the city 0:04:34.109,0:04:36.568 --when the Mesopotamians wanted to build 0:04:36.568,0:04:38.950 they created buildings out of brick 0:04:38.950,0:04:40.969 --created from the clay of the river valley 0:04:40.969,0:04:43.542 --the brilliant blue that we see on the surface of the gate is faience 0:04:43.542,0:04:46.299 --this is a technique that was known to the ancient Egyptians 0:04:46.299,0:04:49.006 and other parts of the ancient world 0:04:49.006,0:04:51.607 --and it uses copper to create this brilliant blue 0:04:51.607,0:04:53.839 --and this is a beautiful example 0:04:53.839,0:04:58.692 Dr. Harris: So the gate is massive--it's frightening--it's decorative 0:04:58.692,0:05:00.935 --and it's brilliantly colored 0:05:00.935,0:05:03.443 --no wonder Nebuchadnezzar was so proud of it 0:05:03.443,0:05:05.391 and wrote an inscription on the side 0:05:05.391,0:05:07.605 Dr. Zucker: Let's go read that 0:05:07.605,0:05:10.592 --now we're sure where the inscription was originally placed on the wall 0:05:10.592,0:05:13.919 --but in this reconstruction it's on the left side of the left tower 0:05:13.919,0:05:18.383 --here's an excerpt, "I Nebuchadnezzar laid the foundation of the gates 0:05:18.383,0:05:22.541 down to the ground water level--and had them built out of pure blue stone 0:05:22.541,0:05:26.374 --upon the walls in the inner room of the gate are bulls and dragons 0:05:26.374,0:05:31.386 --and thus I magnificently adorned them with luxurious splendour for all mankind to behold in awe 0:05:31.386,0:05:37.990 Dr. Harris: And we are in awe two and a half millenia later 0:05:37.990,0:05:41.241 Dr. Zucker: Nebuchadnezzar understood his place in history 0:05:41.241,0:05:44.717 and he actually wrote inscriptions in his new buildings 0:05:44.717,0:05:49.325 that not only identified them and identified their purpose and him as their patron 0:05:49.325,0:05:53.390 --but also asked future rulers to rebuild them for him 0:05:53.390,0:05:56.902 Dr. Harris: It's as though he knew that empires come and go 0:05:56.902,0:05:59.842 Dr. Zucker: And that he could speak across history 0:05:59.842,0:06:03.142 --and in our time--the ruler of Mesopotamia which we now call Iraq 0:06:03.142,0:06:05.692 seemed to pay attention 0:06:05.692,0:06:09.809 Saddam Hussein actually had begun the rebuilding of parts of Babylonia 0:06:09.809,0:06:14.304 --he built his own palace a few hundred meters away from the Ishtar Gate 0:06:14.304,0:06:17.518 --and began the reconstruction of parts of the city as well 0:06:17.518,0:06:21.486 --that came to a halt of course in the recent military actions against him 0:06:21.486,0:06:24.142 --and of course he was ultimately deposed and killed 0:06:24.142,0:06:27.742 Dr. Harris: And what it meant to rebuild this legendary city 0:06:27.742,0:06:30.193 Dr. Zucker: Saddam Hussein was very much rebuilding it 0:06:30.193,0:06:32.688 not for Nebuchadnezzar but for his own political ambition 0:06:32.688,0:06:35.524 Dr. Harris: Reclaiming the power of Nebuchadnezzar for himself 0:06:35.524,0:06:37.925 Dr. Zucker: That's right and the power of ancient Mesopotamia 0:06:37.925,0:06:54.388 [music]