A legendary fight of a hero and a beast

[Sumerian Cuneiform]. Cuneiform tablet with seal impression of a fight between a man and a beast.

€ 9,500.00

A Sumerian clay tablet bearing cuneiform characters and figures from a seal, including one of a man fighting a large animal, probably a visual invocation of a mythological scene. It is dated to the seventh year of King Amar-Suen, the son of the great king Shulgi of the Ur III dynasty.

In thin, clearly formed cuneiform characters, the tablet records arrears under the Bala system of taxation and bears the impression of two seals: one side depicts a man fighting with a large quadruped standing on its hind legs, while the other shows six smaller human figures who appear to be helping in the battle. The differential in size suggests that the man fighting with the beast is a king, a legendary hero, or both. Other seals from the time of Amar-Suen depict a man grappling with a bull in what appears to be a visual invocation of the fight of Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven (such as one preserved in the British Museum), which suggests that this motif is represented here as well.

Tales of the legendary king Gilgamesh (or Bilgames, as he was known in Sumerian) began to be written down in the Ur III period, and the Sumerian poems from this era ultimately provided the material for the consolidated Epic of Gilgamesh, compiled in Akkadian during the Old Babylonian period five centuries later.

In a Sumerian poem and in Tablet VI of the Epic, Gilgamesh fights the Bull of Heaven which had been sent by the Goddess Inanna (in Sumerian, or in Akkadian: Ishtar), which results in the death of his friend and companion, Enkidu. Written and visual references to tales of Gilgamesh, such as most likely the seal impression on this tablet, precede the fuller written accounts, demonstrating that they circulated orally at first.

The Ur III dynasty followed on from the demise of the Akkadian Empire which conquered Sumer under Sargon the Great. The period witnessed a renaissance of Sumerian culture, and the consolidation of the various Sumerian city-states of Mesopotamia under the kings of Ur. Major reforms took place under Shulgi (r. 2094-2046 BCE), particularly to the systems of taxation, administration and scribal practice. During his nearly half-century reign, Shulgi issued the world's first surviving body of laws, the so-called Code of Ur-Nammu, and took the divine title, declaring himself a god. Amar-Suen (r. 2046-2038) was his son, about whom little is known aside from the fact that he undertook a renovation of the temple of the god Enki.

Bala taxation, referenced here, was another innovation of Shulgi and consisted of demands for goods and labour from every person in a given province. A different province was selected every month, to allow for a constant supply of goods and labour for the royal coffers without placing unsustainable burdens on any one region.

This tablet was formerly the property of Edgar J. Banks, an American antiquarian, who collected hundreds of examples of cuneiform tablets during his tenure as U.S. consul in the Ottoman Empire during the early years of the twentieth century. Banks has been suggested as one of the historical figures that helped inspire the fictional character of Indiana Jones. It was later owned by John Harvey Kellogg, of Corn Flakes fame.

A beautiful example of Neo-Sumerian culture, both testifying to administrative sophistication and hinting at a flourishing oral tradition.