A: Sacred Way. B, B: Walls with Lion Frieze flanking the Sacred Way. C: Ishtar Gate. D: North-east corner of Palace. E: Temple of Ninmakh. F: Front wall of Northern Citadel. G: North wall of Northern Citadel. H: North wall of the Principal Citadel. J: Broad Canal, fed from the Euphrates, to supply the Principal Citadel. K: Old wall of the Principal Citadel. L, M: Moat-walls supporting dam, over which the roadway passed; that on the east side has not yet been excavated. N: Eastward extension of north wall of Northern Citadel. P: Stair-case, or ramps, ascending to roadway. R: Eastward extension of wall of Principal Citadel. S: South wall of eastern outworks. T, U, V: Ends of transverse walls in Principal Citadel. Y: River-side embankment of the Persian period. Z: Crude brick walls with doorways, forming a temporary gateway, filled in below latest pavement. N.B.--The two arrows denote the direction in which the lions are represented as advancing in the frieze.] Before the Neo-Babylonian period the Ishtar Gate had defended the northern entrance to the city, and was probably a massive structure of unburnt brick without external decoration. But, with the building of the outer city-wall, it stood in the second line of defence. And as Nebuchadnezzar extended the fortifications of the Citadel itself upon the northern side, it lost still more of its strategic importance, and from its interior position became a fit subject for the decorator's art. The whole course of the roadway through these exterior defences he flanked with mighty walls, seven metres thick, extending from the gate northwards to the outermost wall and moat.[111] Their great strength was dictated by the fact that, should an enemy penetrate the outer city-wall, he would have to pass between them, under the garrison's fire, to reach the citadel-gate. But these, like the gate itself, formed a secondary or interior defence, and so, like it, were elaborately decorated. The side of each wall facing the roadway was adorned with a long frieze of lions, in low relief and brilliantly enamelled, which were represented advancing southwards towards the Ishtar Gate. The surface of each wall was broken up into panels by a series of slightly projecting towers, each panel probably containing two lions, while the plinth below the Lion Frieze was decorated with rosettes. There appear to have been sixty lions along each wall. Some were in white enamel with yellow manes, while others were in yellow and had red manes,[112] and they stood out against a light or dark blue ground. Leading as they did to the bulls and dragons of the gateway, we can realize in some degree the effect produced upon a stranger entering the inner city of Babylon for the first time. [Illustration: FIG. 19. LION FROM THE FRIEZE OF THE SACRED WAY TO THE NORTH OF THE ISHTAR GATE.]