The Blue Gate of Babylon

In 1904, German archaeologist Robert Koldewey began digging at Babylon, in present-day Iraq. His excavation ran until 1914 and uncovered a glittering blue gate.

Scripture: The king spoke and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?”

In Daniel chapter four, Nebuchadnezzar walks in his royal palace in Babylon and makes a proud declaration. At once, a voice from the sky pronounces judgment on him.

The gate was built around 569 BC, on the north side of Babylon. It was the eighth gate in the inner city wall, fifteen metres high, with foundations reaching fourteen metres underground.

Its walls were glazed brick, mostly blue, with animals in low relief, meaning slightly raised from the surface. This is an aurochs, an extinct ancestor of cattle, sacred to the storm god Adad.

Dragons stood for Marduk, chief god of Babylon. Aurochs stood for Adad, and lions for Ishtar, the goddess to whom the gate was dedicated.

The blue glaze imitated lapis lazuli, a deep-blue stone prized in antiquity. Bricks were pressed in moulds, fired, glazed, fired again, and joined with bitumen, a natural black tar.

It shows that Nebuchadnezzar was a real king who ordered grand building in Babylon, the setting of this passage. That is indirect evidence.

Nothing in our sources links the gate to Daniel or the king's humbling. The date is approximate. It illustrates the king's world, not the events of the chapter.

A blue gate from the city the passage names. May the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today. Follow Bible Evidence for more.