How Iconography and Hieratic Scale give us the Message of the Stele of Naram-Sin
The construction of the Victory Stele of Naram-Sin took place in the Sippar’s Sun God Cult in celebration of King Naram-Sin’s triumph over the people of the Lullubi Mountain. The king was the fourth to rule the Semite Dynasty of the Akkadian Empire (stretching from the Inner Iran to Anatolia, and from the Mediterranean to Arabia).
As shown in Figure one below, the Stele of Naram-Sin is a representation of this King’s victory (ARTH, 6). The depiction uses iconography and hieratic scale to give a unique view of what took place during the battle.
Figure 1: Victory Stele of Naram-Sin (ARTH ,6)
The hierarchy of scale, as shown in the figure above portrays Naram-Sin as the most important person. All the people represented by the icons look at the king as though they are worshipping him. As such, King Naram-Sin appears to be a God-like hero standing on top of a mountain (Goya, 5). The iconography used reveals the King’s soldiers marching on the mountain’s side. The defeated soldiers fall from the mountain, an indication that Naram-Sin emerged victoriously.
Naram-Sin puts on a helmet bearing horns, a sign of divine powers. Although he was human, the horns on the King’s helmet symbolized his use of powers from God to demolish the Lullibi people. Like his soldiers, however, Naram-Sin looks up towards the sun. The iconography implies that the sun was the greater power from which the King drew his powers.
Conclusively, the iconography and hierarchy of scale used in the Victory Stele of Naram-Sin depict the King as a victor over the Lullibi people. His soldiers are marching by the mountain paying tribute to him and the sun. The King, on his side, puts on a helmet with two horns symbolic of divine powers. Nonetheless, he also looks up to the sun as a sign that he drew power from the sun.
Works Cited
ARTH. "Images of Authority I." ARTH Courses 1.3 (2013): 6. Web. <http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/arth200/politics/big_man.html>.
Goya, Francisco. "Victory Stele of Naram-Sin." Art and War 3.1 (2007): 5. Web. <https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~nigro20e/classweb/victory.html>.
