Stele of the Vultures

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Stele of the Vultures
Musée du Louvre, Paris
IdentificationAO 16 IO9, AO 50, AO 2246, AO 2348
RegistrationCDLI P222399

The Stele of the Vultures is a monument from the

Louvre. The stele was erected as a monument to the victory of king Eannatum of Lagash over Ush, king of Umma.[1][2] It is the earliest known war monument.[3]

Discovery

The stele is not complete; only seven fragments are known today. The first three fragments were found during excavations in the early 1880s by the French archaeologist

Louvre were denied by the British Museum, it was eventually given to them in 1932 so that it could be incorporated in the reconstructed stele together with the other fragments.[4] It was first translated by F. Thureau-Dangin in 1907.[5]

Description

The complete monument, as reconstructed and now in display in the Louvre, would have been 1.80 metres (5 ft 11 in) high, 1.30 metres (4 ft 3 in) wide and 0.11 metres (4.3 in) thick and had a rounded top. It was made out of a single slab of limestone with carved reliefs on both sides.[6] The stele can be placed in a tradition of mid- to late-third millennium BC southern Mesopotamia in which military victories are celebrated on stone monuments. A similar monument is the Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, created during the Akkadian period that followed on the Early Dynastic III period.[7]

Fragment of the Stele of the Vultures.

The two sides of the stele show distinctly different scenes and have therefore been interpreted as a mythological side and a historical side. The mythological side is divided into two registers. The upper, larger register shows a large male figure holding a mace in his right hand and an

anzu or lion-headed eagle in his left hand. The anzu identifies the figure as the god Ningirsu. Below the anzu is a large net filled with the bodies of naked men. Behind Ningirsu stands a smaller female figure wearing a horned headband and with maces protruding from her shoulders. These characteristics allow the figure to be identified as the goddess Ninhursag. The lower, smaller register is very badly preserved but, based on comparisons with contemporary depictions, it has been suggested that it depicted the god Ningirsu standing on a chariot drawn by mythological animals.[6] A more recent analysis suggests that the chariot is approaching Ninhursag standing outside a sacred building.[8]

cuneiform script

The historical side is divided into four horizontal registers. The upper register shows

phalanx of soldiers into battle, with their defeated enemies trampled below their feet. Flying above them are the vultures after which the stele is named, with the severed heads of the enemies of Lagash in their beaks. The second register shows soldiers marching with shouldered spears behind the king, who is riding a chariot and holding a spear. In the third register, a small part of a possibly seated figure can be seen. In front of him, a cow is tethered to a pole while a naked priest standing on a pile of dead animal bodies performs a libation ritual on two plants spouting from vases. Left of these scenes is a pile of naked bodies surrounded by skirted workers with baskets on their head. Only a small part of the fourth register has been preserved, showing a hand holding a spear that touches the head of an enemy.[6] Some Sumerologists have proposed reconstructing a caption near the enemy as "Kalbum, King of Kish".[9]

The inscriptions on the stele are badly preserved. They fill the negative spaces in the scenes and run continuously from one side to the other. Of the original roughly 840 lines 350 are complete and 130 are partially preserved.

cuneiform script. From these inscriptions, it is known that the stele was commissioned by Eannatum, an ensi or ruler of Lagash around 2460 BC. On it, he describes a conflict with Umma over Gu-Edin, a tract of agricultural land located between the two city-states.[6] The conflict ends in a battle in which Eannatum, described as the beloved of the god Ningirsu, triumphs over Umma. After the battle, the leader of Umma swears that he will not transgress into the territory of Lagash again upon penalty of divine punishment.[11]

  • Upper register of the "mythological" side
    Upper register of the "mythological" side
  • Another fragment
    Another fragment
  • Detail of the "battle" fragment
    Detail of the "battle" fragment
  • Detail of the "battle" fragment
    Detail of the "battle" fragment
  • Reconstruction of the layout of the "historical" side
    Reconstruction of the layout of the "historical" side
  • Reconstruction of the layout of the "mythological" side
    Reconstruction of the layout of the "mythological" side
  • Building funeral mounds, Stele of the Vultures
    Building funeral mounds, Stele of the Vultures
  • Inscription "Akurgal king of Lagash, son of Ur-Nanshe" (𒀀𒆳𒃲 𒈗 𒉢𒁓𒆷𒆠 𒌉 𒌨𒀭𒀏).[12][13]
    Inscription "
    𒈗 𒉢𒁓𒆷𒆠 𒌉 𒌨𒀭𒀏).[12][13]
  • Second scene with Sumerian army
    Second scene with Sumerian army

References

  1. ISBN 978-2-503-53494-7
    .
  2. ^ The Cities of Babylonia. Cambridge Ancient History. p. 28.
  3. ^ Bahrani, Z. 2008. Rituals of war: The body and violence in Mesopotamia, New York: Zone Books.
  4. S2CID 161359212
    .
  5. ^ F. Thureau-Dangin, "Die sumerischen und akkadischen Königsinschriften" (SAKI). Leipzig, pp. 10-21, 1907 (transliteration and translatio
  6. ^
    ISSN 0091-7338
    .
  7. ISBN 978-0-521-57568-3
    .
  8. ^ van Dijk-Coombes, Renate Marian. "Lions and Winged Things: A Proposed Reconstruction of the Object on the Right of the Lower Register of the Mythological Side of Eannatum's Stele of the Vultures." Die Welt Des Orients, vol. 47, no. 2, 2017, pp. 198–215
  9. ^ Thorkild Jacobsen, Toward the image of Tammuz and other essays on Mesopotamian history and culture 1970, p. 393; Eva Strommenger, Five thousand years of the art of Mesopotamia 1964 p. 396
  10. ^ Alster, Bendt. "Images and Text on the 'Stele of the Vultures.'" Archiv Für Orientforschung, vol. 50, 2003, pp. 1–10
  11. ISBN 978-0-8020-3586-8
    .
  12. ISBN 978-2-503-53494-7
    .
  13. ^ Découvertes en Chaldée... / publiées par L. Heuzey . 1ère-4ème livraisons / Ernest de Sarzec - Choquin de Sarzec, Ernest (1832-1901). pp. Plate XL.

Further reading

  • Nadali, Davide. "How many soldiers on the 'Stele of the Vultures'? A hypothetical reconstruction." Iraq, vol. 76, 2014, pp. 141–48
  • Romano, L., La Stele degli Avvoltoi. Una rilettura critica, in Vicino Oriente, XIII, 2007, pp. 205–212, 3–23
  • Winter, Irene J. "Eannatum and the 'King of Kish'?: Another Look at the Stele of the Vultures and 'Cartouches' in Early Sumerian Art." Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie 76.2 (1986): 205-212

External links

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