The Iraqi leader then immediately suggested that the bricks used in the recreation bear a similar inscription. Hence they are inscribed with the text:
"
In the reign of the victorious Saddam Hussein, the president of the Republic, may God keep him, the guardian of the great Iraq and the renovator of its renaissance and the builder of its great civilization, the rebuilding of the great city of Babylon was done in 1987".
It then mentions the name and the date of the earlier despot, inexorably linking the two.
The
Lion of Babylon. Made out of black basalt stone, it depicts a Mesopotamian lion standing above a laying human and is considered a national symbol of Iraq.
A group of visiting Iraqi's visiting the reconstructed Palace. Saddam's perhaps misguided attempt to reconstruct the Palace of
Nebuchadnezzar II has been derided as 'Disney for a Despot' as it was violating the archaeological principle of preserving rather than recreating.
We then made a visit to the onsite museum. An overview of the Babylon site along the Euphrates with pictures in the background of Biblical
Tower of Babel.
And a model of
Etemenanki, a ziggurat dedicated to Marduk in the city of Babylon and thought to be a likely influence for the biblical story of the
Tower of Babel.
One of the few original bas-reliefs from the processional of the
Ishtar Gate still in Iraq. The others are scattered throughout the museums all over the world.
Looking over to the former Summer Palace of Saddam Husseim with the original ruins of Babylon in the foreground. Following the 2003 American invasion,
US camp Alpha was set up partially on the ruins. Significant damage occurred with areas leveled to create landing pads for helicopters and parking lots for vehicles, tanks rumbled over ancient bricks, Polish troops dug trenches through a ancient temple and soil holding artifacts and bones was scooped into sandbags.
After the very interesting visit to Babylon we then proceeded up the hill to visit the former Summer Palace of Saddam.
Built after the end of the Persian Gulf War in 1992 in the same pyramid style as a Sumerian ziggurat on top of the man-made Saddam Hill.
Venturing inside the large and extravagant lobby.
Wooden date palms adorning the wall.
The palace was occupied by U.S. forces when they arrived in 2003.
Walking up to the second floor.
It was fascinating to imagine it in more glorius times.
Intricate wood and plaster ceiling with the remnants of a chandelier.
A bedroom ensuite with copious amounts of marble. Supposedly the toilets and taps, now long gone, were also gold plated.
Continuing down a hallway.
