relief at Darband-i-Gawr, which depicts a king stepping over fallen enemies in a very
similar stance and outfit as Naramsin but wearing the brimmed cap of Ur III kings,
probably portrayed Shulgi (Suter 2010 : fig. 12 ).
IMAGES OF PATRONAGEPatronage is an important means to foster the elite’s loyalty to the crown. This concept
finds expression in two motifs: the royal banquet and the audience with a royal. While
the banquet is prevalent on Early Dynastic door plaques and cylinder seals and lives on
in Akkad glyptic, the audience arises in Akkad glyptic and becomes standard on seals
of high officials in the Ur III state administration. Since the message of these motifs
was primarily aimed at the royal entourage, it is not surprising that they occur mainly
in glyptic.
The Sumerian word for banquet literally means “pouring of beer” (kasˇ-dé-a).
Communal drinking formed part of a symbolic system of ceremonies that cemented
the recognition of authority and hierarchy and was mirrored in the mythical world of
the gods (Michalowski 1994 ). Literary texts enlist participants ordered by rank. Sargon’s
claim that 5 , 400 men ate daily before him is a typical example of royal patronage. Old
Babylonian royal correspondence attests to the custom that vassals received drinking
vessels from the king as symbols of royal patronage and the vassalage relationship.
In visual imagery, the protagonists of banquets were royals and, less frequently, gods
(Selz 1983 ). Banquets were celebrated on diverse occasions. On the Standard of Ur
(Figure 10. 8 ), it was a military victory, which also seems to be the case on contemporary
door plaques that combine the banquet of a royal couple with the parade of a war
chariot (Collon 1992 : 24 ; Suter 2000 : 221 – 222 ). Ur III administrative texts corroborate
–– Kings and queens ––Figure 10.10
Rock relief of Anubanini
at Sarpol-i-zohab
(drawing by author)