The Royal Standard of Ur: circa 2550 - 2400 B.C. In the top panel, the king (top center) leads his troops and chariots to war. The scene shows lines of captured prisoners and the bodies of the enemy being trampled beneath the horses' hooves. The bottom panel shows some peaceful pursuits. The king (top row, third from the left) drinks and celebrates his victory while listening to the music of a bull-headed lyre (see below). The bottom rows show his subjects contentedly engaged in farming and herding.
The Ram in the Thicket: circa 2550 - 2400 B.C. Excavated, like the above Royal Standard, from the royal tombs of Ur. For an enlarged view, see A Masterpiece.
Cylinder seal impression. A carved stone cylinder was rolled across a wet clay tablet to form an official, individualized seal. This one shows the winged goddess Inanna standing above the sun god Utu as he rises between the mountains. To the left of her is an unidentified hunter/warrior god. To the right is Enki, the god of the Abzu (the underground water table) surrounded by water and fish. Beside him is Isimud, his two-faced minister. This seal belonged to a scribe.
Cuneiform writing:
Gudean inscription, dedicated to the goddess Ba-u.
Another Gudean inscription, dedicating a statue of himself to the goddess Geshtinanna. The inscription is written on the back of the statue of Gudea seen at the top of the page in the Gudea translation.
The earliest form of writing: Pictographs, the precursor to cuneiform writing, where the sign resembles the object it represents.
Photograph courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Cuneiform tablet, in a clay envelope, with a (faint) seal impression. Business transactions were often wrapped in a clay envelopes and then impressed with the writer's seal to prevent tampering with the contents. This tablet was written by Lugal-e-ban-sha, a scribe for the governor of Umma. Lugal-e-ban-sha lived at about the same time as the scribe who wrote "The Great Fatted Bull". More than a hundred tablets by Lugal-e-ban-sha can be seen in museums all around the world, along with those of his brother, En-kash. Sadly, when a large cache of tablets is found, it usually means the office (or temple or school) where the tablets were stored, was destroyed when the city was sacked, and the tablets buried en-masse beneath the fallen debris. Sometimes the tablets were hardened into brick by the flames of the burning buildings. Ironically, it was the destruction of the civilization around them that preserved these tablets for prosperity. The tablet of "The Great Fatted Bull" might have been preserved in the same way. The date of the tablets suggests they may have been buried in the final collapse of Sumerian civilization. One can only guess at the fate of the scribes who wrote these tablets.
Cylinder seals:
Cylinder seal, and the impression it makes when rolled across wet clay. The manufacture of cylinder seals was a highly regarded art form in ancient Sumer. The engravers had to carve the hard cylinder stones using only simple tools. The images and lettering had to be craved in both spatial and photographic reverse, so that they would be raised from the surface, and facing in the right direction.
Cylinder seal impression showing fighting/dancing animals (bulls and lions). A common motif.
Royal ostrich hunt, cylinder seal impression. This seal is from a later period. The look on the ostrich's face is priceless.
A cylinder seal impression showing Enki and other gods. The gods are recognizable by their horned helmets.
Bronze bull figurine.
Bull-headed lyre: All the bull heads shown on this website are lyre ornamentations. This bull and the one pictured on the Home Page are from the Royal Tombs of Ur. I'm not exactly sure why the Sumerians depicted bulls with a false beards. In this picture, and in the one above it, one can see the strap of the beard going across the bull's nose.
Musician playing a bull-headed lyre. Detail from the Royal Standard of Ur.
The "Death Pit" of the Royal Tombs of Ur. During the burial of Queen Pu-abi (see below) men and women were sacrificed to be her servants in the afterlife. They were arranged as shown, then given poison to drink.
Sumerian ring and coil money. The silver was cut to length as needed.
Artist reconstruction of the ziggurat at Ur.
King Shulgi, son of Ur-Namma, and the royal family. They stand with their hands folded in the prayer position, watching as the statue of Nanna, the moon god, is carried into his sanctuary at the top of the temple.
Sumerian dagger.
Game Board. circa 2550 - 2400 B.C. Believed to be a precursor of backgammon.
Plate, Jemdet Nasr period, circa 3000 - 2900 B.C.
Pottery, Jemdet Nasr period.
Carved stone bowl dedicated to Inanna.
Carved cup, with a scene of a lion attacking a bull. This bull is also wearing a false beard.
Gold drinking cup. Circa 2550 - 2400 B.C.
Gold ostrich-egg vase with inlay. Circa 2550 - 2400 B.C.
A Sumerian reed house under construction. Young reed saplings were planted in the square outline of a house. When the reeds had grown to full height, they were bundled together and bent over the middle to form the roof, as shown. This kind of house is still built in Iraq today. Note the supervisor on the right. Artist: Richard Hook.
A reed house, as it would appear in a Sumerian village.
Three views of Anzud, the lion-headed eagle. See Gudea translation on this site.
Anzud, with two lions.
Stone mace head. Anzud is also known as Imdugud.
Pendant, gold and lapis lazuli.
The Sumerians at war:
Sumerian battle scene. Artist: HongNian Zhang. Click on the picture to enlarge it.
Stele of Naram-Suen. The Akkadian king (top) advances to victory against a tribe of hillsmen.
The Vulture Stele of king Eannatum, which shows vultures feeding on the enemy dead.
Sumerian war chariot.
Sumerian jewelry: From the Royal Tombs of Ur (except for beaded necklace).
Beaded necklace, circa 3000 - 2650 B.C.
Part of the gold leaf headband worn by queen Pu-abi (see below).
Sumerian women:
The High Priestess of Ur.
Sumerian woman at the time of Gudea (circa 2130 B.C.) possibly a member of his family. Her hands are in the prayer position. The same is true for priestess pictured above.
The "Uruk woman", named for the city in which it was found. The joined eyebrows, also seen on the bust of Gudea (Gudea translation) is a symbol of beauty.
A reproduction (?) ascribed to be Inanna, the goddess of love and war; but most probably a minor goddess, because there aren't enough horns on the helmet to signify a higher rank.
Golden headdress worn by Queen Pu-abi. Excavated from the Royal Tombs of Ur.
Another headdress from the same tomb; worn by one of the women who was sacrificed to serve Queen Pu-abi in the afterlife.
Sumerian men:
An unknown Sumerian ruler.
Enlil. Chief god on earth. An was the lord of the heavens.
Enlil leads Ur-Namma and a worker to begin construction of a new temple. King Ur-Namma is shown wearing a shepherd's hat.
Ur-Namma (left) in the presence of Enlil, with the Tree of Life between them.
