Origin
The Ancient World : The Middle East : Pre-Sargonid Period
Summary
The religious ideas of the Sumerians of the Early Dynastic IIIA period
are shown with great vigor, dynamism and charm in numerous objects from
Ur. Lagash, sites in the Diyala river valley and from al-Ubaid. Many
fragments of the facade and lintel of a temple devoted to Ninhursag
were found in the rubble at the site of al-Ubaid by Sir Leonard Woolley
in 1922. One of the relief scenes depicts the process of milking and
butter making by priests of Ninhursag. Ninhursag, one of the mother
goddesses of Sumerian religion, gives birth, nourishes, and sustains
life.
Description
During excavations in 1922 at the ruin mound of al-Ubaid, near Ur in
southern Iraq, H.R. Hall and Sir Leonard Woolley discovered the remains
of a circular structure, within which the platform of a temple was preserved.
The temple had apparently been dismantled and large portions of picture
friezes, that had adorned its facade, were found in the debris. Four
registers of animal and bird friezes have been reconstructed. An inscription
of king A-annipadda informs us that he built and dedicated the temple
to Ninhursag, the mother goddess, wife of Enlil and mother of Ningirsu.
The frieze of milking and butter making was made of shell and limestone
figures, set into a background of black bituminous shale which had first
been coated in bitumen.
As the scene is preserved in its restored state it shows a reed and
rope cattle byre from the middle of which two cows are exiting. On the
right side of the byre a man is milking a cow, holding a tall narrow
jar between his legs to receive the milk. A muzzled calf is tied to
the cow in front.
On the left side of the byre we see the process of making butter. All
of the men in these scenes are bald, clean shaven, and naked from the
waist up, indicating that they are priests of the temple. The priest
on the left reaches his hand into the neck of a large storage jar, while
next to him two men are engaged in pouring liquid through a strainer
into a vessel on the ground. On the right of these two a priest sits
on a stool next to the byre, with a huge pottery storage vessel between
his knees. This jar and the strainer have distinctive rope moulding
decoration around them. Pottery vessels of the type illustrated on the
frieze were found by the archaeologists in a contemporary cemetery nearby.
Cultural Context
The ruin mound of al-Ubaid, near the mound of Ur in southern Iraq, harbored
a town smaller than Ur during the period of the Royal Tombs. The remains
of the temple of Ninhursag built there by king A-annipadda give us a
vivid picture of the warm, bucolic worship of the mother goddess. Although
the frieze yields much practical information on a main aspect of domestic
life: milking and butter making plus illustrations of ceramic vessels
used in these processes which provide archaeologists with invaluable
information on the actual uses of ceramics that are found in excavations,
the scene also provides important insights into the religious life of
Sumerian life of that period (2600-2500 B.C.).
Ninhursag, "Lady of the Mountain," was also called "Mother
of the Gods," and "Mother of Children." She was claimed
for a mother by many Mesopotamian rulers, as part of the royal ideology
of divine engenderment. As with Inanna, and much later goddesses such
as the Greek Artemis, she was a "mistress of the animals."
Human and animal life are interconnected in the cycle of inter-dependance
and fertility, of life and death. The goddess is the central symbol
of life, abundance and fertility. Just as the cows give their milk for
the sustenance of humankind, so the goddess suckles humans. The Stele
of the Vultures relates how Eannatum was engendered by Ningirsu, the
son of Ninhursag, and suckled by Ninhursag.
The temple of Ninhursag at al-Ubaid attracted large numbers of burials
to its precincts. In these graves Woolley found the same kinds of ceramic
vessels as are pictured on the frieze. Very possibly the desire to be
buried in that place, accompanied by the objects of its cult practices,
indicates a belief in the efficaciousness of Ninhursag's power beyond
the grave.
Image Sources
Same as in short form.
References
Hall, H.R. and C. Leonard Woolley. Ur Excavations, Volume I. Al-Ubaid.
A Report. Publications of the Joint Expedition of the
British Museum and of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania to
Mesopotamia. London: Oxford University Press, 1927.
Lloyd, Seton. The Archaeology of Mesopotamia. Rev. Ed. London: Thames
and Hudson, 1984.
Moortgat, Anton. The Art of Ancient Mesopotamia. London: Phaidon Publishers,
1969. |