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A jigsaw of beasts

Blue galzed tiles and fantastic nimal reliefs over the facade of the Ishtar Gate: The mythical beast Muschuschu with the horned head of a snake, the front legs of a big cat, the hind legs of a bird of prey and a tail armed with a scorpion’s sting was the symbol of the town- and main deity Marduk. The composit beast probably was a combination of the most dangerous animals known in ancient Mesopotamia – lion, horn viper, bird of prey and scorpion – created to scare off enimies outside the gate together with the powerful bull of the weather god Adad.
The deep blue, glossy pieces of debris from the Ishtar Gate caught the eye of Wilhelminian scholar Robert Koldeway during an exploration of the ruins of Babylon. While the archaeologist conducted his excavations on the bank of the Euphrates, the Berlin Museum created their “Ancient Near Eastern Department” in 1899. Their expectations to grace this department with treasures from Mesopotamia were fully satisfied.