Utente:Skyfall/Sandbox
La Stele degli avvoltoi é un monumento sumerico del periodo protodinastico III (all'incirca del 2400 a.C.), celebrante una vittoria della città-stato di Lagash sulla sua vicina Umma. Essa trae il nome da degli avvoltoi rappresentati in una delle diverse scene di battaglia che raffigura, assieme a scene religiose. La stele fu inizialmente scolpita su un unico blocco di pietra calcarea, sebbene oggigiorno sono noti solo sette frammenti, attualmente esposti al Louvre.
La scoperta
I primi tre frammenti furono ritrovati durante degli scavi a Telloh (l'antica Girsu) nel sud dell'Iraq nel 1881 dall'archeologo francese Ernest de Sarzec. Altri tre frammenti emersero durante gli scavi del 1888-1889. Un settimo frammento che più tardi fu riconosciuto come parte della stele su acquistato sul mercato delle antichità dal British Museum nel 1898 e, dopo due rifiuti, definitivamente consegnato al Louvre nel 1932 al fine di ricostituire la massima parte possibile della stele[1].
La stele
Il monumento completo, come é stato ricostruito ed esposto al Louvre, dovrebbe essere alto 1.80 m, largo 1.30 m, spesso 1.30m, con la cima arrotondata. Era costituito da un'unico blocco di calcare con rilievi scolpiti da entrambi i lati[2].
The stele can be placed in a tradition of mid- to late-third millennium BC southern Mesopotamia in which military victories are celebrated on stone monuments. A similar monument is the Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, created during the Akkadian period that followed on the Early Dynastic III period.[3]
The two sides of the stele show distinctly different scenes and have therefore been interpreted as a mythological side and a historical side. The mythological side is divided into two registers. The upper, larger register shows a large male figure holding a mace in his right hand and an anzu or lion-headed eagle in his left hand. The anzu identifies the figure as the god Ningirsu. Below the anzu is a large net filled with the bodies of naked men. Behind Ningirsu stands a smaller female figure wearing a horned headband and with maces protruding from her shoulders. These characteristics allow the figure to be identified as the goddess Ninhursag. The lower, smaller register is very badly preserved but, based on comparisons with contemporary depictions, it has been suggested that it depicted the god Ningirsu standing on a chariot drawn by mythological animals.[2]
The historical side is divided into four horizontal registers. The upper register shows Eannatum, the ensi or ruler of Lagash, leading a phalanx of soldiers into battle, with their defeated enemies trampled below their feet. Flying above them are the vultures after which the stele is named, with the severed heads of the enemies of Lagash in their beaks. The second register shows soldiers marching with shouldered spears behind the king, who is riding a chariot and holding a spear. In the third register, a small part of a possibly seated figure can be seen. In front of him, a cow is tethered to a pole while a naked priest standing on a pile of dead animal bodies performs a libation ritual on two plants spouting from vases. Left of these scenes is a pile of naked bodies surrounded by skirted workers with baskets on their head. Only a small part of the fourth register has been preserved, showing a hand holding a spear that touches the head of an enemy.[2] Some Sumerologists have proposed reconstructing a caption near the enemy as "Kalbum, King of Kish".[4]
The inscriptions on the stele are badly preserved. They fill the negative spaces in the scenes and run continuously from one side to the other. The text is written in Sumerian cuneiform script. From these inscriptions it is known that the stele was commissioned by Eannatum, an ensi or ruler of Lagash around 2460 BC. On it, he describes a conflict with Umma over a tract of agricultural land located between the two city-states.[2] The conflict ends in a battle in which Eannatum, described as the beloved of the god Ningirsu, triumphs over Umma. After the battle, the leader of Umma swears that he will not transgress into the territory of Lagash again upon penalty of divine punishment.[5]
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Upper register of the "mythological" side -
Another fragment -
Detail of the "battle" fragment -
Detail of the "battle" fragment
Note
- ^ (French) Marie-Thérèse Barrelet, Peut-On Remettre en Question la "Restitution Matérielle de la Stèle des Vautours"?, vol. 29, n. 4, 1970, 233–258, JSTOR 543336. Lingua sconosciuta: French (aiuto) Errore nelle note: Parametro "nome" non valido nel tag
<ref>. Intendevi forse "name"? - ^ a b c d Irene J. Winter, Pictorial Narrative in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, Symposium Series IV, vol. 16, 1985, ISSN 0091-7338.
- ^ Susan Pollock, Ancient Mesopotamia. The Eden that Never Was, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 181, ISBN 978-0-521-57568-3.
- ^ Thorkild Jacobsen, Toward the image of Tammuz and other essays on Mesopotamian history and culture 1970, p. 393; Eva Strommenger, Five thousand years of the art of Mesopotamia 1964 p. 396
- ^ Douglas R. Frayne, Presargonic Period (2700-2350 BC), Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2008, pp. 126–140, ISBN 978-0-8020-3586-8.
Collegamenti esterni
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