narration in babylonian art

5/26/2018 Narration in Babylonian Art

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Narration in Babylonian ArtAuthor(s): Ann PerkinsSource: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 61, No. 1 (Jan., 1957), pp. 54-62Published by: Archaeological Institute of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/501081.

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54 ANN PERKINS [AJA 61to keepalivesuch scenesof fable as the animalorchestra hichappearsn anAlexandrinianeliefvaseof theHellenistic eriod."'hereevenexists,aspointedutbyE.Brunner-Traut,ninth enturyA.D.Coptic aintinghowing catand hreemice,whichmaybe a far laterdescendantf the sametradition."9ut, thoughthe classicalworldmayhave nheritedromEgyptian apyri systemof

inserting illustrativevignettes amid the texts ofmanuscriptsnd romEgyptian opularrtanimalfables and their illustrations,he most originalachievementsf Egyptiannarrativert did notsurvive he end of the period hat had broughtthem forth.

ORIENTAL INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO68 Rudolf Pagenstecher,Die griechisch-dgyptischeSammlungErnst von Sieglin, Part 3: Die Gefdsse in Stein und Ton;Knochenschnitzereien (Expedition Ernst von Sieglin: Aus-

grabungen in Alexandria, Vol. 2, Leipzig 1913) pl. xxIv, 2.9AZ 80 (i955) pl. I, i.

Narrationn Babylonian rtANN PERKINS

PLATES 17-20Between the late fourth millenniumandthe end

of the thirteenth century B.c. Babylonian artistswere producingworksof art which may be callednarrative y our definition,but such worksarefewcomparedo the numberwith purelydecorative rsymbolic ntent.' The desire to commemorate ig-nificantevents and the idea of pictorialdepictionof a story existed by the end of the prehistoricperiod,but the majorlines of development f thearts evolved with other considerationsn mind.-The situation s similar o that of earlyEgypt,butthe forms in which the artistic deas of the twolandswereexpressed reverydifferent.The Baby-lonianartists hought alwayson a smallscale,andthe vehiclesof artisticexpressionwereportable b-

jects:vases,plaques,stelae,cylinderseals."Large-scale mural relief work, such as that known inEgypt from the Old Kingdomon, was impossiblein alluvialBabylonia,which had no suitable tone.The plasteredbrick walls of the Babylonian uild-ings, however,might easilyhave servedfor large-scale mural paintingcomparablen scope to theEgyptianreliefs.This was indeed tried in the lateprehistoricage in the temple of Uqair.' To themoderneye thesepaintingsare effective,yet theyseemnot to havepleased he Babylonian,or repre-sentationalmural painting does not occur again,as faras we know,untilthe lateeighteenth enturyB.C.5Examinationof the monumentsdoes not reveal

1The author is more inclined than Goodenough (E. R.Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period IV[I954] esp. 25-43) to accept many designs as decorationalone.It should not be denied that an original symbolic value mayhave existed for all representationaldesign, but unless it isdemonstrable that a given motif was a "live symbol" (to useGoodenough's terminology) at the time of its depiction, it seemsjustifiable to consider it pure decoration. Hence "symbolic"inthis paper is to be construed as having the connotation ofGoodenough's "live symbols."2This and many other ideas embodied in the present paperwere first suggested by the late Henri Frankfort, with whomthe author had the privilege of studying for some years. Hisencyclopaedicknowledge of the civilizations of the ancient Ori-ent and of the history of art in general, coupled with penetrat-ing insight and ability in formal analysis, made him one of theforemost Kunstforscher of our time. It is regrettable indeedthat his prematuredeath left us with only one general work onNear Easternart, The Art and Architectureof the Ancient Orient("Pelican History of Art" Harmondsworth 1954, hereafterreferred to as "Frankfort,Art"), in which the vast amount of

material covered precluded a comprehensive presentation oftheoreticalquestions.3 There is a certainoddity in the use of so small an objectasa cylinder seal as a vehicle for narrative.Also its mode of use,rolled across wet clay, permits an indefinite number of revolu-tions, which scarcelypromotesclarity of design and seems par-ticularly unsuited for narrative art. Yet the Babyloniansobvi-ously had no such scruples.See also the comments of Mrs. H.A. Groenewegen-Frankfort,Arrest and Movement (Chicago1951) I53f, a brilliant and stimulating book which is a mostvaluable contributionto the study of ancient art. Since its chiefconcern is space and time as expressed in pre-Classicalart, thequestion of narrative is rather peripheral; nevertheless Mrs.Frankfortmakes numerous very pertinentcomments, as will beevident from the number of references to her book here.4 S. Lloyd and F. Safar, "Tell Uqair," JNES 2 (I943) 139-I43 and pls. x-xiu.5 Conceivablythis may be due to accident of excavation, butin view of the large number of known buildings dating fromthe intervening centuries, it is most improbable that mural

painting was practicedduring that time and has simply failed

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1957] NARRATION IN BABYLONIAN ART 55anyclear ines of developmentn the manner fexpressingarrativeuring henearlywomillen-nia underconsideration.romthe beginning fBabylonianarrativert two methods f depictionareemployed. he mostfavored newas allusiverather han explicit,employinghe culminatingscene--one roupof figures, nemoment f time,at the climax f a series f events-tostand or theentirestory.This was undoubtedlyntended oarouse n the viewer'smind recollectionf thecompletetory, nd n additionostand sasymbolof thedeeperying deas,beliefs, rpsychicalrien-tationof thecommunity,sin ourownsocietyhecrucifixsexpectedorecall he entirePassiontoryand alsothe fundamental hristian elief n theredemptionf mankind ythesacrificef Christ."Anothermethod s also employedn Babylonia,showinguccessivepisodesf a story, ften uxta-posedwithout leardelimitation.eldom,f ever,sthereanattempto depict ll theepisodes;ather,a groupof scenes,perhapsonly two or three,epitomizesheentire ctionn small ompass. gainwe mustassume hatthe monumentadsymbolicas well as purely epresentationalalue,and thatthe selection f sceneswas made argelywiththesymbolic nd in view. A modernanalogymightbe the Stations f the Cross,bringingbefore heeyesof the faithful he successivepisodes f thePassion, lthoughn thiscase hestorys virtuallycompleteand the episodesclearlydelimited. tmightbe expectedhatthe moreexplicitmethod

of narrationwould be used for historicalrecords,the detailsof which were perhapsnot generallyknown to the audience,while myths and epics,illustrating upposedlymorefamiliarhemes,mightbe epitomized n a single culminating cene. Thissensible and logical practice,however, was notconsistentlyollowed.Nor is there a chronologicaldistinctionbetweenthe two methods;both appearnearthe end of the prehistoric ge, and both con-tinue through the whole period coveredby thispaper.One of the earliestnarrativemonuments s a tallstone vase (figs. 1-2) found in a templeprecinctin the Sumeriancity of Uruk.7Its exact date isunknown but it certainlybelongs n the latterpartof the prehistoric eriod, n round numbers hortlybefore3000B.C.8 t showsofferings f food anddrinkbrought to the goddess Inanna by a processionheadedby the city ruler (presumably-thevase isbroken ustat thispointandonly fragments f hisfigure are preserved).The "culminationmethod"of expressinghe story s employed, he finalsceneof what must havebeena lengthyritual,culminat-ing in the confrontation f man and deity.The fileof offeringbearers n the secondregister s a con-tinuationof the scene at the top, and the doublelowerregisterwith its rows of animalsand plantsgives the psychical mbiance uitable or a goddessof fertility.The strict separationof the registersthereforedoes not reflectseparationn time or inidea.' The storyitself is uncertain; he vase may

to be found.It maybe mentioned hatAssyria,which did havestonesuitable or relief,has yieldedno worksof narrative rtpriorto the first millenniums.c.6 Of course t is essential hat the beholderbe familiarwiththe story,and here the Orientalists on less sureground hanthe Classicist,or the legends,myths,and epicsof the Easternlandsarestill nonetoowellknown. n fact, t is often mpossibleto be sure that a givenOrientalmonument s narrativen therestricted ense in which the term is usedhere:depiction f aspecificperson ngaged n specific cts.Oftenthe mostone cando on intrinsic vidence nd by analogywith otherworks s tosuggestthe probabilityf a certainmonumentbeingnarrative,and it will be clearthat severalworksmentioned n this paperbelong n the category f "probables."he Orientalistmayalsobe saved romthe indiscriminateidentification"f scenes romepic or mythsuchas has occurredn Greekarchaeology;.g.,the famousGeometric owl often assumed o portray he ab-ductionof Helen.See mostrecentlyR. Hampe,Die GleichnisseHomersund die BildkunsteinerZeit (Tiibingen 952) 30 andAbb. I8b. Thereis, of course,nothing mprobablen the ideathat the Iliad storieswere in commoncirculationn the lateeighth century,but the scene in question s of a somewhatdubiouscharacter nd may equallywell be a farewellor agreeting.

7E. Heinrich,Kleinfundeaus den archaischenTempel-

schichten n Uruk(Leipzig1936) 15f and pls. 2, 38.8 Absolutedatesare avoidedas far as possible n this papersince the chronology f earlyBabylonias still not settled.Inexplanationf the few datesused t maybe said thatthe authoris an adherentof the "low chronology,"irst advocated ndmostconsistentlyefendedby W. F. Albright.This chronologyputs the reignof Hammurabi t 1728-1686B.c.; datesof pre-cedingperiodsarecountedback fromthison the basisof kinglists, synchronismsetween ulersn various reas, ndarchaeo-logicalevidence.Naturallyas one regressesoward the begin-ning of the historicage the written data are fewer and thearchaeologicalonsequentlymore important.Hence in EarlyDynasticas well as in the prehistoricgesit is prudent o useroundnumbers nd "ca." or all dates,avoidinghe appearanceof a spuriousprecision. or a succinct ccountof the problemand of Albright's osition ee his paper,"A ThirdRevision ftheEarlyChronologyf WesternAsia,"BASOR 8 (Dec.1942)28-33.Whilemore nformationas beengainedsince hattime,the positionhas not substantiallyhanged.9The divisionof the surface nto registers,he depiction fgroupaction in files of singlefigures, he use of largerscalefor the chief actors(here veryslightbut certainly eliberate),and the matter-of-factepresentationf the deity withoutanynuminous uggestionother than the identifyinghornedhead-dress,are all qualitiescharacteristicf Babylonian epresenta-



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56 ANN PERKINS [AJA 61depict ceremonies leading up to the ritual marriagewhich in historic times was so prominent a part ofBabylonian religious practice,10and if so, it is arecurrentevent and hence not narrative n our senseof the word. It is equally possible, however, thatthe relief shows a specificrulerperforming a presen-tation ritual on a specific occasion (e.g., in celebra-tion of military success); and the numerous andelaborate offerings behind the goddess, as well asthe magnificence of the vase itself, incline theauthor to the latter view. There are of course nocontemporary records, and later documents giveno assistance in interpretation.A more specificallynarrativedesign occurson fig.3, which is a reconstruction made from severalfragmentary impressions of a cylinder seal, alsofrom Uruk and of about the same dateas the vase."There has been a battle, now clearly over, and thelarge figure on the right-presumably again thecity ruler-is victorious,his enemies lying dead onthe field or brought to him as bound captives.Formally the seal differs from the vase in the useof a single register with figures scattered over thefield, but again the culminating moment is chosento exemplify a complex series of actions and tosymbolize graphically the invincible power of theruler. At this early time when cylinder seals arerelatively rare, it is reasonable to assume that theyare all official documents; hence this is not a gen-eralized design of a battle but the recording of aspecificbattle,the details of which cannot beknownin the absence of text. It is then the earliestdefinite-ly historicalmonument from Babylonia.

Slightly later but still before the historic age isa basalt stela from Uruk (fig. 4),12 which, crudeas the shape may seem, is the first independent artform known from Babylonia, an object which hasno other function than to be the vehicle of thisrelief. Here decorative considerations are absent;tional art in succeeding ages. The continuance of these formalqualities through centuriesprovides a good parallel to the simi-lar continuanceof methods of narration.10It has been so identified without qualification by some;e.g., Mrs. Groenewegen-Frankfort,Arrest and Movement, 151;Frankfort,Art, Io.11A. N6ldeke, E. Heinrich, E. Schott, "Fiinfter vorliufigerBericht fiber die von der Notgemeinschaft der deutschen Wis-senschaft in Uruk unternommenenAusgrabungen,"Abh.Berlin,phil.-hist. Klasse (1933) 46 and pl. 23a. Cf. H. Frankfort,CylinderSeals (London 1939) 22f, and fig. 6.12N6ldeke, Heinrich, Schott, op.cit. (supra, n. 11) 11-13and pls. 12, 13. It is an irregularblock ca. 2.20 m. high.

the twogroups remerelyplacedo fill theavail-ablesurfacewithout onflicting,ll attentioneingdevotedothevigorous resentationf a lionhunt.The identity f the two human iguresmakes tquitecertain hat this steladepictshe samemanin twodifferent cts:killingwith bow andarrowat thebottom, nd at closerangewith thejavelinat thetop."8histhen scompositionn twoscenes,orthe"episodicethod"n a most bbreviatedorm.Againfromhisappearancehemanshouldbethecityruler,andthe subjects presumablyn earlypresentationf theroyalhunt shownso explicitlyandbeautifullyn Assyrianeliefs ome wo thou-sandyearsater.1"The beginningf theEarlyDynastic eriodhasas yet yieldedno worksof narrativert;cylinderseals and sculpturedases with representationaldesignsareknown,but the treatmentf themes(mainlyreligiousn nature) s purelydecorative.The absence f examples f narrativertat thistimemaybe purelyaccidentalince n the latterpart of the Early Dynasticperiod,around hemiddleof the thirdmillennium,everal xamplesappear.Best knownof theseexamples robablys the"Standard"f Ur,a hollowbox-likewooden bjectdecorated ithpanels f mosaicn stoneandshellwith inciseddetails."5ere is a complex tory,abattle ndthesubsequentriumphaleast,narratedin six registers.n timeof course hewholeWarPanel(fig. 5) precedeshe PeacePanel(fig. 6).Thefirst cenes in thelowest egisterf theWarPanel; t showsthe battle tself,abridgedntoasinglegroupof a chariotdrawnby fouronagers,with a charioteernd a soldier.Actionproceedsfrom efttoright, hebeasts cceleratingheirpaceas theygo. The soldier,irstweaponless,natchesanddispatches spearroma groupn theholderfastened o thedashboard,henwieldsa battle-ax,

1xSo interpretedalso by Mrs. Frankfort,Arrest and Move-ment, I52, and Frankfort, Art, 14.14 Cf., e.g., a lion hunt of Assurnasirpal I, of which there isan excellent reproductionin Frankfort,Art, pl. 87.15C. L. Woolley, The Royal Cemetery ("Ur Excavations,"2;Oxford 1934) 266-274, pls. 91-92. The use of the object isunknown but its form, relativelysmall size (47 x 20 cm.), andposition at the shoulder of a man in one of the graves suggestthat it was indeed carried as an ensign of some sort. It may bementioned that the end panels also bear mosaics, but thesehave no connection with the narrative panels: conventionalgroups of animal and plant, man-animal, animal row (ibid.pl. 93).



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1957] NARRATION IN BABYLONIAN ART 57then another spear."'In the middle register,whereprisoners are herded along, the course of action isless clear; but probably it is the same man (nearthe middle of the register) who is first seen pros-trate, then is prodded by a guard, and finally getsup and walks along between two guards.The upperregister is clearly a single scene, the climax of theaction: the victorious leader, on a slightly butdefinitely larger scale than his followers, standswith his bodyguardand empty chariot while soldiersbring bound prisoners to him, probably to be dis-patched. (The similarity of this scene to the seal-impression some five hundred years earlier is obvi-ous.) The story continues on the reverse of theStandard (fig. 6). At the bottom the victorioussoldiers of Ur carry off booty, including teamsfrom enemy chariots. Here also progressive actionis probably to be seen in the group of the teamand four men which is repeated identically, hencemoving across the panel from left to right. Above,animals are brought for sacrificeor in preparationfor the triumphal banquet; although the group ofman and bull is repeated, the intervening figuresare not, so this register would be a single episode.And the end of the whole story appears in theupper register where the victor sits drinking withhis followers, entertained by music-again a singlescene. There seems little question but that theStandard shows some specific victory of a ruler ofUr. It uses the "episodicmethod" of narration,butit may be noticed that each side is, as it were,summed up in a culminating scene at the top--agood indication that the two methods which wehave identified were not strictly separated in theminds of the Babylonians.A common type of monument from the secondhalf of the Early Dynastic period is a relief-deco-rated stone plaque with a central hole, probablyoriginally hung on the wall of a temple. Themajority of these have a non-narrativedesign,"'themost common a symposium; but our fig. 7 is an

exception, since its accompanying inscription per-mits positive identification of the persons depictedand the event which the monument commemo-rates.'8 This is Ur-Nanshe, ruler of the city-stateofLagash around the middle of the third millennium,and the plaque records his building of a templefor the city god, Ningirsu. Formally the familiarregistration system is employed, but here un-precedentedly the registers are broken to permita very considerable enlargement of the figure ofUr-Nanshe. The first scene is in the upper register,with the ruler carryingon his head the first basketof bricks for the temple (the Sumerian equivalentof laying the corner-stone), accompaniedby five ofhis children, all named, and by his cup-bearer.Inthe lower register Ur-Nanshe with cup-bearerandfour more of his children drinks in celebrationofthe completion of the temple. This is then the"episodic method," like the Standard but muchcompressed, the first and last scenes in the storybeing assumed to convey the whole idea.The most elaborate Early Dynastic monumentknown is the Stela of the Vultures, erected byEannatum, grandson of Ur-Nanshe." Here a care-fully worked-out pictorial narrativeis accompaniedby a lengthy inscription describing the matter indetail, and in spite of the fragmentarycondition ofthe stela, it is possible to work out the story quitecompletely. The monument records a dispute be-tween Lagash and the neighboring city of Ummaconcerning their common boundary, and its even-tual termination in a decisive military victory forLagash, after which this stela was set up at thereestablished boundary line. The usual registerscheme appearson the obverse (fig. 8), action pro-ceeding from top to bottom. First Eannatum onfoot leads into battle a phalanx of infantry, theirprowess indicated by their position marching overthe prostratebodies of their enemies. At the rightover a great heap of slain enemies hover thevultures which give the stela its name, making off

16 It has been assumed (e.g., Frankfort,Art, 34) that severaldifferent chariots are depicted, but this leaves unexplained theprogressivegait of the beasts.Since each chariot had a containerholding several weapons, the appearanceof the soldier withdifferent weapons in successiverepresentationss easily explainedas indicativeof differentstages of action.17 Cf. H. Frankfort,Sculpture of the Third Millennium B.c.from Tell Asmar and Khafajah ("Oriental Institute Publica-tions," 44; Chicago 1939) pls. 105-114; idem, More Sculpturefrom the Diyala Region ("Oriental Institute Publications,"60;Chicago 1943), pls. 62-67; A. Parrot, Tello, Vingt Campagnesde Fouilles (,877-1933) (Paris 1948) 89, fig. 22, and pls. v,

VII.1s First published by E. de Sarzec and L. Heuzey, Decou-vertes en Chaldie (Paris 1884-1912) pl. 2 bis, fig. I, the plaquehas been reproducedin almost every book dealing with Meso-potamian culture; but its simplicity of design and the fact thatits meaning is made clear by the inscription has precludedmuch discussion. The inscription is published, e.g., in Parrot,

Tello, 91.x9 Reliefs and inscription with commentary published by L.Heuzey and F. Thureau-Dangin, Restitution Matirielle de laStele des Vautours (Paris 19o9).



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58 ANN PERKINS [AJA 61withportionsf thecorpses.20 hesecond egistershowsEannatumn his chariotat the headofanother halanx. elow, he battle s over,andtheruler standsbefore acrificialnimals, pparentlypouringa libation ver an altar. n frontof himthe bodies f theenemyarepiled,andmencarry-ing baskets f earthon theirheadsclimbup thepile to make a burialmoundover the corpses."Twentyunerarymounds eheaped p," ays hetext,havingpreviouslynnounced600victims.21In the nextregister,owest n thepreservedortionof thestela,a tremendouspears about o piercethe skullof a prisoner,ne of a groupno doubtawaiting like fate.Afterthisexplicitportrayalf thebattle he re-verse (fig. 9) presentshe samestoryin moresymbolicorm.Thereareonlytworegistersn thespaceoccupied y four on the obverse, nd thelarger ne at thetopis dominatedy thegiganticfigureof Eannatum, ho holdshis enemiesirmlyin a greatnetcrownedwiththe emblem f Nin-girsu.The textis unequivocal:I,Eannatum,hegreatnet of Enlil [andin otherpassagesariousothergods] over the men of Ummacast,"andhavingcaught hemneatly,he candispatchhemwith ease.22 he smallfigurebehind s probablythe ruler's ersonaloddess, nd below s a frag-ment of a chariotcene.The summarizingf thevictory n a groupdominated y the king fore-

shadows he more dramatic nd impressivetelaof Naram-Sin.Cylinderealsof the lateEarlyDynastic eriodnotinfrequentlyhowdesignswhichmaybe nar-rative: ymposia,ffering cenes,building cenes,

strugglesetweenmenandbeasts;23ut, ike mostof the plaques, hey are not sufficientlypecificforourpurpose.t is common racticeo refer othe heroicighter f the sealsasGilgameshndtoassume hat the man and beastbattles llustrateepisodes f the Gilgamesh pic.24This is by nomeansmpossibleutcannot eproven;n nocaseis a battlesufficientlyxplicit o associatet withanyknownportion f theEpic.Thesucceedingkkadianeriod,whenpoliticalpoweroverall Babyloniawas for the first timeconcentratedn the handsof a singleruler, awno marked reakn thegeneral ulture r in thepracticesf narrativeepiction. utnew elementsappear, f whichone of the moststrikings thelarge numberof cylinderseals illustratinghemythsandepics,of which ourfig. io is an ex-ample.25he mainscene, udging romthe scaleof thefigures,howsonegodkillinganotherwhilea thirdexpressesubilation. he subsidiaryceneshows heconstructionf a building ynumerousgods,identified s suchby theirhornedcrowns.Varioustages f theworkarescatteredbout hefieldwithout nydiscerniblerder.Onegodhacks

20 Frankfort, Art, 33 mentions also lions as scavengers,butthis is certainly erroneous.21Frankfort'sexplanation (ibid. 34) of this scene as showingthe men of Lagash burying their own dead is implausible.Thetext makes a point of the great number of enemy dead, and thelast thing the victorious king would monumentalize is thenumber of his own men lost.22This scene is commonly interpretedas depicting the godNingirsu himself holding the net; cf. Frankfort, Art, 34;Encyclopidie Photographiquede l'Art, I (Paris 1935) I90 (withexcellent photographsof details on succeeding plates); Groene-wegen-Frankfort, Arrest and Movement, 154 and 164, n. 2.A. Spycket, "L'illustration d'un texte hepatoscopique con-cernant Sargon d'Agade (?)," RAssyr. 40 (1945-6) 154, sug-gests that the figure is Eannatum, an identification dismissedby Mrs. Frankfortin the note just cited: "This means to ignoreall textual and pictorial evidence." In view of the king's re-peated statement in the inscriptions,one cannot help wonderingwho is ignoring the textual evidence Mrs. Frankfort does notpresent any pictorial evidence against the identificationof thefigure as Eannatum, contenting herself with the mere state-ment that it is Ningirsu. Parrot (Tello, 96), recognizes thepossibility that the king is depicted but concludes that there is"une pr6f&ence pour Ningirsu." To the present writer, how-ever, it seems temerariousto disregard a contemporary textualidentification of the net-holder in favor of extrapolating themodern Western notion that explicit and symbolic representa-

tions are mutually exclusive.23 Examples may be conveniently found in Frankfort,Cylin-der Seals: symposiapl. xv a,c,f; offeringpl. xv k; building scenepl. xiv j,k; combat pl. xxi a-c.24W. H. Ward, The Seal Cylinders of WesternAsia (Wash-ington I9Io) 59-79; 0. Weber, Altorientalische Siegelbilder("Der Alte Orient," I7-I8; Leipzig I920) I6-8I; L. Dela-porte, Musee du Louvre, Catalogue des Cylindres, I (Paris1920) 3-8; Parrot, Tello, 137f. Cf. the remarks of Frankfort,Cylinder Seals, 62-67. The Epic itself is translated into Englishby E. A. Speiser in Ancient Near Eastern Texts relating to theOld Testament (ed. J. B. Pritchard, Princeton 1950) 72-99.25Cf. Frankfort, CylinderSeals, pls. xvim-xxiv. For example,the legend of Ishtar and Tammuz, BabyloniancounterpartsofVenus and Adonis, appears on pl. xxi a, where the death ofvegetation is shown directly by the breaking and uprooting ofplants; and simultaneouslywithin his mountain grave Tammuzin human form is shown at the moment of his resurrectionbyIshtar. Pl. xxiii shows several scenes involving the capture,judgment, and execution of a bird or bird-man, which illus-trates the Myth of Zu (Ancient Near EasternTexts relating tothe Old Testament, I11-113); while pl. xxiv h shows Etanabeing carriedto heaven by the eagle (ibid. II14-II8). The sealof our fig. io was first published by Dietrich Opitz, "Studienzur altorientalischenKunst," AOF 6 (1930-31) 61f and pl.III, 2.



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1957] NARRATION IN BABYLONIAN ART 59up the earth and puts it into a basket,another witha trowel mixes it with water to form the bricks,a third climbs to the roof of the building carryinga basket of bricks on his head. A god at the topwaits to receive him while another, kneeling, isapparently about to catch a brick tossed up by agod standing on the ground.26Now for the firsttime Babylonian literature comes to our aid ininterpretation,for this illustrates a scene describedin the Epic of Creation: the killing of the evil deityKingu by Marduk and the joy of the other gods,who then said to their champion:

"Now, O lord, thou who hast caused ourdeliverance,What shall be our homage to thee?

Let us build a shrine, a recess for hisabode"'27Akkadian artists no longer used the relief-decor-ated plaques of the Early Dynastic period, but thecommemorative stela was in high favor. Numerousstelae of this age are known from fragments toosmall to elucidate the full story; but the stelaecelebrate military victories if we may judge fromthe belligerent attitudes of the charactersdepicted.

They are composed in fairly low registers like theobverse of the Vulture Stela.28The finest example of Akkadian narrative art isthe victory stela of King Naram-Sin (fig. 11).29Here for the first time (except for the seals) the

design is conceived as a whole and the surfacetreated as a single compositional unit. The ideaof registration is not entirely given up--the threefiles of climbing soldiers are exactly parallel--butthere are no strict separating register lines, and thediagonal direction of these files draws the eye up-ward to focus it on the splendid figure of the king

at the top. This is once more the "culminationmethod" of narration,used with extraordinaryex-pressive and dramatic power. The action itself isless specific than symbolic. The victory and theinvincible power of the deified king are made evi-dent; the events of the campaign resulting invictoryare not. It is surely appropriate hat the mostimpressive work of art known from Babyloniaemphasizes the Babylonian preferencefor the "cul-mination method" of narration, for the symbolicstatement rather than the explicit.The fall of the Akkadian dynasty at the handsof invaders from the eastern mountains threwBabylonia into a state of confusion and almostanarchy.General overlordshipwas exercisedby theconquerors,but at least some cities were left quiteindependent, and the most brilliant age of the cityof Lagash occurred at this time under the localprince Gudea. His magnificent sculpture in theround is well known, and apparently his artistswere no less energetic in the production of stelaewith narrativereliefs. His own texts tell of numer-ous stelae erected in the temple precinctof Ningirsu,and the excavatorsof Lagash have found evidenceof these."8Unfortunately, all were smashed intosmall fragments and are in such condition thatthey are of little use in reconstructing narrative.Suffice it to say that Gudea ignored the exampleof the Naram-Sin stela and used the familiar hori-zontal register system, and that his stelae depictedprocessions, ceremonies accompanied by music,presentations to gods, and apparently military ex-ploits.Also fragmentarybut more reconstructible s thegreat stela of Ur-Nammu, first king of the ThirdDynasty of Ur, who re-unified Babylonia aroundthe middle of the twenty-first century B.C., shortlyafter the reign of Gudea of Lagash." Ignoring his

2* The line dividing the seal roughly in half is, of course, alater mutilation cutting across the whole design.27Tablet VI, lines 49-53. Translated by Speiser in AncientNear EasternTexts relating to the Old Testament, 68.28Parrot, Tello, i33f and pl. x b; Encyclopidie Photo-graphiquede l'Art, I, 212; F. Basmachi,"An Akkadian Stela,"Sumer Io (1954) 16-II9 and pl. I. The first piece has beenmentioned by Frankfort, Art, 43 and by Mrs. Frankfort,Arrestand Movement, I63f, who both conclude in this instance thatthe figure catching the enemy in a net is the king. This to ourmind lends further weight to the identification of the similarfigure on the Stela of the Vultures as the king, a corroborationalso mentioned by Mme. Spycket (see supra, n. 22).29The stela, ca. 2 m. high, is of sandstone. It was found atSusa in Elam, having been taken as booty after an Elamiteconquest of Babylonia.Its beauty has caused it to be reproduced

and discussed n numerousbooksdealingwith Mesopotamianart; see especiallyhe brief but fine formalanalysisof Mrs.Frankfort,Arrestand Movement,164. It may not be out ofplaceto remark hat no photographoesjustice o thisextraor-dinarywork,and thatone'sfirst view of the stela itself in theLouvrehasan almoststunningmpact.SoParrot,Tello, 172-186,with numerous llustrations,n-cluding (p. 18I, fig. 37) a reconstructionf a largestela inseveralregisterswhich resembles he Ur-Nammu telabut ap-parently elebrates militaryvictory.81The fragments f the stela were found in the temenosofUr close to the great ziggurat.The material s limestoneandthe stelawas some xo feet high and 5 feet across,with reliefson both sides.See C. L. Woolley,"Excavationst Ur, 1924-I925," Antiquariesournal5 (I925) 397-400.The stela hasbeenrestored n the UniversityMuseum,Philadelphia. urfig.



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60 ANN PERKINS [AJA 61military achievements,82this monument recordsonly Ur-Nammu's exploits as a builder and takescare to emphasize his attentions to the gods in away unknown to earlier times. On the obverse (fig.12) action moves from top to bottom, the kingfirst receiving the divine command to build, thenpropitiating the gods by libations while he receivesfrom one the measuring-line and rod which arethe builder's equipment. In the third register heis about to initiate the construction ceremoniallywith a sizable kit of tools on his shoulder. Below,the actual building process seems to have beenshown: fragments of a brick wall with a ladderagainst it and a workman carrying a basket ofbuilding materials on his head. There is no pro-gression in time within the registers; each is com-posed from a purely decorativestandpointwith twoperfectly balanced groups. The second register stillpreservesthe identical scenes, but similar composi-tion is to be assumed for the top (where the pre-served scene takes just half of the space, and asecond pedestal at the left suggests another seateddeity), and probablywas used for the third register,where there are fragments of a second group on theleft side facing the king and his party.The opposite side (fig. 13) shows ceremonies andrituals, presumablythose performed for the dedica-tion of the completed building. The round toppedupper register duplicates its counterpart on theobverse, even to the celestial being who pours thelife-giving water. Below, an animal is slaughteredand blood poured from the decapitated body infront of a statue. The middle registerhas a peculiarscene in which a bound man is conducted awayfrom an enthroned figure on the left, and at theother side a bearded man stoops or kneels while apriest raises a hand before his face and a secondpriest performs some ritual before another en-

throned figure. The fourth register has preservedonly two groups,each with two men beating a hugedrum, while the lowest register shows libation andadoration before a standing god or statue. Numer-ous texts of temple rituals include most of theincidents depicted here: slaughter of animals andpouring of their blood at designated spots, beatinggreat drums, offerings of incense, and libations tothe statues of gods.88 The scene of the middleregister is less easy to explain, yet again the writtensources provide a clue. In the ritual of the NewYear's feast in Babylon there is a description ofthe king brought before the city god Bel. "He (thepriest) shall accompany him (the king) into thepresence of the god Bel . . . he shall drag him bythe ears and make him bow down to the ground.. .""s and twice the priest even strikes the kingon the cheek. It seems quite plausible then to seein Ur-Nammu's stela a depiction of some suchceremony illustrating the submission of human todivine power, with at least the appearanceof com-pulsion. Thus this face of the stela would showvarious stagesof a ritual to insure divine acceptanceof the building project which is shown in itsvarious stages on the obverse.Action probablybe-gins at the top, as on the other side; lacking a textfor this particular ritual, we cannot be certain.The fragmentary state precludes much commenton the course of action within registers:the fourthregister shows balanced scenes; the fifth may havedone so; the third has unilateral action from leftto right. It is most unfortunatethat this, the largestnarrativemonument known from Babylonia, is insuch damaged condition.

By this time the illustration of epics and mythson cylinder seals, so beloved in the Akkadian per-iod, has ceased completely. Cylinders of the ThirdDynasty of Ur show little beyond one theme,13, however, is a composite photograph made by the author,which differs from the presentPhiladelphiarestorationby plac-ing in the third register of the reverse the fragment with thekneeling king and restoring in the fourth register the seconddrum fragment which seems to belong there. This restoration sjustifiableboth by the continuity of subject matter and by themanifest fondness for balanced scenes noticeable in other regis-ters. I am greatly indebted for permissionto publish this photo-graph and informationconcerningthe restoredstela to Dr. Rob-ert H. Dyson, Jr., Assistant Curator of the BabylonianSectionof the University Museum.2 The reverse has been thought to deal with military ex-ploits, the third registersaid to contain a row of prisoners (seeibid. 393). However, only one figure in the preservedportioncan possibly be a prisoner: the man on the right edge of theleft-hand fragment, who seems to have arms behind his back,

hence probably bound. Mrs. Frankfort,Arrest and Movement,167, states only that the reverse shows "festive celebrations."Frankfort, Art, 51 speaks of "ceremoniesrelated to the dedica-tion of the temple," an interpretationwith which we concur,with the caveat that the building is not necessarilya temple.Too little of the constructionremainsto allow it to be identified,and the only preserved fragment of inscription on the stelarefers to the prowessof Ur-Nammu as a digger of canals. Wool-ley (The Development of Sumerian Art, London 1935, 12)believes the building is the ziggurat itself, which is an excellentsuggestion since we know that Ur-Nammu did construct thebulk of that great structure.83 Such a ritual text, translatedby A. Sachs, appearsin An-cient Near EasternTexts relating to the Old Testament,339-342.34ibid. 334.



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1957] NARRATIONIN BABYLONIANART 61obeisance to a deity, which is scarcelyspecificenough to be callednarrative n our senseof theword."5Thus for about a millennium (the span fromlate prehistoric imes to the reign of Ur-Nammuis approximately3000-2000)a tradition of narrativeart existedin Babylonia.At this point it seems todie out,or at least to diminishmarkedly.Only twosubsequentmonumentswithin our periodcan beconsiderednarrative, nd botharemerestereotypesof composition.The palaceof the kingsof Marihasyielded rag-ments of numerouswall-paintings,he firstknownsince prehistoricimes." The best preservedpanel(fig. 14) has one narrativeelement: the upperregisterof the centralscene,where the king is in-vested with the insignia of royal power by thegoddessIshtar n the presence f otherdeities.Thisis obviouslya specificevent, at least so conceivedin the minds of the Babylonians, storytold inthe familiar"culminationmethod,"but it appearshere in a context which is completelynon-narra-tive.8 And finally the Code of Hammurabi(fig.15) shows in its well-knowngroupof king beforegod a versionas abbreviateds possibleof the typeof investiture ceneseenin theMaripainting.Bothof thesemonumentscan still be calledtrue narra-tive by our definitionsince they depict specificpersonsengaged n a specificevent,not a recurrentritual."8 ut actionis non-existent nd the figureshave lost all vigor, all physical reality.Narrativeart as a recordof actionhas changedto narrativeepitomized in a stereotypewhose chief value issymbolic, he group of monarch nvestedby deitysymbolizing he whole realm of good relationsbe-tween the two on which the welfareof the statewas consideredo depend.One furtherpoint may be made. The existenceof largescalemuralpaintingswith representational

designsat Mariand somewhat ater n the Kassitepalaceat Aqarquf39ndicatesa new conceptionofthe scopeof art.The ideaof using the whole wallsurfaceof a room,with the consequentpossibilityof extensivedevelopment f representationnd oflarge,even life sized,figures, s in markedcontrastwith the attitude and practice which confinedrepresentationo low registersor small portableobjectsandforcedon the artistalmosta miniaturetechnique. n spiteof the time gap betweenMariand Aqarquf, on the one hand, and the earliestAssyrianmuralreliefs,on the other, t seems ikelythat the governing idea of the former was notwithout influenceon the subsequentAssyriande-velopment. t is significant, owever, hatthis newideaappears nly at a timewhen interest n narra-tive seemsto be moribund; he increased caleandthe possibilities nherent in the (relatively) un-limitedfieldseemto havebeendevised or decora-tive, rather hanfor narrative, easons.Throughout this discussionreferencehas beenmadetothe twomethodsof narrationalled"culmi-nation" and "episodic"which exist during theentire period. It is obvious that they are by nomeans mutuallyexclusive-in fact, when episodesare depictedthere is a strongtendencyto reducethemto a minimum(as in the Ur-Nansheplaque,fig. 7) rather hanto elucidateheentireprogressionof the action.This then seems to approach he"culminationmethod,"but we cannotassume hatthe "episodicmethod" s only an extensionof theother or theyarebasedon two differentprinciples.The first is that the importantaspectof a storyis its completion-how it worked out, what wasthe outcome--exemplified n the "culminationmethod."The second s thatthe importance f thestory ies in the developingaction,expressedn the"episodicmethod."The latterencourages oncreterealism,the formerlends itself especially o sym-

s5For good examples of this type, see E. Porada, The Col-lection of the Pierpont Morgan Library ("Corpus of AncientNear Eastern Seals in North American Collections," I; Wash-ington 1948), pls. 43-44.38A. Parrot, "Les Peintures du Palais de Mari" Syria I8(1937) 325-354. The panel here cited is reproduced in colorcopy on pl. 39.37 The interpretationof the whole panel is not completelyclear. See Marie-TherbseBarrelet,"Une Peinture de la Cour Io6du Palais de Mari,"Studia Mariana (Leiden 1950) 9-35. Mme.Barreletsuggests that the whole panel representsa temple, withthe scene we are concerned with as the cella in which the cere-

mony of investing the king with the symbols of his power isactually taking place. If this view is accepted,and Mme. Barreletmakes an excellent case, then the scene is descriptiveand even

the investiturepropercan be considerednarrativeonly in a broadsense.88While scenes of man before deity on seals are not con-sidered narrative,a special case can be made out for allowingthe Code and the Mari investiture to be included in this cate-

gory. The text of the Code makes it clear that the scene showsa specific investiture of power on a specific person, and theposition of the Mari painting in an official part of the palaceindicates the likelihood of a similar identification here, theking probably being Zimri-lim, main builder of the palace.Seals, made in quantity at this time, could representonly thegeneral idea of adorationon recurrentoccasions.9 T. Baqir, Iraq 8 (1946) 79-82, esp. p. 81 and pls. xx-xiv.Thestate f preservationhowing nly ingle iguresrparts ffilespreventsonsiderationf thesepaintingss narrativert.



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62 HANS G. GUTERBOCK [AlA 61bolism.With the paradoxicalove of oppositeswhich characterizesll phasesof Mesopotamianart,bothprincipleseemalwayso bepresentn theminds f theBabylonianrtists, ith hepreferenceusuallyfor the "culminationmethod.""'Con-tinuoustyle"n theWickhoffense,withrepetitionof onefigure hrough seriesof scenes, ccursna simple orm n the lateEarlyDynastic ge (inprehistoricimes f it is permissibleo include hestelaof fig. 3 with its two figuresof the lion-hunter), nd s well worked ut n theUr-Nammustela(fig.12).Thesubjectsarratedn Babyloniaregenerallyreligious;f secular,heyareassociated ith divine

help and humandependencen it. Divineandhuman are seen quite on the same plane, the meet-ing of man andgod beingdepicted n a mannerasmatter-of-factand convincingly real as if the artistshad seen it take place. As in the Babylonianlitera-ture, so also in its art the gods are conceived inthoroughly human form.With this the history of narrative art in Baby-lonia ceases.From this point on the initiative nthe field of art as in most others in the Land ofthe Two Rivers is taken over by Assyria.

YALEUNIVERSITY

40See Frankfort, Art, 41 on the polarity of Mesopotamianart, "a love of design for its own sake," and "a delight inphysical reality." Perhaps we might better contrast the love

of design and the love of story telling since physical realitycan be convincingly expressed in both decorative and narrativemonuments.

Narrationn Anatolian, yrian,ndAssyrian rtHANS G. GOTERBOCK

?LATES 21-26We are treating he narrative rt of Assyria,

Syriaand Anatoliatogether or the followingreasons:i) The settingn time:the monumentsknown rom heseregions re,generallypeaking,youngerhan heSumerian ndBabylonianorksdiscussedn thepreceding aper.2) Thefact hatallthree reas reperipheralo thecenter fancientOriental ivilization:hey received ulturalandartisticmpulsesromBabylonia,ut transformedthem n theirownspirit. 3) Therewere requentcontacts etween he threeperipheralegions, swe shall ryto demonstrate.4) The fact thatinAssyria,yria, ndAnatolia tone or monumentalreliefswas available,n contrasto the situationoutlinedn thepreceding aperor southernraq.In order o understandheappearancef narra-tiveart n itsownsetting,weshall ollowaroughly

chronologicalequence. espitehefact hatmonu-mentalsculpture ppearselativelyate and thatthe firstworksof art are not narrative, e shallstart romthebeginning.Anatoliaeceived strong timulus romMeso-potamian thenineteenthentury .c.throughhepresenceof Assyrianmerchants;or the sameperiod peakersf Hittiteor a relatedndo-Euro-peanlanguage re first attestedn thatcountry.?Themerchantsroughtheirown sealswiththem,sealsboth of Babylonianndof Assyrianmanu-facture pl. 21 a).' Mostof thesebelongto thestereotypetyleof the lateThirdDynastyof UrandearlyOldBabylonianeriods riefly escribedby MissPerkins p. 6of).The standardcenede-pictsthe introductionf a worshippernto thepresencef a seated odbysomeminordeity.The

1 According o the propernamesof local people n the OldAssyrian("Cappadocian")exts. For a linguisticanalysisofthese namescf. E. Laroche,Recueild'onomastiqueittite(Paris1952) xoxff, x15f; A. Goetze,Language30 (I954) 349ff;the same, Journalof CuneiformStudies 8 (1954) 74ff; B.Landsberger,bid. 120ff.2For the different tylisticgroupsof cylinder mpressionsn"Cappadocian"ablets see E. Porada, "Seal Impressions fNuzi,"AASOR24 for 1944-45 (1947) 97ff; the same,Corpus

of Ancient Near Eastern Seals in North American CollectionsI (The Bollingen Series XIV, 1948) Io7ff and pls. cxxviiff;Nimet Ozgiiq, Kiiltepe Kaztst Raporu 1949-AusgrabungeninKiiltepe ... 1949 (TiurkTarih Kurumu Yayinlarmndan. Seri,No. 12, Ankara 1953), 229ff (in German). Our pl. 21 a (OldBabylonian) is reproducedfrom H. de Genouillac, CiramiqueCappadocienne,I (Mus6e du Louvre 1926) pl. A 6; for OldAssyriancylinderssee Porada, Corpus,loc.cit.



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PERKINS PLATE 17

Fio. I-2. Stone Vase from Warka, Late Prehistoric Age(E. Heinrich, Kleinfunde aus den archaischen Tempelschichten in Uruk)

FIG. 2. Detail of FIG. I

FIG.7. Plaque of Ur-Nanshe from LagashEarly Dynastic III (Frankfort, Art)

FIG. 4. Stela from Warka,LatePrehistoric Age (Frankfort, Art)

FIG. 3. CylinderSeal Impressionfrom Warka, Late Prehistoric Age(H. Frankfort, Cylinder Seals)

FIG. 10. CylinderSeal Impression,Akkadian(Frankfort,CylinderSeals)



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PLATE 18 PERKINS

FIGS. -6. Standard romUr. Early DynasticIII (Frankfort,Art)

FIGS. -9. Stela of the Vulturesfrom Lagash-Early DynasticIII (Frankfort,Art)



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PERKINS PLATE 19

C:? .,

td


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PLATE 20 PERKINS

FIG. 14. Paintingfrom Palace at Mari,LarsaPeriod(Syria i8, 1937)

FIG. 15. Code of Hammurabi, First Dynastyof Babylon (Frankfort, Art)


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