The lion of Goddess Ishtar, Nye Carlsberg Glyptotek (Copenhagen, Denmark). Made with Memento Beta. 1-3 The lshtar Gate in Babylon Nebuchadnezar (604-562 BC), the King of Babylon, started a series of ambitious building projects including the richly decorated lshtar Gate. A long processional avenue linked the sacred gate to the temple of the city god Marduk and his famous temple tower, known from the Bible as the Tower of Babel. The facades of the lshtar Gate were decorated with reliefs in glazed tile, representing a dragon, Marduk's emblem, and a bull symbolising the weather god Adad. The processional route away from the city was decorated with lions, the animals of Ishtar, goddess of love and war, They were to guard against advancing enemies, as is indicated by the name ofthe gateway: Ishtar conquers its enemy.