spent a week in Erbil trying to find anyone who still knows the old Ishtar Gate curse traditions

okay this is more personal than my usual posts. was in Iraqi Kurdistan last spring, got down to Mosul area briefly (yes it's complicated, yes I know). the original Ishtar Gate was dismantled by the Germans under Koldewey 1902-1914 and is now in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. what's in Babylon is a……