“Bread crumbs”(perhaps how you got here)

(Originally posted January 25th, 2009)

This magnificent (if terrifying) work is perhaps the greatest surviving monument of the Third Millennium BCE. It is almost always thought to represent the Old Akkadian King, Naram-Sin, ascending to the peak of godhead on the trampled bodies of his enemies. Usually the stele is called "The Victory Stele of Naram-Sin" or something similar. Naram-Sin was a king of the Akkadian Empire; he probably reigned in the early part of the 22nd Century BCE.

Obviously the artist that made this (or artists - we do not know, of course) was a highly skilled man. The figures have a remarkable fluidity, and the low bas-relief is used very effectively to give motion and energy to the composition, which is well thought out. (The inscription was added later; the work was found at Susa, the capital of the Elamites, where it was taken at an unknown date, along with other trophies from Mesopotamia.)

It is widely considered today that Naram-Sin was the first Mesopotamian king to claim divine status. Whether this is true or not, one can certainly say that he may well have been the first to make the claim in such a grand and frightening way. It is probably no accident that the style of this monument breaks sharply from the flat, linear style of the monuments of earlier Mesopotamian kings.

It is sometimes thought that Nimrod of the Bible was Naram-Sin. This is possible, since both Naram-Sin and Nimrod share some common elements of imagery in the accounts of their reigns - they were proud, powerful, and ultimately not benevolent. (The triangular shape to the king's right in the Stele probably represents a mountain, and is not directly an image of a ziggurat; thus it cannot be used as some kind of proof that Nimrod built the Tower of Babel, although the Stele's depiction of Naram-Sin as associated with a mountain or mountain-like shape is certainly interesting.)

Perhaps the saddest aspect of this sculpture is that we know so little about it - it was famous (the fact that the Elamites bothered to steal it tells us something), it is obviously well-made, and yet we know only a little of its story. We have only fragmentary knowledge of other works from its time, and (of course) we do not know the name of the sculptor or any of his other works. Such complaints can be voiced for almost any other work of art from pre -Classical times, a fact that makes each such work not only a special treasure to be preserved with the greatest care but also a mute and damning testimony to the carelessness with which later generations treat the art of their predecessors.

 All text on this page is the work of J W Durham and is licensed only under terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Other licensing terms may be available. E-mail me