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Ancient Mediterranean + Europe
Unit 2: Lesson 2
Sumerian- The Sumerians and Mesopotamia
- Sumerian art, an introduction
- White Temple and ziggurat, Uruk
- Archaeological reconstructions
- Warka Vase
- Standing Male Worshipper from Tell Asmar
- Perforated Relief of Ur-Nanshe
- Cylinder seals
- The Standard of Ur
- Standard of Ur and other objects from the Royal Graves
- Standard of Ur
- The ‘Ram in a Thicket’
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The Standard of Ur
Standard of Ur, c. 2600-2400 B.C.E., 21.59 x 49.5 x 12 cm (British Museum) Speakers: Dr. Steven Zucker & Dr. Beth Harris. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Want to join the conversation?
- In what museum can you see the Standard of Ur?(2 votes)
- From the author:This information is in caption above the video. In this case, its in the British Museum.(2 votes)
- Who conquered the sumerians?(2 votes)
- Sumer Saragon of Akkad conquered the Sumerians various states and founded the Akkadian empire which lasted for about 200 years (2371-2159 BC.).(2 votes)
- At, how could they tell that the donkeys were male? 5:37(1 vote)
- It would make more sense to bring male donkeys into war than female. One stallion can breed with many mares. Why risk your breeding mares in battle?(6 votes)
- I question the classification of "importance" of members of society the speakers bring up. Clearly, the "upper classes" are only feasting on the common laborers, and without them, they couldn't lead their luxurious lives. If anything, the Standard of Ur strikes me as a predecessor of the classical Pyramid of Capital System caricature: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Anti-capitalism_color.jpg(2 votes)
- One may argue that it preceeds any hierarchial system: economical, political, religious or other. This is one absolute characteristic of mankind, some lead, some follow. Nothing new (or old) here.(3 votes)
- I found it interesting that the lecturer assumed the shells in the standard came from one particular body of water. Has there been testing on the shell fragments, or is this speculation?(3 votes)
- Atit says that it may have been carried into battle on a pole. I was wondering how that works because the Stele looks very heavy. Also, where would the pole be attached? 0:41(2 votes)
- Perhaps this was a gift to the king commemorating a battle, or was intended as a sort of promotional piece that depicts his wisdom as a ruler -- fierce and victorious in battle, but leading the land to prosperity during peacetime. Much of the ancient art I've seen over the years that was not overtly religious has one of these purposes: I won, or, I'm such a great guy/gal.(3 votes)
- it is really weird that some warriors are much smaller than others. Do you think that some are children?(2 votes)
- Their heights aren't the issue-- it's their relative heights.
The rulers are shown as larger than warriors. That tells you nothing about their actual height. It's symbolic, and because it's used so universally, obviously it's important. "They didn't have rulers' is the most inane comment yet! They had what you think of as a ruler (as well as plumb lines) and they had a high degree of engineering. Artists depicted their relative sizes this way out of reverence and respect to the rulers and elites of the day.(2 votes)
- how old is the box type thing?(2 votes)
- The
Standard of Ur
was made during the Sumerian:Dynastic Period in Mesopotamia around 2600BCE(4614 years old)
.
I'm actually learning about this period now in my Art History college course.(1 vote)
- Why do they just did these tombs up don't you think they want to be left in peace?(2 votes)
- This is the job of archaeologists. They discover artifacts for our knowledge. However I do understand it is respectful to keep tombs unopened.(2 votes)
- Is it possible that the standard could have been a capstone piece (or a reproduction of one) that was placed atop one of the columns of the Ziggurat of Ur, e.g., to display the exploits of that particular King. It seems to be a similar taper to the structure. Has this speculation been tested and ruled out geometrically?(1 vote)
- Not many things have been ruled out about this since it was found. The problem is a lack of inscription to understand better what this means. I believe that you are suggesting that this was put up in honor of the king of the time and then buried with someone later. Ofcourse this probably would only make sense if it was buried with the king or the creator of it. There are cases later where certain objects will tell and even warn certain people about the certain ruler or kingdom, like the Lamassu. While what you are proposing could be true, you probably could not find much support to argue your case. Good question.(4 votes)
Video transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING] DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: On the
back of the US dollar bill there is an emblem of an eagle. In its talons you have arrows,
of course, a symbol of war. But on the other side,
you have an olive branch, a symbol of peace. DR. BETH HARRIS:
That's not so different than this object that
we're looking at that's nearly 4,500 years
old, an object known is the Standard
of Ur, which comes from the city-state of Ur, which
is now in present day Iraq. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
In Mesopotamia, really the birthplace
of civilization, and Ur is one of the
great early cities. The word standard is
a little misleading because a standard is
really a flag that's often brought into battle. And the original
excavator of this hypothesized that perhaps
this was on a pole originally and was brought into battle. But in truth, we have no idea. DR. BETH HARRIS: So often,
when we're in a museum, and we're talking
about ancient objects, we're talking about objects
that had been buried, but buried just because
of the passage of time. And here we're
looking at objects that were intentionally buried. They were part of what seems to
have been an elaborate burial ritual. These were excavated in
the '20s and the early '30s by a man named Leonard
Woolley, who discovered about 16 tombs that
he called royal tombs. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: Again,
we really don't know. But what we do
know is that we see fabulously expensive objects. DR. BETH HARRIS: And one
of those valuable objects was the object we call today
the Standard of Ur, which is small but quite beautiful
and elaborately decorated. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
Historians have thought that perhaps
this is a sound box for a musical instrument. Others have thought it might
have contained something important, perhaps
even the currency that was used to pay for warfare. We simply don't know. DR. BETH HARRIS: So that's
one of the wonderful things about this object is
that it tells us so much. And at the same time,
it tells us so little. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
So let's start off with just a simple description. So we have this
object that is small enough so that it could
easily be carried. DR. BETH HARRIS:
One long side seems to represent a scene of
peace and prosperity. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: It's
divided into three registers. And it's framed with
beautiful pieces of shell. Now, this is important
because it really does show us the
long distance trade that this culture
was involved with. You've got blue
lapis lazuli that came from mines in Afghanistan. You have a red stone that
would come from India. And you've got the shells, which
would have come from the gulf just to the south
of what is now Iraq. And it reminds us that
these first great cities were possible
because agriculture had been successful. In the river valley between
the Tigris and Euphrates, it was possible to grow
a surplus of food that allowed for an
organization of society where not everybody had to
be in the field all the time. Once there was enough
food, some people could devote their lives
to being rulers and some to becoming artists or artisans. DR. BETH HARRIS: And
some to priests, right? You had a whole organization of
society with different people performing different roles
that was suddenly possible. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: And you
can see that organization represented in the
three registers here. The most important, wealthiest,
most powerful figures are towards the top. And then, we have the common
laborers down at the bottom. DR. BETH HARRIS: And it's really
typical in ancient Near Eastern art, for us to see scenes
divided into registers. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: So
let's start at the bottom and move up. I see a human figure
bearing a heavy bag. DR. BETH HARRIS:
And that's really what we have along the entire
bottom register, figures who seem to be bringing
things to a destination. We see animals, figures carrying
things across their shoulders or on their backs. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
Just above that, you can see a number of
people leading more clearly identifiable animals. You can see somebody
herding along what looks like a
sheep or a ram. You see a bull in front of
that being led by two people. And then, perhaps goats,
perhaps sheep, ahead of that, and another bull. These are people that
might be bringing these animals to sacrifice. They might be bringing
them as a kind of taxation. We really don't know. But people have
hypothesized that this is showing a kind of collection,
perhaps for the king, for the city. The register at the top
clearly shows one figure that's more important
than the rest. The king is larger,
in fact so large that his head breaks
into the pictorial frame. DR. BETH HARRIS: And he also
wears different clothing that helps to identify him. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: He's seated
on a chair that is interesting because it's got three
straight legs and one leg that seems to be the
leg of an animal. DR. BETH HARRIS:
Some of the objects that we see here
are objects that were also found in the burials. But I don't think they found
the chair that resembles that. That would be fun to see. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
One of the objects that has been found,
however, are the cups that so many of the
figures here are holding. And so clearly,
these figures are joining the king
in some libation. They're drinking perhaps
beer, perhaps wine. We're not sure. DR. BETH HARRIS: There's some
kind of celebration going on. Some festivity or perhaps
a religious ceremony. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
It's worth noting that even the secondary figures
here, that is the figures who are seated but are not
the king, are larger than the servants that surround
them that are standing. And so even within
the register, you have a hierarchy that shows
the relative importance of three levels of society. DR. BETH HARRIS: And
then we have two figures at the far end who
seem to be entertaining the seated figures
who were drinking. One is playing a harp
and another figure on the far right,
perhaps singing. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: Let's
go to the other side. It's a very different story. DR. BETH HARRIS:
So again, we have a scene divided into
three registers. But here, we see terrible
scenes of violence. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
We see a rendering of what is pretty
clearly warfare. There are four chariots
that are pulled by what seem to be
four male donkeys. On the back of each
chariot seem to be a driver, as well as a warrior. The figure towards the
rear, you'll notice, is holding either
a spear or an ax. And then being trampled by
the horses, perhaps felled by those weapons, are the enemy. If you look closely, you can
see some extraordinary detail. Look at one of the men that has
been felled under the horse, you can see his wounds. You can see blood flowing. And if you look closely you
can notice the mechanism of the actual wheels
of the chariots. There's a kind of
specific engineering that's being rendered here. DR. BETH HARRIS: One of
the most interesting things about the bottom panel
is a kind of naturalism in the battle that seems
to be taking place. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: You
seem to move from a walk to a kind of canter
to a full gallop. DR. BETH HARRIS:
On the other hand, some elements are
really symbolic, like the felled enemies that
you were talking about before. I don't think we're meant to
assume that there were actually just four people who
died in this battle. That's the number we see. But clearly, that's
symbolic of many more. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
The middle register shows a line of soldiers
readied for battle. They are in full garb. They're wearing helmets. And these helmets
have, again, been found in the
so-called royal tombs. DR. BETH HARRIS: What's
wonderful about these soldiers is their regular placement. That gives you a
real sense of an army that's sort of marching along. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: You
get a sense of order. You get a sense of structure. You get a sense of
real discipline. But towards the middle
of that register, you see the actual
battle taking place. And you see these
soldiers victorious, slaying their enemies. On the right side of
that middle register, you see soldiers that are
perhaps being captured. DR. BETH HARRIS: And our
eye in the top register goes immediately
to the large figure at the center,
which is obviously, once again, the king,
his head, again, breaks the decorative
border along the top, on the left, a
chariot and soldiers and on the right, other
soldiers or attendants bringing to the king prisoners of war. And we can tell that
these are prisoners of war because they're naked. They've been stripped. And they're wounded
and bleeding. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: So there's
the sense of their humiliation, their enslavement, and the
great victory of the king. It's interesting to look closely
at the stylistic conventions of the rendering of the figures. Just about everybody's
seen in perfect profile. We see one eye. And that one eye is not so much
looking forward as looking out. DR. BETH HARRIS: Right,
it's sort of frontal, on the side of the face. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: That's right. In a way that is familiar
from Egyptian art, we see the shoulders squared
with the picture plane. And we see feet pushing
in one direction rather than being
seen in perspective. DR. BETH HARRIS: So we can
use our visual detective work, but there's still so
much that's a mystery. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: What
it does tell us, though, is that the way that
we tell a story, the way that we
tell one over time, the way that we organize
our society, even now, in the 21st century,
has a lot in common with the third millennium BCE. [MUSIC PLAYING]