15mm Ishtar Gate of Babylon

[Texus Maximus]

Hammurabi is famous as a lawmaker, but he was also a competent military leader that established the first Babylonian Empire. Most biographical summaries of Hammurabi mention that he rebuilt and expanded the walls of Babylon. Here we see Hammurabi himself at the Ishtar Gate, a rather crude construction not much higher than a garden wall. Perhaps this is the moment he realizes this low wall and gate will not do!

This is the first of three planned Ishtar Gates camps, showing its evolution from the simple walls shown here to the grand processional built by King Nebuchadnezzar II approximately 575 BC.

The figures are converted Old Glory brand.

[Rod]

Great looking camp!

[Gregorius]

Nice work Paul. Looking forward to seeing the evolution of the Ishtar gate.

Cheers,

[Bill Hupp]

Inspiring work as usual.

[Texus Maximus]

The second camp is for my early and late Neo-Babylonian armies. The color scheme for the second camp is taken from the Ishtar gate reconstruction at the Pergamon Museum. It shows a much more substantial fortification with massive wooden gates modeled after the Balawat Gates reconstruction at the British Museum. This camp was actually built about two years ago. The figure at the gate is a charioteer by Old Glory, which also makes a great pose for a gate guard!





The third Ishtar Gate camp is intended for use with a Neo-Babylonian Empire army. It represents the gate as it was constructed in 564 BC by Nebuchadnezzar II when the empire was at its height. The gate was dedicated to Ishtar. It was constructed of glazed blue brick and decorated with alternating rows of dragons (representing the god Marduk) and bulls (representing the god Adad). The gate was at the end of a processional way, but the model of the gate has a thick base so I added steps so that it blends better with the base. The camp is in two parts because it is too tall to fit in the box.I bought this Ishtar gate model in 2008 when I was in Baghdad with 18th Airborne Corps; it was in a shop and I just had to go inside and buy it right away! I painted it years ago and used it for my old Babylonian army for DBA but this update with the base looks nicer I think.









I have included a few photos of all three versions of the Ishtar Gate together.

[Gregorius]

Great modelling once again Paul. I love how you have presented the evolution of the Ishtar Gate over the millennium.

Cheers,