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Description: | In ancient times, the region known as Mesopotamia covered present-day Iraq and northern Syria. Many cultures flourished there, including the Assyrian, Sumerian and Babylonian peoples, who believed that their world was controlled by a huge pantheon of gods and goddesses. Large temples were built to house models of the gods and goddesses of individual cities, where complicated rituals were performed to honour them. This male figurine is modelled in light stone. Only the upper part survives; the jagged edge at the base of the figure shows where it has broken. The figure's arms are folded across his chest.Archaeologists have excavated many similar figurines, ranging from valuable statues found buried in graves at the royal cemetery in the city of Ur in southern Mesopotamia, to more ordinary clay figures offered by temple worshippers making a vow to one of their gods. It is not known where this figurine was found, so it is difficult to know why it was made. It may have been a model of a favourite god, a burial offering, or an offering made at a temple.
MALE FIGURE, (upper part), modelled in light stone | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/ | Publisher: | Wolverhampton Arts and Museums Service | Subjects: | Decorative arts Archaeology | Temporal: | 2000 BC - 1800 BC | Source: | Black Country History | Identifier: | http://www.blackcountryhistory.org/colle... | Go to resource |
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