some fragments of early syrian sculpture from royal palace g of tell mardikh-ebla

8/12/2019 Some Fragments of Early Syrian Sculpture From Royal Palace G of Tell Mardikh-Ebla

1/26

Some Fragments of Early Syrian Sculpture from Royal Palace G of Tell Mardikh-EblaAuthor(s): Paolo MatthiaeSource: Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Oct., 1980), pp. 249-273Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/544331.

Accessed: 08/02/2014 03:27

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at.

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

The University of Chicago Pressis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toJournal

of Near Eastern Studies.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 92.62.115.10 on Sat, 8 Feb 2014 03:27:18 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucpresshttp://www.jstor.org/stable/544331?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/544331?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucpress


2/26

SOME FRAGMENTS OF EARLY SYRIAN SCULPTUREFROM ROYAL PALACE G OFTELL MARDIKH-EBLA

PAOLO MATTHIAE, University of Rome

AFTER the identification, in 1974, of some thick mud brick walls on the south-west slope of the acropolisof Tell Mardikhwith very well preservedremains of a sectorof a possible palace of the end of MardikhIIB1 (ca. 2400-2250 B.c.),1the continuationof the excavation was exclusively oriented to defining, in the first place, the functionand, in the second place, the extension of Building G. Of the structure which couldalready in 1975 be called Royal Palace G, the 1976 excavations allowed us to delimitthe Audience Court, 2below the east portico of which the storeroom L. 2712 and thearchive room L. 2769 were brought to light in 1975. The 1977 campaign, devotedessentially to the exploration of the area of Royal Palace G east of the east fagade ofthe Court,permitted one to understand the planimetric structure of the Administra-tive Quarter. 3In 1978, besides the excavation of some baulks in the small innercolumned court of the Administrative Quarter,we tried to definethis wing of Palace Gto the south.4There is no doubt that the most noteworthy results of the archaeologicalexplorationof Area G of the Acropolis were the discovery of Royal Palace G of Mardikh IIB1and the finding of the state archives of Ebla. In fact, the picture we may now start toreconstruct of the Early Syrian culture in its mature phase, represented by the Palaceof the Archives of Tell Mardikh-Ebla, s fundamentally based on an evaluation, thougha preliminary one, of the architectural and textual evidence. But the notably goodstate of preservation of the architecturalremains and the imposing quantity of writtendocuments must not make us forget that what makes the recovery of the evidence ofthe mature Early Syrian culture of Ebla particularly relevant is the integrity of thearchaeologicalcontext of MardikhIIB1. In fact, though the fiercedestruction,attributedto Naram-Suen of Akkad or less probably to Sargon of Akkad,5 of Royal Palace G

1P. Matthiae, Ebla nel periodo delle dinastieamorree e della dinastia di Akkad: scoperte archeo-logiche recenti a Tell Mardikh, Orientalia 44 (1975):351-56 = Ebla in the Period of the AmoriteDynasties and the Dynasty of Akkad: RecentArchaeological Discoveries at Tell Mardikh (1975),Monographs on the Ancient Near East 1/6 (1979):128-34. For the terminology of the archaeologicalchronology of Ebla, see P. Matthiae, Ebla a l'6poqued'Akkad: arch6ologie et histoire, Acaddmie desInscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Comptes Rendus 1976:190-93; P. Matthiae Preliminary Remarks on the

Royal Palace G of Early Syrian Ebla, Syro-Mesopo-tamian Studies 2 (1978): 21; and P. Matthiae, Ebla:Un impero ritrovato (Turin, 1977) pp. 43-44.2 P. Matthiae, Tell Mardikh: The Archives andPalace, Archaeology 30 (1977): 246-49; and Lepalais royal protosyrien d'Ebla: nouvelles recherchbesarch'ologiques ' Tell Mardikh en 1976, Acadgmiedes Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Comptes Rendus1977: 149-59.

3 P. Matthiae, Recherches arch6ologiques ' Ebla,1977: le quartier administratif du Palais Royal G,Acadgmie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, ComptesRendus 1978: 206-22, figs. 1-9.4 P. Matthiae, Fouilles & ell Mardikh-Ebla, 1978:le B timent Q et la necropole princiere du BronzeMoyen, Akkadica 17 (1980): 2-5.5 P. Matthiae, Orientalia 44 (1975): 355-56, 360 =Monographs on the Ancient Near East 1/6 (1979):[JNES 39 no. 4 (1980)]D 1980 by The University of Chicago.All rights reserved.0022-2968/80/3904-0002$01.00.

249

This content downloaded from 92.62.115.10 on Sat, 8 Feb 201403:27:18 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/26

250 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIESof Ebla was obviously preceded by a complete sack since several dismembered andscattered fragments of rich fittings coming from Palace G were found mostly in thelayer of ash from the destruction and in a lesser amount in the upper level of debrisof collapsed walls.As they represent precious, though unfortunately quite fragmentary evidence of thegreat art of mature Early Syrian Ebla, some fragments of composite sculpture in theround, belonging to life-size figures, may be an important contribution for a recon-struction of the culture of Mardikh IIB1.

CATALOGUEOF THE FRAGMENTSAl. Sector of hairdress with plaits and locks (TM.78.G.300a).Area G; baulk DlV3ii/DlV2i; lev. 6.

Royal Palace G: L. 2862, on the floor.Dark greyish-green stone. H. cm. 11.2; 1. cm. 8.7; th. cm. 2.6.Plaquette, reassembled from five fragments and missing a short central fragmenton the bottom, with slightly convex surface, flat and smooth inner surface andsides. The carved surface is divided into two areas: in the first one, to the top,in flat relief, there are thick locks with irregularly curling volutes separated by a cen-tral parting, slightly larger to the right and smaller to the left; in the other one, inthe middle and toward the bottom, in higher relief, four thick, large and wavy locksfall downwards ending at the base with elements of vertical separated plaitsand set in two rows, one in front and the other behind. The back surface and thesides are squared and carefully smoothed; on the back there are three regularcylindrical hollows.

A2. Sector of hairdress with locks and plaits (TM.78.G.300b).Area G; baulk DlV3ii/DlV2i; lev. 6.Royal Palace G: L. 2862, on the floor.Dark greyish-green stone. H. cm. 9.8; 1. cm. 6.9; th. cm. 2.0.

Complete plaquette, with slightly convex outer surface, flat and smooth innersurface and sides. The carved surface is divided into two parts: in one, to the right,in low relief, there are thick locks with irregularly curling volutes, larger at the topand slightly smaller toward the bottom; in the other one, in higher relief, two thick,large and wavy locks fall downwards ending at the base with elements of vertical

133-34, 137; and Acadgmie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Comptes Rendus 1977: 169-71; and Ebla,pp. 46-48, 178-93. The identification in the texts ofthe Royal Archives of the city of Akkad and theprobable presence of the name of Sargon himself,first maintained by G. Pettinato in Ebla: Philolo-gisch, Reallexikon der Assyriologie, vol. 5, p. 12 andThe Royal Archives of Tell Mardikh-Ebla, BiblicalArcheologist 39 (1976): 47, was later withdrawn by him;Gli archivi reali di Tell Mardikh-Ebla: Riflessioni eprospettive, Rivista Biblica Italiana 25 (1977): 234;collations of the texts concerning this problem madeby A. Archi in the summer of 1977 lead us to assume,in the present state of our studies, the absence of thename of the city of Akkad in the State Archives ofEbla; see Acaddmie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres,Comptes Rendus 1978: 235, nn. 75 and 76. The dating

around 2500 B.C. proposed by Pettinato, RivistaBiblica Italiana 25 (1977): 233-34, who had pre-viously followed the thesis of the destruction ofMardikh IIB 1 by a king of Akkad (see Reallexikon derAssyriologie, vol. 5, p. 12), is no longer maintainableafter the discovery on the floor of L. 2913 of anEgyptian alabaster lid with a hieroglyphic inscriptionof pharaoh Pepi I: see P. Matthiae, Acadgmie desInscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Comptes Rendus 1978:232-36, fig. 20 and Tell Mardikh: Ancient Ebla,American Journal of Archaeology 82 (1978): 542-43;G. Scandone Matthiae, Vasi iscritti di Chefren e PepiI nel Palazzo Reale di Ebla, Studi Eblaiti 1/3-4(1979): 33-45; idem, Inscriptions royales 6gyptiennesde l'Ancien Empire a Ebla, XX Ve RencontreAssyriologique Internationale, Berlin 1978 (Berlin,1980) [in press].



4/26

EARLY SYRIANSCULPTURE ROMTELL MARDIKH-EBLA 251separated plaits set in two rows. The back surface and the sides are carefullysquared; on the back there are two regular cylindrical hollows.

A3. Sector of hairdress with locks and plaits (TM.77.G.200a).6Area G; square DIV3ii; lev. 6.Royal Palace G: L. 2862, on the floor, north of the door of M. 2861.Dark greyish-green stone. H. cm. 9.9; 1. cm. 8.9; th. cm. 2.4.

Plaquette, reassembled from two fragments with slightly convex outer surface,flat and smooth inner surface and sides. The carved surface is divided into twoparts; one, in low relief, with thick locks of irregularly curling volutes, larger on thetop and gradually smaller toward the bottom; the other one, in higher relief, withtwo thick, large, wavy locks, which fall downwards ending with vertical separatedplaits. The back and sides are carefully squared; on the back there are two regularcylindrical hollows.

ammuWLilman

FIG. 1.-Plaques A5, A3, A4 and A6, outer facesA4. Sector of hairdress with locks (TM.77.G.200b).Area G; square DlV3ii; lev. 6.

Royal Palace G: L. 2862, on the floor, north of the door of M. 2861.Dark greyish-green stone. H. cm. 8.4; 1. cm. 7.7; th. cm. 2.6.Complete plaquette with slightly convex outer surface, flat and smooth innersurface and sides. On the carved surface there are, in low relief, thick locks with

6Fragments A3 (TM.77.G.200a), A4 (TM.77.G.200b), and A5 (TM.77.G.200c) have been publishedin Acadgmie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, ComptesRendus 1978: 227, fig. 17.



5/26

252 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIESirregularly curling volutes, of decreasing size from top to bottom; to the left thereare thickly packed and thin short rectilinear grooves. The back and sides arecarefully squared; on the back, in the middle, there is a regular cylindrical hollow.

A5. Sector of hairdress with locks (TM.77.G.200c).Area G; square DIV3ii; lev. 6.Royal Palace G: L. 2862, on the floor, north of the door of M. 2861.Dark greyish-green stone. H. cm. 7.4; 1. cm. 6.2; th. cm. 1.4.

Complete plaquette, with slightly convex outer surface, flat and smooth innersurface and sides. On the carved surface there are, in low relief, thick locks withirregularly curling volutes, of decreasing size from top to bottom. The back andsides are carefully squared; on the back there is a regular cylindrical hollow.

FIG. 2.-Plaques A5, A3, A4 and A6, inner facesA6. Sector of hairdress with locks (TM.77.G.200d).Area G; square D1V3ii; lev. 6.Royal Palace G: L. 2862, on the floor, north of the door of M. 2861.Dark greyish-green stone. H. cm. 6.8; 1. cm. 6.2; th. cm. 1.9.

Complete plaquette, with slightly convex outer surface, flat and smooth innersurface and sides. On the carved surface there are, in low relief, thick locks withirregularly curling volutes, of decreasing size from top to bottom. The back andsides are carefully smoothed; on the back, in the middle, there is a regular cylindri-cal hollow.



6/26

EARLY SYRIAN SCULPTURE FROM TELL MARDIKH-EBLA 253A7. Sector of hairdresswith locks (TM.77.G.180).Area G; square D1V3ii; ev. 6.Royal Palace G:L. 2862, on the floor,north of the east jamb of the door of M. 2861.Dark greyish-greenstone. H. cm. 3.8; 1.cm. 6.2; th. cm. 1.5.Plaquette, chipped on the sides, with slightly convex outer surface, flat andsmooth inner surface and sides. The carved surface is divided into two parts, theupper one with curling locks and the lower one with dense and thin rectilinearfurrows. The back and sides are carefully squared; in the middle there is a holepassing through it, correspondingon the carved outer surface to the middle ofone of the locks.A8. Sector of hairdresswith locks (TM.77.G.157).Area G; square D1V3ii; ev. 6.

Royal Palace G: L. 2862, on the floor, in front of M. 2861.Dark greyish-greenstone. H. cm. 4.7; 1. cm. 3.3; th. cm. 0.9.Complete plaquette, with straight outer surface, flat and smooth inner surfaceand sides. The carved surface is divided into two parts: in the upper one, in lowrelief, there are thick locks with irregularly curling volutes of decreasing sizetowards the bottom; in the other one the surface is only groovedby thickly packedand thin almost vertical linear incisions. The back and sides are carefullysquared;the left side is slightly concave; the right side and back are slightly convex.B1. Sector of skull-cap, with part of hairdress (TM.77.G.175).

Area G; square D1V3ii; ev. 6.

FIG. 3.-Plaques Bl and B2, outer faces



7/26

254 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

FIG. 4.-Plaques BLand B2, inner faces

Royal Palace G: L. 2862, on the floor, north of the east jamb of the door of M. 2861.Dark greyish-green stone. H. cm. 10.6; 1. cm. 11.6; th. cm. 2.0.Sector of intact skull-cap, of triangular shape, with distinctly convex outersurface, hollow inner surface. Two of the three edges are flat and smooth. On thecarved surface there are three complete wavy bands, a wavy band cut in themiddle and the beginning of a fifth band, separated by quite deep grooves andwith closely packed thin wavy incisions. The thin incisions continue over one ofthe three edges as if they started there, while, on the contrary, they abruptlystop on the other two sides. The back face is hollow and smooth; on the back inthe middle there are two regular cylindrical holes.

B2. Sector of skull-cap with part of hairdress (TM.78.G.178).Area G; baulk DlV3i/DlV3ii; lev. 4.Royal Palace G: L. 2862/L. 2913, on the floor.Dark greyish-green stone. H. cm. 8.5; 1. cm. 12.2; th. cm. 1.9.

Intact sector of skull-cap of triangular shape, with distinctly convex outersurface, concave inner surface, and two of the three sides flat and smooth. On thecarved surface there are three complete wavy bands and one divided in two,separated by quite deep grooves and incised with thick and thin wavy lines. Onone of the three sides the thin incisions continue as if starting there, while, on thecontrary, they abruptly stop on the other two sides. The back surface is concaveand smooth; on the back, towards the central part, there are two regular cylindricalhollows.

B3. Sector of hairdress with wavy bands (TM.76.G.433a).Area G; square DIV3iii; lev. 4.Royal Palace G: L. 2862.Dark greyish-green stone. H. cm. 10.7; 1. cm. 9.4; th. cm. 2.7.



8/26

EARLY SYRIAN SCULPTURE FROM TELL MARDIKH-EBLA 255Plaque in shape of sector of cylinder assembled from two slightly chipped

fragments, with distinctly convex outer surface; flat and smooth upper, right,and lower edges; and partially hollow and smooth inner surface. The carvedsurfaces are the outer and left side ones, with four wavy faces and part of a fifth,in quite high relief, separated by deep grooves and with closely placed thin incisions.The back face has a cylindrical hollow from top to bottom; on the back there arethree regular cylindrical hollows.

B4. Sector of hairdress with wavy bands (TM.76.G.433b +TM.77.G.184c).Area G; square DIV3iii; lev. 4 (433b). Square DlV3ii; lev. 6 (184c).Royal Palace G: L. 2862, on the floor.Dark greyish-green stone. H. cm. 9.0 (433b), cm. 5.5 (184c); 1. cm. 8.5; th. cm. 3.2.

Plaque, in shape of sector of cylinder, assembled from two fragments, chippedalong the break line, with distinctly convex outer surface; flat and smooth upper,left, and lower edges; and partially hollow and smooth inner surface. The carvedsurfaces are the outer and right side ones, which bear four wavy bands, in quitehigh relief, separated by deep furrows and with closely placed thin incisions. Theback face has a cylindrical hollow from top to bottom; on the back there are threeregular cylindrical hollows.

B5. Sector of hairdress with wavy bands (TM.77.G.184a).Area G; square DIV3ii; lev. 6.Royal Palace G: L. 2862, on the floor, north of the door of M. 2861.Dark greyish-green stone. H. cm. 4.4; 1. cm. 9.8; th. cm. 4.0.Plaque in shape of cylindrical sector with distinctly convex outer surface; flatand smooth upper, right, and lower edges; partially hollow and smooth innersurface. The carved surfaces are the outer and left side ones, with five wavy bands,in quite high relief, separated by deep furrows with closely placed thin incisions.The back face has a cylindrical hollow from top to bottom; on the back there aretwo regular cylindrical hollows.

B6. Sector of hairdress with wavy bands (TM.77.G.184b).Area G; square DlV3ii; lev. 6.Royal Palace G: L. 2862, on the floor, north of the door in M. 2861.Dark greyish-green stone, H. cm. 5.4; 1. cm. 5.6; th. cm. 3.0.Plaque in shape of cylindrical sector with distinctly convex outer surface;flat and smooth upper, left, and lower edges; and partially hollow and smoothinner surface. The carved surfaces are the outer and right side ones, with threewavy bands in quite high relief, separated by deep furrows and with closely placedthin incisions. The back face has a cylindrical hollow from top to bottom; on theback there is a regular cylindrical hollow.

B7. Ending lock of hairdress (TM.76.G.433c).Area G; square D1V3iii; lev. 4.Royal Palace G: L. 2862.Dark greyish-green stone. H. cm. 6.4; 1. cm. 2.0; th. cm. 3.0.



9/26

256 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIESWavy lock pointed at the end, assembled from two fragments, with outer andfront side surfaces carved with closely placed thin incisions following the wavyoutline of the sides. The back side sectors and the nearly sharp back face are

partially smoothed; the upper face is flat and smooth.B8. Ending lock of hairdress (TM.77.G.116).Area G; square DIV3ii; lev. 5.

Royal Palace G: L. 2862, north of M. 2861.Dark greyish-green stone. H. cm. 3.6; 1. cm. 1.6; th. cm. 2.4.Short wavy lock pointed at the end with outer and back side surfaces carvedwith closely placed thin incisions. The back side sectors and the nearly sharp backface are partially smoothed; the upper surface is flat and smooth.B9. Ending lock of hairdress (TM.77.G.155).Area G; square DIV3ii; lev. 6.

Royal Palace G: L. 2862, on the floor.Dark greyish-green stone. H. cm. 3.2; 1. cm. 1.5; th. cm. 2.0.Short slightly wavy lock, pointed at the end, with outer and back side surfacescarved with closely placed thin incisions. The back sectors are partially smoothed;the upper surface is flat and smooth.B10. Ending lock of hairdress (TM.78.G.221).Area G; baulk DIV3iii/DIV2i; lev. 5.

Royal Palace G: L. 2862.Dark greyish-green stone. H. cm. 4.7; 1. cm. 1.7; th. cm. 2.6.Short slightly wavy lock pointed at the end, with outer and back side surfacescarved with closely placed thin incisions. The back parts are roughly smoothed;the top surface is flat and smooth.C1. Sector of head with part of plaited hairdress (TM.76.G.640).7Area G; square DIV5iii; lev. 5.

Royal Palace G: L. 2752 (Audience Court), on the last step of the staircase.Dark greyish-green stone. H. cm. 12.5; 1. cm. 6.2; th. cm. 5.8.Sector, squared to the bottom and perhaps to the top and notched along a loweredge, with outer surface and lower part worked in relief, flat and smooth sidesand back surface; on the top there is a short not worked appendix. The carvedouter surface, which is a vertical sector of a hairdress, is remarkably convex on thetop to reproduce the curve of the skull-cap; the left side is hollowed with flat andsmooth inner walls. The upper part of the carved surface, in low relief, has twolong wavy and partially superimposed bands of hair; the lower carved part ismade by vertical plaits worked in the round with the surface furrowed by thickwrapping incisions. The two sides and the back are carefully squared; a hollowwith rectangular section, 4.5 cm. high and 1.5 cm. wide, is made in the middle ofthe back; two cylindrical holes at the same height, open on the sides correspondingto the middle of the rectangular hollow.

7A short description of this piece has been given by me in Ebla, pp. 79-80.



10/26

FIG. 5.- Slice Cl, outer face FIG. 6.- Slice C1, side view FIG. 7



11/26

258 JOURNALOF NEAREASTERNTUDIESRECONSTRUCTIONND FUNCTION

Though the gradual progressof excavation in the area of the Administrative Quarterof Palace G prolongedthe recovery of the sculpture fragments in the years 1976, 1977,and 1978,their provenances, limited to a very restricted area, and the peculiartechnicaldetails of the carving allowed us to reconstruct completely the hairdresses of the twoheads to which the fragments belonged. In fact, all the fragments of the two headsA (Al-A8) and B (B1-B10) were collected in the south portico L. 2862 of the innercourt L. 2913, columned along the four sides of the Administrative Quarter scatteredon the floor mostly in front of the larger door leading to the wide hall L. 2866 of thecomplex.8The only fragmentfound so far of the third head C (Cl) was discovered,on theother hand, in the Audience Court on the first step of the MonumentalDoorway, outsidethe area of the AdministrativeQuarter.It is possible that the enlargingof the excavationin the east part of the MonumentalDoorway, which surely was the main entrance to thepalatial quarters of the Acropolis, will lead to the discovery of other fragments of thissame head.

Also, as regards technique, heads A and B from the court of the AdministrativeQuarter were assembled according to the same method, while for the composition ofthe pieces forming head C a different assembling system was followed. To judge fromtechnical criteriaand head size, A and B surely formed a pair and must have been madeat the same time to fill one order. Notwithstanding the differences in the choice of theassembling systems for the two heads A and B, on the one hand, and the third head C,on the other, there is no doubt that all three heads were worked accordingto consistenttechnical principles.Heads A and B had to be built on a support, probablya wooden one, of approximatelyglobular shape. With the help of pegs, probably again made of wood or bronze fixed tothis central support, the plaques of stone representing the hairdress,were fixed to thecore of the image; it is quite probable that bitumen was employed to effect the joinsbetween the single pieces. While, therefore, in heads A and B the plaques were fixedto the core by means of pegs inserted in the cylindrical hollows of a diameter varyingbetween 0.6 cm. and 0.1 cm. present on the inner surfaces of the plaques themselves,the system employed for head C was more complicated. The thickness of the only re-covered fragment (Cl), its sliced shape and the disposition of the hollows on the innersurface make us think that the slice-like sectors forming the hairdress of this thirdhead were fixed around a central, probably wooden support, by means of a system ofjoints held firm by big nails.9For the reconstruction both of head A and of head B, owing to the separately incom-prehensibleshapeof the plaques,apartfromthe fragmentsB1 and B2, the joints betweenthe individual pieces were tried on the basis of the hypothesis, which happened to becorrect, that the incision of the curls in head A and of the wavy locks in head B weremade with extreme care along the edges. In fact only a precise correspondenceof thecurls and locks interrupted along the edges of the plaques would have prevented thecomposite structure of the head from being evident at a first glance. We could see that8 In the schematic plans reproduced in Acadgmiedes Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Comptes Rendus1977: 156, fig. 3 and Acadgmie des Inscriptions etBelles-Lettres, Comptes Rendus 1978: 205, fig. 1.

9 The wooden support for head C needed thereforeto be only a stud to fix the single parts of the com-posite image, while for heads A and B almost certainlythe sculpture itself was of wood.



12/26

EARLY SYRIAN SCULPTURE FROM TELL MARDIKH-EBLA 259

FIG. 8.--Head A, side view

nearly always the locks interrupted on the edge of a plaque were almost exactly com-pleted on the edge of the nearby plaque in head A, while in the locks of head B thecorrespondencesof the edges are perfect and the waves characterizingthe hairdress,onthe reconstructed head, have an extremely regularflow. In both heads the effect of thedisposition of the curls, locks, and plaits is so consistent that one must think that adetailed complete model, probably of clay, was made beforethe execution of the singleparts of the hairdress, of the headdress, and of the face.10On this model, the lines ofseparationbetween the single pieces wereprobablymarkedthroughincisions,so that thesingle plaques could be incised accordingto the exigencies of the project of the work. Ifthe presence of a model would guarantee the organic characterof the image, mostly toensurethe esthetic result of the artistic work, a seriesof noteworthy technical difficultiesmust have taken place for the actual constructionof the image. Twoparticularlydelicateoperations surely were 1) the definition of the shape of the wooden core to which theplaqueshad to adhere,and 2) the smoothingof the sides of the plaques;there is no doubtthat in both cases bitumen was employed for plastering.

10 The undoubted analogy of formal effect, forthe extreme refinement of working, between the hair-dresses of the stone plaques of Ebla and the hairdressof the bronze head from Nineveh, may derive fromthe fact that the archaic technique of carving thestone based on a clay model for the construction ofcomposite images during the late Early Dynastic IIand III Periods was gradually abandoned by theMesopotamian royal workshops. The techniques whichat that time started to emerge, leading to an extra-ordinary technical skill in the Akkadian period,were of carving particularly hard stone, like diorite,

from which they fashioned statues of a single materialand the carving and casting of bronze: H. Frankfort,Sculpture of the Third Millennium B.C. from TellAsmar and Khafajah, OIP 44 (Chicago, 1939), pp.37-42. The so-called tote Cros found at Tello and nowin Paris, Louvre AO. 4353 (h. cm. 10.9; 1. cm. 6.5),rightly attributed to the Akkadian period by M.-Th.Barrelet, Notes sur quelques sculptures m6sopo-tamiennes de l'epoque d'Akkad, Syria 36 (1959):20-25, pl. 4, could be associated with these techniques.11The use of bitumen in Mesopotamian sculptureof the third millennium B.C., has been rightly hypo-



13/26

260 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

Fri. 9.-Head A, front view

FIG. 10.-Head A, back view



14/26

FIG. 11.-Head A, from above FIG. 12.-Head A



15/26

FIG. 13.-Head B, side view FIG. 14.-Head B, three-quarter side view FI



16/26


17/26

264 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIESthe neck, had an essential function in giving to the structure of the head, which clearlyappearedfrom the flat locks of the side and back parts, a distinctly naturalistic outline,indicating a detailed knowledge of the anatomy of the skull.

Head B had a simpler headdress, made up of a mass of hair, divided in large wavylocks, which fell loose on the shoulders. The bottom ends were made by wavy curlscontinuing in the round the curls of the hair. Also in this second case the plaques werenot set in the project and in the assembling according to a symmetric scheme. Twoplaques (BI and B2) built the hairdress on the top of the head with the beginning ofthe hair on the forehead. The mass of the flowing hair was made by two largerplaques(B3 and B4) much higher than the bottom ones (B5 and B6) of the same height but ofdifferent width.Head C, the structure of which, as we have said, was quite different from heads Aand B, must have had quite flat wavy curls similarto those of head A but probably setall around the head and not only on the forehead.15 It is quite probablethat a centralchignon on the back completed the hairdress in the part of the preserved fragmentwhere the carved surface is purposely cut to leave room for a kind of large inlay.16 Ifthis hypothesis is correct, it is probable that the whole hairdress was made by four, orless probably six, slices of hairdressstructurally similar to C1and that fragment C1wasthe back right slice, as the position of the hollow for the presumed chignon wouldshow.The formulation of a hypothesis for a reconstructionof the comprehensivestructureof the three heads is not easy because of the total lack of other elements besides thehairdresses. The first datum that may be consideredcertain is that the three heads werecomposite ones. The greyish-greenstone of the steatite kind was used for the hair, forlapis lazuli and steatite itself were used in Royal Palace G to make the hairdressesof the composite panels in high relief where the clothing was made of limestone appliedon an almost certainly wooden background;17 he same grey-greenish stone was usedfor the hairdress of images in the round found in the court L. 2913.18 The materialemployed for the faces might be limestone, as in the caseof a miniaturehead discoveredin the court L. 2913 surelybelongingto a bust or to a compositestatuette in the round,19or wood covered with gold-leaf. This second hypothesis would find a confirmationinthe technique used in Royal Palace G to make the bare parts of the figures, faces, andbodies of the compositepanels in highrelief, which is proved by the finding of fragments15 Miniature hairdresses similar to that of head Cwere those of the two fragments TM.77.G.790 andTM.76.G.335 mentioned in n. 13 above.16The type of chiseling along the sides of thehollow makes us think that the inlay was of preciousmaterial that would have been removed; however thedepth of the hollow itself would hint at a massiveinlay, maybe of stone. It is possible that the chignonwas not made with a single material, but with a coreof stone decorated with parts of precious material,and that it was not too much different from that ofthe statuette of king Lamgi-Mari of Mari from theTemple of Ishtar now in the Aleppo ArchaeologicalMuseum, M. 174: A. Parrot, Mission archdologiquede Mari 1, le temple d'Ishtar, BAH 65 (Paris, 1956),pp. 68-70, pls. 25-26. About the chronology of thisking, the attribution by A. Moortgat, Die Kunst des

alten Mesopotamien: die klassische Kunst Vorder-asiens (Cologne, 1967), p. 45, must be abandoned,while a dating not far from the age of Sargon isquite probable, according to what has been recentlyproposed by E. A. Braun-Holzinger, FriihdynastischeBeterstatuetten (Berlin, 1977), pp. 27-28, 58.17 P. Matthiae, Academie des Inscriptions etBelles-Lettres, Comptes Rendus 1977: 162, fig. 12;Ebla, pp. 80-81, pl. 35; Acadgmie des Inscriptions etBelles-Lettres, Comptes Rendus 1978: 224, figs.12-13.18 TM.77.G.550: h. cm. 2.4; 1. cm. 2.5; th. cm. 2.8:Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, ComptesRendus 1978: 229, fig. 19.19TM.77.G.220: h. cm. 3.0; 1. cm. 2.3; th. cm. 1.8:Acadgmie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, ComptesRendus 1978: 227, fig. 18.



18/26

EARLY SYRIAN SCULPTURE FROM TELL MARDIKH-EBLA 265

FIG. 16.--Miniature head TM.77.G.220

Fig. 17.-Miniature hairdressTM.76.G.335,back view

of gold leaf in the shape of a leg which evidently escaped the sack,20 and in the structureof a statuette of a crouching human-headed bull of wood covered by gold and steatitefound in the storeroom L. 2764 of the Administrative Quarter.21 As it is probable thatif the faces were carved in limestone, hammered and destroyed fragments of them wouldhave been found in the debris of the Royal Palace, as happened with the plaques of thehairdress; one must think, rather, that the faces were of a precious material that wasstolen. It is therefore quite probable that the faces were carved in wood and coveredwith a gold leaf, as in the case of the human-headed bull, the hair of the mane of whichwas made by two finely worked steatite plaquettes. The eyes were surely inlaid, and itis possible that two eyes with steatite eyelids and irises and limestone corneas found inthe court L. 2913 belonged to one of the two heads.22

20 The only fragment of gold leaf that had pre-served the shape of the leg of the wooden relief itcovered has been reassembled in a very partialattempt at reconstruction of a panel with facingfigures from the court L. 2913, exhibited in Aleppo inNovember 1978 at the Archaeological Museum; thefigures of the panel must have had a height of nearly0.40-0.45 m.: P. Matthiae, Appunti di iconografiaeblaita, I. Il turbante regale (?) protosiriano diMardikh IIB1, Studi Eblaiti 1/2 (1979): 20-21, figs.5-6.

21 TM.76.G.850, found in square EaV4iv, lev. 8,on the floor of L. 2764: P. Matthiae, Ebla, pp. 76-77,pl. 28.22 The two eyes were made according to the sametechnique with three separate parts, eyelid, cornea,and iris fitting one into the other: TMI.78.G.135:h. cm. 2.8; 1. cm. 3.9; th. cm. 1.9; TM.78.G.270:h. cm. 2.6; 1. cm. 3.9; th. cm. 2.5.



19/26

FIG. 18.Miniature hairdress TM.77.G.550, front viewFIG. 19.Miniature hairdress, TM.77.G.550, side view Miniature h



20/26

EARLY SYRIAN SCULPTURE ROMTELL MARDIKH-EBLA 267The central wooden support of heads A and B was, therefore, quite probably roughlyhewn on the top, back, and sides, so that the stone plaques of the hairdress would adhereto it by means of bitumen, while on the front almost certainly covered with gold it was

accurately carved to give the features of the face. On the other hand, in the case of headC, the particular sliced shape of fragment C1 leads us to suggest that the head wasmade up of a kind of mask that was carved on one side the face, as in the case of thelimestone miniature face of the court L. 2913, and on the other had holes and pegs forthe join with the four or six slices forming the hairdress of greyish-green stone. HeadsA and B had, therefore, to have incised faces on wooden heads in the round, while headC must have had its face incised in wood or carved in stone on a mask structurallysimilar to the famous female head from Warka of the late Protohistorical period.23For all the three heads there are problems concerning the precise shape of the hair-dress. In head A the upper central part of the hair is lacking; in head B, apparently thejuncture of the hair instead of being on the forehead seems to be too high on the head;in head C the unworked top of the fragment C1 leads one to think that some kind ofornament covered that part of the hairdress. In the cases of heads A and C it is possiblethat a particular kind of small headgear was put on the top of the head, but, at least asregards head A, it seems more probable that two or three plaques of greyish-green stonewith curls completed the hairdress.24 On the forehead of head B it is possible that aband of material other than stone and gold, possibly reproducing a cloth ribbon, coveredthe juncture of the hair, but it cannot be excluded that the hairdress was applied directlyto the head, the forehead of which would have been quite high.25The total size of the two heads A and B in the reconstruction of the hairdresses showsthat both the original images were slightly smaller than life size.26 If the heads belongedto statues of this size, it would be inexplicable that not a single fragment of the bodieshas been found in the area of the Administrative Quarter.27 It is therefore probablethat the two precious composite sculptures were not parts of statues but only of busts,or even that they were isolated heads originally kept in the south portico L. 2862 of thecourt L. 2913 or in the big hall L. 2866 of the Administrative Quarter, where they weredestroyed and whence they were thrown away during the sack of the adjacent columnedcourt. The hypothesis that the artifacts were originally busts or heads would find aparallel in works of the same type in slightly later Mesopotamian art, such as the famous

23 H. J. Lenzen, Ein Marmorkopf der DschemdetNasr-Zeit aus Uruk, Zeitschrift fUr AssyriologieN.F. 11 (1939): 85-87, pls. 8-9; idem, XI. VorldufigerBericht iiber die Ausgrabungen in Uruk- Warka(Leipzig, 1940), pp. 19-20; for the particularcharacter of the head as composite sculpture see thecomments of A. Moortgat, Die Kunst des altenMesopotamien, p. 40, pl. 26; a complete photographicdocumentation is now given by E. Porada, Meso-potamien und Iran, M. J. Mellink and J. Filip, eds.Propylden Kunstgeschichte, XIII. Friihe Stufe derKunst (Berlin, 1974), pp. 164-65, pls. 74-75. Thechronological problem has been recently reconsideredby B. Hrouda, Zur Datierung friihsumerischerBildwerke aus Uruk-Warka, Baghdader Mitteilungen5 (1970): 35, 42-44.24 The upper edges of all the plaques of head Aare identical to the side ones, and there is no traceof unworked parts, which could be covered withanother material, as in the case of the top of fragmentC1.

25 The hypothesis of the presence of somethingsimilar to a ribbon on the front side of the hairdressover the forehead is made probable by the presence,on the curved part of the edge made by the beginningof the hair on the forehead, of a thin flat band, whileeverywhere on the front side of the hairdress the thinincised lines of the hair reach the edge of the hairdress.26 The reconstructed head A is nearly 12.00 cm.high, 14.00 cm. wide, and 19.00 cm. thick. The sizeof the reconstructed head B is: height 31.5 cm.;width 13.00 cm.; thickness 12.00 cm.27 The only explanation would obviously be thatthe whole body was of wood, as was conjectured forthe Nineveh head by M. E. L. Mallowan, TheBronze Head of the Akkadian Period from Nineveh,Iraq 3 (1936): 105, but the documented practice ofbuilding composite images makes this hypothesiswholly improbable, as the clothing at least wouldhave been carved of limestone, there is no tracein the debris of L. 2913 and L. 2866 of such fragments.



21/26

268 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIEShead of a king of Akkad, perhaps Naram-Suen, from Nineveh, which was superblyexecuted in a valuable material.28

The identification of the personages represented in the two heads from the columnedcourt of the Administrative Quarter and in the head from the Monumental Doorwayis quite difficult. If, as has been hinted, the two heads A and B are a pair, it seems certainthat they represent a male and a female, while head C was again probably the imageof a male personage.29 Even though the apparent absence of headgear for heads A and Bdoes not allow sure identification; it is nevertheless certain than an elaborate hairdresslike that of head A must be connected with a specific function of the represented person-age, as has been pointed out for the Mesopotamian hairdress of Eannatum of Lagash onhis stele, of the gold helmet of Meskalamdug, of the statuette of Lamgi-Mari, of the steleof Sargon, up to the bronze head from Nineveh.30 The hypothesis proposed here is thatthe hairdress of head A of Ebla is a royal headdress of the mature Early Syrian culture,for ceremonial or military events in which the headgear perhaps typical of Eblaitekingship in the period of the Royal Archives was not used.31It is therefore probable that in the big hall L. 2866 or in the south portico of thecourt L. 2913 of the Administrative Quarter, perhaps on shelves fixed to the walls,

portraits of a royal couple of Ebla were arranged together with some compositepanels in high relief with facing royal figures or with walking personages.32 The reasonfor the presence of these works in the Administrative Quarter must be considered inrelation to the presumed function of the room L. 2866. This room was surely the mainone of the Administrative Quarter: it was entered from the columned court L. 2913and behind it, to the south, there were some smaller rooms, identified in 1978, probablystorerooms.33 As there are no traces of fixed fittings of a special nature in it, it is quiteprobable that it was a reception hall, with a subsidiary or complementary function ofthe great Audience Court, the wide open space against the north fagade where theroyal dais stood. Lacking, therefore, any hint that the hall had any sacred use, forwhich the images would have a votive value, it is probable that the artifacts had acommemorative, or more likely, celebrative aim.

28 R. Campbell Thompson, and R. W. Hamilton,The British Museum Excavations on the Temple ofIshtar at Nineveh, Annals of Archaeology andAnthropology 19 (1932): 72, pl. 1:1-2; M. E. L.Mallowan, Iraq 3 (1936): 104-5; M.-Th. Barrelet,Syria 36 (1959): 30-37; and E. Strommenger, DasMenschenbild in der altmesopotamischen Rundplastikvon Mesilim bis Hammurapi, Baghdader Mitteilungen1 (1960): 56, proposed the attribution to Naram-Suen.A. Moortgat, Die Kunst des alten Mesopotamien, pp.56-57; B. Hrouda, Vorderasien I. Mesopotamien,Babylonien, Iran und Anatolien (Munich, 1971),p. 132; and P. Amiet, Altakkadische Rundplastik,W. Orthmann, ed. Propylden Kunstgeschichte XIV.,p. 173, pl. 48, agree that the personage is one ofSargon's successors, probably Naram-Suen, notwith-standing some doubts raised by P. Amiet, L'Artd'Agadd au Musde du Louvre (Paris, 1976), p. 33.29 The hypothesis is based most of all on theformal analogy of the locks and plaits of heads Aand C, but the hairdresses of the two heads werecertainly different; in 1977, before the reassemblingof head A, it seemed more likely that it was a femalehead; see P. Matthiae, Ebla, p. 79.

30 An evolution of this certainly royal hairdresshas been observed by P. Amiet, L'Art d'Agadd, p. 8.31 The type of the almost certainly royal headgearof Early Syrian Ebla is made of a woollen turban,quite typical and unknown in the Mesopotamianarea, with a large edge a short tail of which fallsdownwards on one side. It is attested in the woodencarvings of a bearded figure wearing a flounced cloak,carrying an axe, from L. 2601 (TM.74.G.1000), in afragment of a composite statuette in the round fromL. 2764 (TM.76.G.830), in the composite panels inrelief from L. 2913 (TM.77.G.544 and TM.77.G.590):P. Matthiae, Ebla, pls. 32, 36; Acadgmie des Inscrip-tions et Belles-Lettres, Comptes Rendus 1978: figs.10-11; Studi Eblaiti 1/2 (1979): 17-32, figs. 3-10.32P. Matthiae, Acaddmie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Comptes Rendus 1977: 162 and Acadgmie desInscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Comptes Rendus 1978:222-25.

33 The Administrative Quarter stretches south ofL. 2866, contrary to what was suggested in Acadgmiedes Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Comptes Rendus1978: 207-8.



22/26

EARLY SYRIAN SCULPTURE FROM TELL MARDIKH-EBLA 269One must, therefore, think that the Audience Court had the function of holding anumber of persons onthe occasion of the collection of tributes the organization of caravansand the entrusting of missions to ambassadors: all this attested by the kinds of written

documents kept in the archives in rooms L. 2712 and L. 2769.34 The great hall L. 2866was probably meant for similar functions on the occasion of smaller crowds and greaterprivacy, apart from more specific uses, now impossible to define, which were alwaysrelated to government activities.35 The precious composite heads and the panels in highrelief, images of kings or high officials of Ebla, would be in this interpretation a celebra-tion and a showing off of the political power and cultural maturity of the city.

TRADITION AND STYLEThe two most typical aspects of the heads from Royal Palace G from the technical

point of view, according to the material reconstruction we have proposed, are the primaryrole of wood carving, in a work of great qualitative and functional dignity, and the skillshown in the use and combination of different materials in these works: from steatite towood to gold. These features are not usual in artistic workfrom Mesopotamia since works ofnotable artistic merit and of great material value rarely escaped being plundered andtherefore have not survived. The picture of the possible comparisons, therefore, mayundoubtedly be altered, considering the circumstances of the scarcity and the smalllikelihood of the accidental finding of works particularly precious from a qualitative ormaterial point of view, which were surely produced only in royal palace workshops.With the caution imposed by these remarks, an attempt will be made to single outthe artistic traditions from which these techniques derive. Of the three obvious pos-sibilities-derivation from an archaic Protohistorical tradition, derivation from thecontemporary late Early Dynastic tradition, or that they belong to a special matureEarly Syrian tradition-apart from stylistic considerations, none may be assumed withtotal exclusion of the others to explain completely the peculiar heads of Royal Palace G.The particular importance given to wood in the conception of the artifacts, althoughvery rare examples of Early Dynastic statuettes in stone and wood covered with goldare not lacking, such as a small votive image from level VIII of the Inanna temple inNippur,36 cannot but be considered a typical traditional element of the royal workshopsof mature Early Syrian Ebla. The remains of carved wooden furniture found in room L.2601 of the Northern Wing of Palace G, extraordinary from the qualitative point of view,are without parallel in contemporary Mesopotamia and lead one to think that thecarving of wood in the royal workshops of Mardikh IIB1 was not limited to furnitureof particular value but was extended to the production of figurative works of specialcomplexity.37 The use of carved wood for works of art and in particular for the representa-tion of great personages, kings or high officials of the state, seems to be a typical practiceof Ebla workshops, surely due to the abundance of wood and consequently a particular

34 P. Matthiae, Syro-Mesopotamian Studies 2(1978): 5-6 and Ebla, pp. 64-68, 73, 168-70.35 P. Matthiae, Acaddmie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Comptes Rendus 1978: 222.36 D. P. Hansen and G. F. Dales, The Temple ofInanna, Queen of Heaven at Nippur, Archaeology 15(1962): 80, fig. 7; D. P. Hansen, Friihsumerischeund Friihdynastische Rundplastik, W. Orthmann,

ed., Propylden Kunstgeschichte XIV., p. 164, pl. 2;E. A. Braun-Holzinger, Friihdynastische Beter-statuetten, pp. 50, 52, 79, pl. 17c.37 P. Matthiae, Orientalia 44 (1975): 351-55, pls.36-37; Monographs on the Ancient Near East 1/6(1979): figs. 20-26; W. Orthmann, ed. PropylienKunstgeschichte XIV., pp. 487-88, pls. 424-425a-b;Ebla, pp. 86-92, pls. 27-34.



23/26

270 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIESfamiliarity with that material. The predilection of the Eblaite workshops for so perishablea material is certainly in contrast with the choice, already in the milieus of Early DynasticLagash and later on in a more exclusive way at Akkad, of particularly hard stones, likediorite, for royal statuary.38 While in the practice of the late Early Dynastic and OldAkkadian art the longed-for perpetuation of life was entrusted to the relative indestructi-bility of the material of the image, in the mature Early Syrian court art, the celebrativefunction was entrusted to the preciousness of materials and to the refinement of execution.The combination of different materials, at least wood, gold, and steatite but perhapsalso lapis lazuli and limestone for some details in statuary and in other art works forvotive purposes is probably alien to the Early Dynastic tradition of Mesopotamia,as the refined preciousness of the furniture from the Royal Tombs of Ur was surelyreserved for the furniture of the Palace. The origin of this composite technique used forthe cultic or votive heads of major sculpture is in the Protohistorical plastic tradition,as it is shown by the head from Warka which surely bore a hairdress of a different materialfrom the limestone of the head itself.39 The diffusion of the statuary with compositestructure in the late Protohistorical period in a sculpture conceived according to acriterion quite similar to that of the royal workshops of mature Early Syrian Ebla ofdifferentiation of the material in connection with the particular aspect-hair, body,clothing-of the surface that is being represented is attested in a well-known series ofstatuettes from the Iranian area datable, generally speaking, because of the lack of arch-aeological contexts of provenance, between the Jemdet Nasr Period and the first phasesof the Early Dynastic Period.40It is probable that the composite structure of Mesopotamian statuary of the late Proto-historical period, specifically that of the classical achievements of the workshops of UrukIII of utilizing different kinds of stone and metal, provided the model for the workshopsof later Ebla.41 The Early Syrian milieu, on the contrary, would have interpreted thisProtohistorical technique with the substantial innovation of the use of carved wood

38 The use of diorite for royal votive statuary, incontrast with what is documented at Mari in theEarly Dynastic III Period, is already present inLagash for the statue of Entemena discovered at Ur,U. 805, Baghdad, Iraq Museum, IM. 5: C. L. Woolley,Ur Excavations, I V, The Early Periods (Philadelphia,1955), pp. 168-69, pl. 40. About the widespreadthough not exclusive, use of diorite for royal statuaryby the masters of the school of Akkad, see P. Amiet,L'Art d'Agadd, p. 18.39 The function of the works of art of the schoolof Uruk in the Uruk III phase is a difficult problemto solve, and it is possible that for its adequateformulation, definitions like that of votive statuarynot pertinent, even though they are convenientin considering the social, political, and religiousreality of the Early Dynastic Period but probablyless applicable to the Protohistorical Period. Sothe well-known statuette (h. 18 cm.) of a princefound in a late context at Uruk and now in Baghdadin the Iraq Museum, IM 61896, cannot be explainedsimply as a votive image; see H. J. Lenzen, X VI.Vorlaufiger Bericht iiber die Ausgrabungen in Uruk-Warka, Winter 1957/58 (Berlin, 1960), pp. 37-38, pls.17-18, 24a; A. Moortgat, Die Kunst des alten Meso-potamien, p. 16, pl. 13; D. P. Hansen W. Orthmann,ed., in Propylden Kunstgeschichte XIV., p. 161, pl. 10.

40 R. Ghirshman, Notes iraniennes XII, Statu-ettes archaiques du Fars (Iran), Artibus Asiae 26(1963): 151-60, figs. 1-12; A. Parrot, Acquisitionset in'dits du Musec du Louvre, 12, Statuette archaiqueiranienne, Syria 40 (1963): 231-36, figs. 2-3; idem,Statuette mesopotamienne archaique, K. Bittel, E.Heinrich, B. Hrouda, and W. Nagel, eds., Vorderasia-tischeArchdologie (Berlin, 1964), pp. 230-33, pls. 30-32;W. Nagel, Westmakkanische Rundplastik, BerlinerJahrbuch fir Vor- und Friihgeschichte 8 (1968): 104-17,pls. 16-23; R. Ghirshman, Notes iraniennes XVI,Deux statuettes 6lamites du plateau iranien, ArtibusAsiae 30 (1968): 237-48, pls. 1-8; P. Amiet, Notesd'archeologie iranienne: A propos de quelques acquisi-tions recentes du Mus'e du Louvre, Revue du Louvre19 (1969): 325-28, figs. 1-4; E. Porada, IranischeKunst, in W. Orthmann, ed. Propylden Kunstge-schichte XIV., pp. 363, 367, 377-79, pls. 277-81b; P.Amiet, Bactriane proto-historique, Syria 54 (1977):101-7, pls. 1-2, fig. 13; idem, Antiquites de Bac-triane, Revue du Louvre 28 (1978): 156, figs. 8-10.41 For a quite preliminary picture of the relationsbetween Sumer and Ebla, see P. Matthiae, TheProblem of the Relations between Ebla and Mesopo-tamia in the Time of the Royal Palace of MardikhIIB1 (ca. 2400-2250 B.C.), XXVe Rencontre Assyrio-logique Internationale, Berlin 1978 (Berlin) [in press].



24/26

EARLY SYRIANSCULPTURE FROMTELL MARDIKH-EBLA 271coveredwith gold leaf as a fundamentalmaterial. In southernMesopotamia t is probablethat, even keeping the limestone- or alabaster-likestones as the basic material for votivestatuary, Early Syrian technique of the applicationof stone plaques typical of the headsof the Royal Palace G was even rarely applied by late Early Dynastic workshopsin theproduction of dedicatory statuettes. A probable example of influence from the EarlySyrian culture is given by the statuette of a sitting personage in the Ny CarlsbergGlyptotek in Copenhagen. The hairless and beardless head has several small holes inirregularpositions in which there are the remains of bronze nails that evidently had thefunction of fixing stone plaques for the hairdressand beard.42It is quite probable but not certain that the composition of plaques of hairdressesin the court plastic art was a typically Early Syriantechnical peculiarity. The fact thattwo unpublished plaques of lapis lazuli representing sections of hairdresses of headssimilar in size to those of Palace G of Ebla come from an apparently Middle Assyrianarchaeological context in Assur could hint both at the persistance in Assyria of a veryold western tradition and at the diffusion in Assyria as well as in Syria of an archaictechnique.43Both hypotheses of interpretation find confirmationin the probably closerelations between the culture of Ebla and the culture of Assur in the period of the StateArchives.44Certainly the great typological analogiesbetween the plaques of Ebla andthose of Assur that have holes to fix them, with remains of bronze nails like plaque A7of Palace G, and the resemblancesin the quite minute technique of incision in the locksof both centers would lead us to think that the plaques from Assur belong to a head ofthe late Early Dynastic Period kept for a long time for its artistic and material value.The possible derivation of the plaques of Assur from the mature Early Syrian tradi-tion of Ebla would be suggested both by the use of lapis lazuli, that in Ebla was usedfor hairdresses in the composite panels of medium size from room L. 2866 of Palace G,and by the persistence in upper Syria of the tradition of composite sculpture still in theOld Syrian Period. In fact, some fragments of hairdresses and beards from Alalakh, indiorite and steatite, collected on the floor of Temple VII, which seem quite near, fromthe technical point of view, to pieces of MardikhIIB1, may be considered remains ofworks that, with much more schematic formal characteristics, continue in the Middle

42Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, 836c(h. 43.00 cm.). The head has a central hole on theforehead between the eyebrows, two holes on theright temple, a hole in front of the right ear, a holeon the right cheek and on the left side a hole on thetemple, one on the cheek, one under the ear, onebehind and above the ear, and one on the nape of theneck; see A. Moortgat, Die Kunst des alten Mesopo-tamien, p. 47, pl. 107. A different way to fix thehairdresses to statuettes had to be used in the caseof the steatite headgear carved in one piece, likeTM.77.G.550 (h. 2.4 cm.) from Royal Palace G ofEbla, W 18193 probably of the Akkadian period froma later context in Uruk and a hairdress in the Louvreperhaps of the same period: P. Matthiae, Acadgmiedes Inscriptions et Belles-Lettre8, Compte8 Rendu81978: 229, fig. 19; H. J. Lenzen, XII. und XIII.Vorldiufiger Bericht iiber die Au8grabungen in Uruk-Warka, Winter 1953/54, Winter 1954/55 (Berlin, 1956),p. 45, pl. 23d; G. Contenau, Monuments m8sopotamien8(Paris, 1934), p. 7, pl. 3a.

43 Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum, VA 7891 +VA 7894. I want to thank Dr. Evelyn Klengel-Brandt of the Vorderasiatisches Museum very muchfor giving me some useful information.44 This hypothesis is conditioned by the identifica-tion, considered obvious by G. Pettinato, BiblicalArchaeologist 39 (1976): 46 and in Relations entreles royaumes d'Ebla et de Mari au IIIe mill6naired'aprbs les Archives Royales de Tell Mardikh-Ebla,Akkadica 2 (1977): 25, with Assur of A-.irzki, fre-quently mentioned in the administrative texts andalso in two fundamental texts of historical interestfrom the State Archives of Ebla: the letter TM.75.-G.2367, in which the Eblaite general Enna-Daganrefers, according to an evidently literary model, tohis victory over Iblul-I1, king of Mari and A-girx(BAR X SILA)ki, and TM.75.G.2420, the treaty betweenEbla and the presumed i-a-du-ud en a-girs(BARXSILA)ki: see A. Archi, The Epigraphic Evidence fromEbla and the Old Testament, Biblica 60 (1979):563-64.



25/26

272 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIESBronze II traditions of Early Bronze IVA.45 But naturally it cannot be excluded that inTemple VII much older artistic works considered precious had been preserved.A stylistic consideration of the heads of Royal Palace G of Ebla is made difficult bythe very fragmentary and incomplete condition in which the sack by the Akkadian armyleft them. But these remains of court art assume a particular meaning if they are ex-amined together with the other evidence for the palace art of mature Early SyrianEbla. In fact, though nothing is known to us of the historical development of theartistic traditions of Syria during the archaic Early Syrian Period, parallel to the EarlyDynastic Period of Mesopotamia, it is certain that the artifacts of Palace G are theresult of prolonged technical experience and of a long stylistical elaboration in theadministrative seat of one of the major centers, from both political and cultural pointsof view, of the Early Syrian culture.The very fine graphic pattern of the hairdresses seems to be the main characteristicof the plastic art of Palace G and the minuteness of the details may appear as a limitof the formal research of these palace workshops. It is the too fragmentary state of thepreserved remains that attracts attention to what was on the contrary a secondaryaspect of this art. What in fact is the fundamental interest of the artists of Palace Gis the formal structure of the image conceived as a volume defined by a very carefulmodulation of the contour line. The foreshortening views of head A reveal how skill-fully it is built as a bodily mass, wonderfully exploiting the very peculiar-and apparentlynot too fit for this purpose-technique of the separate plaques, slight displacements ofwhich would have compromised the result of the work. One need only look at the slightlateral swelling of the curls which gives a realistic tone to the apparent arabesque ofthe hair, and most of all at the slender modeling of the nape at the juncture with theneck which derives from a careful anatomic study. The modulation of the contour linein head B, instead of representing realistically the structure of the skull, defines thesoft mass of the hair according to the rhythm of simple formal elegance.46If the structure of the mass as a basis of a naturalistic vision is the inspiring motiveof the taste of the mature Early Syrian workshops of Mardikh IIB1, this tendency toconceive the reality of the bodily mass is further underlined by the balance amonggraphic preciousness, plastic corporality and linear sinuosity, that, mostly in the admir-able head A, is shown in the articulation of the surface of the hair. There is no incoherencein the conception of this head, as each element contributes to build an image of a severenaturalism which derives from the same artistic vision of the more noteworthy woodencarvings from room L. 260147 and of some remains such as miniature animal figurinescoming from the same area of the Administrative Quarter.48 The solid formal structureof the hairdress of head A, as well as the elegant fluidity of the lines of head B, aretherefore two aspects of the severe naturalism that seems to be peculiar to mature EarlySyrian Ebla.

45AT/47/78: hairdress, diorite (h. 3.5 cm.);AT/47/90: hairdress, diorite (h. 6.5 cm.); AT/47/77:part of beard, steatite: C. L. Woolley, Alalakh (Oxford,1955), p. 237, pl. 43.46 One must remember that taking into considera-tion the antiquarian aspects of the two hairdresses,both, one in the elaborateness of its structure andthe other in its extreme simplicity, do not haveadequate parallels in the contemporary art ofMesopotamia.

47 P. Matthiae, Ebla, pp. 86-92, 214-18.48 Cf. in particular the limestone bull figureTM.78.G.320 (h. 3.3 cm.; 1. 2.3 cm.; width 1.9 cm.),which will be published in a separate study: P.Matthiae, About the Style of a Miniature AnimalSculpture from the Royal Palace G of Ebla, StudiEblaiti 2/5 (1980) [in press].



26/26

EARLY SYRIAN SCULPTURE FROM TELL MARDTKH-EBLA 273The severe naturalism of Mardikh IIBi appears to be the result of a stylistic develop-

ment, still completely unknown to us, matured in the sphere of the Early Syrian culturein parallel with the artistic experiences of the Early Dynastic Period in Mesopotamia.In a chronological interpretation, though the exceptionality of the qualitative levelmakes judgment difficult, the severe naturalism of Ebla of the age of the State Archivesseems to be parallel to the later experiences of the Early Dynastic III Period in Meso-potamia and to the older tendencies of the synthetic naturalism of the royal workshopsof Akkad.49 It is possible (but it is surely too hard now to say within which limits)that in some ways the royal workshops of Ebla contributed to the extraordinary matura-tion of artistic experiences of the second generation of Akkad, which laid the foundationsfor the creation of the great masterpieces of the age of Naram-Suen of Akkad.

49 A. Moortgat, Die Kunst des alten Mesopotamien,pp. 53-60; P. Amiet, L'Art d'Agadg, pp. 18-23, 29-33;P. Matthiae, Ebla, pp. 215-16. I am now preparinga critical study on the problem of the formation ofthe art of Akkad and its historical roots.

some fragments of early syrian sculpture from royal palace g of tell mardikh-ebla

Documents