Behind the search for something that looks like a marriage, however, lies an unstated
assumption, namely, that we are looking for something that looks like ritual intercourse
between a man and a woman. If the Sacred Marriage was a symbolic ceremony of some
kind, it might present in a manner that is not immediately apparent to the cultural
outsider. This does not mean that it could look like anything. A major ritual will
employ established symbols and metaphors, and a simulated sex act is likely to use
objects with suggestive shapes or other erotic connotations. Instead of looking for two
appropriately garbed individuals in an erotic pose, therefore, the visual content can be
scanned for more abstract presentations.
With this consideration in mind, a puzzling and prominent image in the corpus of
royal Sumerian art invites closer scrutiny. The monuments and cylinder seals of Neo-
Sumerian monarchs often feature a scene that has defied interpretation: the ruler,
dressed in a fringed robe, pouring liquid on a plant in a vase (Figure 11. 1 ). The ruler
wields the pourer with his bare right arm; the left arm, bent at the elbow, is covered and
held next to the body. The receiving vessel, variously termed a “biconical” or “pedestal”
vase, sometimes paired, has a signature flared rim and a pronounced waist. A small
fruiting palm is usually present, although the palm is occasionally omitted in depic-
tions from the Akkadian period or in provincial contexts, for instance, in the Neo-
Sumerian wall painting of the royal audience chamber at Mari (Moortgat 1969 : 73 – 74 ).
Although the ruler sometimes waters the palm vase outdoors, it is more often posi-
tioned in front of a cult image. The cult image has no fixed insignia but varies from one
depiction to the next.
–– Kathleen McCaffrey ––Figure 11.1Neo-Sumerian palm vase libation, Stele of Ur-Namma detail from Register II, Side A.
Sin Temple, Ur, c. 2000 BC(reconstruction drawing by Kathleen McCaffrey)