Body of the able ruler: narrative history and state ideology in Akkad and Sumer

ARCH 0351 / AWAS 0800 Introduction to the Ancient Near EastBrown University ~ Fall 2009

October 20, 2009

ideology an established dialogue, a social transaction, a cultural discourse that is delievered in the form of a complex worldview, power discourse that seeps into everyday life... not propaganda... not produced by the elites...

narû: commemorative monument upright stones with pictorial representations and texts (steles), reliefs carved on living rock, inscribed statues, “obelisks” and a whole plethora of Near Eastern “monuments” of the public sphere, presenting pictorial and textual narrativized

narrative a convention of telling the past, whereby (past) events are linked in a cause-effect relationship that they do not inherently possess. pictorial and textual kinds.Narrativizing is historical operation that re-tells the past in narrative form, highlighting relationships between events that are not otherwise there.

Border conflict between the regional states of Umma and Lagash (25th c. BC)

Stele of Eannatum. ca. 2460 BC. from Girsu (Telloh), fragments

Myth and History:Stele of Eannatum. ca. 2460 BC. from Girsu (Telloh)

Limestone H. 1.8 m; L. 1.3 m; Th. 0.11 mLouvre Museum, Paris

Historical actors of the stele a medium for historical representation

Eannatum and Ningirsu on the two sides of the same stone

Objects of kin(g)shipVase dedicated by Entemena, king of Lagash, to Ningirsu. Silver and copper, ca. 2400 BC. Telloh, ancient city of Girsu.

The “body of the able ruler”royal rhetoric and visual representation in th 3rd millennium BC: Eannatum, Naram Sin and Gudea

holod_256_384.rm

Dates Period Kings of Lagaš

Notes

3200-2900

Jemdet Nasr Sîn (Nanna-Suen) temple (Khafajah) Levels I-V

2900-2700

Early Dynastic I Sîn temple Levels VI-VII

2700-2600

Early Dynastic II Temple Oval (Khafajah) foundation Sîn Temple Levels VIII-IX

2550 BC Early Dynastic III A

Ur-Nanshe Temple Oval, 2nd building levelSîn temple Level X

Akurgal

Eannatum Lagaš-Umma border conflictMesannepadaking of Ur (First Dynasty)

Enannatum I

2450 BC Early Dynastic III B

Enmetena Temple Oval, 3rd building level

Enannatum II

Enentarzi

Lugalanda

2380 BC UruKAgina

Umma king Lugal-zagesi’s conquest of Lagaš

2350 BC Sargon of Agade’s conquest

Tell Asmarancient EshnunnaDiyala River valleycity plan with excavated buildings

Tell Asmarancient EshnunnaDiyala River valleyplan of “North Palace”

holod_256_384.rm

Kish, Plano-convex building

Akkadian kingdom...

(ca 2334-2193 BC)

frontier/peripheral monuments commemorative monumentsat the center

audience: local populations and rulers of foreign landscapes

marking the edge of territorries

audience: urban citizens at home

construction of a socially accepted history

narû

Kings of Akkad

Sargon: 2334-2279 BCRimush: 2278-2270 BCManishtushu: 2269-2255 BCNaram-Sin 2254-2218 BCSharkalisharri 2217-2193 BC

Akkadian seals: mythological tales

Tell Brak, “Palace of Naram Sin”

Diorite fragment of a stele found in Susa, Akkadian period, most probably dated to Sargon (ca 2334-2279 BC). Louvre Museum

Disk of Enheduanna, Calcite, found at Ur (Tell al Mugayyar)University of Pennsylvania Museum

Translucent alabaster fragment of a stele found in Susa, Akkadian period

Rimush SteleLimestone fragment of a stele found in Tello (Girsu), Akkadian period, dated by inscription to Rimush (ca 2278-2270 BC)

Olivino-gabbro fragment of a stele found in Susa, Akkadian period, most probably dated to Sargon (ca 2334-2279 BC)

Basalt fragment of a stele found in Pir Hussein (SE Turkey), Akkadian period, dated by inscription to Naram-Sin (ca 2254-2218 BC)

A commemorative monument of the Akkadians... War booty for the Elamites...

1898... at Susa...

Stele of Naram Sin, Found in Susa Acropolis

Stele of the Akkadian king Naram Sin, Found in Susa Acropolis

narrative a convention of telling the past, whereby (past) events are linked in a cause-effect relationship that they do not inherently possess. pictorial and textual kinds.Narrativizing is historical operation that re-tells the past in narrative form, highlighting relationships between events that are not otherwise there.

agency the ability to change the world. a field of power that is extended to everyday individuals and things.

ideology an established dialogue, a social transaction, a cultural discourse that is delievered in the form of a complex worldview, power discourse that seeps into everyday life... not propaganda... not produced by the elites...

technology not the dull, mechanical techniques of making things, but complex cultural systems maintained by a collectively shared body of knowledge about symbolically charged operations of manufacture. skilled craftsmanship, enchanted technologies, magic.

commemorative monument steles, rock reliefs, inscribed statues, “obelisks” and a whole plethora of Near Eastern “monuments” of the public sphere, presenting pictorial and textual narrativized