Deities follow the style already established in the Akkadian period: the male gods
are depicted with long elaborate beards, their hair drawn back into a chignon and the
horned crown consists of four pairs of horns crowned with a ‘blob’; the hair is probably
made into plats then gathered into a chignon. On the Gudea stela, they all wear long
flounced garments covering one shoulder (Aruz 2003 : 437 , cat. no. 311 ). On the Ur-
Nammu stela, the principal god and goddess are dressed in similar attire, consisting
of the flounced garments and the horned crowns. The two goddesses on the second
register wear the pleated long garment (Aruz 2003 : 443 – 446 , fig. 109 b). The pleats may
indicate the dresses were made of soft material. On a water basin dated to the time of
Gudea, the water goddesses are shown wearing long garments decorated with undu-
lating lines. They may have been pleats, but cut deliberately into wavy lines to represent
water (Moortgat 1969 : pl. 188 ).
NUDITY AS FASHION
On many of the religious or mythological scenes across the span of the Sumerian
period, nude figures occur performing various duties. On the Warka Vase they are the
bearers of food (cf. Figure 10. 1 this volume.) A broken, damaged and partly worn stela
acquired by the Iraq Museum in 2004 and said to come from southern Iraq in the
vicinity of Ur depicts festive activities (Figure 19. 11 ) On the front face, the bottom three
registers are rows of vessels, maybe containing food and drink, above them are four
seated figures performing domestic activities. On the register above are three figures:
one standing placing both his hands on a large round object, opposite a seated women
with raised hands and behind her is a second seated figures who is holding stick-like
objects in his raised hands, giving the impression that he is shaking them. It is possible
that they are musicians: a drummer, a singer accompanied by a musician. On the
register above, which is slightly worn, is a row of dancing nude figures. On one side
of the stele are four registers of pairs of dancing figures: one is nude and the other
wearing a short kilt. All this is taking place by the river where fish, tortoise and a duck
can be seen swimming. Is this Early Dynastic stela an early example of landscape
design?
Nude figures appear in fighting scenes usually in combat with beasts (lions)
defending domestic animals (goats or gazelles), a popular motif from the early Dynastic
period on cylinder seals, and continue to the following periods. In the Akkadian period,
in addition to the nude hero who by this period acquires his classic characteristics: long
curly hair that falls down to his shoulder and a tasselled belt (Aruz 2003 : 217 , cat. no.
146 ). A similarly clad figure appears as an assistant to the gods, particularly the water god
Enki (Ea) (Aruz 2003 : 215 , cat. no. 141 ). Nudity played an important part in religious
and ritual ceremonies, possibly representing a particular class of priesthood, and it also
was the uniform for aides of the gods. An Early Dynastic copper statue (a valuable and
scarce mineral in Mesopotamia) of a nude figure may illustrate the important position
of such a person, a class of priest in the temple. Here he is performing his duty carrying
a box-like object on his head (Aruz 2003 : 79 , cat. no. 38 ).
By contrast prisoners are also represented nude on the Standard of Ur (Figure 19. 5 ),
and later on a number of the victory stele as fallen enemies (Figure 10. 9 ). Here nudity
played an important role in humiliation of the enemy, portrayed stripped of dress.
–– Lamia al Gailani Werr ––