Hostname: page-component-6dbcb7884d-4vmf6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-13T22:58:48.402Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

THE FADED SPLENDOUR OF LAGASHITE PRINCESSES: A RESTORED STATUETTE FROM TELLO AND THE DEPICTION OF COURT WOMEN IN THE NEO-SUMERIAN KINGDOM OF LAGASH

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2016

Ariane Thomas
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A statuette of a woman dating from the Second Dynasty of Lagash features exceptional gold, silver and copper bracelets that have been recently restored and analysed. The statue is remarkable for its refined dress, to date known only from a small number of female figures, almost all linked to the court of Lagash's Second Dynasty. Examination of the statuette and comparable pieces has revealed possible traces of polychromy, although these vestiges are particularly difficult to identify with any certainty. This paper presents these results within the larger corpus of female depictions from the Second Dynasty of Lagash, together with other very similar examples, to better understand the meaning of the specific costume they wear and the possible identity of the women wearing it.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 78 , December 2016 , pp. 215 - 239
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrae, W. 1922. Die archaischen Ischtar-Tempel in Assur. Leipzig: Wissentschaftliche Veröffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, 39.Google Scholar
Asher-Greve, J. M. 1985. Frauen in Altsumerischer Zeit, Bibliotheca Mesopotamica, Malibu, Undena Publications.Google Scholar
Asher-Greve, J. M. 2006. “Golden Age” of Women? Status and Gender in Third Millenium Sumerian and Akkadian Art. Pp. 41–81 in Schroer, S. (ed.) Images and Gender, Contributions to the Hermeneutics of Reading Ancient Art, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, 220.Google Scholar
Banks, E.J. 1912. Bismaya or the lost city of Adab : A story of adventure, of exploration, and of excavation among the ruins of the oldest of the buried cities of Babylonia, New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons.Google Scholar
Barrelet, M.T. 1968. Figurines et reliefs en terre cuite de la Mésopotamie antique, Potiers, termes de métier, procédés de fabrication et production. Paris: Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner.Google Scholar
Bornemann, D. 2012. Une tête sumérienne en albâtre. La revue de la Bibliothèque Nationale et Universitaire de Strasbourg 5: 78–81.Google Scholar
Braun-Holzinger, E. 1991. Mesopotamische Weihgaben der frühdynastischen bis altbabylonischen Zeit, Heidelberg Studien zum Alten Orient, 3, Heidelberg Orientverlag.Google Scholar
Caubet, A. 1991. Un autel dédié par Nin Alla, épouse de Goudea, don du baron E. De Rothschild. La Revue du Louvre et des Musées de France 1: 14–17.Google Scholar
Contenau, G. 1931. Manuel d'archéologie orientale, II. Paris: Picard.Google Scholar
Cros, G., Heuzey, L., and Thureau-Dangin, F.. 1910. Nouvelles fouilles de Tello. Paris: Ernest Leroux.Google Scholar
Edzard, D.O. 1997. Gudea and His Dynasty: The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, 3/1. Toronto/Buffalo/London: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Falkenstein, A. 1957–1971. Gudea (A. Nach Texten), Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie: 676–79.Google Scholar
Frank, C. 1928. Strassburger Keilschrifttexte in sumerischer und babylonischer Sprache. Herausgegeben. Berlin: De Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frankfort, H. 1943. More Sculpture from the Diyala Region. Chicago: Oriental Institute Publications 60.Google Scholar
Frankfort, H. 1954. The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Hall, H.R. 1928. Babylonian and Assyrian Sculpture in the British Museum. Paris/Brussels: Les Editions G. Van Oest.Google Scholar
Harper, P.O., Klengel-Brandt, E., Aruz, J. and Benzel, K.. 1995. Discoveries at Ashur on the Tigris: Assyrian Origins, Antiquities in the Vorderasiatisches Museum. Berlin/New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.Google Scholar
Heuzey, L. 1902. Catalogue des antiquités chaldéennes. Paris: Musée du Louvre.Google Scholar
Heuzey, L. and Heuzey, J.. 1935. Histoire du costume dans l'antiquité classique, l'Orient. Paris: Les Belles-Lettres.Google Scholar
Jansen, M., Aulbach, S., Hauptmann, A., Höfer, H.E., Klein, S., Krüger, M., Zettler, R.L., 2016. Platinum group placer minerals in ancient gold artifacts – Geochemistry and osmium isotopes of inclusions in Early Bronze Age gold from Ur/Mesopotamia. Journal of Archaeological Science 68: 12–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lgrain, L. 1927. Sumerian Sculptures. Museum Journal 18: 217–46.Google Scholar
Lenzen, H. 1966. Die Kleinfunde. Uruk vorläufiger Bericht 22: 31–44.Google Scholar
Marzahn, J. 1987. Sumerische Inschriften des Vorderasiatischen Museums zu Berlin. Altorientalische Forschungen 14: 21–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maxwell-Hyslop, K.R. 1971. Western Asiatic Jewelry c. 3000–612 B. C. London, Methuen & Co Ltd.Google Scholar
McCown, D.E., Haines, R. and Hansen, D.P.. 1967. Nippur I, Temple of Enlil, Scribal Quarter, and Soundings. Chicago: Oriental Institute Publications, 78.Google Scholar
Meyer, R. 1965. Altorientalische Denkmäler im Vorderasiatischen Museum zu Berlin. Leipzig: VEB E.A. Seemann.Google Scholar
Michel, C. 1997. Un témoignage paléo-assyrien en faveur du port du voile par la femme mariée. Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires 1: 38.Google Scholar
Monaco, S. 1990. Two Notes on ASJ 10, 1988. Acta Sumeriologica 12: 89–108.Google Scholar
Moortgat, A. 1940. Vorderasiatische Rollsiegel: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Steinschneidekunst. Berlin: Gebr. Mann.Google Scholar
Orthmann, W. 1975. Der Alte Orient. Berlin: Propyläen.Google Scholar
Parr, P.A. 1974. Ninhilia, Wife of Ayakala Governor of Umma. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 25: 90–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parrot, A. 1948. Tello, vingt campagnes de fouilles (1877–1933). Paris: Albin Michel.Google Scholar
Pinnock, F. 1998. The Iconography of the Entu-Priestesses in the Period of the Ur III Dynasty. Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale 43: 339–46.Google Scholar
Reade, J.E. 1991. Mesopotamia. London: British Museum Press.Google Scholar
Reade, J.E. 2002. Early monuments in Gulf stone at the British Museum with observations on some Gudea statues and the location of Agade. Zeitschrift Fur Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archaologie 92/1: 258–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Renger, J. 1976. The daughters of Urbaba: Some Thoughts on the Succession to the Throne during the 2nd Dynasty of Lagash. Pp. 367–69 in Eichler, B. L.; Heimerdinger, J. W. and Sjöberg, A.W. (ed.), Kramer Aniversary Volum: Cuneiform Studies in Honor of Samuel Noah Kramer. AOAT 25.Google Scholar
Sarzec, E. de and Heuzey, L. 1884. Découvertes en Chaldée. Paris: Ernest Leroux.Google Scholar
Scheil, V. 1927. Nin Alla, femme de Gudea. Revue d'Assyriologie et d'Archéologie orientale XXI/3 : 109–10.Google Scholar
Spycket, A. 1948. Un élément de la parure féminine à la 1ère dynastie de Babylone. Revue d'Assyriologie 42: 89–97.Google Scholar
Spycket, A. 1955. La coiffure féminine en Mésopotamie. Revue d'Assyriologie 49: 113–28.Google Scholar
Spycket, A. 1981. La Statuaire du Proche-Orient ancien. Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strommenger, E. 1971. Mesopotamische Gewandtypen von der frühsumerischen bis zur Larsa Zeit. Acta praehistorica et archaeologica 2: 411–13.Google Scholar
Steible, H. 1991. Die neusumerischen Bau- und Weihinschriften. 2 vol. Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Steinkeller, P. 1988. The Date of Gudea and His Dynasty. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 40: 41–53.Google Scholar
Stol, M. 1993. Women in Mesopotamia. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 38/2: 123–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suter, C. 2000. Gudea's Temple Building. Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suter, C. 2007. Between Human and Divine. High Priestesses in Images from the Akkad to the Isin-Larsa Period. Pp. 317–61 in Feldman, M. and Cheng, J. (eds.), Ancient Near Eastern Art in Context. Studies in Honor of Irene J. Winter.Google Scholar
Suter, C. 2008. Who are the Women in Mesopotamian Art from ca. 2334–1763 BCE? Kaskal 5: 1–47.Google Scholar
Thureau-Dangin, F. 1905. Les inscriptions de Sumer et d'Akkad. Paris: Ernest Leroux.Google Scholar
Van Der Toorn, K. 1995. The Significance of the Coif in the Ancient Near East. Pp. 327–40 in Wright, D.P., Freedman, D.N. and Hurvitz, A. (eds.), Pomegranates and Golden Bells. Studies in Biblical, Jewish, and Near Eastern Ritual, Law, and Literature in Honor of Jacob Milgrom. Winona Lake.Google Scholar
Westenholz, J.G. 1984. Kaku of Ur and Kaku of Lagash. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 43/4: 339–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winter, I.J. 1987. Women in Public: The Disk of Enheduanan, The Beginning of the Office of EN-Priestess and the Weight of Visual Evidence. Pp. 189–201 in Durand, J.-M. (ed.), la femme ds le Proche-Orient antique. CRRAI de la XXXIIIe RAI, ERC.Google Scholar
Woolley, C.L. 1934. Ur Excavations II: The Royal Cemetery. London: The British Museum.Google Scholar
Woolley, C.L. 1962. Ur Excavations IX: The Neo-Babylonian and Persian Periods. London: The British Museum.Google Scholar
Woolley, C.L. and Mallowan, M.E.L.. 1976. Excavations VII: The Old Babylonian Period. London: The British Museum Press.Google Scholar