Tea at Trianon: The Magnificent Ishtar Gate of Babylon

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, July 13, 2023

The Magnificent Ishtar Gate of Babylon

From Ancient Origins:

The Ishtar Gate was the eighth gate of the city of Babylon (in present day Iraq) and was the main entrance into the great city. It was a sight to behold; the gate was covered in lapis lazuli glazed bricks which would have rendered the façade with a jewel-like shine. Alternating rows of bas relief lions, dragons, and aurochs representing powerful deities formed the processional way. The message of course, was that Babylon was protected and defended by the gods, and one would be wise not to challenge it. The magnificent gate, which was dedicated to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, was once included among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World until it was replaced by the Lighthouse of Alexandria in the 3 ^rd century BC. Today, a reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate, using original bricks, is located at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.
The Babylonians had risen to power in the late 7th century and were heirs of the urban traditions which had long existed in southern Mesopotamia. They eventually ruled an empire as dominant in the Near East as that held by the Assyrians before them. This period is called the Neo-Babylonian Empire because Babylon had also risen to power earlier and became an independent city-state, most famously during the reign of King Hammurabi (1792 - 1750 BC). With the recovery of Babylonian independence under Nabopolassar a new era of architectural activity ensued, and his son Nebuchadnezzar II made Babylon into one of the wonders of the ancient world. (Read more.)