DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.809#0291
264
SYRIA, LINK WITH EARLY CHALDAEA
Proto-
types of
Nilotic
and
Cretan
inlays ?
Results of
Western
extension
of influ-
ence of
Sumer
and
Akkad.
Syria as
a link
with
Crete.
Mesopotamian field that the art was taken over by the late pre-dynastic
craftsmen of the Nile Valley, their native glaze-ware and, at times, some
actual glass being made use of for the inlays. It would appear that Minoan
Crete, where, as has been shown, the art of inlaying greatly flourished, drew
its inspiration not only from this Nilotic source, but, at a somewhat later
date, from the Eastern home-lands of the art.
The bull and head, above described, were found on the site of Erech
(Warka) on the lower Euphrates, and another specimen from the same site
in black limestone, perfect except for the horns and ears that have been
socketed into it, is among the recent acquisitions of the British Museum.1
It has a triangular depression on the forehead for some inlaying material,
a sacred mark that is often found in bronze votive figures of bulls of much
later date. The primitive bull ' rhytons' of Erech may themselves be safely
ascribed to early Sumerian times and to a date round about 3000 b. c. The
greatest age of Erech belongs to the time when Lugal-zaggisi of Umma,2—
having first captured Lagash, till then the leading City of Sumer and
Akkad,—had transferred his capital thither and taken by preference the title
of King of Erech. If we may suppose that this relic belongs to this
flourishing period (c. 2800 b. c.) it would, indeed, have a special interest,
since Lugal-zaggisi was the first Sumerian prince to make the claim that
he had extended his dominion to the Mediterranean.3 Although it does
not seem likely that he established any direct dominion over the Syrian
coastlands, such as Sargon (Shar-Gani-sharri) of Akkad seems to have
effected about 150 years later, the statement may well refer to a victorious
raid,4 securing a real extension of Sumerian influence on that side. Of
Sargon it is definitely stated that he subdued Amurru or the ' Western
Land' in the early years of his reign (c. 2650).
It is, indeed, a curious illustration of the widely ramifying relations of
Minoan culture that a class of libation vessels intimately connected with its
central cult should, in the first instance, have been derived, probably through
1 Presented by Major V. E. Mocatta, in
1924.
2 For his conquest of Lagash and the empire
over which he subsequently ruled, see espe-
cially, L. W. King, History of Sumer and
Akkad, p. 188 seqq.
3 In the inscription giving his title recon-
structed from the fragments of stalagmite
vases found in the course of the excavations
of the University of Pennsylvania at Nippur
(Hi\precht,OldBabylonian Inscriptions, Part II,
no. 87, PI. 38 seqq.), Lugal-zaggisi states that
Enlil (the chief of the Gods) had 'made
straight his path from the Lower Sea' (the
Persian Gulf) over ' the Euphrates and Tigris
unto the Upper Sea' (the Mediterranean),
see Hilprecht, Explorations in Bible Lands,
p. 38, and King, op. cit., p. 197.
4 King, op. cit., p. 198.
SYRIA, LINK WITH EARLY CHALDAEA
Proto-
types of
Nilotic
and
Cretan
inlays ?
Results of
Western
extension
of influ-
ence of
Sumer
and
Akkad.
Syria as
a link
with
Crete.
Mesopotamian field that the art was taken over by the late pre-dynastic
craftsmen of the Nile Valley, their native glaze-ware and, at times, some
actual glass being made use of for the inlays. It would appear that Minoan
Crete, where, as has been shown, the art of inlaying greatly flourished, drew
its inspiration not only from this Nilotic source, but, at a somewhat later
date, from the Eastern home-lands of the art.
The bull and head, above described, were found on the site of Erech
(Warka) on the lower Euphrates, and another specimen from the same site
in black limestone, perfect except for the horns and ears that have been
socketed into it, is among the recent acquisitions of the British Museum.1
It has a triangular depression on the forehead for some inlaying material,
a sacred mark that is often found in bronze votive figures of bulls of much
later date. The primitive bull ' rhytons' of Erech may themselves be safely
ascribed to early Sumerian times and to a date round about 3000 b. c. The
greatest age of Erech belongs to the time when Lugal-zaggisi of Umma,2—
having first captured Lagash, till then the leading City of Sumer and
Akkad,—had transferred his capital thither and taken by preference the title
of King of Erech. If we may suppose that this relic belongs to this
flourishing period (c. 2800 b. c.) it would, indeed, have a special interest,
since Lugal-zaggisi was the first Sumerian prince to make the claim that
he had extended his dominion to the Mediterranean.3 Although it does
not seem likely that he established any direct dominion over the Syrian
coastlands, such as Sargon (Shar-Gani-sharri) of Akkad seems to have
effected about 150 years later, the statement may well refer to a victorious
raid,4 securing a real extension of Sumerian influence on that side. Of
Sargon it is definitely stated that he subdued Amurru or the ' Western
Land' in the early years of his reign (c. 2650).
It is, indeed, a curious illustration of the widely ramifying relations of
Minoan culture that a class of libation vessels intimately connected with its
central cult should, in the first instance, have been derived, probably through
1 Presented by Major V. E. Mocatta, in
1924.
2 For his conquest of Lagash and the empire
over which he subsequently ruled, see espe-
cially, L. W. King, History of Sumer and
Akkad, p. 188 seqq.
3 In the inscription giving his title recon-
structed from the fragments of stalagmite
vases found in the course of the excavations
of the University of Pennsylvania at Nippur
(Hi\precht,OldBabylonian Inscriptions, Part II,
no. 87, PI. 38 seqq.), Lugal-zaggisi states that
Enlil (the chief of the Gods) had 'made
straight his path from the Lower Sea' (the
Persian Gulf) over ' the Euphrates and Tigris
unto the Upper Sea' (the Mediterranean),
see Hilprecht, Explorations in Bible Lands,
p. 38, and King, op. cit., p. 197.
4 King, op. cit., p. 198.