Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T19:38:27.289Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Chariots of the Gods in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia (c. 2000–1600 BC)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2008

Elizabeth C. Stone
Elizabeth C. Stone
Affiliation:
Department of AnthropologyState University of New York at Stony BrookStony Brook, NY 11794-4364
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The distribution of designs on Mesopotamian terracottas can provide clues to the relationship between symbols and meaning at different localities. Unlike other Mesopotamian terracottas whose iconography reflects pan-Mesopotamian beliefs, the designs on model chariots are site-specific. While Mesopotamian religious symbols should probably be interpreted as representing aspects of divine power rather than individual deities, combinations of symbols serve to identify particular gods. When these are found on model chariots, they can be related to the titular deities of the specific city in which they were found. Examination of the findspots of these objects, especially those from Mashkanshapir, suggests a possible link between model chariots and the centralizing institutions of the city.

Type
Articles
Information
Cambridge Archaeological Journal , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , April 1993 , pp. 83 - 107
Copyright
Copyright © The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Barrelet, M.-T., 1968. Figurines et reliefs en terre cuite de la Mésopotamie antique. (Institut français d'archéologie de Beyrouth, Bibliothèque archéologique et historique 85.) Paris: Paul Geuthner.Google Scholar
Bevan, E., 1986. Representations of Animals in Sanctuaries of Artemis and other Olympian Deities. (BAR International Series 315(i).) Oxford: BAR.Google Scholar
Charpin, D., 1986. Le clergé d'Ur au siècle d'Hammurabi. Geneva-Paris: Librairie Droz.Google Scholar
Charpin, D., 1988. Sippar: deux villes jumelles. Revue d'Assyriologie 82, 13–32.Google Scholar
Charpin, D., 1990. Review of P. Steinkeller ‘Sale Documents of the Ur-III-Period’. Revue d'Assyriologie 84, 91–4.Google Scholar
Charpin, D., F., Joannès, S., Lackenbacker & B., Lafont, 1988. Archives épistolaires de Man I/2. (Archives Royales de Mari 26.) Paris: CNRS.Google Scholar
Clay, A.T., 1917. The arts of the Akkadians. Art and Archaeology 5, 69–93.Google Scholar
Collon, D., 1986. Catalogue of Western Asiatic Seals in the British Museum III: Isin/Larsa and Old Babylonian Periods. London: Museum Publications.Google Scholar
Dossin, G., 1935. Lettres de la Première Dynastie Babylonienne. (Textes Cunéiformes du Louvre 18.) Paris: Paul Geuthner.Google Scholar
Driver, G.R. & J.C., Miles, 1955. The Babylonian Laws. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Gasche, H., 1989. La Babylonie au 17e Siècle avant Notre Ere: Approche Archéologique, Problèmes et Perspectives. (Mesopotamian History and Environment, Series II, Memoirs I.) Ghent: University of Ghent.Google Scholar
Green, A.R. (ed.), 1993. The 6G Ash-Tip: Cultic and Administrative Discard from the Temple? (Abu-Salabikh Excavations 4.) London: British School of Archaeology in Iraq.Google Scholar
Harris, R., 1975. Ancient Sippar. Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Institut te Istanbul.Google Scholar
Hill, H.D., T., Jacobsen & P., Delougaz, 1990. Old Babylonian Public Buildings in the Diyala Region. (Oriental Institute Publications 98.) Chicago (IL): Oriental Institute Press.Google Scholar
Hrouda, B. (ed.), 1977. Isin-Isan Bahriyat I. (Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-historische Klasse, Abhandlungen, neue Folge 79.) Munich: Verlag der bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.Google Scholar
Hrouda, B. 1981. Isin-Isan Bahriyat II. (Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-historische Klasse, Abhandlungen, neue Folge 87.) Munich: Verlag der bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.Google Scholar
Huizinga, J., 1949. Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture. London: Boston & Henly.Google Scholar
Jacobsen, T., 1976. The Treasures of Darkness. New Haven (CT): Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Krecher, J., 1971. Göttersymbole und -attribute, in Reallexikon der Assyriologie, eds. E., Ebeling & B., Meissner. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 483–98.Google Scholar
Legrain, L., 1930. Terracottas from Nippur. (Publications of the Babylonian Section 16.) Philadelphia (PA): University Museum Publications.Google Scholar
Littauer, M.A. & J.H., Crouwel, 1979. Wheeled Vehicles and Ridden Animals in the Ancient Near East. Leiden: E.J. Brill.Google Scholar
Loftus, W.K., 1857. Travels and Researches in Chaldea and Susiana. With an Account of Excavations at Warka, the ‘Erech’ of Nimrod, and Shush, ‘Shusan the Palace of Esther’, in 1849–1852. London: James Nisbet & Co.Google Scholar
McCown, D.E. & R.C., Haines, 1967. Nippur I: Temple of Enlil, Scribal Quarter, and Soundings. (Oriental Institute Publications 78.) Chicago (IL): University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Meyer, L. de., 1978. Tell ed-Der II. Leuven: Editions Peeters.Google Scholar
Meyer, L. de., 1980. Tell ed-Der III. Leuven: Editions Peeters.Google Scholar
Meyer, L. de., 1984. Tell ed-Der IV. Leuven: Editions Peeters.Google Scholar
Meyer, L. de., H., Gasche & R., Paepe, 1971. Tell ed-Der I. Leuven: Editions Peeters.Google Scholar
Moorey, P.R.S., 1975. The terracotta plaques from Kish and Hursagkalama, c.1850 to 1650 BC. Iraq 37, 79–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oates, J., 1979. Babylon. London: Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
Opificius, R., 1961. Das Altbabylonische Terrakottarelief. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parrot, A., 1933. Tello et Senkhereh-Larsa, campagne 1932–1933. Revue d'Assyriologie 30, 169–82.Google Scholar
Poebel, A., 1909. Babylonian Legal and Business Documents for the Time of the First Dynasty of Babylon Chiefly from Nippur. (The Babylonian Expedition of Pennsylvania, Series A: Cuneiform Texts, vol. IV, part 2.) Philadelphia (PA): University of Pennsylvania, University Museum.Google Scholar
Porada, E., 1948. Corpus of Ancient Near Eastern Seals in North American Collections I: The Collection of the Pierpoint Morgan Library. (The Bollingen Series 14.) Washington (DC): Pantheon Books.Google Scholar
Porada, E. & F., Basmachi, 1951. Nergal in the Old Babylonian period. Sumer 7, 6–8.Google Scholar
Reiner, E. (ed.), 1980. The Assyrian Dictionary, vol. 11; N part 1. Chicago (IL): Oriental Institute.Google Scholar
Renfrew, C. & E., Zubrow (eds.), 1993. The Ancient Mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sauren, H., 1983. L'iconographie de dieu Nergal pendant la période proto-paléo-babylonienne. Acta Orientalis Belgica 3, 45–50.Google Scholar
Stone, E.C., 1987. Nippur Neighborhoods. (Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 44.) Chicago (IL): Oriental Institute Press.Google Scholar
Stone, E.C., 1990. The Tell Abu Duwari Project, Iraq, 1987. Journal of Field Archaeology 17, 141–62.Google Scholar
Stone, E.C. & P., Zimansky, 1989. Maskan-Sapir identified. Mar Sipri 2(1), 1–2.Google Scholar
Van Buren, E.D., 1945. Symbols of the gods in Mesopotamian art. Analecta Orientalia 23.Google Scholar
Voyatzis, M., 1990. The Early Sanctuary of Athena Alea and other Archaic Sanctuaries in Arcadia. (SIMA Pocketbook 97.) Göteborg: SIMA.Google Scholar
Weiher, E. von, 1971. Der Babylonische Gott Nergal. (Alter Orient und Altes Testament 11.) Neukirchen-Vluyn: Kevelaer, Butzon & Bercker.Google Scholar
Werr, L. al-G., 1988. Studies in the Chronology and Regional Style of Old Babylonian Cylinder Seals. (Bibliotheca Mesopotamica 23.) Malibu (CA): Undena Press.Google Scholar
Wiggermann, F.A.M., 1985–6. The staff of Ninsubura. (Studies in Babylonian Demonology II.) Jaarbericht Ex Oriente Lux 29, 3–34.Google Scholar
Woolley, C.L., 1925. The excavations at Ur, 1923–24. Antiquaries Journal V, 1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woolley, C.L. & M., Mallowan, 1976. Ur Excavations VII: The Old Babylonian Period. London: British Museum Publications.Google Scholar
Ziegler, C., 1962. Die Terrakotten von Warka. (Ausgrabungen der Forschungsgemeinschaft in Uruk-Warka VI.) Berlin: Gebr. Mann.Google Scholar