Mace Head
Unknown · Akkadian period, c. 2340-2200 BC
A copper tube swells into a ribbed, egg-shaped bulge: this is a mace head, the business end of a club. The tube slid over a wooden shaft, and the ribs on the bulge concentrated the force of the blow. It is thirteen and a half centimetres tall and in good condition, the metal showing a dark, even patina.
The mace comes from Tepe Giyan in Luristan, in the Zagros mountains of western Iran, and dates to the Akkadian period, around twenty three hundred to twenty two hundred BC, when the kings of Akkad campaigned into these highlands. Maces were both weapons and symbols of authority across the ancient Near East; gods and kings are shown carrying them in Mesopotamian art. The Louvre acquired this example in nineteen thirty two during a French archaeological mission, in the years when Luristan bronzes were first attracting attention. Compare its plain, functional form with the extravagant Luristan axes of the first millennium displayed in the next room.
Did You Know? The ribbed bulge is not decoration but engineering, focusing the impact of a swing into a few hard ridges.
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