Victory Stele of Sargon of Akkad
Unknown · Akkadian period, reign of Sargon, c. 2300 BC
The base of a large stele is carved on more than one face with a military procession. In the lower register a bearded king in a helmet-like wig and a tufted woollen skirt strides forward holding a mace. A tiny inscription in front of his face reads simply: Sargon, the king. Behind him an attendant in a broad sash and short skirt carries a parasol, followed by five clean-shaven warriors in the same tufted skirts, each shouldering an axe. Look for the two dogs and the birds of prey over the scene. In the register above, naked prisoners are led away while an Akkadian soldier fights an enemy. Fire has left the surface flaking and scarred.
Sargon founded the Akkadian empire around 2334 before our era, the first state to unite the cities of Mesopotamia under one ruler, and this is one of the very few images of him to survive. The stele is thought to come from the temple of Enlil at Nippur, the religious capital of Sumer. Centuries later it was hauled off to Susa in Iran as war booty by the Elamite king Shutruk-Nahhunte, and it was found there by the French mission that excavated the acropolis.
Did You Know? The parasol carried behind the king is one of the earliest known images of a royal sunshade, a status symbol that would last in the Near East for thousands of years.
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