Part VIII

It was evidently regarded as the highest aim of the older art of Babylonia to tell a story, and as the tendency towards elaboration increased, the result was an endeavor to give a continuous tale by means of successive scenes in which some details were symbolically indicated and others most realistically set forth.

The lack, however, of a true artistic instinct comes out especially in the manner in which the accompanying inscription is allowed to interfere with the effect of the drawing or design, frequently running across figures, inserted wherever there was any room without regard to its effect upon the monument, as in the case of a sculptured votive offering from the days of Entemena, the nephew of Eannatum, interesting as furnishing a detailed drawing of the heraldic device of Lagash (Plate XLIX, Pig. 1) above referred to. The material is an artificial composite of clay and bitumen, having the appearance of black stone.

The drawing is again divided into two compartments with an ornamental scroll-shaped design below. The eagle has a human face, an interesting testimony to the antiquity of the endeavor to reproduce in art the hybrid creatures which led in the course of further development to human headed bulls and lions in Babylonia and to the winged bulls with human faces in Assyria as well as to the sphinxes in Hittite art. ^[1]

The combination of the human and animal form rests ultimately upon two features, the resemblance often so striking between the features of a child or a man and some animal, and, secondly, the occurrence of all kinds of anomalies in the young of animals and in the case of infants, ^[2] which suggested to the primitive mind the possibility of the actual production of "mixed" creatures.

Symbolism seized hold of the belief and made of the combination the union of the powers and attributes suggested by the animal represented with human features. The crouching heifer in the second compartment is probably also to be taken as a symbol of power, just as on another monument we have the combination of the same two designs the human headed eagle clutching lions and ibexes with crouching bulls. ^[3]

In contrast to the eagle which gives a decidedly grotesque impression, relieved only by the force with which he clutches the lions, the natural force of the heifer full of life and vigor raises the work to a much higher degree of artistic execution. It is much to be regretted thait a stele found at Telloh, illustrating in detail the course of a conflict with an enemy, should have been discovered in so fragmentary a state. In its complete form it must have told its story in a particularly effective manner.

The two fragments that have been pieced together show us in the upper row the combatants marching to the encounter, in the middle the engagement itself and in a third presumably the victory, with a procession of captives and, perhaps, an offering to Ningirsu. It is a hand-to-hand encounter. The enemy is represented as naked, while the king's soldiers have helmets and short skirts. The scene is full of life and dramatic in the different pose given to each figure so far as preserved (see Plate XLIX, Fig. 2). T

he highest point in this realistic portrayal of an actual conflict, which was obviously a favorite subject intrusted to the official artists of the rulers, is reached in a remarkable monument discovered in the course of the excavations at Susa and which formed part of the spoil taken from Babylonia by an Elamite conqueror in the twelfth century. The monument, a limestone slab, shows the king Naram-Sin of Agade (c. 2550 B.C.) and his victorious army fighting in a mountainous district.

PLATE XLIX

Fig. 1, Heraldic design of Lagash

Fig. 2, Conflict with an enemy

The difficulties of the region are symbolized by the high steep cone which the king is about to ascend. The manner in which the soldiers are distributed is also intended to convey the impression of an army marching up the side of a mountain. A tree is added to suggest a thickly wooded district. All this is, to be sure, crude, but the main effort of the artist is devoted to the delineation of the king as the central figure, and in this he has been entirely successful. The great stature as usual is supposed to accord with the royal rank.

He towers over the enemy as well as over his own soldiers. His spear has sunk deep into the neck of the enemy crouching before him, and he holds a second spear in his hand ready to continue the attack.

The moulding of the right arm showing the strong muscles and reproducing the strong grip of Naram-Sin on his weapon is admirable. The face is unfortunately badly preserved, but the shape of the head, the carefully arranged beard, the tightly fitting helmet betray a skill in keeping with the splendid poise of the body and the well proportioned limbs. The horns attached to the helmet are the symbol of divinity to which Naram-Sin laid claim.

The numerous figures are so grouped as to lead up to that of the king as representing the climax. It was regarded sufficient to indicate by the garb and by the pose the broad distinction between the soldiers of the king and those of the enemy, but within these limitations the stele of Naram-Sin shows an advance in the variations in the pose of individuals, in contrast to the earlier conventional sameness. ^[4]

This marked tendency toward individual treatment is still further accentuated in another monument of the days of Naram-Sin found near Diarbekr far up in the northern region of the Tigris, erected there by the triumphant king to commemorate his achievements in the extreme north. ^[5]

The material is again a soft stone on which a large figure of the king has been sculptured in a most effective manner. This is no longer a conventionalized face but an attempt to give a portrait of the king. Despite the imperfect preservation of the monument, the face has an expression which is distinctly individualistic. If we are justified in associating this advance in sculpture with the age of Naram-Sin, perhaps as a result of the intellectual stimulus incident to the advance in the Semitic control of the Euphrates Valley, then we may ascribe to the same period an exquisite relief on black steatite which for grace and attention to details belongs to the best that this high antiquity has left to us. ^[6]

It represents the goddess Ninsun seated on a throne. Her expression is singularly attractive. There is a softness and beneficence in her manner which add an element of great charm. The dress, gracefully arranged in folds, covers the entire body and a necklace adorns her throat. The neat arrangement of the hair is in keeping with the. exceedingly fine execution of the whole figure. The eye of the goddess is correctly shown in profile another proof of the advance in art. The same quality of workmanship, though not so successfully carried out, is to be seen in a fragmentary bas-relief picturing the divine pair, Ningirsu the patron deity of Lagash and his consort Bau. ^[7]

The latter is seated on the knees of the god, who turns towards her with a look of extreme tenderness. The expression on the face of the goddess is less pronounced owing to defective preservation, but one can still recognize the endeavor to give to her features a softness and femininity which are intended to present a contrast to those of the male figure.

PLATE L

Fig. 1 (let), Stele of Naram-Sin, King of Agade (c. 2550 B.C.)
Fig. 2 (right), Bas-Relief of Naram-Sin, King of Agade

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

See Plate LIV, Fig. 1 and Meyer, Kultur und Reich der Chetiter, Figs. 9 and 61.

[2]:

See the elaboration of this thesis in the author's Babylonian-Assyrian Birth Omens and their Cultural Significance (Giessen, 1914) ; also above, Plate V, Fig. 1 ; Plate XXXII and Plate LIV, Pig. I1

[3]:

See below, Plate LXXI, Fig. 1.

[4]:

The original inscription accompanying the monument is almost entirely missing, but on the cone, representing a mountain, Shutruk-Nakhunte, the king of Elam who carried the monument to his capital as a trophy in the twelfth century B.C., has written a record of this act.

[5]:

See above, p. 136.

[6]:

Plate XL VI, Pig. 2.

[7]:

See illustration above, Plate XLII, Pig. 3.