Sumer

Introduction to Sumer

Sumer, an introduction


Sumer was home to some of the oldest known cities, supported by a focus on agriculture.

Map of Sumer with approximate locations of Uruk and Ur (underlying map © Google)

Map of Sumer with approximate locations of Uruk and Ur (underlying map © Google)

The region of southern Mesopotamia is known as Sumer, and it is in Sumer that we find some of the oldest known cities, including Ur and Uruk.

Uruk

Prehistory ends with Uruk, where we find some of the earliest written records. This large city-state (and it environs) was largely dedicated to agriculture and eventually dominated southern Mesopotamia. Uruk perfected Mesopotamian irrigation and administration systems.

An agricultural theocracy

Within the city of Uruk, there was a large temple complex dedicated to Innana, the patron goddess of the city. The City-State’s agricultural production would be “given” to her and stored at her temple. Harvested crops would then be processed (grain ground into flour, barley fermented into beer)  and given back to the citizens of Uruk in equal share at regular intervals.

Reconstruction of the ziggurat at Uruk dedicated to the goddess Inanna (created by Artefacts/DAI, copyright DAI, CC-BY-NC-ND)

Reconstruction of the ziggurat at Uruk dedicated to the goddess Inanna (created by Artefacts/DAI, copyright DAI, CC-BY-NC-ND)

The head of the temple administration, the chief priest of Innana, also served as political leader, making Uruk the first known theocracy. We know many details about this theocratic administration because the Sumerians left numerous documents in the form of tablets written in cuneiform script.

Cuneiform tablet still in its clay case: legal case from Niqmepuh, King of Iamhad (Aleppo), 1720 B.C.E., 3.94 x 2 inches (© Trustees of the British Museum)

Cuneiform tablet still in its clay case: legal case from Niqmepuh, King of Iamhad (Aleppo), 1720 B.C.E., 3.94 x 2 inches (© Trustees of the British Museum)

It is almost impossible to imagine a time before writing. However, you might be disappointed to learn that writing was not invented to record stories, poetry, or prayers to a god. The first fully developed written script, cuneiform, was invented to account for something unglamorous, but very important—surplus commodities: bushels of barley, head of cattle, and jars of oil!

The origin of written language (c. 3200 B.C.E.) was born out of economic necessity and was a tool of the theocratic (priestly) ruling elite who needed to keep track of the agricultural wealth of the city-states. The last known document written in the cuneiform script dates to the first century C.E. Only the hieroglyphic script of the Ancient Egyptians lasted longer.

A reed and clay tablet

A single reed, cleanly cut from the banks of the Euphrates or Tigris river, when pressed cut-edge down into a soft clay tablet, will make a wedge shape. The arrangement of multiple wedge shapes (as few as two and as many as ten) created cuneiform characters. Characters could be written either horizontally or vertically, although a horizontal arrangement was more widely used.

Very few cuneiform signs have only one meaning; most have as many as four. Cuneiform signs could represent a whole word or an idea or a number. Most frequently though, they represented a syllable. A cuneiform syllable could be a vowel alone, a consonant plus a vowel, a vowel plus a consonant and even a consonant plus a vowel plus a consonant. There isn’t a sound that a human mouth can make that this script can’t record.

Probably because of this extraordinary flexibility, the range of languages that were written with cuneiform across history of the Ancient Near East is vast and includes Sumerian, AkkadianAmorite, Hurrian, Urartian, Hittite, Luwian, Palaic, Hatian, and Elamite.

 


Additional resources

Read more about Sumer in a Reframing Art History chapter “Rethinking approaches to the art of the Ancient Near East until c. 600 B.C.E.

Short video from Artefacts about the reconstruction of the Ziggurat.

Cylinder seals on The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.

The Origins of Writing on The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.

Cite this page as: Dr. Senta German, “Sumer, an introduction,” in Smarthistory, June 8, 2018, accessed March 20, 2024, https://smarthistory.org/sumerian-art-an-introduction/.

Anu Ziggurat

White Temple and ziggurat, Uruk


A gleaming temple built atop a mud-brick platform, it towered above the flat plain of Uruk.

Archaeological site at Uruk (modern Warka) in Iraq (photo: SAC Andy Holmes (RAF)/MOD, Open Government Licence v1.0)

Archaeological site at Uruk (modern Warka) in Iraq (photo: SAC Andy Holmes (RAF)/MOD, Open Government Licence v1.0)

Visible from a great distance

Uruk (modern Warka in Iraq)—where city life began more than five thousand years ago and where the first writing emerged—was clearly one of the most important places in southern Mesopotamia. Within Uruk, the greatest monument was the Anu Ziggurat on which the White Temple was built. Dating to the late 4th millennium B.C.E. (the Late Uruk Period, or Uruk III) and dedicated to the sky god Anu, this temple would have towered well above (approximately 40 feet) the flat plain of Uruk, and been visible from a great distance—even over the defensive walls of the city.

Digital reconstruction of the White Temple and ziggurat, Uruk (modern Warka), c. 3517-3358 B.C.E. © artefacts-berlin.de; scientific material: German Archaeological Institute

Digital reconstruction of the White Temple and ziggurat, Uruk (modern Warka), c. 3517–3358 B.C.E. © artefacts-berlin.de; scientific material: German Archaeological Institute

Ziggurats

A ziggurat is a built raised platform with four sloping sides—like a chopped-off pyramid. Ziggurats are made of mud-bricks—the building material of choice in the Near East, as stone is rare. Ziggurats were not only a visual focal point of the city, they were a symbolic one, as well—they were at the heart of the theocratic political system (a theocracy is a type of government where a god is recognized as the ruler, and the state officials operate on the god’s behalf). So, seeing the ziggurat towering above the city, one made a visual connection to the god or goddess honored there, but also recognized that deity’s political authority.

Remains of the Anu Ziggurat, Uruk (modern Warka), c. 3517–3358 B.C.E. (photo: Geoff Emberling, by permission)

Remains of the Anu Ziggurat, Uruk (modern Warka), c. 3517–3358 B.C.E. (photo: Geoff Emberling, by permission)

Excavators of the White Temple estimate that it would have taken 1500 laborers working on average ten hours per day for about five years to build the last major revetment (stone facing) of its massive underlying terrace (the open areas surrounding the White Temple at the top of the ziggurat). Although religious belief may have inspired participation in such a project, no doubt some sort of force (corvée labor—unpaid labor coerced by the state/slavery) was involved as well.

The sides of the ziggurat were very broad and sloping but broken up by recessed stripes or bands from top to bottom (see digital reconstruction, above), which would have made a stunning pattern in morning or afternoon sunlight. The only way up to the top of the ziggurat was via a steep stairway that led to a ramp that wrapped around the north end of the Ziggurat and brought one to the temple entrance. The flat top of the ziggurat was coated with bitumen (asphalt—a tar or pitch-like material similar to what is used for road paving) and overlaid with brick, for a firm and waterproof foundation for the White temple. The temple gets its name for the fact that it was entirely white washed inside and out, which would have given it a dazzling brightness in strong sunlight.

Digital reconstruction of the two-story version of the White Temple, Uruk (modern Warka), c, 3517-3358 B.C.E. © artefacts-berlin.de; scientific material: German Archaeological Institute

Digital reconstruction of the two-story version of the White Temple, Uruk (modern Warka), c. 3517–3358 B.C.E. © artefacts-berlin.de; scientific material: German Archaeological Institute

The White Temple

The White temple was rectangular, measuring 17.5 x 22.3 meters and, at its corners, oriented to the cardinal points. It is a typical Uruk “high temple (Hochtempel)” type with a tripartite plan: a long rectangular central hall with rooms on either side (plan). The White Temple had three entrances, none of which faced the ziggurat ramp directly. Visitors would have needed to walk around the temple, appreciating its bright façade and the powerful view, and likely gained access to the interior in a “bent axis” approach (where one would have to turn 90 degrees to face the altar), a typical arrangement for Ancient Near Eastern temples.

Section through the central hall of the "White Temple," digital reconstruction of the interior of the two-story version White Temple, Uruk (modern Warka), c, 3517-3358 B.C.E. © artefacts-berlin.de; scientific material: German Archaeological Institute

Section through the central hall of the “White Temple,” digital reconstruction of the interior of the two-story version White Temple, Uruk (modern Warka), c. 3517–3358 B.C.E. © artefacts-berlin.de; scientific material: German Archaeological Institute

The north west and east corner chambers of the building contained staircases (unfinished in the case of the one at the north end). Chambers in the middle of the northeast room suite appear to have been equipped with wooden shelves in the walls and displayed cavities for setting in pivot stones which might imply a solid door was fitted in these spaces. The north end of the central hall had a podium accessible by means of a small staircase and an altar with a fire-stained surface. Very few objects were found inside the White Temple, although what has been found is very interesting. Archaeologists uncovered some 19 tablets of gypsum on the floor of the temple—all of which had cylinder seal impressions and reflected temple accounting. Also, archaeologists uncovered a foundation deposit of the bones of a leopard and a lion in the eastern corner of the Temple (foundation deposits, ritually buried objects and bones, are not uncommon in ancient architecture).

Interior view of the two-story version of the "White Temple," Digital reconstruction of the White Temple, Uruk (modern Warka), c, 3517–3358 B.C.E. © artefacts-berlin.de; scientific material: German Archaeological Institute

Interior view of the two-story version of the “White Temple,” Digital reconstruction of the White Temple, Uruk (modern Warka), c. 3517–3358 B.C.E. © artefacts-berlin.de; scientific material: German Archaeological Institute

To the north of the White Temple there was a broad flat terrace, at the center of which archaeologists found a huge pit with traces of fire (2.2 x 2.7m) and a loop cut from a massive boulder. Most interestingly, a system of shallow bitumen-coated conduits were discovered. These ran from the southeast and southwest of the terrace edges and entered the temple through the southeast and southwest doors. Archaeologists conjecture that liquids would have flowed from the terrace to collect in a pit in the center hall of the temple.

Anu District Phase E, reconstruction: Lamassu Design (Gurdjieff, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Anu District Phase E, reconstructionLamassu Design (Gurdjieff, CC BY-SA 3.0)


Additional resources

Uruk: 5000 year old mega-city (exhibition at the Pergamon Museum, Berlin)

The White Temple and Ziggurat on Art through Time

The White Temple from Artefacts, Berlin

U.S. Department of Defense, Cultural Property Training Resource on Uruk (Modern Warka)

 

Cite this page as: Dr. Senta German, “White Temple and ziggurat, Uruk,” in Smarthistory, August 8, 2015, accessed March 20, 2024, https://smarthistory.org/white-temple-and-ziggurat-uruk/.

Warka Vase

Warka Vase


One of the most precious artifacts from Sumer, the Warka Vase was looted and almost lost forever.

Warka (Uruk) Vase, Uruk, Late Uruk period, c. 3500–3000 B.C.E., 105 cm high (National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad; photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), CC BY-SA 4.0)

Warka (Uruk) Vase, Uruk, Late Uruk period, c. 3500–3000 B.C.E., 105 cm high (National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad; photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg)CC BY-SA 4.0)

Picturing the ruler

So many important innovations and inventions emerged in the Ancient Near East during the Uruk period. One of these was the use of art to illustrate the role of the ruler and his place in society. The Warka Vase, c. 3000 B.C.E., was discovered at Uruk (Warka is the modern name, Uruk the ancient name), and is probably the most famous example of this innovation. In its decoration we find an example of the cosmology of ancient Mesopotamia.

Map the ancient Near East (underlying map © Google)

Map the ancient Near East (underlying map © Google)

The vase, made of alabaster and standing over three feet high (just about a meter) and weighing some 600 pounds (about 270 kg), was discovered in 1934 by German excavators working at Uruk in a ritual deposit in the temple of Inanna, the goddess of love, fertility, and war and the main patron of the city of Uruk. It was one of a pair of vases found in the Inanna temple complex (but the only one on which the image was still legible) together with other valuable objects.

Bottom bands (detail), Warka (Uruk) Vase, Uruk, Late Uruk period, c. 3500–3000 B.C.E., 105 cm high (National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad; photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), CC BY-SA 4.0)

Bottom bands (detail), Warka (Uruk) Vase, Uruk, Late Uruk period, c. 3500–3000 B.C.E., 105 cm high (National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad; photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg)CC BY-SA 4.0)

Given the significant size of the Warka Vase, where it was found, the precious material from which it is carved and the complexity of its relief decoration, it was clearly of monumental importance, something to be admired and valued. Though known since its excavation as the Warka “Vase,” that term does little to express the sacredness of this object for the people who lived in Uruk five thousand years ago.

The relief carvings on the exterior of the vase run around its circumference in four parallel bands (or registers, as art historians like to call them) and develop in complexity from the bottom to the top.

Beginning at the bottom, we see a pair of wavy lines from which grow neatly alternating plants that appear to be grain (probably barley) and reeds, the two most important agricultural harvests of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in southern Mesopotamia. There is a satisfying rhythm to this alternation, and one that is echoed in the rhythm of the rams and ewes (male and female sheep) that alternate in the band above this. The sheep march to the right in tight formation, as if being herded—the method of tending this important livestock in the agrarian economy of the Uruk period.

The band above the sheep is a blank and might have featured painted decoration that has since faded away. Above this blank band, a group of nine identical men march to the left. Each holds a vessel in front of his face, and which appear to contain the products of the Mesopotamian agricultural system: fruits, grains, wine, and mead. The men are all naked and muscular and, like the sheep beneath them, are closely and evenly grouped, creating a sense of rhythmic activity. Nude figures in Ancient Near Eastern art are meant to be understood as humble and low status, so we can assume that these men are servants or enslaved individuals (the band above, displays the owners of the enslaved figures).

Top band (details), Warka (Uruk) Vase, Uruk, Late Uruk period, c. 3500–3000 B.C.E., 105 cm high (National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad; left photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), CC BY-SA 4.0; middle photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), CC BY-SA 4.0; right photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), CC BY-SA 4.0)

Top band (details), Warka (Uruk) Vase, Uruk, Late Uruk period, c. 3500–3000 B.C.E., 105 cm high (National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad; left photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg)CC BY-SA 4.0; middle photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg)CC BY-SA 4.0; right photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg)CC BY-SA 4.0)

Drawing, top register, Warka (Uruk) Vase (reconstructing some missing areas), by Jo Wood, after M. Roaf, from Leaving No Stones Unturned: Essays on the Ancient Near East and Egypt in Honor of Donald P. Hansen (Eisenbrauns, 2001), p. 17.

Drawing, top register, Warka (Uruk) Vase (reconstructing some missing areas), by Jo Wood, after M. Roaf, from Leaving No Stones Unturned: Essays on the Ancient Near East and Egypt in Honor of Donald P. Hansen (Eisenbrauns, 2001), p. 17.

The top band of the vase is the largest, most complex, and least straightforward. It has suffered some damage but enough remains that the scene can be read. The center of the scene appears to depict a man and a woman who face each other. A smaller naked male stands between them holding a container of what looks like agricultural produce which he offers to the woman. The woman, identified as such by her robe and long hair, at one point had an elaborate crown on her head (this piece was broken off and repaired in antiquity).

Behind her are two reed bundles, symbols of the goddess Inanna, whom, it is assumed, the woman represents. The man she faces is nearly entirely broken off, and we are left with only the bottom of his long garment. However, men with similar robes are often found in contemporary seal stone engraving and based upon these, we can reconstruct him as a king with a long skirt, a beard and a head band. The tassels of his skirt are held by another smaller scaled man behind him, a steward or attendant to the king, who wears a short skirt.

Top band (detail), Relief-carved alabaster vessel called the Warka (Uruk) Vase, Uruk, Late Uruk period, c. 3500–3000 B.C.E., 105 cm high (National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad; photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), CC BY-SA 4.0)

Top band (detail), Warka (Uruk) Vase, Uruk, Late Uruk period, c. 3500–3000 B.C.E., 105 cm high (National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad; photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg)CC BY-SA 4.0)

The rest of the scene is found behind the reed bundles at the back of Inanna. There we find two-horned and bearded rams (one directly behind the other, so the fact that there are two can only be seen by looking at the hooves) carrying platforms on their backs on which statues stand. The statue on the left carries the cuneiform sign for EN, the Sumerian word for chief priest. The statue on the right stands before yet another Inanna reed bundle. Behind the rams is an array of tribute gifts including two large vases which look quite a lot like the Warka Vase itself.

What could this busy scene mean? The simplest way to interpret it is that a king (presumably of Uruk) is celebrating Inanna, the city’s most important divine patron. A more detailed reading of the scene suggests a sacred marriage between the king, acting as the chief priest of the temple, and the goddess—each represented in person as well as in statues. Their union would guarantee for Uruk the agricultural abundance we see depicted behind the rams. The worship of Inanna by the king of Uruk dominates the decoration of the vase. The top illustrates how the cultic duties of the Mesopotamian king as chief priest of the goddess, put him in a position to be responsible for and proprietor of, the agricultural wealth of the city state.

Broken-off foot of vase, tossed over, May 2003 (National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad; photo: Joanne Farchakh)

Broken-off foot of vase, tossed over, May 2003 (National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad; photo: Joanne Farchakh)

Backstory

The Warka Vase, one of the most important objects in the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad, was stolen in April 2003 with thousands of other priceless ancient artifacts when the museum was looted in the immediate aftermath of the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. The Warka Vase was returned in June of that same year after an amnesty program was created to encourage the return of looted items. The Guardian reported that “The United States army ignored warnings from its own civilian advisers that could have stopped the looting of priceless artifacts in Baghdad….”

Even before the invasion, looting was a growing problem, due to economic uncertainty and widespread unemployment in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War. According to Dr. Neil Brodie, Senior Research Fellow on the Endangered Archaeology of the Middle East and North Africa project at the University of Oxford, “In the aftermath of that war…as the country descended into chaos, between 1991 and 1994 eleven regional museums were broken into and approximately 3,000 artifacts and 484 manuscripts were stolen….”  The vast majority of these have not been returned. And, as Dr. Brodie notes, the most important question may be why no concerted international action was taken to block the sale of objects looted from archaeological sites and cultural institutions during wartime.

Read more about endangered cultural heritage in the Near East in Smarthistory’s ARCHES (At Risk Cultural Heritage Education Series) section.


Additional resources

On looting in Iraq from SAFE (Saving Antiquities for Everyone)

Endangered Archaeology of the Middle East and North Africa project

Documentation on this object in “Lost Treasures from Iraq” from the Oriental Institute in Chicago

On looting in Iraq from The Antiquities Coalition

Uruk: The First City on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

Neil Brodie, “The market background to the April 2003 plunder of the Iraq National Museum,” The Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Iraq, edited by Peter Stone and Joanne Farchakh Bajjaly (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2008), pp. 41–54.

Neil Brodie, “Iraq 1990–2004 and the London antiquities market,” Archaeology, Cultural Heritage, and the Antiquities Trade, edited by Neil Brodie, Morag Kersel, Christina Luke and Katheryn Walker Tubb (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2006), pp. 206–26.

Neil Brodie, “Focus on Iraq: Spoils of War,” Archaeology (from the Archaeological Institute of America), volume 56, number 4 (July/August 2003).

Lauren Sandler, “The Thieves of Baghdad,” The Atlantic, November 2004.

The Guardian, “US army was told to protect looted museum,” April 20, 2003.

 

Cite this page as: Dr. Senta German, “Warka Vase,” in Smarthistory, September 28, 2017, accessed March 20, 2024, https://smarthistory.org/warka-vase/.

Votive Statues from Eshnunna

Standing Male Worshipper (Tell Asmar)


One of a group buried in a temple almost 5,000 years ago, this statue’s job was to worship Abu—forever.

Standing Male Worshipper (votive figure), c. 2900-2600 B.C.E., from the Square Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq), gypsum alabaster, shell, black limestone, bitumen, 11 5/8 x 5 1/8 x 3 7/8″ / 29.5 x 10 cm, Sumerian, Early Dynastic I-II (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City). Speakers: Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris


Twelve votive figures, from the Square Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq), c. 2900–2350 B.C.E. (Early Dynastic period)

Twelve votive figures, from the Square Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq), c. 2900–2350 B.C.E. (Early Dynastic period)

Twelve statues from the “Square Temple” at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq)

Ancient Iraq (select cities)second half of the 3rd millennium B.C.E.

Ancient Iraq (select cities), second half of the 3rd millennium B.C.E.

The group of twelve statues from Tell Asmar are among the most important examples of early sculpture from the Ancient Near East.

The figures date to the Early Dynastic period of ancient Mesopotamia (2900–2350 B.C.E.) and were discovered during excavations in Iraq in 1934. These figures were found below the floor of a temple known as the “Square Temple” (likely dedicated to the God Abu). They range in size (from 9 to 28 inches; 23 to 72 cm) and in condition (some still displaying painting and inlay; others broken). All of them, however, appear deeply focused, staring straightforward, some with very large eyes, most with hands clasped, some holding cups.  The figures were excavated by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago but are now dispersed in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum, New York, the National Museum of Iraq, and the Oriental Institute, Chicago.

The figures and their archaeological context

Of the twelve statues found, ten are male and two are female; eight of the figures are made from gypsum, two from limestone, and one (the smallest) from alabaster; all would have been painted. They appear to all be performing the same act and what we know about their archaeological context can help us understand what that might be. One statue in particular stands out from the rest: the tallest man with long dark flowing locks.

Female and male votive figures (on the right is the tallest figure of the group of twelve), from the Square Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq), c. 2900–2350 B.C.E. (Early Dynastic period) (The Iraq Museum, Baghdad; photo: Dr. Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Female and male votive figures (on the right is the tallest figure of the group of twelve), from the Square Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq), c. 2900–2350 B.C.E. (Early Dynastic period) (The Iraq Museum, Baghdad; photo: Dr. Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Not gods, but adorants

From the Early Dynastic period sculptures such as these were common in temples. They are generally understood by art historians and archaeologists to be an image of the god to whom the temple was dedicated. They would be placed on raised platforms and were the recipients of gifts, as a proxy for the god.

However, the collection of statues from Tell Asmar appear to be of a different type, not images of gods and goddesses but rather adorants, mortals who stand in perpetual worship of the god of the temple. We know this because some of the statues are inscribed on the back or bottom with a personal name and prayer; others state “one who offers prayers.” Therefore, these sculptures represent a very early form of individual actions of faith, expressions of personal agency. Some of the sculptures are holding small cups which look a lot like a common cup of the era known as the solid-footed goblet. Hundreds of cups of this type were found deposited in a space near to the sanctuary where the sculptures were found, likely used to pour libations.

Caption: The Hoard of Statues Lying in the Soil Just as They Were Found, "An Extraordinary Discovery of Early Sumerian Sculpture," Illustrated London News (May 19, 1934), p. 774.

Caption: The Hoard of Statues Lying in the Soil Just as They Were Found, “An Extraordinary Discovery of Early Sumerian Sculpture,” Illustrated London News (May 19, 1934), p. 774.

Who were these early pious actors? The statues were discovered together, packed one on top of another in several layers within a 33 x 20 inch (85 x 50 cm) pit and just by the altar of the temple. Because of the circumstances of this find they are assumed to be a group of alike sculptures, although of a special kind, for sure. Given the high status material from which they are made, the inclusion of writing as well as their privileged space within the temple, we might assume these represent elite people, both men and women, interestingly.

Although their style is abstract and there is no sense of portraiture among them, they are all unique in small ways, either in the rendering of hair, facial expression or even feet; the material of the inlays is also variable, some of white shell or black limestone and even one of lapis lazuli. These sculptures might also represent a clue about how society was changing in the Early Dynastic period. Archaeologists believe that this group of sculptures representing mortals from Tell Asmar were not only working spiritually on behalf of each individual but also as a group, asserting a new status of elite non-religious classes within the context of the temple.

Feet and base (detail), Votive figure from the Square Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq), c. 2900–2350 B.C.E. (Early Dynastic period) (The Iraq Museum, Baghdad; photo: Dr. Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Feet and base (detail), Votive figure from the Square Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq), c. 2900–2350 B.C.E. (Early Dynastic period) (The Iraq Museum, Baghdad; photo: Dr. Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin, CC BY-SA 4.0)

One figure who stands out

As mentioned above, one figure stands out from the group. He is the tallest with curly locks flowing down over his wide shoulders, his face slightly upturned, making him seem somewhat less obsequious than the rest. On the base of this sculpture there is a rough image carved as well, which also differentiates it from the others. This image shows an Anzu bird clutching two horned animals, one in each claw. This configuration—of Anzu clutching animals—is associated with the thunder god Ninurta (also known as Ningirsu), and also associated with the god of vegetation Abu.

Bird-god Anzu on the Votive relief of Ur-Nanshe, king of Lagash, perforated relief, c. 2495–2465 B.C.E. (Ancient Girsu), alabaster, 15.1 x 21.6 cm (Musée du Louvre, Paris)

Bird-god Anzu on the Votive relief of Ur-Nanshe, king of Lagash, perforated relief, c. 2495–2465 B.C.E. (Ancient Girsu), alabaster, 15.1 x 21.6 cm (Musée du Louvre, Paris)

Votive figure from the Square Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq), c. 2900–2350 B.C.E. (Early Dynastic period) (The Iraq Museum, Baghdad; photo: Dr. Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Votive figure from the Square Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq), c. 2900–2350 B.C.E. (Early Dynastic period) (The Iraq Museum, Baghdad; photo: Dr. Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin, CC BY-SA 4.0)

This figure’s luxurious hair, more engaging face and godly image on the base has led to his identification of a very old character type in Ancient Near Eastern art and literature, the long-haired hero who is sometimes nude and sometimes belted.

If this identification is true, we might wonder if the person who dedicated this statue saw himself as a heroic, Gilgamesh-like character (Gilgamesh was a hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of the Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem written during the late 2nd millennium B.C.E.).

 


Additional resources

Read a Reframing Art History textbook chapter, Rethinking approaches to the art of the Ancient Near East until c. 600 B.C.E.

Early Dynastic Sculpture, 2900–2350 B.C. on The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

Henri Frankfort, Sculpture of the Third Millennium B.C. from Tell Asmar and Khafājah (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1939).

Cite this page as: Dr. Senta German, “Standing Male Worshipper (Tell Asmar),” in Smarthistory, July 26, 2023, accessed March 20, 2024, https://smarthistory.org/standing-male-worshipper-from-the-square-temple-at-eshnunna-tell-asmar/.

Standard of Ur and other objects from the Royal Graves

Standard of Ur and other objects from the Royal Graves


Intentionally buried as part of an elaborate ritual, this ornate object tells us so much, but also too little.

Standard of Ur, c. 2600–2400 B.C.E., 21.59 x 49.5 x 12 cm (British Museum). Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker


The Standard of Ur, 2600–2400 B.C.E., shell, limestone, lapis lazuli, and bitumen, 21.59 x 49.53 x 12 cm (© The Trustees of the British Museum, London; photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

The Standard of Ur, 2600–2400 B.C.E., shell, limestone, lapis lazuli, and bitumen, 21.59 x 49.53 x 12 cm (© The Trustees of the British Museum, London; photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

The violence and grandeur of Sumerian kingship

The Standard of Ur is a fascinating rectangular box-like object which, through intricate mosaic scenes, presents the violence and grandeur of Sumerian kingship. It is made up of two long flat panels of wood (and two short sides) and is covered with bitumen (a naturally occurring petroleum substance, essentially tar) in which small pieces of carved shell, red limestone, and lapis lazuli were set. It is thought to be a military standard, something common in battle for thousands of years: a readily visible object held high on a pole in the midst of the combat and paraded in victory to symbolize the army (or individual divisions of the army) of a war lord or general. Although we don’t know if this object ever saw the melee of battle, it certainly witnessed a grisly scene when it was deposited in one of the royal graves at the site of Ur in the mid-3rd millennium B.C.E.

Map of Sumer with approximate locations of Uruk and Ur (underlying map © Google)

Map of Sumer with approximate locations of Uruk and Ur (underlying map © Google)

In the 1920s the British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley worked extensively at Ur and in 1926 he uncovered a huge cemetery of nearly 2,000 burials spread over an area of 70 x 55 m (230 x 180 ft). Most graves were modest, however a group of sixteen were identified by Woolley as royal tombs because of their wealthier grave goods and treatment at interment.

Sir Leonard Woolley, Ur Excavations, volume II, The Royal Cemetery, Plates (British Museum, London and The University Museum, Philadelphia, 1934), plate 8 (available via the Internet Archive)

Sir Leonard Woolley, Ur Excavations, volume II, The Royal Cemetery, Plates (British Museum, London and The University Museum, Philadelphia, 1934), plate 8 (available via the Internet Archive)

Each of these tombs contained a chamber of limestone rubble with a vaulted roof of mud bricks. The main burial of the tomb was placed in this chamber and surrounded by treasure (offerings of copper, gold, silver and jewelry of lapis lazuli, carnelian, agate, and shell). The main burial was also accompanied by several other bodies in the tomb, a mass grave outside the chamber, often called the Death Pit. We assume that all these individuals were sacrificed at the time of the main burial in a horrific scene of deference.

Queen's Lyre (reconstruction), 2600 B.C.E., wooden parts, pegs and string are modern; lapis lazuli, shell and red limestone mosaic decoration, set in bitumen (© The Trustees of the British Museum, London)

Queen’s Lyre (reconstruction), 2600 B.C.E., wooden parts, pegs and string are modern; lapis lazuli, shell and red limestone mosaic decoration, set in bitumen (© The Trustees of the British Museum, London)

One of the royal graves (PG779) had four chambers but no death pit. It had been plundered in antiquity but one room was largely untouched and had the remains of at least four individuals. In the corner of this room the remains of the Standard of Ur were found. One of its long sides was found lying face down in the soil with the other one face up, which lead Woolley to conclude that it was a hollow structure; additional inlay were found on either side of the short ends and appeared to fill a triangular shape and which lead to the Standard being reconstructed with its sloping sides. The remains of the Standard were found above the right shoulder of a man whom Woolley thought had carried it attached to a pole. The identification of this object as a military standard is by no means secure; the hollow shape could just as easily have been the sound box of a stringed instrument, such as the Queen’s Lyre found in an adjacent tomb.

War and peace

The two sides of the Standard appear to be the two poles of Sumerian kingship, war and peace.  The war side was found face up and is divided into three registers (bands), read from the bottom up, left to right. The story begins at the bottom with war carts, each with a spearman and driver, drawn by donkeys trampling fallen enemies, distinguished by their nudity and wounds, which drip with blood. The middle band shows a group of soldiers wearing fur cloaks and carrying spears walking to the right while bound, naked enemies are executed and paraded to the top band where more are killed.

War (detail), The Standard of Ur, 2600–2400 B.C.E., shell, red limestone, lapis lazuli, and bitumen (original wood no longer exists), 21.59 x 49.53 x 12 cm (© The Trustees of the British Museum, London; photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

War (detail), The Standard of Ur, 2600–2400 B.C.E., shell, red limestone, lapis lazuli, and bitumen (original wood no longer exists), 21.59 x 49.53 x 12 cm (© The Trustees of the British Museum, London; photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

In the center of the top register, we find the king, holding a long spear, physically larger than everyone else, so much so, his head breaks the frame of the scene. Behind him are attendants carrying spears and battle axes and his royal war cart ready for him to jump in. There is a sense of a triumphal moment on the battlefield, when the enemy is vanquished and the victorious king is relishing his win. There is no reason to believe that this is a particular battle or king as there is nothing which identifies it as such; we think it is more of a generic image of a critically important aspect of Ancient Near Eastern kingship.

Peace (detail), The Standard of Ur, 2600–2400 B.C.E., shell, red limestone, lapis lazuli, and bitumen (original wood no longer exists), 21.59 x 49.53 x 12 cm (© The Trustees of the British Museum; photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Peace (detail), The Standard of Ur, 2600–2400 B.C.E., shell, red limestone, lapis lazuli, and bitumen (original wood no longer exists), 21.59 x 49.53 x 12 cm (© The Trustees of the British Museum; photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

The opposite peace panel also illustrates a cumulative moment, that of the celebration of the king, this time for great agricultural abundance which is afforded by peace. Again, beginning at the bottom left, we see men carrying produce on their shoulders and in bags and leading donkeys. In the central band, men lead bulls, sheep and goats, and carry fish. In the top register a grand feast is taking place, complete with comfortable seating and musical accompaniment.

On the left, the largest figure, the king, is seated wearing a richly flounce fur skirt, again so large, even seated, he breaks the frame. Was it an epic tale of battle that the singer on the far right is performing for entertainment as he plays a bull’s head lyre, again, like the Queen’s Lyre? We will never know but certainly such powerful images of Sumerian kingship tell us that whomever ended his life with the Standard of Ur on his shoulder was willing to give his life in a ritual of kingly burial.


Additional resources

This work at the British Museum

Ur and its Treasures: The Royal Tombs (Penn Museum)

Dorota Ławecka, “Who were the Tribute-Bearing People on the ‘Standard of Ur’?,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, volume 76, number 2 (2017).

Joan Aruz, editor, Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003).

Sarah Collins, The Standard of Ur (London: British Museum Press, 2015).

Dominique Collon, Ancient Near Eastern Art (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995).

Harriet Crawford, Sumer and Sumerians (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2004).

Nicholas Postgate, Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History (London: Routledge, 1994).

Michael Roaf, The Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East (New York: Facts on File, 1990).

Leonard Woolley and P.R.S. Moorey, Ur of the Chaldees, revised edition (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1982).

Norman Yoffee, Myths of the Archaic State: Evolution of the Earliest Cities, States, and Civilization (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2005).

Richard L. Zettler and Lee Horne, editors, Treasures from the Royal Tomb at Ur (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998).

Cite this page as: Dr. Senta German, “Standard of Ur and other objects from the Royal Graves,” in Smarthistory, July 26, 2023, accessed March 20, 2024, https://smarthistory.org/standard-of-ur-2/.

Cylinder seals

Cylinder seals


Cylinder Seal (with modern impression), royal worshipper before a god on a throne with bull’s legs; human-headed bulls below, c. 1820–1730 B.C.E., hematite, 2 cm tall (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

Cylinder Seal (with modern impression), royal worshipper before a god on a throne with bull’s legs; human-headed bulls below, c. 1820–1730 B.C.E., hematite, 2 cm tall (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

Signed with a cylinder seal

Cuneiform was used for official accounting, governmental and theological pronouncements and a wide range of correspondence. Nearly all of these documents required a formal “signature,” the impression of a cylinder seal.

A cylinder seal is a small pierced object, like a long round bead, carved in reverse (intaglio) and hung on strings of fiber or leather. These often beautiful objects were ubiquitous in the Ancient Near East and remain a unique record of individuals from this era. Each seal was owned by one person and was used and held by them in particularly intimate ways, such as strung on a necklace or bracelet.

Seals with modern impression strips. (1) Cylinder seal, winged gate of heaven on a bull, tree of life, a servant holds the ropes of the gate of heaven, Akkad period, c. 2200 B.C.E.; (2) Cylinder seal, Gilgamesh searching for the tree of immortality, which is guarded by a dragon. The holes are dens of dangerous animals, Assyrian, c. 2000 B.C.E.; (3) Cylinder seal, Babylonian copy of ancient Sumerian motifs and (misunderstood) ancient Sumerian characters, Babylon, mid-1st millennium B.C.E., steatite (private collection); (4) Cylinder seal, worship before the god “Ea”, fertilizing water, Babylon, Akkad period, c. 2300 B.C.E., steatite; (5) Cylinder seal, the Holy Flock in front of the Temple, Babylon, Djemdet Nasr period, c. 2800 B.C.E., limestone; and (6) Cylinder seal, Babylon, c. 3000 B.C.E, black steatite (Collection Basler Papiermühle, Basel; photo: Gryffindor)

Seals with modern impression strips. (1) Cylinder seal, winged gate of heaven on a bull, tree of life, a servant holds the ropes of the gate of heaven, Akkad period, c. 2200 B.C.E.; (2) Cylinder seal, Gilgamesh searching for the tree of immortality, which is guarded by a dragon. The holes are dens of dangerous animals, Assyrian, c. 2000 B.C.E.; (3) Cylinder seal, Babylonian copy of ancient Sumerian motifs and (misunderstood) ancient Sumerian characters, Babylon, mid-1st millennium B.C.E., steatite (private collection); (4) Cylinder seal, worship before the god “Ea”, fertilizing water, Babylon, Akkad period, c. 2300 B.C.E., steatite; (5) Cylinder seal, the Holy Flock in front of the Temple, Babylon, Djemdet Nasr period, c. 2800 B.C.E., limestone; and (6) Cylinder seal, Babylon, c. 3000 B.C.E, black steatite (Collection Basler Papiermühle, Basel; photo: Gryffindor)

When a signature was required, the seal was taken out and rolled on the pliable clay document, leaving behind the positive impression of the reverse images carved into it. However, some seals were valued not for the impression they made, but instead, for the magic they were thought to possess or for their beauty.

The first use of cylinder seals in the Ancient Near East dates to earlier than the invention of cuneiform, to the Late Neolithic period (7600–6000 B.C.E.) in Syria. However, what is most remarkable about cylinder seals is their scale and the beauty of the semi-precious stones from which they were carved. The images and inscriptions on these stones can be measured in millimeters and feature incredible detail.

The stones from which the cylinder seals were carved include agate, chalcedony, lapis lazuli, steatite, limestone, marble, quartz, serpentine, hematite, and jasper; for the most distinguished there were seals of gold and silver. To study Ancient Near Eastern cylinder seals is to enter a uniquely beautiful, personal and detailed miniature universe of the remote past, but one which was directly connected to a vast array of individual actions, both mundane and momentous.

Cylinder seal, owned by a woman named Šaša, Akkadian, calcite, 39 x 22 mm, from Khafajeh, Iraq (Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Museum, University of Chicago)

Cylinder seal, owned by a woman named Šaša, Akkadian, calcite, 39 x 22 mm, from Khafajeh, Iraq (Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Museum, University of Chicago)

Why cylinder seals are interesting

Art historians are particularly interested in cylinder seals for at least two reasons. First, it is believed that the images carved on seals accurately reflect the pervading artistic styles of the day and the particular region of their use. In other words, each seal is a small time capsule of what sorts of motifs and styles were popular during the lifetime of the owner. These seals, which survive in great numbers, offer important information to understand the developing artistic styles of the Ancient Near East.

The second reason why art historians are interested in cylinder seals is because of the iconography (the study of the content of a work of art). Each character, gesture and decorative element can be “read” and reflected back on the owner of the seal, revealing his or her social rank and even sometimes the name of the owner. Although the same iconography found on seals can be found on carved stelae, terra cotta plaques, wall reliefs, and paintings, its most complete compendium exists on the thousands of seals which have survived from antiquity.


Additional resources

See how cylinder seals make impressions

Learn more about writing and cylinder seals in a Reframing Art History chapter about the Ancient Near East

 

Cite this page as: Dr. Senta German, “Cylinder seals,” in Smarthistory, August 8, 2015, accessed March 20, 2024, https://smarthistory.org/cylinder-seals/.

 

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History of Art: Prehistoric to Gothic Copyright © by Dr. Amy Marshman; Dr. Jeanette Nicewinter; and Dr. Paula Winn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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