Discussion of Primary Sources in the Ancient Near East

 This paper originally written as a discussion paper with informal citation.

ASH-3200:  Ancient Near Eastern Societies

Dr. Tiffany Early-Spadoni

University of Central Florida

Akkadian Cylinder Seal

Discussion of Primary Sources in the Ancient Near East

            In looking at the early history of Mesopotamia, there are several classes of primary sources with which we can glean information about the lives of those peoples and cultures.  We have, in varying amounts, both archaeological artifacts and historical (written) artifacts.  These can generally be divided into the following classes (genres):

-Pottery:  Artifacts made, typically in this time period, from clay or sometimes stone and used in everyday life such as bowls, jars, cups, etc…

-Seals (Stamp and especially Cylinder Seals:  Items made typically from stone that bear glyphs (images) and sometimes inscriptions that represent the authority of the individual who owned it.  This would be stamped or rolled onto soft clay and left to harden as a “seal” of authority.

-Monumental Art:  Such as Steles (large stone slabs that commemorate some event) and dedicatory inscriptions.

-Monumental Architecture:  Tombs, Ziggurats, Temples, etc…

-Writing (Cuneiform Tablets)

            Across different time periods and cultural sources, these types of artifacts can differ.  What representations and writings are made on these sources and how they differ between periods can shape our interpretation of those who created them.  One example is in the area of cylinder seals.  One example we have from the Uruk Period (4,000 to 3,000 BCE) depicts a large male figure (possibly a “ruler” or “king” figure) wearing a net skirt and head band in a scene of several other smaller individuals. (Early-Spadoni, 2021, The Uruk Period).  By the time of the Akkadian Period (2,350 to 2,200 BCE), cylinder seals often took on simpler motifs.  They also seemed to employ more empty space within the seal, more symmetry, and more depictions of gods.  During this period, a new scene also emerged, called the “presentation scene” which depicts the ruler being presented to a god, or sometimes an official being presented to the ruler. (Early-Spadoni, 2021, The Akkadian Empire).  Shapes, styles, and motifs of art, architecture, and writings reflect what was important to, generally, the culture at the time, and specifically, the individual who created it or employed its creation.  For example, we can contrast victory steles over time.  Steles are large slabs of concrete (sometimes wood) that were covered with figures and writing that often commemorated some event or achievement by a ruler.  Early steles from the Ur III period tended to reflect rulers as “pious builders” while later steles, such as the Stele of Vultures from the Early Dynastic III period or the Stele of Naram-Sin from the Akkadian period were designed to reinforce the idea of the ruler as a “smiter of enemies.”  (Early-Spadoni, 2021, Age of the Amorites).  Compare this with the Stele of Hammurabi during the Old Babylonian Period (2,000 to 1,6000 BCE).  In this stele, Hammurabi (c. 1,810 to 1,750 BCE) is depicted in the form of a “just king” who is an ideological new ruler (Early-Spadoni, 2021, Age of the Amorites).  The stele reveals a number of laws and portrays Hammurabi as a “law-giver” type ruler. 

            All of these primary sources have a number of limitations present for the modern scholar.  They often reveal only a narrow window of society.  While pottery can be used by all individuals across the spectrum of society, they often do not indicate to us anything more than how they were made and sometimes, images that were either important or popular.  When we look at cylinder seals, monumental art, and monumental architecture, we are only seeing what is presented by those who were powerful enough or economically advantaged enough to create them or have them created.  Monumental art and architecture were created by rulers, the ruling class, and sometimes the priestly class.  These items reflected the achievements that they wanted to present to the world.  Rulers seldom publicly record their failures and defeats, so we often only have records of their victories.  Similarly, we often are unable to look into the lives of those who did not produce these types of artifacts.  Unless specifically written about them, we do not have a reflection of the common person, the worker, women, children, or slaves.  There are some few exceptions.  For example, early Uruk writings that have been found sometimes were of school recitations, lexicons, hymns, and “wisdom” literature (Early-Spadoni, 2021, The Uruk Period).  Later on, during the Assyrian Period, we have a large number of cuneiform texts in the form of letters that revealed much about trade and the merchant class.  A number of these were found in Mari.  Many of these are first person accounts of the merchant life and would include things such as taxes, trading prices, and making arrangements for travel.  (Touillon-Ricci, M., “Life of a Salesman:  Trade and Contraband in Ancient Assyria,” ASOR online).