Inside the 30-Year Quest for Babylon’s Ishtar Gate
Patience and perseverance paid off for German archaeologists who found the beautiful blue portal built by a king and buried by time.
By Felip Masó
PUBLISHED January 5, 2018
Babylon was a city famous for many things, but most notable was its wondrous architecture. Both the Tower of Babel and the Hanging Gardens were associated with the city and referenced in many historic and sacred texts. The siren calls of these famous monuments drew Robert Koldewey and Walter Andrae, two German Oriental Society archaeologists, to Babylon in March 1899. At the site (in what is today central Iraq), they aimed to uncover the splendid city built by Nebuchadrezzar II of the sixth century B.C.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/magazine/2017/11-12/history-babylon-ishtar-gate-quest/
