Many would say that the similarities between the words "Ishtar" and "Easter" are no coincidence considering that both represent rebirth and the coming of the light. While Ishtar was in the underworld, the earth was relegated to darkness, and only with her, did light return to the earth. One famous Babylonian legend of Ishtar relates to her descent into the netherworld in search of her consort Tammuz, and her triumphant return to earth. Ishtar is considered to be the most widely worshipped goddess in the Babylonian and Assyrian region and was highly regarded as the goddess of fertility and love, also as the mother goddess who served as the source of all the generative powers of earth, and the goddess of war. The Ishtar gate was the most important entrance to Babylon and is named after the goddess Ishtar. Under Nebuchadnezzer, the city continued to prosper and remained secure due to a complex system of walls, gates and motes protecting the city from invasion. Nebuchadnezzer's father, Nabopolassar, had freed Babylon from the control of outsiders and secured the city from invasion. The Ishtar Gate was a part of the building campaigns of King Nebuchadnezzer who ruled Babylon from 604 to 561 BCE. Many of the characteristics of a civilization are clearly represented at Babylon, including the development of a cuneiform written language (which formed the inscriptions of the Ishtar Gate), a governmental hierarchy (which was responsible for the construction of the Ishtar Gate), an organized religious system (in which Ishtar was one of the most highly regarded deities) and highly developed art and architecture (which is illustrated by the Ishtar Gate itself and the sculptural reliefs ornamenting it). Archeology at Babylon has yielded extensive evidence of this civilization's development. In fact, the Euphrates runs directly through the ancient city of Babylon. The development of the world's first civilizations took place in an area known as the fertile crescent, generally located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. not the earliest development of Babylon), it does illustrate many of the characteristics of the earth's earliest civilizations. While the Ishtar Gate dates from a time generally referred to as the Neo-Babylonian period (i.e. Additionally the gate and its adjoining processional way were highly ornamented and illustrate the advanced construction techniques of the ancient Babylonians. The gate was part of a complex system of wall and other defenses, which kept Babylon safe from outside intruders. The Ishtar Gate was the most important of the eight entry gates into the city of Babylon. This site has been chosen as a benchmark because it is one of the most well-documented and ornate sites of early civilization.
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