Editing Ishtar Gate (section)

==Ishtar Gate and Processional Way==

Once per year, the Ishtar Gate and connecting Processional Way were used for a New Year's procession, which was part of a religious festival celebrating the beginning of the agricultural year. In Babylon, the rituals surrounding this holiday lasted twelve days. The New Year's celebrations started immediately after the barley harvest, at the time of the [[Equinox|vernal equinox]]. This was the first day of the ancient month of [[Nisan]], equivalent to today's date of March 20 or 21.<ref name="Bertman" />

The Processional Way, which has been traced to a length of over 800 meters, extended north from the Ishtar Gate and was designed with brick relief images of lions, the symbol of the goddess Ishtar (also known as Inanna) the war goddess, the dragon of Marduk, the lord of the gods, and the bull of Adad, the storm god.<ref name="R.P.D. 144–147">{{Cite journal|last=R.P.D.|date=October 1932|title=The Lion of Ishtar|journal=Bulletin of the Associates in Fine Arts at Yale University|volume=4|issue=3|pages=144–147|jstor=40513763}}</ref> Worshipped as the Mistress of Heaven, Ishtar represented the power of sexual attraction and was thought to be savage and determined. Symbolized by the star and her sacred animal, the lion, she was also the goddess of war and the protector of ruling dynasties and their armies. The idea of protection of the city is further incorporated into this gateway design by the use of [[Crenelated|crenelated buttresses]] along both sides to this entrance into the city.<ref name="Bertman" />

[[Frieze]]s with sixty ferocious lions representing Ishtar decorated each side of the Processional Way, designed with variations in the color of the fur and the manes. On the east side, they had a left foot forward, and on the west side, they had the right foot forward. Each lion was made of forty-six molded bricks in eleven rows.<ref name="King" /> The lion is pictured upon a blue enameled tile background and an orange coloured border that runs along the very bottom portion of the wall. Having a white body and yellow mane, the lion of Ishtar was an embodiment of vivid naturalism that further enhanced the glory of Babylon's Procession Street.<ref name="R.P.D. 144–147"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/31.13.2/|title=Panel with Striding Lion|date=2018|website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art}}</ref>

The purpose of the New Year's holiday was to affirm the supremacy of Marduk and his representative on Earth, the king, and to offer thanks for the fertility of the land.<ref name="Bertman" />

The Processional Way was paved with large stone pieces set in a bed of [[bitumen]] and was up to {{convert|66|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} wide at some points. This street ran from the Euphrates through the temple district and palaces and onto the Ishtar Gate.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Art History|last=Stokstad|first=Marilyn|publisher=Pearson|year=2018|isbn=9780134479279|location=Upper Saddle River|pages=43–44}}</ref>