Standard of Ur
by Weston Westmoreland
Title
Standard of Ur
Artist
Weston Westmoreland
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Standard of Ur, War Panel, Sumerian Empire, c. 2600 BC.
The Standard of Ur is a Sumerian artifact. It comprises a hollow wooden box measuring 8.50 in wide by 19.50 in long, inlaid with a mosaic of shell, red limestone and lapislazuli. It was found in a royal tomb in Ur next to the skeleton of a ritually sacrificed man. It dates to the First Dynasty of Ur during the Early Dynastic period. The standard was probably constructed in the form of a hollow wooden box with scenes of war and peace represented on each side through elaborately inlaid mosaics. Although interpreted as a standard by its discoverer, the original function of the Standard of Ur is not conclusively understood.
The current form of the artifact is a reconstruction that presents the best guess of its original appearance. It has been interpreted as a hollow wooden box. The box has an irregular shape with end pieces in the shape of truncated triangles, making it wider at the bottom than at the top.
Inlaid mosaic panels cover each long side of the Standard and are one of the few examples of Sumerian mosaic to reach our days. Each presents a series of scenes displayed in three registers, upper, middle and bottom. The two mosaics have been dubbed "War" and "Peace" for their subject matter, respectively a representation of a military campaign and scenes from a banquet. The panels at each end originally showed fantastical animals. Both sides use hierarchical proportion in the depiction of the forms of the art, with the most important individuals appearing larger than less important ones.
"War" is one of the earliest representations of a Sumerian army, engaged in what is believed to be a border skirmish and its aftermath. The panel shows the king in the middle of the top register, standing taller than any other figure, with his head projecting out of the frame to emphasize his supreme status. He stands in front of his bodyguard and a four-wheeled wagon drawn by a team of some sort of equids (possibly onagers or domestic asses since horses were only introduced in the 2nd millennium BC after being imported from Central Asia). He faces a row of prisoners, all of whom are portrayed as naked, bound and injured with large, bleeding gashes on their chests and thighs – a device indicating defeat and debasement. In the middle register, eight virtually identically depicted soldiers give way to a battle scene, followed by a depiction of enemies being captured and led away. The soldiers are shown wearing leather cloaks and helmets; actual examples of the sort of helmet depicted in the mosaic were found in the same tomb. The nudity of the captive and dead enemies was probably not meant to depict literally how they appeared in real life, but was more likely to have been symbolic and associated with a Mesopotamian belief that linked death with nakedness.
The lower register shows four wagons, each carrying a driver and a warrior (carrying either a spear or an axe) and drawn by a team of four equids. The wagons are depicted in considerable detail; each has solid wheels (spoked wheels were not invented until about 1800 BC) and carries spare spears in a container at the front. The arrangement of the equids' reins is also shown in detail, illustrating how the Sumerians harnessed them without using bits, which were only introduced a millennium later. The wagon scene evolves from left to right in a way that emphasizes motion and action through changes in the depiction of the animals' gait. The first wagon team is shown walking, the second cantering, the third galloping and the fourth rearing. Trampled enemies are shown lying under the hooves of the latter three groups, symbolizing the potency of a wagon attack.
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Weston Westmoreland
Uploaded
October 4th, 2022
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