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Babylon ’s undimmed - dreary Ishtar Gate was think to have been built to celebrate the subjugation of Jerusalem — but a young analysis finds that it may have been erected days subsequently .
The iconic candy - brick edifice , which King Nebuchadnezzar II dictate to be work up and decorated withwild Taurus and mušhuššu - dragonswhile ruling the Babylonian empire from 605 to 562 B.C. , was constructed in three phases and served as the entering to the ancient city ofBabylon , turn up in southernMesopotamia . However , the exact dates of each construction form have long been up for debate , according to a study published Wednesday ( Jan. 17 ) in the journalPLOS One .
The Ishtar Gate of Babylon as seen at the Pergamon Museum in Germany.
While it ’s bang that Nebuchadnezzar II order the first phase , as these bricks are inscribed with his name , it was less clear if some time had passed before the 2nd and third phases were completed , agree to the study . Some researchers even wondered if Nebuchadnezzar II had died before the logic gate ’s completion .
To set the record straight , archaeologists amass tiny sample from five of the fired mud brick from theIshtar Gate(now reconstructed at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin ) spread across the three phases and measured the geomagnetic fields of each one in a operation known as archaeomagnetism .
Related : Cuneiform dedication from last king of Babylon let out in Saudi Arabia
Archaeomagnetism measures the event ofEarth ’s magnetic fieldthat ’s keep in the archeologic platter of an object , according to theMcClung Museum of Natural History and Cultureat the University of Tennessee , Knoxville . It offers an even more precise time stamp thanradiocarbon geological dating , the most common method of archeological measurement .
This Modern analysis determined that there were no " significant chronological gap " between each construction stage and that the " gate complex was constructed some meter after the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem " that strike place in 586 B.C. During the subjugation of Jerusalem , theBabylonians destroyed Solomon ’s Temple , also get it on as the First Temple ; burn off down the city ; and exiled the Jews to southern Mesopotamia , also sleep with as Babylonia .
The researchers conclude that because all of the magnetic - sphere measure in the five bricks were similar , the reconstructions were execute around the same time : 583 B.C. , agree to the discipline .
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" The years is based on the period of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II , during which the order to make the gate was given , " the team write in the study , indicate that the baron was alive at the gate ’s mop up .
The finding paint a picture that the Ishtar Gate did n’t shift way through the expression process but rather that " phases II and III are relate to the original designing of the logic gate and reflect the twist process rather than late additions , detached from the original twist of stage I , " the authors wrote .
The investigator trust to perform similar archaeomagnetic analyses on other ancient social organization in Mesopotamia , since fired mud bricks have proved to be authentic sources for this proficiency and were a common building material during that era .
