that kings sponsored grand banquets to celebrate military victories with their soldiers
(Lafont 2009 : 6 , 19 – 20 ). Another occasion was the inauguration of a temple as seen
on Ur-Nanshe’s door plaque and stelae (Figure 10. 2 and 10. 3 ). In the poetic account
of Gudea’s construction of Eninnu, it is during the inauguration banquet sponsored by
the ruler that the gods bless both the temple and its builder with a long life (Suter 2000 :
100 – 102 ). A few door plaques and cylinder seals of the Akkad and Ur III periods depict
banquets of a high priestess with her god, probably as part of the marriage celebrations
that marked her installation in office (Suter 2007 ). Banquets were also held at funerals.
This is suggested by the poem on Ur-Namma’s death, which tells of a banquet the king
offered to the gods of the netherworld upon his arrival (ETCSL 2. 4. 1. 1 , ll. 76 – 87 ), and
by the drinking cups associated with the bodies of kings, queens, and their entourage
in the Royal Cemetery (Selz 2004 ; Pollock 2007 ; for the identification of the dead, also
Marchesi 2004 ).
Moreover, beer was poured during regular cult festivals (Cohen 1993 ; Sallaberger
1993 ). Such celebrations seem to be depicted on Early Dynastic door plaques that
combine the banquet of a royal couple with a boat procession and/or temple herd. A
New Year’s festival, in particular, may be illustrated on Early Dynastic and Akkad seals
that show a date palm or other tree associated with the banquet of a royal couple, the
tree signifying the renewal of the yearly agricultural cycle. An Akkad seal that juxta-
poses such a scene with the banquet of a divine couple in the presence of a tree suggests
that this festival was thought to take place in both the mundane and the transcendent
spheres (Figure 10. 11 ). The above-mentioned dual function of cupbearers also implies
a connection between royal banquets and feeding the gods. Although on door plaques
and seals the banqueters are usually a heterosexual couple, seals also depict banquets
confined to either the male or female sphere. These may render particular festivals for
a god or goddess, respectively, though men’s gatherings may also have had other
occasions from which women were excluded. Curiously, the seal of queen Puabi from
the Royal Cemetery combines a heterosexual banquet with an all-male banquet
(Zettler and Horne 1998 : fig. 46 b).
Although banqueters can drink beer with straws from a communal pot, more
frequently they hold up a cup in a toasting gesture. When attendants stand facing them
(Figures 10. 8 , 10. 11 ), this gesture may concurrently be evoking the image of the royal
banqueter extending a cup to the approaching courtier as a token of patronage. In
abbreviated form, the few Early Dynastic statues that hold a cup can be understood
as sponsors of banquets. In the Akkad period, seals depicting royals in banquet were
usually owned by subordinates of the represented royals rather than by the royal
protagonists themselves.
Seals depicting an audience with a royal always belonged to the subordinates of
the represented royal. Thus when Ur III kings extend a cup or small vessel to an
approaching subordinate (Figure 10. 12 ), it can only mean that the king bestowed this
vessel upon the seal owner as a sign of his patronage and sovereignty, in parallel with
the inaba- or aradzu-formula in the seal’s inscription (Michalowski 1994 ). The unusual
seal that Shulgi presented to his consort Geme-Ninlila, who is seen in possession of the
vessel (Figure 10. 13 ), corroborates this interpretation. This seal and those of other Ur
III consorts depict them in the place of a high-rank subordinate rather than on a par
with their husband (Suter 2008 : 14 – 15 ). In parallel with seals’ function of guaranteeing
legitimacy and authority, the audience scene expressed the recognition of authority and
–– Claudia E. Suter ––