transcendent spheres. They claim to be installed by the gods, fulfil their duties and
receive divine protection and prosperity in return. Whether on a cult vase depicting the
storage of agricultural surplus, a temple building or law stela or a victory monument,
culminating scenes representing the ruler before a deity encapsulate this reciprocal
relationship. Expansions of such encounters with additional figures and episodic scenes
elaborate on his various tasks as provider and protector, while his relation with his
entourage or subordinates is visualised in banquet and audience scenes. As an extension
of the king, royal women share in feeding the gods and patronage of subordinates, but
are excluded from temple building, law promulgation, hunt and war. Although a
female sphere is conspicuous in glyptic images from the Early Dynastic period
onwards, royal women also appear in public on the side of their husbands or fathers.
Over time, the emphasis on different royal tasks shifted: the ruler of the first urban
society appears as producer of agricultural surplus, big-game hunter, warrior, and possibly
also procreator; Early Dynastic city-state rulers foregrounded temple building, patronage,
and only in the last phase war, while elevating hunt to the heroic sphere; the hegemonic
Akkad and Ur III kings highlighted war and temple building, justice and patronage.
Elite women were most visible in the Early Dynastic period: 40 per cent of all statues
represent them (Asher-Greve 1985 : 85 ), queens banquet on a par with their husbands
and princesses invested as priestesses appear on door plaques in scenes relating to
the maintenance of the cult. Before and
afterwards, statues that do not represent a
king were less frequent and smaller in size
and other dedicatory objects seem to be
restricted more to the crown. On royal gift
seals, consorts of Ur III kings are seen in
the place of high-rank subordinates, while
terracotta plaques depict royal couples in
embrace on a bed (Figure 10. 15 ). Does this
latter image express a female voice in
popular art analogous to the female voice
in love lyrics (Cooper 1997 )? Or does it go
back to an official statue group, as it may
be described in the copy of an inscription
of Shulgi’s consort Ninkalla (Suter 2010 :
328 – 329 ), and express her role of produc-
ing royal heirs?
It cannot be emphasised enough how
fragmentary and spotty our record is.
Hardly any objects of reusable or easily
perishable material have survived and few
stone monuments have been found com-
plete. Statues and stelae, in particular, were
frequently destroyed or mutilated due to
their symbolic value as embodiments of
power (May 2010 ). Thus we know victory
monuments of Ur III kings only from
copies of their inscriptions. Moreover, it
–– Kings and queens ––Figure 10.15
Terracotta plaque from Tello (Louvre
Museum. Photo ©RMN/Franck Raux)