Approximately twenty-seven statues of
Gudea, a ruler (
ensi) of the state of
Lagash have been found in southern
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
. Gudea ruled between c. 2144–2124 BC and the statues demonstrate a very sophisticated level of craftsmanship for the time. The known statues have been categorised 'A-AB' by archaeologists. Many statues are headless, and there are also detached heads. Gudea is named in the dedicatory inscription carved on most statues, but in somes cases the identity of the ruler portrayed is uncertain.
Provenance
Statues A-K were found during
Ernest de Sarzec's excavations in the court of the palace of
Adad-nadin-ahhe in
Telloh
Girsu ( Sumerian ; cuneiform ) was a city of ancient Sumer, situated some northwest of Lagash, at the site of modern Tell Telloh, Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq.
History
Girsu was possibly inhabited in the Ubaid period (5300-4800 BC), but sign ...
(ancient Girsu). Statues M-Q come from clandestine excavations in Telloh in 1924; the rest come from the art trade, with unknown provenances and sometimes of doubtful
authenticity. Figures L and R do not represent
Gudea with reasonable certainty.
Description and purpose
The statues were to represent the ruler in temples, to offer a constant prayer in his stead; offerings were made to these. Most of the statues bear an inscribed dedication explaining to which god it was dedicated. Gudea is either sitting or standing; in one case (N), he holds a water-jug ''au vase jaillissant''. He normally wears a close fitting ''
kaunakes'', maybe made of sheep-skin, and a long tasseled dress. Only in one example (M, Soclet-statue) he wears a different dress, reminiscent of the Akkadian royal costume (torso of
Manishtushu). On the lap of one of them (statue B) is the plan of his palace, with the scale of measurement attached. Statue F is similar to statue B; both are missing their heads, and have on their lap a board with a measuring scale and a stylus, only statue F doesn't have a ground plan.
Size and material
It seems that the early statues are small and made of more local stones (
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms wh ...
,
steatite and
redstone); later, when wide-ranging trade-connections had been established, the more costly exotic
diorite was used. Unlike the local stone, diorite is extremely hard, and so difficult to carve. Diorite had already been used by old Sumerian rulers (Statue of
Entemena). According to the inscriptions, the diorite (or
gabbro, ''
na4esi'') came from
Magan. The remnants of a very large diorite statue in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...
may be a representation of Gudea, but this cannot be determined with certainty. What remains of the statue is 1.5m high (and weighs over 1250 kg), meaning that if it was fully reconstructed the statue would be well over 3 metres high and the largest yet discovered sculpture of the ruler.
British Museum Collection
/ref>
Dedicatory inscription
The dedication of the diorite statues normally tell how '' ensi'' Gudea had diorite brought from the mountains of Magan, formed it as a statue of himself, called by name to honour god/goddess (x) and had the statue brought into the temple of (y). Most of the big (almost lifesize, D is even bigger than life) statues are dedicated to the top gods of Lagash: Ningirsu, his wife Ba'u, the goddesses Gatumdu and Inanna
Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, divine justice, and political power. She was originally worshiped in Su ...
and Ninhursanga as the "Mother of the gods". Q is dedicated to Ningiszida, Gudea's personal protective deity more properly connected to rand Abu Salabikh, the smaller M, N and O to his "wife" Gestinanna. The connection between Ningiszida and Gestinanna was probably invented by Archaeologists in order to effect a closer connection to Lagash.
Table of statues
Further reading
* Dietz Otto Edzard, "Gudea and His Dynasty" ''Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia Early Periods - RIME 3/1'' (Toronto University Press 1997).
* F. Johansen, "Statues of Gudea, ancient and modern". ''Mesopotamia'' 6, 1978.
* A. Parrot, ''Tello, vingt campagnes des fouilles (1877-1933)''. (Paris 1948).
* H. Steible, "Versuch einer Chronologie der Statuen des Gudea von Lagas". ''Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft'' 126 (1994), 81-104.
References
External links
{{commons category, Statues of Gudea
Photographs of the Gudea statues at Louvre
Insecula.com
The Detroit Institute of Arts
Sumerian art and architecture
Sculpture of the Ancient Near East
Dhi Qar Governorate