DETROIT, MI.- The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) will open a new gallery devoted to the arts of the Ancient Middle East on Dec. 22 that will showcase the ancient cultural heritage of what we today call Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Yemen and Armenia. A favorite with the public, the serpent/dragon panel from the Ishtar gate of Babylon, will be back on display. “Many visitors have asked what happened to our dragon,” said Graham W. J. Beal, DIA director. “We are happy to have Marduk’s serpent back on view, along with a selection of our most important objects in the Ancient Middle East collection.” The panel from the Ishtar Gate with the symbol of Marduk, the patron god of Babylon, is joined by two stone wall-carvings from the Royal Palace at Nimrud, Iraq. One depicts an Assyrian eagle-headed god scraping sap from a