Body of the able ruler: narrative history and state ideology in Akkad and Sumer ARCH 0351 / AWAS 0800 Introduction to the Ancient Near East Brown 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 (25 th c. BC)

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

Myth and History: Stele of Eannatum. ca BC. from Girsu (Telloh) Limestone H. 1.8 m; L. 1.3 m; Th m Louvre 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)ship Vase dedicated by Entemena, king of Lagash, to Ningirsu. Silver and copper, ca BC. Telloh, ancient city of Girsu.

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

DatesPeriodKings of LagašNotes Jemdet NasrSîn (Nanna-Suen) temple (Khafajah) Levels I-V Early Dynastic ISîn temple Levels VI-VII Early Dynastic IITemple Oval (Khafajah) foundation Sîn Temple Levels VIII-IX 2550 BCEarly Dynastic III A Ur-NansheTemple Oval, 2 nd building level Sîn temple Level X Akurgal EannatumLagaš-Umma border conflict Mesannepada king of Ur (First Dynasty) Enannatum I 2450 BCEarly Dynastic III B EnmetenaTemple Oval, 3 rd building level Enannatum II Enentarzi Lugalanda 2380 BCUruKAgina Umma king Lugal-zagesi’s conquest of Lagaš 2350 BCSargon of Agade’s conquest

Tell Asmar ancient Eshnunna Diyala River valley city plan with excavated buildings

Tell Asmar ancient Eshnunna Diyala River valley plan of “North Palace”

Kish, Plano-convex building

Akkadian kingdom... (ca BC)

frontier/peripheral monumentscommemorative monuments at 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: BC Rimush: BC Manishtushu: BC Naram-Sin BC Sharkalisharri 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 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 Stele Limestone fragment of a stele found in Tello (Girsu), Akkadian period, dated by inscription to Rimush (ca BC) Olivino-gabbro fragment of a stele found in Susa, Akkadian period, most probably dated to Sargon (ca BC)

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

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

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