Colossal Spear Inscribed with the Name of a King of Kish
Unknown · Early Dynastic II, circa 2600 BC
Eighty-five centimetres of copper, hammered into the shape of a spearhead far too large for any human hand. A short cuneiform inscription in Sumerian is engraved on the blade, and it reads simply Lugal, king of Kish. Look for the incised signs near the base of the blade and, beside them, the outline of a lion engraved into the metal. The weapon was never meant to be thrown. Its size and its dedication mark it as a votive object, a gift placed in a temple to display the power of a ruler.
The spear was found at Tello, the ancient city of Girsu in southern Iraq, during the French excavations that first revealed the Sumerians to the modern world, and it entered the Louvre in eighteen ninety-six as a gift following those digs. The title king of Kish was a claim to supremacy over all of Sumer in the twenty-seventh and twenty-sixth centuries BC, so this piece of metal is one of the earliest surviving royal inscriptions. Its copper, worked around four thousand six hundred years ago, is a reminder that the Early Dynastic city states already commanded long-distance trade in ore.
Did You Know? The title king of Kish was so prestigious that rulers of other Sumerian cities adopted it to claim authority over the whole land.
Unlock the Full Guide
Read every room and listen to every work in all museums with premium.