Bull-headed lyre from Ur [ca 2450 BCE]

Gold Bull-headed lyre fragment.with shell inlay plaques.[ca 2450 BCE]
Ur, Iraq, Royal Graves.
Pennsylvania University; Penn Museum

Description:Gold bull head lyre fragment [ca 2450 BCE]
With shell inlay plaques.
The mask of the bull is gold. The eyes, hair, and beard are all made of lapis lazuli and the horns are modern.
Ur, Iraq, Royal Graves.
Pennsylvania University; Penn Museum

The front panel of the lyre tells the story of the funeral ritual itself. At the top, the nude hero grapples with two rampant human-headed bulls, representing royal control over nature. Beneath are three scenes that show the ritual with otherworldly actors. A hyena carries butchered meat on a table. Behind his is a lion, holding a jar and a pouring vessel identical to ones found in the graves. The third register depicts music-making: an equid plays a lyre while a bear supports it, nearby a small animal shakes a rattle. The lyre depicted is similar to the very lyre to which it was attached. On the bottom is the last stage of the ritual, where the deceased meets the scorpion man, the guardian of the entrance to the underworld. Showing this ritual in the symbolic language of animals acting as humans was borrowed from the Elamites in Iran. Taken as a whole, the lyre imagery shows the human cycle of the kings’ control over nature, the funerary ritual and entry into the underworld. All of this is presided over by the god of judgment and destiny, the sun god Shamash.

Source:
www.penn.museum/sites/iraq/?page_id=58

Taken on: May 23, 2017

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