A History Of The World In A 100 Objects
Number 12
Standard of Ur
Wooden box, inlaid with mosaic, found at the royal cemetery of Ur, Southern Iraq
2,600-2,400 BC
This item comes from Mesopotamia which was between the Euphrates & Tigris river in what is now Iraq.
The item it's self is made of wood & covered in a mosiac of shells, it comes from the city of Sumerian city of Ur which was one of the first big cities in the world, it was inhabited by something like 30 to 40,000 people & was part of a prosperous empire that with the help of better agriculture was able to feed & grow as a culture & population qquite rapidly.
The box is 23inches long & 7inches tall, it's the shape of a file briefcase & depicts scenes all the way round. The scenes on each of it's sides are three tiered & the tiers on the box show the various levels of social grading. The top layer being reserved for the high nobs, the middle for the artisans & the lower for the common Sumerian Joe. One side depicts everyday things going on, there's cows, horses & oxen & shows the relative wealth of Mesopotamia, all pointing towards the king, who is obviously the king cause he's bigger than everyone else, on the other side is a battle. with chariots, charging horses & swords all flailing about. Again it's tiered & again it shows the status of the folk involved with the King again all big & everyone's facing towards him so you know the artist wants it known who's the boss on this work of art. It's not entirely certain which battle it's supposed to be depicting & it's possible that's it's just a general display of might that the king has got over the world at the time. This is 4500 years old so anything could be possible but it is an extremely graphic portrayal of the power of kings & the growth of an empire.
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