The whole wall-surface of the gateway on its northern side, both central towers and side-wings, was decorated with alternate rows of bulls and dragons in brick relief, the rows ranged one above the other up the surface of walls and towers. The decoration is continued over the whole interior surface of the central gateways and may be traced along the southern front of the inner gate-house. The beasts are arranged in such a way that to any one entering the city they would appear as though advancing to meet him. In the accompanying diagram,[104] which gives the ground-plan of the gate in outline, the arrows indicate the positions of beasts that are still in place upon the walls, and the head of each arrow points in the direction that animal faces. It will be noticed that along most of the walls running north and south the beasts face northwards, while on the transverse walls they face inwards towards the centre. One end-wall in chamber B is preserved, and there, for the sake of symmetry, the two animals face each other, advancing from opposite directions. It has been calculated that at least five hundred and seventy-five of these creatures were represented on the walls and towers of the gateway. Some of the walls, with their successive tiers of beasts, are still standing to a height of twelve metres. The two eastern towers of the outer gate-house are the best preserved, and even in their present condition they convey some idea of the former magnificence of the building.
In the greater part of the structure that still remains in place, it is apparent that the brickwork was very roughly finished, and that the bitumen employed as mortar has been left where it has oozed out between the courses. The explanation is that the portions of the gateway which still stand are really foundations of the building, and were always intended to be buried below the pavement level. It is clear that the height of the road-way was constantly raised while the building of the gate was in progress, and there are traces of two temporary pavements,[105] afterwards filled in when the final pavement-level[106] was reached.[107] The visible portion of the gate above the last pavement has been entirely destroyed, but among its débris were found thousands of fragments of the same two animals, but in enamelled brick of brilliant colouring, white and yellow against a blue ground. Some of these have been laboriously pieced together in Berlin, and specimens are now exhibited in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum and in the Imperial Ottoman Museum at Constantinople. Only one fragment of an enamelled portion of the wall was found in place,[108] and that was below the final pavement. It shows the legs of a bull above a band of rosettes with yellow centres.[109]
FIG. 17.
ENAMELLED FRAGMENT OF THE ISHTAR GATE STILL IN POSITION.
The fragment, which was the highest portion of the gate preserved, is from the east side of the second doorway of the outer gate; cf. Figs. 14 and 15, No. 2. It stands just below the final pavement-level, and only the upper portion is enamelled.
The delicate modelling of the figures is to some extent obscured in the foundation specimens, but the imperfections there visible are entirely absent from the enamelled series. An examination of the latter shows that the bricks were separately moulded, and, before the process of enamelling, were burnt in the usual way. The contours of the figures were then outlined in black with a vitreous paste, the surfaces so defined being afterwards filled in with coloured liquid enamels. The paste of the black outlines and the coloured enamels themselves had evidently the same fusing point, for when fired they have sometimes shaded off into one another, giving a softness and a pleasing variety of tone to the composition.[110] It should be added that the enamelled beasts, like those in plain brick, are in slight relief, the same moulds having been employed for both.