Ishtar Gate (was: More than we wanted to hear on Dragons)

[ornstn@hookup.net (Ronald Orenstein)]

>-It should be added however that the curious
>quadrupedalian retiles on the Ishtar Gate of Babylon (re-erected in Berlin)
>have sometimes been interpreted as early dragons. 
>
>Lars Bergquist
>lars_bergquist@public.se
>

Some cryptozoologists have seriously suggested that the "dragons" (or
sirrush) on the Ishtar Gate really do represent living dinosaurs
(identifying them with such creatures as the African chipekwe or
mkole-mbembe).  Please note that I do NOT subscribe to this view (except,
perhaps, late at night sometimes...) but anyone curious to read about it can
check out Willy Ley's chapter on the subject in "The Lungfish and the
Unicorn", or pp. 479 et. seq. in Bernard Heuvelmans' "On the Track of
Unknown Animals".  I believe L. Sprague de Camp once wrote a sci-fi novel on
the subject, called "The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate".
--
Ronald I. Orenstein                           Phone: (905) 820-7886 (home)
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