Essay 1: Material Culture
Essay 1 focuses on the analysis of an object chosen from a pre-selected collection. The goal is to contextualize the object and use it as a starting point to discuss some of the larger topics covered in the course.
Objects
Warka Vase
Relief of Ur-Nanše
Standard of Ur (Peace Side)
Standard of Ur (War Side)
Stele of Ušumgal
Banquet Plaque from Tutub
Votive Plaque of Dudu
Obelisk of Maništušu
Victory Stele of Narām-Sîn
Essays
Expelled from the Garden of Eden
by Ricardo Jasso Huezo
Why would a politician —the leader of a certain political group— call himself a "god"? Even more, why would the "divinity" of a leader be depicted in a public monument? What is behind the "Victory Stele" of Akkadian king Naram-Sin?
Standard of Ur (War)
by Robert Ledniczky
As Britain consolidated their colonial power in the wake of the first world war, other agents of the Empire were engaging in other operations, including imperial excavation. Between 1922-1934, British archeologist Leonard Woolley would conduct his most famous excavations for the British Museum in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania Museum.
The Centralization of Power Through Economic Conquest: The Obelisk of Manishtushu
by Andrew Pottorf
Over the span of roughly two centuries, the Sargonic dynasty attained a greater level of territorial control than previously realized in the ancient Near East, achieving what may be considered the world’s first empire. This empire was formed and maintained through conquests, both military and economic, that transferred political power from various city-states and regions to the Sargonic rulers and their loyal dependents.
Standard of Ur: A Story of Social Organization
by Ameek Shokar
In the late 1920s, British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley embarked on journey to complete an extensive excavation of the ancient city of Ur. The prize discovery of Woolley’s dig was a trapezoidal wooden object that has become known as the Standard of Ur. The object was found in the tomb of next to a man who Woolley believed might have used the object as a standard used a symbol of the state in battle.