The Great Fatted Bull
Introduction
Tablet #36
Translation
Annotations
Transliteration
Sumerian Images
Sumerian History
The Royal Tombs of Ur
The "Standard" of Ur?
Standard of Ur:  Narrative
Eannatum
Vulture Stele Translation
Sumerian War Chariots
War Chariot Deconstructed
Sumerian Chariot  Model
Gudea Translation
The Face of Gudea
Unknown Portrait of Gudea
The Face of Ur-Ningirsu
The Face of Lugal-agrig-zi
Ur-Namma Translation
The Face of Ur-Namma
Face of Ur-Namma, part II
I am Ur-Namma
Shulgi
The Face of Shulgi
Who Were the Sumerians?
Other Sumerian Kings
The Princess Wife
Princess Wife sequel
Princess Wife whole story
The Great Fatted Jackass
Mesopotamian Prostitutes
Sumerian Queens
Unknown Sumerian Queen
Another Sumerian Queen
Pu-abi, the Queen?
A Sumerian Princess
Sumerian Lukurs
The Divine Right to Rule
Sargon's Victory Stele
Helmet: the King of Kish
The Standard of Mari?
The Battles of Ishqi-Mari
Miscellaneous
The Invention of Writing
Adventures in Cuneiform
The Sumerian Scribe
A Masterpiece
Links
FAQs, Copyrights, etc
Contact
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Statue of a woman, from the temple of Ishtar in the city of Mari, Early Dynastic III period
(2600 – 2340 BC).


The polos 


The polos was a domed headdress that was worn by high-ranking women in Mesopotamia. Many examples of the polos were found in the Akkadian city of Mari.


This woman is a queen. She wears a kaunakes, a flounced dress with woolen leaf petals,
the official attire of royals. On her lap she holds a date cluster, a symbol of royalty. She sits
on a throne that has carved animal legs. It’s the same kind of throne that is used by
the king on the Standard of Ur. He was a Sumerian king who defeated the king of Kish
and the Akkadian allies to thus become the new King of Kish, the King of Kings, the ruler
of both Sumer and Akkad. See the Standard of Ur Narratives.

Click on any image. If an enlargement is available, it will display in a separate window.


The woman on the right is the one shown above. Enlarge left, center, right.

All of the statues of women wearing a polos were found in the temple of Ishtar in Mari.
Ishtar was the Akkadian version of Inanna, the Sumerian goddess of war.


There were some variations in the size and shape of a polos.


Some examples of the polos were quite impressive. View the polos from all angles.

According the Louvre, the polos “probably consisted of a piece of cloth, or perhaps felt,
covering a light framework to form a tall, voluminous tiara, wider at the gently rounded top
than at the bottom, and fastened to the head by a horizontal band over the forehead.
Over the back of the neck and on either side of the face the polos belled out, giving the
impression of a wig, no doubt covering the true hair discreetly visible above the forehead.”

A Sumerian queen sometimes wore a ceremonial wig. See the wig and headdress of
Queen Pu-abi.

The artificial “wig” on the polos is important, for reasons that I will later explain.


Other examples of the polos were more modest in appearance.


The Mari Mosaic

According to the Louvre Museum, the polos “is also found in shell mosaics at Mari depicting a ritual scene in which women wearing the polos play a part. They may be priestesses, or perhaps laywomen who had a particular role to play in certain ceremonies.”

There are several examples of the polos on the Mari Mosaic:


This mosaic panel was found in the temple of the god Dagan. The details of the mosaic are best seen in an enlargement (unfortunately, there aren’t many high-quality images of the mosaic that are freely available on the Internet).

Everything about the mosaic − the solemn procession, the men with their hands folded
in prayer, the altar, and the ceremonial bowls and basins − all indicate a religious context.


In the top register, men walk in a religious procession. The man on the left has his hands folded in prayer. The man on the right carries two ceremonial cups.

The bottom registers show women making preparations for the religious ceremony. Some
of the women wear the polos, while others do not (as seen on the lower left of the mosaic).


In the middle of the second register, two women set up a fleece-covered altar mounted on
animal legs. Three posts are set in stone weights. The posts either supported a canopy or held religious symbols, which are now missing due to damage.


On the left, a woman carries a small bowl and a basin for use during the religious ceremony. The bowl was used for pouring libations, or perhaps it was used for anointing.

The Mari Mosaic was found in pieces on the floor, so the reconstruction is somewhat speculative. It seems to me that the registers are not in the correct sequence. It looks like
the men arrive for the ceremonies while the women are still doing the setup.

Just for the fun of it, I rearranged the registers into the proper sequence:


Top:  Women prepare for the ceremony. They sew a garment(?) or a covering for the altar.

Middle:  The altar is set up. Basins and libation bowls are brought in.

Bottom:  After the preparations are finished, the men arrive for the ceremony.


The noblewomen


The Louvre states, “Many of the women wear a high headdress called a ‘polos’ that could identify them as priestesses or ladies of the court.”

I suggest it’s not just the headdress that identifies the women as ladies of the court.

All of the women who wear a polos also have cylinder seals dangling from jeweled pendants pinned to their robes. This means the women are highborn ladies, since common women didn’t have their own cylinder seals.


Left:  A garment pin of gold and lapis lazuli. The pin has a small hole for a ring that held the pendant, like the pin shown below.

Right:  A pendant of gold and lapis lazuli, with a cylinder seal of lapis lazuli at the end.

Queen Pu-abi also wore her cylinder seals pinned to her robe.



A cylinder seal and the impression it makes when rolled across wet clay. A cylinder seal
was the official “signature” of the owner. This seal is from the Babylonian period.
Enlarge the pin.


I further suggest that the women who wear the polos are not just “ladies of the court."
The religious context of the mosaic, and the fact that all examples of the polos
were found in temples, indicates that the polos was the headdress of a priestess.
Specifically, a high-priestess, since a high-priestess was always a highborn noblewoman.


Ladies of the minor nobility


These women have cylinder seals, but they do not wear a polos. They are the women
of the minor nobility, the laywomen or "ladies of the court" to which the Louvre refers.
It looks like they are sewing the fleece covering for the altar. The details are best seen
in an enlargement. Each woman has one garment pin, but any woman who wears a polos
has two pins.


The polos: Sumerian or Akkadian? 

Many people assumed that the polos was Sumerian. This was a reasonable assumption because all of the artifacts look like they’re Sumerian. The problem is, all examples of the polos were found in Mari, which is an Akkadian city. Not a single polos was found in Sumer.


The Standard of Mari. The Sumerian king is top center. He holds a battle standard.

In November of 2013, I was researching the page for The Standard of Mari. This when
I realized that there weren’t any examples of the polos in Sumer. It is also when
I discovered why so many Sumerian artifacts were found in the temples of Mari.

The objects were placed there by the Sumerians themselves, after the city was conquered
by the Sumerian King of Ur, the “King of Kings,” the ruler of both Sumer and Akkad.
The items are votive offerings that were placed in the Mari temples during the period of
Sumerian occupation. This includes the Standard of Mari, the Mari Mosaic, and all of the statutes of women who wear a polos.

Still, it seemed odd that no examples of the polos were found in Sumer. Why would the
Sumerian polos show up in Akkad, but not in Sumer?  I made it my mission to find one.
I looked everywhere on the Internet, but I couldn’t find a single example. Over the years,
I frequently searched for a Sumerian polos, but without success.

Late last year, I finally found one.

Or so I thought.

A royal banquet

This plaque is from the Sumerian city of Girsu. The Sumerian context is unmistakable.


The plaque shows a banquet scene. The servants bring food and drink. See an enlargement of some of the details.

  See the picture magnified x2 and x3.

I posted this picture as an example of a Sumerian woman wearing a polos. After that,
I forgot about it for a while.



A few days ago, I was idly looking at the banquet scene on the plaque.


At the banquet, a Sumerian king and queen are attended by their servants. We know they are a king and queen, and not just a lord and lady, because both of them hold a date cluster, the symbol of royalty.

At first I assumed the queen was wearing a polos to show that she is a priestess. Then
I wondered, why would the queen wear her priestess hat at the dinner table? (as it were).

I took another look at the hat.

Then I realized something:  It looks like a polos, but it isn’t. The woman is not wearing
a polos, the headdress of a priestess. She is wearing a crown.


The crown of a Sumerian queen


There are no known images of a Sumerian queen wearing a crown, but I suggest the crown looked a lot like this.

Notice her hairdo beneath the crown. It is not an artificial wig, like on a polos.


It is a natural hairstyle, with waves and curls, like the hair of the servant in front of her.

On a polos, the hair of the “wig” is smooth and solid.


The artificial wig on a polos  



Polos, side view. There are no striations on the side of the wig to make it look like hair.
The woman’s real hair is shown beneath her hat.


What looks like a bun of hair beneath the polos is actually part of the hat:




The hair in the drawing doesn’t appear on the original inlay. (Note: Her cylinder seal
is missing in the drawing.)


The polos:  the headdress of a Sumerian queen in her role as a high-priestess  


The crown is smaller than a polos and the hair is worn loose beneath it. The polos is larger and it has a built-in wig.

Although a crown and a polos are two different types of headwear, they are very similar.

I therefore suggest that the polos was a variation of the crown.

The crown was the secular, “everyday” headdress of the queen. Her crown was a variation
of the "shepherd crown," the crown of a Sumerian king, as explained on a separate page.
In other words, the polos was a variation of the queen's crown, which in turn was a variation
of the king's crown.

The polos wasn't very practical. It was overly large, and in many cases it covered the ears. Imagine a queen trying to go about her daily business while wearing a bulky polos.

All examples of the polos were found in temples, indicating the polos was only worn during
religious occasions. It was worn by a Sumerian queen during the performance of her duties
as a high-priestess.


I suggest the polos was worn exclusively by a queen, and not just any lady of the court.


A previously mentioned, this woman is a queen. She sits on a throne, she wears the
royal kaunakes (the robe of woolen leaf petals), and she holds a date cluster. She also
wears a polos. This proves the polos was the headdress of a queen, and only a queen,
because a queen would not wear the same headdress as a lesser mortal, and because
no other woman was allowed to wear the same headdress as a queen.

It's not as if some of the women who wear a polos are queens, and some of them are not. Either all of them are queens, or none of them are.

  Ereš (pronounced "eresh") meaning "queen"


Every woman a queen  

I suggest that all the women who wear a polos are queens. Every single one of them.

Each statue was personally placed in the temple of Ishtar as a votive offering to the goddess by a reigning queen.

The queens were contemporaries. They knew each other. They were friends (and rivals).
Each statue represents a living queen.


Two Sumerian queens. Their hands are folded in ceaseless prayer to the goddess.

Notice that many of the women who wear a polos also wear the royal kaunakes (right),
but It doesn’t matter if some of the women don’t wear a kaunakes, they are still queens.
The kaunakes was “formal attire.” It was only used for ceremonial occasions, it wasn’t
worn every day.

That is why none of the women on the Mari Mosaic wear the kaunakes. They are merely
setting up for the religious services, the rituals have not yet started. The women will later
wear their formal kaunakes during the solemn ceremonies.


Four of the six Sumerian queens on the Mari Mosaic

Notice that there are a lot of women on the mosaic who wear the polos.

Not counting the two damaged figures next to the altar, there is a total of six women
on the Mari Mosaic who wear a polos (assuming none of them appear more than once
on the different registers).

Can they all be queens?

Generally, when you see a queen, you see only one. Any other women in attendance are usually just her ladies-in-waiting, or perhaps they are women of the lesser nobility.
To have six queens in a single picture is exceedingly rare (I personally don’t know of any).

However, there’s a very good reason why so many Sumerian queens appear on the
Mari Mosaic.

Remember, the Sumerian artifacts were placed in the temples of Mari when the city was
occupied by the Sumerian King of Kings and his Sumerian allies. Many Sumerian kings
from neighboring city-states were his allies in his military campaign against the Akkadians
(see the Standard of Ur Narratives). After the war, the allied kings and their dependents
(their male relatives, officials, retainers, etc.) were appointed as the administrators of the
newly conquered territories. These dependents included their wives. Although the women
did not have government positions, they formed the new Sumerian royal courts in the cities
of Akkad. They were also installed as the new high-priestesses in many Akkadian temples, since the Sumerians and the Akkadians practiced the same religion. So, at this time
in history, there were plenty of Sumerian queens in Mari and in other Akkadian cities.


The Mari Mosaic. The royal standard of a Sumerian queen?  


A king had his own royal standard, so why shouldn’t a queen? It’s entirely possible that
the Mari Mosaic was the royal standard of a queen. Unfortunately, most of the plaque is
missing due to damage. Whether or not it was a standard depends on the missing parts
of the narrative. If the missing portions were the same as the other parts (i.e., if they only
showed the preparations for the ceremonies) then the mosaic is probably just a
commemorative plaque with a religious theme.

On the other hand...

Many of the most important parts of the narrative are missing due to damage.

For instance:


This small fragment is all by itself in the lower right corner of the panel. It is shown with
increasing magnification (and some loss of image quality). It shows a polos being carried
(notice the hand), or more likely, the polos is being placed on someone’s head. I suggest
the Mari Mosaic portrays the investiture of a new high-priestess for the temple of Dagan.
In this case, the mosaic may be the royal standard of a queen.

The new high-priestess  

It’s easy to pick out the new high-priestess among the six queens that are portrayed
on the Mari Mosaic.

She’s the one who is drawn larger than everybody else to show her greater importance,
and she's the one with the tallest polos.


I believe the queen appeared in all three registers of the panel, but this is the only image
that survived the damage.

Even while kneeling she is the tallest person on the Mari Mosaic.

She is the newly appointed Sumerian high-priestess of the temple of Dagan in Mari.


I believe this is the exact same woman. She is represented in the temple of Ishtar, just like
all the other Sumerian queens. She sits on her throne in all her royal regalia. She wears the kaunakes skirt and a matching ceremonial shawl draped over her polos. Her new polos is
the one being carried on the Mari Mosaic. I suggest her ceremonial shawl is the same cloth that is being sewn by the ladies in the lower register of the mosaic. Next, the shawl is consecrated on the altar in the middle register. Then in the top register, in an image that is now missing due to damage, she wears the ceremonial shawl draped over her polos while
she sits on her throne, exactly as shown above. It portrays her investiture as the new
high-priestess for the temple of Dagan in Mari.


One more thing:

If the Sumerian King of Ur is the “King of Kings” then his wife must be…


The Sumerian “Queen of Queens”   


The King of Kings and the Queen of Queens.

I believe this woman is the wife of the king on the Standard of Ur (whom I also believe is the same king as the one on the Standard of Mari).

One queen in the temple of Ishtar has to be the wife of the Sumerian king who conquered
Mari and the other Akkadian cities. After all, he's the reason why the Sumerian queens
were in the Mari temples to begin with.

So of course his wife is present in the temple of Ishtar, along with all the other queens.
She was probably the high-priestess of the temple. Ishtar was the goddess most favored
by the king of Ur, the king of war.

This woman is the most obvious choice for the wife of the Sumerian king. They both wear
the royal kaunakes. They both sit on the same kind of throne.

He was the king of Ur who conquered all of Sumer and Akkad to become the King of Kings.

His queen was a formidable person in her own right. She was the high-priestess of Ishtar.
She ran the royal court of the king, and her own court as well. She ruled over all the other
queens of Sumer and Akkad.

She was the most powerful and influential woman in all of Mesopotamia.

She was the ultimate Queen of Queens.





Also see The Unknown Sumerian Queen and Pu-abi, the Queen?





February 20, 2019