The Bronze Age. 3. Mesopotamia and Iran, c B.C. II. Akkadian to Old Babylonian Periods in Babylonia (c B.C.) B. Catalogue (Part 1)

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1 The Bronze Age 3. Mesopotamia and Iran, c B.C. II. Akkadian to Old Babylonian Periods in Babylonia (c B.C.) B. Catalogue (Part 1) With the introduction of the one-piece mould for the manufacture of terracottas in Mesopotamia at some time in the Akkadian Period (c B.C.), at least for the manufacture of nude female figurines, a technological distinction becomes significant in Babylonia. Handmodelled figurines of men, women and animals continued to be made, whilst models of furniture and vehicles combined handmodelling with moulding for low-relief surface decoration. The terracottas in this section, when excavated, are once again primarily from Kish, with a few examples from Ur. As the variety of subjects is now greater than before or after, they may best be tabulated for ease of reference. The numbers given are the catalogue numbers: (1) Handmodelled female (72; 76 9; 106; 147; 151); animal (73 75; ; 119; 120 (?mouldmade); 123; ); bird (132); bed (95); boat (99); chariots (96 98). (2) Mouldmade: nude female (80 86; ; ; ; 133; 137; ; 155); male offering bearers or worshippers (88 89; 90; 109); human couple (145); rider (141); musicians (94; 146; 154); men playing or dancing (115; 153); erotic scenes (87; ); bust of a goddess (150); goddess with birds (148); goddess with a mural crown (111); goddess of birth (93); goddess flanked by men (112); shrouded god (91; 152; 156); bull-man (142); Humbaba (92; 149); lahmu (131); chariot fronts with reliefs ( ; ; 134; 138 (mould); ) (3) Cut : No. 110 (4) Three-dimensional terracotta sculpture (female): no (i) Kish The city area of Kish is divided into two parts: Kish proper in the west (modern Tell Uhaimir), centred on the temple of Zababa (E-mete-ursag) and Hursagkalamma in the east (modern Tell Ingharra), (for -89-

2 ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN TERRACOTTAS topographical texts cf. George 1992, 193 7, 471 3). Museum numbers prefixed IM = Iraq Museum, Baghdad; FM = Field Museum, Chicago. (a) Tell Ingharra: Monument Z The building known as Monument Z was excavated in adjacent to the southwest side of the standing ruins of the Neo-Babylonian Temple on Tell Ingharra. It was cleared down to its foundations about 3 metres above the plain level. The plan published by Watelin (1934, 47, fig. 6) is not illuminating since the building had clearly been modified a number of times. It overlay plano-convex brick debris (Moorey 1978, 94 96). Its initial construction may not be closely dated within the range Akkadian to Ur III. It survived in use into the Old Babylonian Period as part of the temple complex. 72. Headless female figurine; hand-modelled; baked; cream slip on a pink core; columnar with damaged hollow base (free-standing); conical breasts in applied clay; right arm held down her side; left arm bent at the elbow with the hand cupping the left breast. AN (X.457: Monument Z) H: 7.1cm. W: 4.5cm. Moorey 1978, Fiche 2: C11, C09 (figure). This is the type of female terracotta taken to be characteristic of the Akkadian Period (Barrelet 1968, 70, fig. 38 (Nippur), nos 93 6 (Tello); Frankfort et al. 1940, fig. 108 (Tell Asmar); McCown et al. 1967, pl. 122: 1 3; Spycket 1992, 25 35, pl ). The position of the arms and the free-standing form is particularly distinctive. It is not clear whether the women of this type are naked or not. The absence of any indication of the navel or genitals, previously indicated, may imply that she is wearing a long garment. 73. Quadruped; handmodelled; baked; cream slip; head and tail damaged; traces of curling horns suggest that it is a ram. AN (X.275: Monument Z) H: 5.3cm. L: 8.7cm. Moorey 1978: Fiche 2: C09 (figure). 74. Quadruped; hand-modelled; baked; cream slip on pink fabric; legs and front of head missing; upright ears, with a crescentic upright mane clearly marked between them, suggest that this is an equid; broken strips of applied clay run from behind each ear to the broken forepart of the head, where there are traces of a brow-band; broken rectangular appliqués over the strips on each side indicate a relatively elaborate harness; they might be blinkers. There is a bitumen patch over the back of the neck and on the broken stub of each leg as if for sealing or repairing the breaks. AN (X282: Monument Z) H: 5.3cm L: 7.1cm Moorey 1978, Fiche 2: C09 (figure), CII. 75. Quadruped; hand-modelled; baked; cream slip; speckled with bitumen; boldly modelled ram with curved horns, stubby legs and short tail. AN (X 276: Monument Z) H: 6.5cm L: 9.7cm. Moorey 1978, Fiche 2: C09 (figure), C11. Out of context animal figurines are difficult to date closely as the types remain constant from the Akkadian through the Old Babylonian Periods (cf. McCown et al. 1967, pl ; Frankfort et al. 1940, 211). Their continuing appearance in the repertory of terracottas is significant. As one of the largest groups of male figures in low relief on moulded plaques through this period of time are animal bearers (Frankfort et al. 1940, 209), the separate animals, predominantly of horned varieties (rams; bovids), may represent animal offerings brought to the temples. -90-

3 BRONZE AGE: CATALOGUE AKKADIAN TO OLD BABYLONIAN PERIODS IN BABYLONIA (b) Tell Ingharra: Various Trenches Between 1926 and 1932 Watelin cleared the area to the north and north-west of the Neo-Babylonian temple on Tell Ingharra in a series of trenches (Moorey 1978, 89 94) from which the following terracottas were reported without details of their context or associations. They are grouped here by type. 76. Female figurine; hand-modelled; baked; cream slip on a buff fabric; columnar with splayed, hollow base; head, now damaged, shows traces of a back-projecting hair style with fan-shaped upper and lower edges; breasts in applied clay; left arm bent at the elbow with the hand on the left breast; right, now lost, appears to have been down the side. AN (KM 395: Tell Ingharra: trench B.5 at 4 metres depth where the surface of the tell is 6 metres above plain level) H: 8.5cm. W: 2.8cm. Moorey 1978, Fiche 2: A10, A12 (figure). 77. Headless Female Figurine; hand-modelled; baked; pinkish-buff fabric; columnar with splayed hollow base (broken); necklace represented by incised lines; breasts in applied clay; both arms bent with hands placed on abdomen; applied clay bracelet on each wrist. AN (K.855: Tell Ingharra: trench B.8 at 5 metres depth where the surface of the tell is 7 metres above plain level). H: 6.5cm. W: 4.7cm. Moorey 1978, Fiche 2: B08 (figure), B10. These two figurines are closely related to no. 72 here of the Akkadian to Ur III Periods (for hands on abdomen, cf. Barrelet 1968, no. 98 (Tello), 610 (Kish)). 78. Upper part of a female figurine; hand-modelled; baked; pinkish-buff fabric; pinched head with a prominent nose, now damaged; elaborate hairstyle, secured with a head band, projecting backwards with upper and lower fan-shaped peaks; choker necklace in applied clay and ornamental applied and incised band across the upper body; breasts in applied clay (left breast missing); right arm down right side; left bent at the elbow with her hand held flat on the abdomen. AN (KM 173: Tell Ingharra: trench C-6 at 7 metres depth where the surface of the tell is 7 metres above plain level) H: 5.7cm. W: 5.1cm. Moorey 1978, Fiche 2: B08 (figure), C01. (cf. Genouillac 1925, 9, pl. 9a c = Barrelet 1968, no. 94; McCown et al. 1967, pl ; Spycket 1992, 26, nos 83 5, pl. 14). This figurine and no. 79 below date to the Akkadian or Ur III Periods; again it is not certain whether they are naked or not. 79. Female figurine; hand-modelled; baked; greenish cream fabric; columnar with hollow base (damaged); pinched nose with eyes in applied clay; back projecting hairstyle with head band marked with incised lines; double necklace (damaged) in applied clay with incised lines; right arm and right breast missing; left breast applied in clay; left arm bent with hand, now lost, formerly over the abdomen; incised line down the back representing the counterpoise of the necklace (cf. Dales 1963, 22 31), which would be expected on a dressed rather than a naked figure. AN (K.1285: Tell Ingharra, trench C-10 at 2 metres depth where the surface of the tell is 7 metres above plain level) H: 8.6cm. W: 3cm. Moorey 1978, Fiche 2, C04, C05 (figure). 80. Upper part of a nude female in low relief on a plaque; mouldmade; baked; cream slip on a pink fabric; what may be drapery behind the figure; hair dressed like a halo round the head in a series of projecting curls; hands clasped below the breasts; broken at kneelevel and rounded off, probably in antiquity. AN a (KM 886: Tell Ingharra: trench C-9 at 4 metres depth where the surface of the tell is 4 metres above plain level) H: 5.8cm. W: 2.8cm. Moorey 1978, Fiche 2: B08 (figurine), C

4 ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN TERRACOTTAS 81. Upper part of a nude female in low relief on a plaque; mouldmade; baked; cream slip on a pink fabric; face damaged; hair dressed like a halo round the head in a series of projecting curls; hands clasped below the breasts; broken off at the waist. AN b (KM 53: Tell Ingharra, trench C-5 at 6 metres depth) H: 5.1cm. W: 2.8cm. Moorey 1978, Fiche 2: B08 (figure), B Nude female in low relief on a plaque; mouldmade; baked; buff fabric; fire stained; drapery (perhaps unfolded from her body) or blankets with tasselled lower borders behind her; very worn surface; hands clasped on her abdomen; pubic triangle incised. AN (K.933: Tell Ingharra, trench C-10 at 1 metre depth where the surface of the tell is 2 metres above plain level) H: 10cm. W: 2.4cm. Moorey 1978, Fiche 2: C04, C05 (figure). These three examples are distinctive with respect to their hairstyles and, in at least two cases, in having clear representations of drapery behind them. Explicit examples of nude women reclining on beds do not occur elsewhere before the Isin-Larsa Period. In both handmodelled and mouldmade nude female figurines the hairstyles were an important feature, often richly elaborated in ways which are not always evident in surviving three-dimensional sculpture, where they may be more easily studied (cf. Spycket ). The closest parallels to these hairstyles occur at Tello (Barrelet 1968, 263 no. 399, pl. XXXVIII) and Susa (Spycket 1992, no. 689). When plaques clearly show the top of a bed, it is made of woven reeds not covered with drapery. So it may perhaps be assumed that she is holding her clothes back to expose her naked body. Other plaques show her standing on a podium. On numerous other examples, where the feet are set together, and protrude, she might also be depicted standing rather than reclining. The feet tend to be set sideways on erotic plaques, where the figures are lying on beds. 83. Fragment of a Nude female in low relief on a plaque; mouldmade; buff fabric, very worn and discoloured; lower legs only. AN (K.2018; Tell Ingharra: surface) H: 4.8cm. W: 2.6cm. The nude female with hands clasped on her abdomen or cupping her breasts is amongst the earliest moulded plaques to appear in central and southern Mesopotamia in the Akkadian Period, notably at Tell al-wilayah (Madhlum 1960, pl. 9: 9, 10: 12). They derived from earlier nude statuettes in other materials. The earliest plaques found in Akkadian and transitional late Akkadian to early Ur III period levels at Khafajah and Tell Asmar in the Diyala region, are all examples of nude females facing front with their hands clasped on their abdomen (Auerbach 1994, 74 6). At the time when these moulded plaques appeared there were two traditions in handmodelled female figurines. One group is crude and schematized with rather grotesque facial features and personal ornaments in applied clay (cf. Frankfort et al. 1940, fig. 108); on the other group greater attention is paid to natural proportions of body and face, as at Tell al- Wilayah. These nude female plaques are normally the largest single category of moulded plaques found at any one site. 84. Nude female; mouldmade; baked; buff fabric; very worn surface; pierced diagonally at the top for suspension; elaborate, tall headdress; head with an extension on each side pierced through with four small holes one above the other; hands cupping breasts; feet missing; incised signs(?) on the back. AN (X.156: Tell Ingharra: Hillock A: A3 from a room) H: 6.8cm. W: 2.7cm. Moorey 1978, Fiche 2: C09 (figure), C Triangular shaped plaque with nude female in low relief; mouldmade; baked; pink fabric with traces of red paint; worn surface; elaborate tall hair style or headdress; hands shown cupping breasts; free-standing on base with the feet set on a small projection; pierced diagonally at the top for suspension. AN (V.455: Tell Ingharra: trench C3 at 3 metres depth) H: 7.2cm. W (top): 1cm. W (base): 2.5cm. Moorey 1978, Fiche 2: B08 (figure), B

5 BRONZE AGE: CATALOGUE AKKADIAN TO OLD BABYLONIAN PERIODS IN BABYLONIA 86. Triangular plaque with a nude female in relief; mouldmade; baked; cream slip with traces of red paint; the surface is very worn with (?bitumen) accretion; necklace; hands cupping breasts; pronounced hips; free-standing on a base. It is possible that the figure is seated. AN (V.721: Tell Ingharra, trench C-4 at 4 metres depth) H: 5.3cm. W (top): 1.4cm. W (base) 2.5cm. Moorey 1978, Fiche 2: B08 (figure), B12. This distinctive type of plaque pierced for suspension as if for use as an amulet, was first found at Kish in 1912 by Genouillac (1925, 18, pl. VII.3; Van Buren 1930, no. 160; Opificius 1961, no. 65; Barrelet 1968, no. 655). The Louvre has a related example (Barrelet 1968, no. 794), without provenance, acquired in On the latter example a horned headdress is still evident, suggesting that these figures should be distinguished from the nude female plaques represented by nos here and associated with a group distinguished by Opificius (1961, 71 2) as Nackte Ištar (cf. Curtis and Collon 1996). No. 86 is rather different in form; free standing and not pierced, without any sign of a divine headdress. 87. Plaque; mouldmade; baked; buff fabric; in low relief a standing man and woman engaged in sexual intercourse: man standing, woman with her legs supported by his hands at her waist, her arms round his neck. Not illustrated AN (Kish X.6: Tell Ingharra: debris near the Neo-Babylonian temple) 7.8 x 7.0cm. This plaque has been missing from the collections since before 1961; there is a sketch of it in the Museum s accession register. See no here for discussion of these so-called erotic plaques. 88. Plaque; mouldmade; baked; buff fabric; in low relief a standing man facing to the right with both hands raised AN (1099: mound W: 2m. below the surface; Mound W is a tell of considerable size to the west of Tell Ingharra: Moorey 1978, 48 54). H: 6.2cm. W: 5.5cm. 89. Fragment of a plaque; mouldmade; cream slip, buff fabric; very worn surface; bearded standing man facing right; details of a garment visible on right shoulder; left arm bent at the elbow and held across the body with the right below it (?); then the plaque is broken off. AN (Y.40: Tell Ingharra, surface) H: 5.5cm. W: 4.4cm. Moorey 1975, 84, pl. XXb (with wrong no. ); 1978, Fiche 2: A14 (figure); B Fragment of plaque; battered human face; mouldmade; greenish buff fabric; very eroded with intentional defacement. AN (Y.288: Tell Ingharra: Area Y) H: 5cm. W: 5.2cm. Moorey 1978, Fiche 2: A14 (figure) B03. Nos 88 and 89 belong to one of the least enigmatic types of moulded plaque in use in the earlier second millennium B.C. Worshippers have exact counterparts in modelled figurines, and comparable motifs appear regularly on cylinder seals at the time (cf. Collon 1987, 44 47, figs 153, 168). Kings and high ranking officials provided figurines of metal and clay, some inscribed, in temples as permanent testimony to their fidelity (Sollberger 1969); those of lower status may have offered plaques of this type. No. 90 might be of the same type as no. 88 9, but it is too damaged to be sure. -93-

6 ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN TERRACOTTAS 91. Plaque with a shrouded god in relief; mouldmade; baked; cream slip on pinkishbuff fabric; broken off at waist level; single pair of horns on a horned crown with broad headband incised in squares; well modelled eyes, ears, nose and mouth; square beard with incised wavy lines; each arm, with a bracelet, bent at the elbow grasping the handle of a lion-headed sceptre (facing outwards) against his upper body on each side. AN (K.1287: Tell Ingharra, trench C-10 at 4 metres depth where the surface of the tell is 7 metres above plain level) H: 9.9cm. W: 7cm. Moorey 1975, 83, pl. XIXc; 1978, Fiche 2: C05 (figure), C06. Compare: in general: Hill et al. 1990, pl. 33 (Ishchali), 61i, j (Khafajah). The lower body of this deity, when seen on complete versions of this type of plaque, is wrapped as if in a sarcophagus or shroud and sometimes has bird-like feet. Opificius (1961, 90 5) grouped them all as showing underworld deities. That is the most widely accepted identification (cf. Black and Green 1992, 136, fig. 112). Barrelet (1968, 182 3) appreciated the complexity of classifying a divinity with such a changeable imagery in which animal-like ears and accompanying weapons or sceptres were about the only constants among many variables. Although this figure is one of the most common on moulded plaques (cf. Auerbach 1994, ) it is so very rare on seals that only one is published. It is dated to the first half of the eighteenth century B.C. It shows a full-face bearded god in the upper half of a casket-shaped object (Buchanan 1981, no. 907). On a terracotta plaque from Isin (Spycket 1994b) a bearded bull-eared creature wearing the horned crown is apparently within a domed building. 92. Circular, disk-like face of Humbaba (Huwawa); mouldmade; baked; red slip on buff fabric; lower left cheek and nose-tip missing; hollow back; pierced on each side between the eye and the ear; the eyes, ears, nose and chin are naturalistically modelled; but the eyebrows end in curls, the mouth gapes wide and a band of lines sweeps from the eyes across the cheeks to end in curls on either side of the chin suggesting a grotesque blend of wrinkles and hair. AN (V.871: Tell Ingharra: trench C-5 at 1 metre depth) 9.4 x 8.6cm. Moorey 1975, 88 9, pl. XXIIc; 1978, Fiche 2: B13. Compare no. 149 here. The so-called Humbaba masks have recurrent characteristics apart from their shape and the fact that they are regularly pierced for suspension (though by no means invariably). The oval or round face has vertical striated hair, prominent eyes, a fleshy dilated nose, a wide mouth open to expose the teeth and a pronounced grin, highlighted by a prominent grooved moustache or whiskers. Many years ago Smith (1924) and Thureau-Dangin (1925) established that this was the face of Humbaba (Huwawa), primarily on the basis of an inscribed Neo-Babylonian terracotta mask from Sippar, now in the British Museum (BM ). The text on the back of this plaque relates to Humbaba s role in divination and extispicy, explaining why the face represented on the front resembles intestinal coils more explicitly than is usual on the much earlier plaques. The text begins If the entrails [resemble] the face of Humbaba, it is the omen of Sargon. So far as the evidence from controlled excavations is concerned other Humbaba face plaques date to the earlier second millennium B.C. (cf. Nippur: McCown et al 1967, pl. 132: 4, 6 7 (as Ur III); Tell Asmar (Auerbach 1994: (Isin-Larsa)); Isin: Hrouda 1987, pl. 20 1B1435). Smith dated the inscribed example, apparently, on the basis of the inscription. A primary period of production in the Isin-Larsa Period is endorsed by the appearance of Humbaba masks on seals of the second half of the nineteenth century and later into the Old Babylonian Period (Auerbach 1994, 226). At Haradum a rather anomalous Humbaba mask was found in occupational debris in a house dated to the first half of the nineteenth century B.C. (level 3b: Kepinski-Lecomte 1992, 376, fig. 159: 8). Already by the earlier second millennium B.C. Humbaba masks were being made in faience (Oguchi 1998, 82, pl. 6; B:179). The relatively small clay masks (up to 11cm. high) pierced for suspension would be wearable; but there is no pictorial evidence for the use of such Humbaba masks as personal ornaments whereas there is for their role in architecture. The appearances of Humbaba masks on seals as filling motifs where deities stand -94-

7 BRONZE AGE: CATALOGUE AKKADIAN TO OLD BABYLONIAN PERIODS IN BABYLONIA side by side shows them in the upper register, as if they were representations of his face set on a shrine wall (cf. Porada and Buchanan 1948, nos 399, 440, 517). They also served in this role in non-religious or domestic settings as is clear from occasional appearances above the so-called erotic scenes on clay plaques (cf. no. 114 here; also Field Museum Chicago, ). They were also sometimes incised on pottery (Ashmolean Museum AN (Kish): Moorey 1975, pl. XXIId). Monumental examples in stone, originally flanking an Old Assyrian temple gateway, were excavated at Tell al-rimah in northern Mesopotamia (Carter 1983). Architectural use of this demon s face or head is also evident in an elaborate scene moulded on a number of plaques that Barrelet (1968, pl. LXXVd) convincingly suggested showed the interior of a shrine or temple. There is a damaged example of the type from Kish (Moorey 1975, pl. XXIIIb). Unpierced clay plaques were presumably secured to a wall with bitumen or plaster as is indeed suggested on some plaques, where the face is shown as if floating in space, presumable on a wall (cf. Barrelet 1968, no. 759, pl. LXCXIII; Huot 1989, 165). Some examples have enigmatic side projections which might have served in mounting them (cf. Woolley and Mallowan 1976, no. 191, 195). Humbaba also appears on plaques with his distinctive face set on the body of a naked, somewhat bowlegged man (cf. (Ur: Woolley and Mallowan 1976, pl. 87: 204; Tello: Barrelet 1968, nos 174 6). This figure needs to be clearly distinguished from the bow-legged dwarf, also shown on seals, who does not have the grimacing face and whiskers. It is possible, as Auerbach (1994, 226) suggested, that this full figure of Humbaba was created by plaque makers rather than by seal-cutters (cf. Black and Green 1992, 106, fig. 85). The Humbaba masks and figures, as well as clay plaques depicting the death of Humbaba (cf. Huot 1989; Lambert 1987), are one of the rare cases in which the written tradition in Mesopotamia may convincingly be related to the iconographic tradition through a single episode. In the Gilgamesh Epic, after cutting the cedar and killing Humbaba, Gilgamesh and Enkidu return to Nippur with a door, made out of the felled cedar, and the Head of Humbaba, which probably ended up as a trophy displayed on the doorway of the temple of Enlil (Ekur) at Nippur, consequently becoming a protection against evil (Wiggermann 1992, 146). His name, Huwawa, may reflect the sound he made when grimacing; it is otherwise not understood (Wiggerman 1992, 150). A life-size terracotta mask from Tell ed-der (16 x 18cms; Meyer 1984, 58 9, pl. 16: 1,2), dated about 1900 B.C., has incised features reminiscent of Humbaba. It could have been worn over a human face. It raises the question of wider roles for Humbaba masks : whether he was the only apotropaic spirit thus invoked or whether there were others represented by masks. 92A. Lower part of a plaque showing, in the centre, the lower body wearing a tunic or kilt, and legs of a human figure with feet pointing to his (?) left; his legs are flanked on either side by a full-face Humbaba head with the bandylegs typical of the whole creature directly attached to it; baked; cream slip on a bluff fabric; eroded surface. AN ; source unknown; presented by Professor Alan Millard. H: 4cm; W: 6cm. So far as it is possible to judge, the detached heads have the characteristic wrinkled grimacing faces and whiskers of this demon. They are not masks or detached apotropaic Humbaba faces so much as abbreviations of the whole demon designed to fit into the lower half of a plaque, where a full-face, whole-length figure could not be fitted. Rare terracottas (cf. Barrelet 1968, no. 677, 831) show a detached head of Humbaba as the pedestal for a standing male figure, commonly identified as Gilgamesh, who with Enkidu, killed him, as related in the Epic of Gilgamesh. 93. Lower part of plaque showing a standing figure flanked by crouching creatures; mouldmade; baked; cream slip on a buff fabric; worn surface. AN (K.910: Tell Ingharra, trench C-10, at 2 metres depth where the surface of the tell is 2 metres above plain level) H: 6.6cm. W: 5.2cm. Moorey 1975, 87, group XI, pl. XXe; 1978, Fiche 2: C04 (cf. Opificius 1961, ( Müttergottheit )). -95-

8 ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN TERRACOTTAS On complete versions of this type of plaque the central figure, a goddess, wears a flounced robe and a headdress in the shape of a temple entrance (cf. especially Opificius 1961, pl. 4: 224; Barrelet 1968, no. 819; Seibert 1974, pl. 31; Auerbach 1994, 49 51, 378 9, pl ). She supports with her left hand a baby suckling at her breast, which it grasps with its hand. In her raised left hand she holds an oval-shaped object, towards which one of the two heads, emerging one on either side from her shoulders, seems to strain as if about to kiss or eat it. On either side of the upper part of the goddess hangs a long looped cord, curled over at the bottom on each side ( omega or Hathor curls ), as if suspended round a stud on a wall. Porada (1964, 164) distinguished between the round babyheads over the shoulders of the goddess and the goblin-like heads of the crouching figures at the bottom. On a plaque in the Louvre, said to be from Tell Asmar (Barrelet 1968, no. 819), the projecting head on the right shoulder is rather different from that on the left shoulder and at the lower left (lower right is damaged). Plaques exist, as at Tell ed-der (Meyer 1978, pl. 27: 1), which depict one of the crouching figures alone. A bronze statuette, attributed to Larsa, depicting a squatting creature with its elbows on its knees and its hands placed on either side of its head has been identified with the squatting figure on these plaques (Porada 1964, figs 1 5; Spycket 1981, 248). They have been variously identified as infants, foetuses or emaciated starving adults. Van Buren (1933 4) argued that the deity shown here was Ninhursag (Nintu), goddess of childbirth and protector of infants (cf. Black and Green 1992, 132, fig. 109). The bands hanging on either side of her have been identified as swaddling bands for a child (cf. Frankfort 1944). Thureau-Dangin (1922) had earlier taken them to be representative of Kubu, written with a divine determinative, and said to represent potential life in opposition to Izbu, the aborted foetus. Porada (1964), agreeing that the foetus was seen as a malevolent being, identified the scene as the goddess of birth juxtaposed with the demon of death, more specifically a foetus ejected from the womb before birth. Beck (1986) has published an unusual fragment of a thirteenth century B.C. Canaanite clay plaque, found at Aphek in Israel, which may illustrate a woman nursing a pair of new born twins or foetuses. 94. Upper part of a plaque with two figures in relief; right edge broken; mouldmade; baked; pink slip on buff fabric; traces of a plastered surface with painted details in red; two figures, probably female, side-by-side; one has object(s), now impossible to identify; held close to her body; both appear to be nude; the woman on the right holds a narrow club-like object which is probably the upper part of a stringed instrument; it is possible that there was originally a third figure to the left, now missing. AN (V.440: Tell Ingharra, trench C.3 at 2 metres depth) H: 5cm. W: 6.5cm. (as extant). Moorey 1975, 95; 1978, Fiche 2: B08 (figure), B11. Both Opificius (1961, 161 5) and Barrelet (1968, 387 8) have discussed the various musicians depicted on moulded plaques in the earlier second millennium B.C. Many have also been assembled and discussed by Rashid (1984, ) in a general study of musicians and musical instruments in Mesopotamian art. One of the most distinctive surviving moulded plaques is a disk, now in the National Museum of Antiquities in Baghdad, which shows two nude women, perhaps dancers, with two dwarf lyre-players and three apes, one standing, two squatting (Opificius 1961, pl. 18, no. 584; Rashid 1984, 74, fig. 57). Spycket (1995, 30, pl. 16) has suggested that it may be Elamite, dating to the middle of the second millennium B.C., not Babylonian. There is no published record of where it was found. Figurines of monkeys playing flutes were also found at Kish (Field Museum, Chicago, nos , ). These examples indicate that, although temple rituals required the permanent service of musicians, there were more popular roles for them not only in dance but in other kinds of musical performance and dramatic entertainments. Musical instruments also appear in at least one case in the hands of a couple engaged in sexual play (Rashid 1984, 74 5, fig. 58). Amongst the instruments documented on clay plaques and models at this time are drums, tambours and harps, both vertical and angular as well as horizontal. Representations of lyres of the type known from the third millennium are no longer evident (Rimmer 1969, 20 26). -96-

9 BRONZE AGE: CATALOGUE AKKADIAN TO OLD BABYLONIAN PERIODS IN BABYLONIA 95. Fragment of a model bed; mouldmade; baked; buff fabric; indications of a webbed or woven mattress stretched over a wooden frame set on four low legs, only two of which survive. AN (X.317: Tell Ingharra: Trench B at 2 metres depth). L: 8.5cm W: 2.8cm. Moorey 1978, Fiche 2: A10, A12 (figure); Cholidis 1992, 245, no. 26. Cholidis (1992, , pl ) has listed over two hundred of these models, plain and elaborate, which are one of the few ranges of household furniture illustrated by models in Babylonia (including Susa, see no. 173). They do not apparently appear there before the Akkadian Period (see Cholidis 1992, 132 3: Tell Asmar); the dating of supposedly earlier examples is uncertain (Cholidis 1992, 126: Khafajah). They appear in Syria by Early Bronze IV to judge by an example from Tell Bi)a (Strommenger 1986, 41 2, pl. 25). They date predominantly between the Ur III and Old Babylonian Periods in Mesopotamia, where none is yet reported in the Kassite Period; but dating individual examples within that range with accuracy, particularly plain examples like this one, is not yet possible (cf. Wrede 1990, 283). Salonen (1963) incorporated them into his study of the Sumerian and Akkadian documentary evidence for furniture, whilst Baker (1966, 175, figs 282.3) placed them in the historical development of Mesopotamian furniture. Their only distinguishing feature is the pattern of cording or matting that was used for the bed. Rare tables, chairs and more common stools (not represented in the Ashmolean Collection) are the only other pieces of furniture regularly reproduced in clay at the same time as the bed models (cf. Cholidis 1992). At Susa the beds are sometimes associated with burials, but whether or not this was the case in Mesopotamia is not yet clear. 96. Fragmentary chariot model; mouldmade; baked clay; cream slip on buff fabric; details painted on in black and red; two-wheeled platform car with high front with the top missing, paint traces on the front, on the reverse in low relief the headless figure of a kilted man moving to the right; all the car of the chariot survives, open at the sides and with a rectangular block seat over the axle; projecting step at the back; hole for a horizontal pole through seat and lower front; no surviving wheels. AN (V.470: Tell Ingharra: trench C-3 at 4 metres depth) H: 7.6cm. W: 8cm. (including axle projections). Moorey 1978, Fiche 2: B11, B08; 4: C02c (plate). 97. Fragment of a chariot model; mouldmade; baked clay; cream slip on pink fabric; details in red and black paint; two-wheeled platform car like no. 96 above; front broken off; block seat over axle; backstep; no surviving wheels. AN (V.582: Tell Ingharra: trench C-4 at 3 metres depth) L: 8.1cm. W: 7.7cm (including axle projection) Moorey 1978, Fiche 2: B08 (figure), B12. Nos show the standard early second millennium B.C. two-wheeled chariot, well documented by clay models and by occasional metal ones (Littauer and Crouwel 1979, 49 50, n.5). They all have the small platform with room for only one person, and the characteristic high front. There are no side screens, which had occasionally appeared on models in Early Dynastic III (see no. 50). (cf. Genouillac (1925, pl. XI. 4, 5, 6; Barrelet 1968, nos ; cf. nos 118 (Tello: with sides); (no provenance)). Mackay also found some fragmentary two-wheeled platform cars, like nos at Kish (Tell Uhaimir). Such vehicles were increasingly archaic by the Old Babylonian Period. The first quarter of the second millennium B.C. was the time when the light horse-drawn chariot with spoked wheels emerged in Mesopotamia (Littauer and Crouwel 1979, 50 55; Moorey 1986). A seal impression on a tablet dated in the 14th year of Hammurabi shows a modified two-wheeled platform car with a traditionally shaped but low front, very low sides, a seat and a rear step, with a pair of four-spoked wheels and harnessed horses (Buchanan 1970, pl. IIc). In time the low front was united with low sides and the seat disappeared, allowing access from the back. The vehicle was then made wide enough for a second person to stand beside the driver as a bowman, whose aim was not obstructed when the front and sides were low. -97-

10 ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN TERRACOTTAS In excavations and surveys clay models of the traditional platform car are most commonly represented by their detached, mould-decorated fronts, so familiar from studies of Babylonian religious imagery (see nos , here), which have often survived when the body of the vehicle has not. It is possible that their religious imagery ensured special treatment even when the whole vehicle model had served its immediate purpose. Stone (1993) has argued, primarily on the evidence of her surveys of Tell Abu Duwari (ancient Mashkan-shapir), that they are not only decorated with symbols specific to the city in which they are found, but also that they are clustered in specific areas of that city. Stone recovered over 300 fragments of model chariots from this site. She noted that whereas the wide range of baked clay plaques bearing standard religious scenes and symbols in low relief, characteristic of central and south Mesopotamian urban sites from the Ur III to the Old Babylonian Periods, are widely distributed and are not generally sitespecific, the decorated model chariot fronts are restricted at any one site to only a few designs that tend not to be found on chariot fronts at other sites. At Tell Abu Duwari symbols of Nergal, the city-god, or of his alter ego Shamash, are recurrently depicted. Invariably on the chariot models, as on no. 97 here, the relief decoration is on the inside of the front, where it is unlikely to have been heraldic with respect either to a mortal owner or driver or to the deity depicted, who was presumably conceived as the occupant of the chariot. Undecorated chariot models of this type occur, but are much rarer in the published record. Significantly, neither model clay charioteers nor draught animals are reported with these chariot models in contrast to their Early Dynastic ancestors (cf. nos 48 50); but model wheels are. At Tell Abu Duwari those proportional in size to the chariot models were 6.5 to 12 cm. in diameter; significantly larger wheels ( well over 20cm in diameter ) are for some other purpose. These chariots were not working models equipped with teams of draught animals, equid or bovid, and drivers so they are unlikely prima facie to be toys; the religious character of their decoration further indicates a display or ritual role. It is possible that the deities represented on the inside of the mouldmade fronts were regarded as the occupants of the chariot. Stone (1993, 88 9) has examined approximately forty-five of the decorated chariot fronts found in Anglo- American and French excavations at Kish isolating the following primary motifs. 1. Male figure with a weapon. 2. Goddess armed with bow, arrows, lion-mace or lion-scimitar. 3. Combinations of deities. 4. Geometric motifs which are less frequent at Kish than depictions of the deities themselves (not represented here). Motifs 1 and 2 may plausibly be associated with Zababa, consort of Ishtar, one of the two titular deities of Kish (Roberts 1972, 56; Moorey 1975, 82 3; Stone 1993, 88 9). His war like activities, as also those of Ishtar, who is probably the goddess of motif 3, are represented by the weapons; hers particularly by the arrows. The main temples at Kish were dedicated to Ishtar and Zababa (cf. George 1992, 193 7). In the great majority of cases when combinations of two deities are shown they may be recognized as either Zababa or Ishtar. In the fourth motif only the seven dots, sometimes associated with Ishtar, are indicative as the associated god is unidentified. However, the figure identified here as Zababa, appears more often without than with the horned crown of divinity, at least when wielding a mace, making him the mysterious person with a mace, so popular on contemporary cylinder seals. He has been variously identified as the ruler in his warrior role, as the god Ninshubur and as udug (utukku) ruler in his warrior role (Wiggermann , 5 7; 23 9); so far all these identifications remain speculative. At Tell Uhaimir (Kish) he tends to appear with a mace, at Tell Ingharra (Hursagkalamma) with a bow (cf. Stone 1993, 93). Not sufficient of him survives on no. 96 here; but what does suggests he is a mace rather than a bow bearer. -98-

11 BRONZE AGE: CATALOGUE AKKADIAN TO OLD BABYLONIAN PERIODS IN BABYLONIA 98. Chariot model, two-wheeler ( straddle car ); handmodelled; baked; pinkish cream slip, buff fabric; tall vertical front, part broken off; pierced towards the bottom with a hole for a straight pole which goes through the body; sharply rising horned shaped saddle seat; forward axle now equipped with two plain, solid wheels, which may not be those originally made for it. AN (Kish season; no recorded site number) H: 4.3cm. (across axle) L: 5.7cm. Moorey 1978, Fiche 2: B05 (figure), B06. This model has no recorded site number. The date of accession suggests that it was found in the season of excavation at Kish in the vicinity of the ziggurats on Tell Ingharra. It belongs to the phase of model chariot production immediately following that represented by the two-wheeled straddle cars (nos 48 50) from Mound A. The two-wheeled chariot models of the Akkadian to Ur III periods ( platform cars ) with seats are generally divided into two categories, one with axle-shafts forward under the front, the other with the axle-shaft back at some point under the body of the vehicle (Klengel Brandt 1978, 112: Assur). They usually have a simple seat of the type shown here for a single driver; some have a step behind. At Nippur (McCown et al 1967, 94) forward axles were prevalent on models from levels dated to the later third millennium, whilst chariots with seats above the axle, at the back of which there was usually a small step and with a wider platform were of Ur III to Old Babylonian date. The Akkadian to Ur III levels at Brak yielded models with forward axles (Clutton-Brock and Davies 1993, fig. 8, left), as did Nuzi (Starr 1937, pl. 54 E I; pl. 99 E J), Tepe Gawra (Speiser 1935, 75 5, pl. XXXIV), Assur (Andrae 1922, pl. 61c e) and Tell al-wilayah (Madhlum 1960, pl. 10: 13, 23 4). 99. Boat; handmodelled; baked; cream slip, buff fabric; one end broken away; simple open boat with flat bottom, slightly curving and raised bow, vertical sides. AN (X.310: Tell Ingharra: trench B at 2 metres depth) L: 15.2cm. (as extant) H: 7.5cm. W: 6.7cm. Moorey 1978, Fiche 2: A10, A12 (figure). Boat models of the early second millennium B.C. (cf. McCown and Haines 1967, pl. 144: 9 11) are difficult to separate from those of the preceding millennium B.C. They have been studied by Graeve (1981, 21 34; cf. Salonen 1939; Hill et al 1990, 231; Woolley 1976, pl. 930) in conjunction with other pictorial evidence for the period. Among the many scenes of everyday life on clay mouldmade plaques contemporary with this model there are illustrations of boating, usually hunting in marshes. The boat, like this one, is canoe-shaped with high upturned ends. It is propelled either by punting or paddling (Graeve 1981, pl. I. 2 3 from Kish). What may be a contemporary cylinder seal, possibly from Umm el-jir (Djerab) shows two figures full-face in such a boat (Graeve 1981, no. 13, pl. V). The other illustrations of boats in the early second millennium B.C. are incised on a distinctive type of pottery (pot à tabac) in a dark grey ware widely distributed in southern Mesopotamia and at Susa. These boats contain crescentic and circular headed standards rather than people. As neither the contents of these special containers nor their place(s) of manufacture are known, these designs remain enigmatic (cf. Graeve 1981, 24 7, pl. II.6 IV) Quadruped; handmodelled; baked; cream slip, pink fabric; the horns curl round indicating that it is a ram. AN (2980: Tell Ingharra: I.S.W. (left) H: 5.5cm. L: 7.4cm. Moorey 1978, Fiche 2: C08, C09 (figure) Quadruped; handmodelled; baked; greyish-buff fabric; legs and much of the head missing; an upright mane, indicated by an incised piece of applied clay down the back of the neck, suggests it is an equid. AN (V.453: Tell Ingharra: trench C3 at 2 metres depth) H: 3.2cm. L: 4.5cm. Moorey 1978, Fiche 2, B08 (figure), B

12 ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN TERRACOTTAS 102. Sitting animal (?); handmodelled; baked; buff fabric; splayed out front and rear legs broken off; flat back; prominent chest with incised central and radiating lines; pointed snout; blob eyes applied in clay. AN (K.881: Tell Ingharra: trench C-9 at 4 metres depth where the surface of the tell is 6 metres above plain level). Moorey 1978 Fiche 2: B08 (figure), C Quadruped; handmodelled; baked; buff fabric; traces of pigment over the body; three legs missing; jaws open; punched, deep set large round eyes (possibly inlaid originally); mane down the back of the neck, pierced through at the centre; inscribed on the right flank: SAL-KU: bitch. AN (K.976: Tell Ingharra, trench C-10 at 4 metres depth where the surface of the tell is 4 metres above plain level) H: 4.5cm. L: 4cm. Moorey 1978, Fiche 2: C04, C05 (figure) Quadruped; handmodelled; baked; cream slip pink fabric; rear hooves slightly damaged; upright, slightly inward curving horns indicate a bovid. AN (K.1676: Tell Ingharra, trench C-11 at 2 metres depth where the surface of the tell is 6 metres above plain level). H: 5.3cm. L: 6.3cm Quadruped; handmodelled; baked; greyish-black fabric; legs missing; head damaged but leaving traces of curled horns, perhaps a ram. AN (K.1733(?): Tell Ingharra, trench C-12 at 2 metres depth where the surface of the tell is 3 metres above plain level) H: 4cm. L: 6.5cm. Moorey 1978, Fiche 2: D07 (figure), D09. These animal figurines may be compared with nos 73 5 here from Monument Z, with which they may well be contemporary. No. 103 is remarkable for its inscription; a very rare feature at this date. Inscriptions on model animals in clay or metal dedicated to a deity are known from the second half of the second millennium B.C. and later. Postgate (1994, 170) has noted of inscribed terracottas that: on the one hand, the human figurine falls into a class of effigies, with divine statues, magical images of demons, or statuettes of worshippers. On the other hand, the animal figurine is described as just an animal. It is not, we all know, a real live (or dead) animal, but neither is it the effigy of a specific animal: although of clay, or metal or stone, it is an animal in its own right. When presented to the goddess, the clay dogs [or other animals] are themselves the gifts, substituting for a flesh-and-blood dog perhaps, but not representing one. (c) Tell Uhaimir Tell Uhaimir, with its ruined ziggurat and adjacent temple complex, was recognized as ancient Kish from inscriptions found there (Thureau-Dangin 1909); Zababa s cult centre at Kish was originally called é.me.te.ur.sag ( House, Worthy of the Hero ) which later referred to the cella in e.dub.ba ( Storage House ) at Kish. It was briefly investigated by Oppert (1863) in 1852, then by de Genouillac (1923 4) in 1912, and by Langdon and Mackay in (Langdon 1924; Gibson 1972a; Moorey 1978, 19 33). This work was conducted and published in such a way that it is virtually impossible to reconstruct the associations and contexts of the small finds found there. The following catalogue uses Mackay s field record cards, which are very useful in so far as they go, and my reconstruction of the layout of the rooms he excavated (Moorey 1978, fig. D)

13 BRONZE AGE: CATALOGUE AKKADIAN TO OLD BABYLONIAN PERIODS IN BABYLONIA 106. Female figurine; handmodelled; baked; greenish-buff fabric; naked; arms and legs broken off; pinched nose; hair, marked by incised lines, falls in a large projecting curl at the back of the neck (now broken); multiple choker necklace of punched circles; band of punched circles also representing a necklace above the breasts; traces of applied breasts and navel now missing; pubic triangle depicted with incised lines and punched circles; projecting hips; line incised down the back representing the necklace counterpoise. AN (HMR 893: Tell Uhaimir: Temple Area: Great Court) H: 7.5cm. W: 6.0cm. Van Buren 1930, no. 21; Moorey 1978, Fiche A05, A06 (figure). This is the type of handmodelled, nude female figurine most often encountered in levels of the Isin- Larsa Period in Babylonia as illustrated by finds at Tell Asmar (Frankfort et al 1940, fig. 111), Isin (Hrouda 1977, 45: 1B287, pl. 10; Spycket 1981a, 72; 1987, 49, pl. 22: 1B1346), Nippur (McCown and Haines 1967, pl. 122) and Ur (Woolley and Mallowan 1976, pl. 65). It is evident at Susa (Spycket 1992, 39 46), where it is also possible to observe the adaptation of this hand-made type for more rapid production in moulds, c B.C. At much the same time the standard handmodelled standing male type, wearing a wide-brimmed cap or turban (cf. Frankfort et al 1940, fig ; Barrelet 1968, pl. IV), was also adapted for mouldmaking (cf. Spycket 1992, 40). These early mouldmade female figurines were rapidly eclipsed by the standard type of nude-female plaque illustrated by no. 107 below Nude female plaque; lower part only; mouldade; buff fabric; possibly represented as standing on a small podium. AN (474: Tell Uhaimir: found in doorway leading to corridor from chamber VIII ). H: 7.2cm; W: 3.2cm. This is typical of the extremely numerous plaques of this type Lower part of a plaque with nude female clasping her hands on her abdomen; mouldmade; baked cream slip on pink fabric; broken straight across the abdomen, feet also missing; repaired in antiquity with bitumen across the break line. AN (HMR 847: Tell Uhaimir: Well Court) H: 7.3cm; W: 5.5cm. This is a significant terracotta not for the design, which is standard, but for the evidence that such plaques were thought worthy of repair, presumably after accidental breakage. In this case at least, it was not ritually broken to destroy any magical potency. There is no positive evidence that these plaques had this property when made Upper part of a man clasping a kid or a lamb; handmodelled; baked; cream slip on pink fabric; pinched nose; crudely modelled head and shoulders; broken off at the waist. AN (HMR 857: Tell Uhaimir, Temple Area: Great Wall ) H: 6.1cm. W: 4.6cm. Van Buren 1930, no. 208; Moorey 1978, Fiche 1: A05, A06 (figurine). This is the most simplified type of handmade male animal-offering bearer; a whole series of more elaborate versions are known (cf. Barrelet 1968, nos 65 73) and the type was soon standardized for production as moulded plaques (Opificius 1961, ; cf. nos 85 6). This design reflects the imagery of major works of art. Year 12 of King Ammisaduqa ( B.C.) of the First Dynasty of Babylon was named that in which the king [had made] his image carrying a kid held against the chest (cf. Suter )

14 ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN TERRACOTTAS 110. Plaque; sundried or lightly baked; brown fabric; extremely crudely cut figure of a full-face man, broken off at knee level; conical cap; conical beard; stick-like arms, the left bent at the elbow and raised; the right held down the side. AN (846: Tell Uhaimir: Temple Area: Well Court (at 6 metres depth) H: 8.1cm. W: 5.7cm. If this plaque had been acquired on the antiquities market, it would almost certainly been judged a fake. However, the context is carefully recorded on a sitecard. This indicates that crude, handmade variants of the standard plaques were contemporary with them or that the excavators were victims of their workmen s skills Fragment of the face of a goddess from a relief plaque; mouldmade; baked; cream slip on pink fabric; two tiered mural crown, with niched facades resting on a plain platform with a single pair of horns in relief on the front; a four-rowed choker necklace frames a delicately modelled face. AN (2489: Tell Uhaimir: House Ruins: surface ) H: 6.4cm, W: 4.8cm. This type of crown, in various forms, appears on a number of goddesses, including that described at Ur as one of the most common types of terracotta (Woolley and Mallowan 1976, no. 125, pl. 70; cf. Barrelet 1968, figs 299, 310, 314, 318 and 368; Wrede 1990, no. 9; Auerbach 1994, Type XXXd, ( turreted crown); for crowns, cf. Boehmer , 207 8, fig :88) Upper part of a plaque; cut and incised rather than mouldmade; baked; cream slip on a buff fabric; crudely modelled with incised detail; central deity with multiple horned crown facing forward; flanked by profile views of bearded men wearing feather or pleated vertical headdress; their inner arms are raised, their outer arms are down by their sides; their torsos appear to be naked; their hair is dressed into a bun. AN (3027A: Tell Uhaimir: House Ruins : surface) H: 6.4cm. W: 6.3cm. Moorey 1975, 88, pl. XXd; 1978, Fiche 1: A14. This distinctive plaque fragment is most nearly matched by designs in which the goddess is flanked, though not so closely as here, by men carrying clubs, dancing-sticks or clappers (cf. Opificius 1961, ; Barrelet 1968, no. 829). When these dancers or music makers appear alone as opposed pairs on plaques, often wearing pleated or feathered headdresses, they have been identified as participants in ritual dances, associated especially with the cult of the goddess Ishtar (cf. Opificius 1961, 156 9, p.17; Barrelet 1968, ) Plaque with curved upper profile tapering to square lower profile; mouldmade; baked. cream slip on buff fabric; head broken off; forward facing woman squatting on a stool with legs spread and arms placed as if framing her legs and touching or grasping her feet; the structure of the four-legged stool clearly modelled with a curved seat. AN (HMR 564: Tell Uhaimir: House Ruins : debris over room 1) H: 9.4cm. W (top section): 7.2 cm. Moorey 1975, 91; 1978, Fiche 1: A09, A06 (figure). Genouillac (1925, I, 59, pl. VI.7; 58) reported a plaque like this from Uhaimir, but on it the woman s head is shown. An example from the surface at Kish, now in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago (Y.56 = FM ), is intentionally headless and set on a stool with the legs forming a semi-circle. If there was any doubt about the direct sexual reference of this posture ( Baubo-type : cf. Winter, 1983, 343 6), it is resolved by plaques from Tell ed-der and Nippur with a detached erect phallus and testicles set immediately below the -102-

15 BRONZE AGE: CATALOGUE AKKADIAN TO OLD BABYLONIAN PERIODS IN BABYLONIA spread-legged woman (McCown and Haines 1967, pl ; Meyer 1978, pl. 27.6). They are sometimes placed alongside reclining or standing nude women (cf. Isin: Spycket 1987, pl. 21: 1B 1427). There are also clay plaques on which a nude woman without a head is shown reclining on a bed (cf. Barrelet 1968, pl. LXXI.743). This motif, alone or representing the woman in the superior position squatting over a recumbent man, has a long history on seals (cf. Seibert 1973, pl. 18; Winter 1983, figs 345 6). It emerges in the prehistoric period (cf. Amiet 1980, no. 847 (Ur); 1972, no. 616 (Susa)) and is found in Early Dynastic I among sealings from Ur (Legrain 1936, nos , 370). In the Middle Assyrian Period (cf B.C.) it is one of the motifs used on the lead plaques found at Assur in the ruins of the Old Palace and at Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, where there is no reason to believe, as Andrae (1935, pl. 45k l) did, that they necessarily had anything to do with cult or ritual prostitution (Scurlock 1993). There are cases in other media where this posture is explicitly that of childbirth. An ambiguous case is represented by an inscribed cylinder seal of the Ur III Period from Tello on which a frontal squatting woman is shown above a recumbent man, apparently threatened by a standing man with a dagger (Seibert 1973, pl. 18 for good illustration). Although the inscription has been read to suggest that the scene is one of child-birth, Cooper (1972 5, 262, no. 24) interprets it as sexual. In the early first millennium B.C. in Western Iran on sheet metal pin heads (Seibert 1973, 24 figure) a head is placed below the genitals of the squatting woman to indicate parturition Plaque; mouldmade; baked; cream slip on pinkish-buff fabric; dark surface stain; eroded face of Humbaba above a scene of sexual intercourse a tergo: woman bending over on left supporting herself with her right hand on her right knee; left arm held into her side; man standing behind (head lost) with his right hand on her back, his left on his hip; genitals clearly shown. AN (HMR 570: Tell Uhaimir: House Ruins : debris over room 4) H: 7.4cm. W: 6cm. Moorey 1975, 91, pl. XXVa; 1978, Fiche 1: A09, A06 (Figure). Other examples of this relatively numerous type of clay plaque were found at Kish (cf. Moorey 1975, 91 2, pl. XXVb,c): Y.274 (Tell Ingharra: FM ); Y.275 (Tell Ingharra: IM 5694); X.206 (Tell Ingharra: Baghdad (?)); de Genouillac 1925, pl. IV.4.). Cooper (1972 5, 264 5), in an extensive discussion of the archaeological evidence for the concept of the sacred marriage in Mesopotamia, has listed a representative collection of these clay plaques which, with minor variants, were widely distributed in Babylonia in the Isin-Larsa to Old Babylonian Period (cf. Opificius 1961, 166 8; Barrelet 1968, 291 2). The motif of standing intercourse from behind appears on seals from the late Prehistoric Period in Mesopotamia, used in parallel to the Baubo-type (no. 113). On a Syrian seal contemporary with the clay plaques it appears with pairs of recumbent figures (Porada 1964, pl. 33:4). It is also shown on typical Gulf Seals of the early second millennium B.C. from Failaka (Kjaerum 1983, 114, nos ). It is among the motifs on the erotic lead plaques from Middle Assyrian (c B.C.) contexts at Assur: Andrae 1935, pl. 45c; see also no. 113) Cooper (1972 5, 263) pointed out that the depictions of face to face intercourse shown on clay plaques, even when the couple appear to be recumbent on a bed, use conventions appropriate to the standing position. The woman at times has one or both legs raised (cf. no. 87 here) and the man has one leg forward, as if standing upright (cf. Opificius 1961, 167, no. 162, pl. 20; Barrelet 1968, nos 628, 675, 744; Cholidis 1992, pl , with catalogue). The face of Humbaba on no. 114 (cf. no. 92) is a rare indicator of context, if it may be assumed to be a mask on the wall; but it does not -103-

16 ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN TERRACOTTAS indicate whether this is an apotropaic symbol in a domestic setting or something more public. On some of the relevant seals banquets and attendants, music and dancing are shown, as if the couple were participating in a public rather than a private occasion. A unique plaque from Larsa (Barrelet 1968, no. 591) depicts a nude male lutenist on the left and partly clothed female with a tambour on the right in what is almost a parody of the conventional representation of intercourse from behind. On a plaque from Ishchali the man flourishes a jar, perhaps of beer, in his right hand (Hill et al 1990, pl. 62f). In some of these scenes the woman, not the man, is shown drinking from a jar through a tube, indicating beer. This association has a long history. Jars with drinking tubes stand alongside scenes of intercourse on Early Dynastic and Akkadian seals (cf. Frankfort 1955, pl. 53:559; Buchanan 1981, nos 177, 458). A mid-third millennium seal from Syria shows a woman squatting in a provocative pose, whilst drinking through a tube (Teissier 1984, 194 5, no. 334), with fertility symbols in the field. On an early second millennium cylinder seal from Tell Halaf (Hrouda 1962, 29, 36; pl. 23:3) two couples have intercourse whilst drinking from tubes; to one side is a figure above an animal, possibly the nude goddess. Assante (1998, 65 6) has pointed to the abundance of Akkadian literary similes in which honey-sweet beer is likened to a woman s sexual excretions and references associating taverns with temples of Inanna (Ishtar), perhaps explaining why beer was considered so magically potent. Nos 87; here differ in no significant way from comparable plaques showing sexually explicit scenes made elsewhere in Iraq in the Isin-Larsa and Old Babylonian Periods. The occurrence of such plaques in temple complexes both at Tell Uhaimir and at Tell Inghara, where the cult of Ishtar was prominent, might be taken to strengthen the conventional association of them with this deity as argued, for example, by Opificius (1961, 235). An exclusively cultic role for them, not least with respect to the sacred marriage in Mesopotamia, seems unlikely in view of the long period of time through which these motifs were current and their wide geographical distribution. Cooper (1972 5, 265) concluded that all may be broadly interpreted as private fertility amulets, although there is no way to disprove cultic associations Fragment of a plaque; mouldmade; pink slip with traces of red paint on a buff fabric; red on man s body with cap and eyes picked out in black; a man wearing a round cap or stylized close-cropped hair to right, with his right arm raised, crossing with the raised arm of an opponent to the left now broken away; naked upper body; broken round edges and at chest level. AN (HMR 966: Tell Uhaimir: House Ruins : room 25) H: 7.4cm W: 7.7cm. Langdon 1924, 61, pl. VI (rt.); Van Buren 1930, no. 511; Opificius 1961, no. 61B, 168ff., 232ff.; Moorey 1975, 94; 1978, Fiche 1: A06 (figure), A09. Plaques with scenes of this type are usually assumed to portray participants in ritual dances or combats which were performed to the sound of music (cf. Barrelet 1968, ). A plaque from Senkereh (Larsa), now in the British Museum, shows a pair of figures comparable to these set beside a drummer and a cymbal player (W.K. Loftus, 1857, 257ff.; British Museum: WA 91906) Fragment of a model chariot front with a relief scene on the inside; mouldmade; baked; cream slip on buff fabric; upper right corner missing; broken at the base just above the hole for the pole; crudely modelled, rubbed surface; upper field (left to right): a disk in a crescent; another disk (?) before break; lower field (left to right): standing turbaned and robed man facing to right and extending left arm to meet right arm of seated figure on a blockshaped stool; three blobs above the joined hands, four below. AN (1068: Tell Uhaimir: Temple Area: northeast side of platform at 1.5 metres depth) H: 7.6cm. W: 5.1cm. Moorey 1975, 87; 1978, Fiche 1: A05, A06 (figure)

17 BRONZE AGE: CATALOGUE AKKADIAN TO OLD BABYLONIAN PERIODS IN BABYLONIA 117. Fragment of a chariot model front with a relief scene on the inside; mouldmade; baked; cream slip on a buff fabric; very worn surface; broken at the neck level of the figures depicted; to right: a headless standing goddess (?) wearing an ankle-length pleated garment drawn back to reveal her right leg set forward; in her left hand she holds the hilt of a curved sword behind her; her right hand is sharply bent at the elbow at chest level and may have held a staff; to left: facing the goddess, a headless standing male figure in a knee-length garment holding a curved sword in his right hand behind his back, his left is raised to meet that of the goddess opposite; possibly the lower part of the same scene as (124). AN (X.92: Tell Uhaimir: surface); 6.3 x 6.5cm. Moorey 1975, 87; 1978, Fichel: A14. For general background see nos No. 116 shows a goddess whose identity is not clear. The seven dots between the figures are sometimes associated with Ishtar, who would be a plausible candidate in this case (cf. van Buren 1945, 74 82). The figure on the left is no more easily recognized. It would be normal for the king (or perhaps a lesser deity) to be on this side, as the right is the prerogative of deities on contemporary seals and in monumental art. This might be a king of Kish or the enigmatic man with a mace, who sometimes appears to be treated as a mortal, whilst at others receiving offerings like a deity (cf. Frankfort 1939, pl. XXIXb). An inscribed cylinder seal from Tell Uhaimir (Buchanan 1966, no. 517) shows this figure facing a suppliant goddess with a crescent, an eagle, a fly and a lightning fork between them. The inscription reads: ME-Zababa, daughter of Gamazi, servant of Zababa. As the eagle is known to have been associated with Zababa (van Buren 1945, 148), it is possible that the male figure on the left here represents an aspect of that god at Kish. If the complete design of no. 117 is to be reconstructed by linking it with no. 125, then once again this may be a representation of Ishtar armed (cf. no. 118) facing a ruler of Kish Fragment of a model chariot front with a relief scene on the inside; mouldmade; baked; overfired to a green colour; eroded surface; only the upper right side survives, with part of the superstructure of the chariot front pierced with two holes for reins; on the inside Ishtar is shown fullface with horned crown, broken off across her lower body; in her left hand she brandishes a sceptre: a central staff with swollen head flanked on each side by a projecting dragon s head; two curled projections on either side of her body at waist level may relate to weapons strapped to her back AN (X.17: Tell Uhaimir: surface) 10 x 6.8cm Moorey 1975, 85, pl. XXc; 1978, Fiche 1, A14. Many representations of Ishtar were found at Kish on model chariot fronts and on ordinary clay plaques both at Tell Uhaimir and at Tell Ingharra (cf. Moorey 1975, 84 5, pl. XXIa) by the Oxford- Field Museum, Chicago Expedition and earlier by Genouillac (1925, pl. V.2 (Barrelet 1968, nos 624 5); pl. VIII.1 (Barrelet 1968, no. 623); pl. IX.2 (Barrelet 1968, no. 625 bis). In view of her status in the city this is to be expected. She is also one of the best known goddesses in the iconography of Babylonia as a whole (cf. Barrelet 1955). In general the appearance of this goddess at Kish conforms closely with examples from elsewhere. Although there is a basic consistency about her appearance and her equipment, there are variations, though nothing that has been taken to indicate another goddess. Sometimes she brandishes a lion-headed sceptre in her left hand, sometimes a bow; sometimes she stands on a lion on occasion holding a rope fixed to a ring in the animal s nose. Her right hand, if falling free down her side, generally holds a scimitar. When she holds a sceptre in her left hand, the bow over her right shoulder may be so slightly incised as to be difficult to detect. The symbols depicted with her at Kish vary from a rosette of dots to a disc. As might be expected on chariots, it is Ishtar s warlike aspect that is most evident not her contrasting role -105-

18 ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN TERRACOTTAS as lover: to her typing as a young marriageable girl she probably owes her role as incarnation of the rage of battle, for in early Sumer, as still among the Bedouins, it appears to have been the accepted function of young unmarried girls to encourage and egg on young warriors in battle with praise and taunts. To her typing as an unmarried girl she may possibly owe also her role of harlot and protectress of harlots (Jacobsen 1970, 28) Free-standing lion; hand-made; baked; buff fabric with traces of red paint over what may originally have been a plastered surface; only one leg survives; head slightly raised with jaws open as if roaring. AN (HMR 620: Tell Uhaimir: House Ruins : room 12 ) H: 8cm L: 10.8cm. Moorey 1978, Fiche 1: A06 (figure), A08. A number of clay plaques representing lions passant in low relief have been reported from Kish (cf. 2471*: FM229925; K.740: FM229646; Moorey 1975, 96; Genouillac 1925, pl. XV.5,6; Barrelet 1968, nos 680 2). They are also reported from other sites in Babylonia, where it was evidently a standard type in the early second millennium B.C. (cf. Opificius 1961, 177 9, pl. 22; Barrelet 1968, , pl. LI; McCown and Haines 1967, pl ; Hrouda, 1977, pl. 23 1B640; Meyer 1978, pl. 23.6; Hill et al. 1990, pl. 38a d). Three dimensional, hand-modelled lions appear to be rather rarer (cf. Jordan 1934, pl. 24; Meyer et al 1971, pl. 29.6). This wide distribution suggests that the animal s relationship to Ishtar was not necessarily the controlling factor in its currency at Kish. As the lion was a common menace in central and southern Mesopotamia, such plaques may represent attempts as much for protection from it as for protection from other evils through it, which would appear to be the motivation behind large-scale terracottas like those represented by no. 120 below Fragment of a monumental lion s paw; mouldmade (?); baked; buff fabric; set on a rectangular base. AN (HMR 919: Tell Uhaimir: House Ruins : near the surface). H: 7cm L: 14cm. Moorey 1978: Fiche 1: A06 (figure), A08. This remnant of a monumental terracotta lion bears witness as much to the popularity of large-scale sculpture in baked clay from late in the third millennium B.C. (cf. Spycket 1981, ) as to the well known role of such lions as guardians at the entrances of temples. That may be assumed to have been the original destination of the lion this fragment represents at Tell Uhaimir (cf. Huot 1996). Although the archaeological documentation does not start before the Isin-Larsa Period, Gudea, in the Ur III Period, had already installed an apotropaic lion in a temple entrance at Girsu (Tello) to convey the terror of the gods (cf. Spycket 1981, 222). The custom extended into the second half of the second millennium B.C., as is evident at Nuzi (Starr 1939, 97, ; 1937, pl ) and later still in the case of glazed baked clay lions at Susa in Iran (cf. Huot 1996, 277). As these lions are almost invariably found in fragments, published photographs of them more often than not show restorations in which ancient and modern handiwork is not always clearly distinguished. Examples from Tell Harmal (Baqir 1946, 23ff., fig. 5; Spycket 1981, 289) and the temple in Mound D at Khafajah (Hill et al. 1990, 223, pl. 596, 60) in Mesopotamia and from Susa in Iran (Spycket 1988) well illustrate their range of postures and the stylized ferocity, appropriate to their role, of their heads. Fragments are reported from such widely separated sites in Mesopotamia as Basmusian (Abu al-soof 1970, pl. XXXVII. 4 5: feet), Haradum (Kepinski- Lecomte 1992, 36, 368 9), Isin (Spycket 1987, 52, 58 9, pl. 19, 32), Tello (Genouillac 1936, 69, pl ) and Usiyeh (Spycket 1987, 58 n.3); more are known without provenance (cf. Parrot 1954; Muscarella 1981, 115; Peltenburg 1991a, no. 42). Close dating of the known examples is rarely possible even for those from archaeological contexts (cf. Huot 1994a, 278 9). They are most prevalent in the Isin-Larsa Period; but those from Haradum are attributed to the seventeenth -106-

19 BRONZE AGE: CATALOGUE AKKADIAN TO OLD BABYLONIAN PERIODS IN BABYLONIA century B.C. So far as it is possible to judge, there was a standard type, with local variants, showing the lion seated upright on a platform with a large, intimidating head. In construction the craft of the potter blended with that of the modeller and sculptor (cf. Huot 1994a, fig. 1: Haradum lions) and in style relatively naturalism with calculated caricature to emphasize the implied threat of the beast. These terracotta lions are known to have had bronze counterparts, as in the temple of Dagan at Mari (cf. Spycket 1981, 290 1, pl. 194). Fragments of two lions and a horse of terracotta were reported from Tell Abu Duwari (Stone and Zimansky 1992, 214). (d) No recorded provenance The following terracottas were acquired at Kish by the Oxford Field Museum Expedition outside the excavated areas during their excavations there Plaque fragment; nude female in low relief broken off at breast level and at ankles; mouldmade; baked; cream slip on pink fabric; hands clasped on her abdomen. AN (Kish: found unnumbered in the collections) H: 7.4cm W: 4.2cm Probably earlier second millennium B.C. (cf. Genouillac 1925, pl. VII.4; standing on a podium) Plaque fragment; mouldmade; baked; cream slip on buff fabric; heavy locks of hair frame the face; broad, choker necklace; hands cup the breasts; narrow waist, exaggerated hips; lower limbs missing. AN (519: bought at Kish) H: 8.6cm W: 5cm. Van Buren 1930, no. 158; Moorey 1978, Fiche 1: A06 (figure); Fiche 3: D03. The full breasts, narrow waist and prominent hips of this figurine are recurrent on other examples of this common standard type in the early second millennium B.C. (cf. from Kish: Genouillac 1924, pl. IV.2; 1925, pl. V.1 3, 6 9; Barrelet 1968, pl. LXII) Standing Bear; handmodelled; baked; buff fabric; paws broken off; short stubby legs; plain body; head tilted to the right; broad snout with incised eyes and lines across the head. AN (791; Bought at Kish) H: 8.6cm W: 5.2cm. The bear is one of the rarer animals found among the terracottas of the early second millennium B.C. in Mesopotamia (cf. Ur: Woolley 1976, pl ). It is usually shown in this posture when illustrated in the small sculpture of the region, but identifications are often tentative (cf. van Buren 1930, lv, 157, 194; 1939, 20 22) Fragment of the upper front of a chariot model; mouldmade; baked; cream-slip, buff fabric; two holes pierced for reins; below: to left: facing right, a bearded man with broad-brimmed rounded cap or turban ; right arm down his side holding a weapon(?), now lost; left arm raised in a gesture to the facing deity; folds of his garment over the bent elbow; to right: facing left, goddess with horned headdress and cross-bands on the upper body; her right hand, holding a staff or bow, is extended towards the facing figure; left hand down her side holding a weapon(?), now lost. AN (3026: bought at Kish) H: 5.8cm. W: 8cm. In this case the goddess may be wearing a helmet, with the horns of divinity projecting at the front

20 ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN TERRACOTTAS The cross-bands suggest an identification with Ishtar (compare no. 117) Fragment of the lower front of a chariot model; mouldmade; baked; cream slip on a pinkish-grey fabric; very eroded surface; human figure striding to right, legs only survive. AN a (Kish: no site number) H: 6cm. W: 5.8cm Fragment of the lower front of a chariot model; mouldmade; baked; cream slip on a pinkish-black fabric; very eroded; human figure moving to the right; anklelength garment conceals the right leg; left striding forward. AN b (Kish; no site number) H: 4.9cm W: 5.8cm. See nos for general comment on these chariot models. (e) Umm el Djerab (el-jir) This site lies 27 kilometers northeast of Tell Uhaimir (Kish) and 8.5 kilometers southeast of Tell Barguthiat (cf. Gibson 1972; Moorey 1978, ). It was briefly excavated by Watelin in It was further excavated by Gibson in Plaque fragment; mouldmade; cream slip on pink fabric; upper legs of a nude female in low relief. AN (no site number) H: 4cm. W: 3.4cm. Not illustrated Gibson 1972, 294; Moorey 1978, Fiche 3: C14, D01 (figure)