with God: Statuettes from Abu Temple
People had statues like the Abu or Square Temple statuettes (see Figure 5-1a) set up in temples to commune directly with a god. I’m sure you’re thinking: Are these guys and gals bug-eyed aliens or did ancient Sumerians really look like this? The statuettes (the tallest is 30 inches high) represented real Sumerians but weren’t representative of their appearance. They are called votive statues because they’re surrogates for Sumerians who devoted themselves to, or made a vow to, their local god.
Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz / Art Resource, NY
FIGURE 5-1: a) The statuette on the left, carved around 2700 BC, is one of twelve from the Square Temple in Eshnunna, modern day Tell Asmar. b) The female head of a goddess, on the right, from Uruk was carved between 3300 BC and 3000 BC.
Okay, but why are they bug-eyed? In horror movies, people’s eyes bulge cartoonishly when they spot a ghost. The ancient Sumerians’ eyes popped when they saw a god. Being bug-eyed meant you were devout; it showed that you were awestruck in the god’s presence and that you couldn’t take your eyes off of him or her. Even though the people of Tell Asmar (where the Abu Temple is located) didn’t have bug eyes, the clothes, beards, and hairdos of the statuettes probably roughly mirrored the Sumerians. Tell Asmar was a small town, and their sculptors weren’t as polished, so to speak, as big-city artists in Ur and Uruk.
Playing Puabi’s Lyre
When a Sumerian king or queen died, he or she didn’t go to the grave alone. More than 60 soldiers, attendants, and musicians accompanied King Abargi of Ur into the tomb. Some of these grave guests wore helmets and carried spears to protect the king from any afterlife dangers; others bore musical instruments (including Puabi’s lyre, shown in Figure 5-2) to perform for him, and a few drove wagons, which were pulled by teams of oxen. The oxen’s remains were also found in the grave.
More than 20 attendants joined Queen Puabi in her nearby tomb, including three soldiers with drawn copper daggers and ten well-dressed women buried in two rows facing each other. Whether these tomb groupies committed mass suicide or soldiers simply slew them, historians don’t know. We do know that working for a Sumerian ruler was a demanding job!
gravure française/Alamy Stock Photo
FIGURE 5-2: The design on the front of Puabi’s lyre illustrates four ancient fables.
But who is the bull with the blue-tipped horns? In the Sumerian epic Gilgamesh (a story about literature’s first superhero), Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu wrestle and slay the Bull of Heaven, whose horns are also made of lapis lazuli, like the bull’s head on the lyre. Closer examination of the lyre’s bands reveals these details:
The Gilgamesh motif: In the top band, a naked macho man hugs two bulls as though they were old school chums. The bulls’ faces practically mirror the man’s, and their right legs and hooves wrap about his head like parentheses. This image, common in Mesopotamian art, is sometimes called the “Gilgamesh motif.”
Visual stories or fables: The three other bands under the Gilgamesh motif tell a visual story or perhaps a series of fables invented long before Aesop. A lion, bear, wolf, deer, donkey, gazelle, and scorpion-man serve food and beverages or play instruments like the humanoid animals in Disney cartoons.
We can only guess at the meaning of the artwork today, ponder what appear to be ironies, and enjoy the craftsmanship of artists who lived four and half millennia before us.
Unraveling the Standard of Ur
The Standard of Ur depicts a Sumerian military victory fought in about 2600 BC. The artist tells the story of the battle and aftermath with inlaid images on three parallel strips on both sides of a wooden box. The front (shown in Figure 5-3) focuses on battle scenes, the back (shown in Figure 5-4) on the peaceful aftermath. The king is the big guy in the middle of the top band (on the war side), examining naked prisoners (one of whom is blindfolded) who file before him. The lower strips show the battle itself.
Kamira / Shutterstock
FIGURE 5-3: The Standard of Ur, measuring 8½ inches high by 19½ inches long, is a wooden box inlaid with shell, lapis lazuli, and red limestone. No one knows how it was used.
