Ur III: the official function of the presentation sceneAfter a brief period of political and economic disorder following the collapse of the
Akkadian empire at the hands of “barbarians” from the east, the rulers from the
southern cities of Ur and Uruk again projected centralizing order over the southern
alluvium. The so-called Neo-Sumerian Renaissance did not, however, signal a return
to Early Dynastic administrative practices. For the first time since the Middle Uruk
period when cylinder seals were impressed on numerical tablets, cylinders are again
regularly applied to inscribed documents that recorded agreements between insti-
tutions and individuals as well as on standard administrative texts, rations lists, receipts,
dispursements, bullae, and letter orders (Figure 16. 21 ). But now the role of the seal
image had profoundly changed. It no longer carried substantive information about the
content of the document. Rather the seal impressions served to create specific legal
obligations. The person who sealed was responsible for received goods, the borrower
who sealed was obligated to repay, the seller could not raise claims against a buyer. For
the first time, the significance of the seal impression approached what we now
recognize as the authority of a signature that legitimizes the content of a written record
(Steinkeller 1977 ; Gibson and Biggs 1987 ).
The official seal type of the Late Akkadian period, the two-pair contest with
inscription, continued in use during the early years of the Ur III Dynasty augmented
by a new three-figure contest composition. But the rich mythological and narrative
world of the Akkadian predecessors was abruptly and completely rejected. Only the
presentation formula survived. It is through the correlation of the inscription and the
details of the imagery that the administrative hierarchy has been illuminated (Winter
1987 ; Zettler 1987 ; Fischer 1997 ; Mayr and Owen 2004 ). Within the Ur III bureaucracy,
this composition became highly standardized, showing most commonly an enthroned
god or ruler on the left being approached by a human adorant who was either
introduced or was followed by a minor goddess (Figure 16. 6 ). By the end of the reign
of Shulgi, these scenes were by far the most common. Presentations before a god were
far more common than before a king. The king can be clearly identified by his round
cap and turban that differentiates him from the deity who wears a horned headdress.
–– Seals and sealings in the Sumerian world ––Figure 16.21Cuneiform
tablet impressed with an
in-na-ba seal. Inscribed: Ibbi-
Sin, the mighty king, the king
of Ur, the king of the four
regions of the world, to Sag-
Nannarzu, priest of Enlil, his
servant, has given as a present.
Nippur. (CBS 12570. Legrain
1925 : 284. Courtesy of
Richard L. Zettler, Associate
Curator-in-Charge, Near East
Section, University of
Pennsylvania Museum of
Archaeology and
Anthropology)