One day we went to the Pergamon Museum. Instead of going with Goethe and paying 3euro or so, we decided to go on a Thursday evening, when it is completely free! Yay! The Pergamon is famous for housing the infamous Ishtar Gates of Babylon!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAH!, the archaeologist in me screamed. It also has a ton on Greek and Roman stuff, of which I know considerably less than the Babylonians, Akkadians, etc. But on the way, we had to walk past Hachescher Markt. There was an Oompa Band! woop woop!
Notice the beer under the drum...lol.
The rest of the band...And then we made it to the Pergamon!
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG! THERE THEY ARE! THE ISHTAR GATES!!!!
And again!!! Oh look, it's Bahaous!
The Ox, and important figure in Babylon...one of the major deities of Babylon...
Equally mystical, mystifying, and mythological: the dragon!
Symbol of strength and power in most every culture: the lion!These gates are made of mudbrick and then fired and painted over in blue glaze. This is an amazing piece of art and architecture, not only for its sheer size and beauty, but because these bricks were individually sculpted and laid in a specific way so that if even one brick was out of place, it would have ruined the entire thing. It's unsure whether they were laid, sculpted and then fired (which would have been exceedingly difficult, since they weren't fired first) or if they were individually sculpted without putting it together first, which would have allowed for tons of errors. However, the gate's scultpure is quite nearly perfect, so it's unsure how exactly this was done...
Ok, it came out blurry, but any archaeologist with the slightest knowledge of Old Testament/Pre-Israelite history would be giggled senseless to see this: ASSURNASIRPAL II!!!!! Yes, one of his standing stones with Cuneiform writing was here!!! AAAAHHH!!!
An example of cuneiform. I want to learn this language SO BAD! This is, unfortunately, not Assurnasirpal's tomb stone, but someone else's. The picture of took of 'nassir's came out badly...
A reconstruction of the Ishtar Gates. Unfortunately, my pictures caught the glare from the glass and this was the best picture...
I should consider myself a terrible archaeology student for not remembering who this guy is. It's NOT Sargon II or Assurnasirpal or Assurbanipal or Supiuliuma. Unfortunately, Lesley and Marcella don't remember either. I'll be asking Heather or Kristina when they arrive (which will be in a few hours! yay!)
This is some of us who went. Left to right: Tanya, Carles, Bahaous, and Monica. I don't know who the two guys on the end are. Other people visiting the museum...
Some beautiful Muslim artwork. I believe this is suppose to be around and alter of some kind, but I don't know enough of the Islamic religion to really say.
Tehe, a funny picture of Tanya, Carles, and Nicola looking through window arches at the beautiful golden ceiling above. Unfortunately those pictures didn't really come out either...
An above view of some of the Ishtar gates!!!! What a spectacular view that must have been, to walk into Babylon through these massive beautiful gates...
Some Greek mosaics. Look at how they made those square swirls come out in 3D!!!!
Hahahaha. Bahaous and Michele posing as the two figures in the Greek sculpture. For a better view of the figures, click on the picture to enlarge it! haha.Ok, end of this post, next post will have some more pictures...which should be soon.
1 comment:
Hi Honeybunch, I finally know how to access your blog. Which means, you don't have to send me an individual email each time you write. I love you, Gmom
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