Sumerian Shakespeare
Babylonian Wife
This bas-relief is part of a small plaque from Diqdiqqeh, a suburb in the city of Ur.
The terracotta plaque was formed in a mold and then fired in a kiln. It is dated in the
Old Babylonian period (ca. 1850 – 1500 BC). Sir Leonard Woolley found it during his archaeological expedition in 1931. Enlarge.
Her face is very realistic. It looks like it was modeled from real life. Her face has the features
of an actual woman, and not just the generic features of a stereotypical female. With her
rounded face and nose, she is very distinctive, very individualistic. She doesn’t look like
the hundreds of other women that are portrayed on the Diqdiqqeh plaques.
The artist clearly patterned the face on the features of a woman he knew.
At first, I thought it was another casting from the same mold as the Babylonian Woman
who is shown below. Then I realized that the angle of the arms is different.
I believe the same woman is portrayed in both statutes.. It is the same woman, sculpted by the same artist.
Leonard Woolley found this statue in 1928, three years before The Babylonian Woman
was discovered. Both statues now reside in the British Museum.
See the original record at UrOline.
This is Father Leon Legrain’s notecard. Click here to enlarge the picture of the statue.
Woolley’s notes describe the statue as a “terracotta figurine. Moulded. Female figure,
full face, nude, hands clasped below breasts. Hair dressed with vertical lines to forehead,
and heavy back full with horizontal waves. Good model. Broken off at hips.”
Woolley states that the statue has a “full face” and it’s a “good model.” He said the statue of The Babylonian Woman has a “round face” and it’s “carefully made.” It’s like he is talking about the same statue.
In my opinion, this is clearly the same woman. The only difference is the expression
on her face. On the left, she looks at you with a calm and steady gaze. On the right,
she gazes at you with a look of bemused self-confidence. She seems to have a bit more "attitude."
The statues resemble each other. They don’t resemble anybody else.
I had earlier written that the artist created the statue of The Babylonian Woman “to be a realistic portrait of a woman he knew (and probably loved). Perhaps she was his wife or his girlfriend...”
For that reason, I call this statue The Babylonian Wife, to distinguish her from
The Babylonian Woman. It’s two different statues of the same person.
dam = spouse = wife
The artist created two “carefully modeled” statues of the same woman. That has to
mean something. It seems to me there’s a love story here. It’s a story about a man,
a young artist, who loved his wife.
I always thought she was based on a real woman. So, in conclusion, I will close with the
same words that I used to end the page about The Babylonian Woman:
Somewhere in Diqdiqqeh, in the second millennium BC, there was a woman who looked
just like this:
April 23, 2019
