Winter, I. J. (2012). Gold! Light and Lustre in Ancient Mesopotamia.

Proceedings of the 7th International

Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East: 12 April-16 April 2010, the British Museum and UCL,
London. R. Matthews and J. Curtis (eds). Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag. Vol. 2: 153-171.

GOLD! DIVINE LIGHT AND LUSTRE IN ANCIENT

MESOPOTAMIA

IRENE J. WINTERI

T. Cuyler Young, Jr.

In memoriam

ABSTRACT

Texts speak eloquently to the property of light and shine as a positive element
of works produced as what we would term 'art' in ancient Mesopotamia.
Less examined has been what the properties of gold in particular encode for
experience and meaning of the works themselves. The present paper looks
specifically at headgear and personal ornament as vehicles for imbuing the
body with properties beyond those associated with the mere material value
of the gold as a medium of elite production and consumption. It is argued
that the light-bearing properties of the gold carry significance as well as the
immutability of the material and the overall cost of the metal as the result
of long distance trade and foreign exchange. Emphasis is placed upon the
assemblages of the Royal Cemetery of Ur; in the Early Dynastic Period and
the Queens' Tombs of the Northwest Palace at Nimrud, of the Neo-Assyrian
Period, with comparanda from the Old Babylonian and Middle Assyrian
Periods.

In focusing upon gold in ancient Mesopotamia, I have chosen a rather unlikely topic
for archaeologists, but with a reason! The topic of gold has, for good reason, not been
high on the list of archaeological concerns in recent decades - largely as part of a
conscious move away from 'elite materials and the fetishism of the object, as well as
challenges to prior impositions of our values upon the past. And yet, I am persuaded
that one should not dismiss 'the investigation of ancient materials and values in the
course of either asserting or rejecting our own.
That gold has traditionally played a powerful role in Western consciousness no
less than in cultures 'across time and space needs no argument. Obsession with the
rarity and immutability of the material, plus the values inherent in capitalism through
a now-outdated 'gold standard,' have governed cultural attitudes in Europe and the
Americas, indeed in the world - as illustrated in popular culture from James Bond's

Department of History of Art & Architecture, Harvard University, Cambridge MA 02138

 Irene J. Winter
154

nemesis 'Goldfinger'to the recent industrial Gold Fair in Istanbul, and as scrutinized
in a recent stndy by Peter Bernstein (2000)-' The attendant social valne coded into
the conspicnous display of gold in elite contexts is amply attested as well, witnessed
by the gilded architectnral spaces and furnishings evident in the royal apartments
of Versailles in the 17'h and 18'" centnries (Castelluccio 1999)1 At the same time,
a titillation fa-etor often seems aimed at popular consumption when gold is fore-
grounded,. as evidenced by a National Geographic magazine article entitled 'Gold,
the Eternal Treasure";' while high-end auction houses consistently foreground the
material whenever works in gold are offered for sale."
Even when museums like the American Museum of Natural History in New York
mount what are purported to be scientific exhibitions, the material itself is presented
in capital letters, rarefied, and often wedded to acquisition [as in an emphasis in
advertisements of the exhibit upon holiday shopping at the museum store]!' And
when gold is exhibited in museum contexts, it is frequently taken out of any cultural
or regional context, specially treated not only for purposes of security, but also as if
valued independent of any context, as in the gold room of the Villa Giulia, Rome,
the Hermitage and the National Museum in Tehran. Thus, the display of gold itself
suggests the material is raised above the commonplace, not unlike when Venus
Williams won at Wimbledon in 2005 and was photographed holding her gilded
winner's trophy aloft!"
For good reasons, then, as archaeology as a scientific and humanistic discipline
turned from treasure hunting to the recovery of the past as history and anthropology,
focus moved away from elite loci where gold was likely to be found, and toward the
material remains that would afford scholars the broader behaviours and chronological
sequences appropriate to a more comprehensive view of the cultures under study.
When objects of precious material did come to attention, they were often the
products of clandestine extraction and illicit trafficking - as witnessed by a silver and
gilded fluted vase ofthe Achaemenid period, held in a private collection and published
by Edith Porada (1965: pi. 49). Such works may have proved useful in offering an

2 The 'Gold Istanbul' Fair is held annually as a venue for the display of jewelry, machinery and equipment;
and despite the collapse of the official gold standard, gold remains the most valued of precious metals:
see, for example, Stephen Metcalf (2005).
3 P. White (1974) entitled: 'Gold, the Eternal Treasure, 'the article was featured on the cover, accompanied
by the announcement that it was augmented 'With a Twelve-Page Portfolio of Golden Masterpieces'.
4 See, for example, Christie S, monthly publication of the auction house for November 2001, pp. 105-
109, with respect to a sale in London called: 'Magnificent Gold.' Billed as a 'once-in-a-lifetime
chance to see a s~perb colle~tion of English gold,' it was described as: 'the largest group of 17th and
18th century Enghsh gold objects ever to appear at auction'.
5 The A~erican ~useum of Natural History exhibition, entitled: 'Gold: Treasure, Beauty, Power,' took
place m 2007; Its corporate sponsor was Tiffany & Co., Inc. When fore-grounded on the cover of the
holiday issue of Museums, New York~vol. 12/5 in the winter of 200617 , a sub-head at the bottom read:
'Holiday Shopping at Museum Stores .. .' See also La Niece (2009) highlighting gold works in the
British Museum collections.
6 Photograph published in the New York Times, Sunday, 3 July 2005.
Divine Light and Lustre in Ancient Mesopotamia ISS

opportunity to visualise objects- depicted in other media from known sites, such as the
tribute procession reliefs of the Apadana at Persepolis; but still, it was from excavated
materials, such as the fragmentary ceramic vessel found in the Achaemenid levels
of Godin Tepe, that we are truly able to put shape and vessel type into any cnltural
context (Young and Levine 1974: fig. 46:20); while the desire for comparable vessels
of precious materials then gave rise to a plethora of modern forgeries, as witnessed
by the Cincinnati gold vase that managed to seduce scholars as discerning as Helene
Kantor (1957: figs 10-1 I)!
Ours is a different era now. -We have seen works, often of gold, successfully
reclaimed by host conntries [for example, the Lydian board returned to Turkey by
the Metropolitan Museum in New York' (although comparable material held in the
Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has yet to be challenged!)]. And it will be interesting
to see whether the Trojan gold, extracted by Heinrich Schliemann in 1873 and given
by him to Berlin in 1881, then taken by the Russians to Moscow at the end of World
War II, will- ever 'leave the Pushkin Museum where the collection is now, and if so,
whether it will go back to Berlin under the terms of the Hague Convention on the
Protection of Cultural Property in Time of War, or back to Turkey, whence Schliemann
originally snuck the gold out hidden in his wife's skirts (Payne 1959).
The Trojan material is a good starting point for us as archaeologists: initially
published as a hoard, the assemblage has been known for nearly 140 years, and was
depicted in the Illustrated London News (I May 1878). But what we would not give
to have been able to place the individual Trojan tomb groups back together again, as
evidence of Early Bronze Age funerary and cultural practice, instead of seeing the
works through the lens oftypological classification and mid-Iv" ladies' ornamentation,
with contemporary works then stimulated by the archaeological finds!"
We come to this valuation of wealth, and 'gold' in particular, through a long
history of mythologies inherited from the classical world - most evident in the stories
associated with Croesus, for example as painted by Nicolaus Knupfer in the mid-I?"
century." But at the same time.. we are expected today, as the contemporary viewer
was then, to eschew the crass materialism ofthe Lydian ruler, since the full title of the
painting is 'Croesus showing Solon his Treasures', wherein the more measured Greek
archon is depicted in a philosophical and contemplative pose that clearly denies the
wealth for other, more important values.
The classical world is not the only source for our culture's lovelhate relationship
with gold. Whether or not the 'Golden Calf,' produced by the melted-down ornaments
ofthe Israelite women while Moses was up on Mount Sinai (Exodus, Ch. 32:5-6) was

7 See, on this, 'Turkey's War on the Illicit Antiquities Trade,' Archaeology 48 (1995), pp. 45-56; Ozgen
and Ozturk 1996.
8 FOT such a 19th century set, see Leloir 2004: fig. 12:4, with discussion, pp. 204-205.
9 Presently in the Kunstbistorisches Museum, Vienna, #9867. Other such myths include the association
of the composite creature known as the griffin with eastern sources of gold in the Classical period, on
which, see Mayor 1994.
156 Irene J. Winter

literally modelled upon Egyptian devotional images of deity in the form of a sacred
bull, as, for example, painted on a 21 ~t/22ndDynasty mummy case, 10 later painters such
as Poussin certainly had it right to put the bull on a pedestal surrounded by clearly
misplaced ecstatic abandon."
The golden calf is a good transition to my next point, however: the degree to which
precious metal production is itself the product of valued expertise in craftsmanship
- whether illustrated by present-day Armenian craftsman of the Caucasus or in a
15th century drawing by an anonymous artist known as the 'Master of the Hours of
Catherine of Cleves'. 12 Indeed, although the workshop in the drawing is depicted in
contemporary 15'h century terms, the illustration originally belonged to a 'historiated
Bible,' the figure depicted intended to represent the ancient craftsman Bezalel of the
Book of Exodus (31: 1-5), who was commissioned to make the tabernacle and ark
of the Covenant - the gilded capitals of which are seen in the image the course of
production.
The illustration is wonderful, as it evokes many of the issues surrounding the craft
production in gold and other precious metals, for which we have parallel evidence in
the ancient Near East (see Ross 1999; Winter 2003,2008; the forthcoming dissertation
of Kim Benzel, Columbia University; and see Vickers 1994 as one example of
production and value in later periods): first, the properties of gold, as related both to
the yellow, shine of the sun and also, in its molten form, to the properties of fire; and
second, the cultural value placed upon fine craftsmanship as an artifact of high-end
production, illustrated by a crown found in one of the Queen's tombs at Nimrud, to
which we shall return below.
Finally, in closing this long introduction to the real meat of what I wish to focus
on in this communication, I should add that not all ancient gold comes from the
clandestine market, or our knowledge from extra-cultural sources.- The well-known
Hasanlu Gold Bowl, for example, was excavated in a prime context: found in Room
9 of what has been called Burned Building l-West, near two skeletons, nne of whieh
must have been holding the bowl in his hand as the building collapsed - giving us a
very powerful sense of the bowl's last minutes before its excavation some 3000 years
later (Figs 1-2).13And yet, the anecdotal history of the bowl's discovery is telling with
respect to the archaeological avoidance of 'gold' in out times: news photographs of

10 E.g. Ptah-Sokaris-Osiris as a bull, a panel from the painted wooden mummy case of Denytenamun,
priest of Amun [The British Museum, Ancient Egypt and Sudan #6660; acquired by purchase]; see
Strudwick 2006.
II Nicholas Poussin, Adoration of the Golden Calf, 1633-1634, National Gallery, London.
12 The ms. is held in the British Library [Ms. Add. 38.122.f.117v]. The drawing to which I refer is one of
seven, known from a History Bible of c. 1440. It was reproduced in the catalogue for an exhibition held
in Nijmegen in 2009 (Duckers and Priem (eds) 2009: fig. 24).
13 See history summarised in Winter (1989). Note that the tendency to isolate and then glorify gold finds
from excavated contexts is not absent in the literature, either. See, for example, Pulz 2009; Gopher and
Tsuk, 1991; Gimbutas 1977. But, sensationalism notwithstanding, as George Bass (1966) noted nearly
35 years ago: 'gold has an archaeological value of its own. '
Divine Light and Lustre in Ancient Mesopotamia 157

its excavator, Robert Dyson, holding the bowl aloft not withstanding, the associate
dig director at the time, T. Cuyler Young Jr., took great pleasure in recounting in later
years how he, as a 'non-abject-oriented archaeologist', took off on a survey of the
Solduz valley the day the bowl was discovered!
For the present paper, I would like to argue tbat - having left the worst imposition
of our values upon the licit and illicit records of tbe past behind - it may be time to
return to materials like gold, in appropriate archaeological and cultural contexts, to
see what the ancient record tells us of their time, not ours!
The constraints and opportunities of doing so now, in the 21 st century, should
be clearly articulated, however. As an archaeologist no less than an art historian, I
would argue that we should limit ourselves to consideration of works known from
excavation, with good provenience, so as not to abet the illicit traffic by adding value
to works acquired on the market. And I would further acknowledge that a great deal of
what we can know about those works is due not only to their archaeological context,
but also to the contemporary texts available to us in ever greater quantity, thanks to
the spate of publication programmes of the past several decades, from the dictionary
projects to tbe bistoric corpora, made.available botb on paper and electronically.
One of the principal ways in which gold was applied that we are not likely to
ever recover archaeologically was in architecture. Texts referring to the use of gold
in the decoration of temples and palaces make clear that embellishment was not a
rare practice, but rather spoke to the great investment in monumental architecture.
Although what is preserved today of Mesopotamian temples consists largely of the
mudbrick construction materials, texts in both Sumerian and Akkadian emphasise
decorative programmes that would have been associated with such temples, both
at ground level and elevated. Esarhaddon of Assyria, for example, tells us that he
overlaid temple walls with gold, making tbem 'shine like the day' (Borger 1967: 78,
11.11-13) - an effect which may be experienced on the exteriors and in the interiors
of many places of worship today, from Christian pilgrimage churebes to the Muslim
'Dome of the Rock' in Jerusalem, and to Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist temples - as, for
example, the golden vimanam ofthe Srirangam Temple in Soutb India (Fig. 3).
That gold was not native to the Tigris-Euphrates Valley and had to be acquired
from a distance and at some cost is well known from early third millennium texts such
as 'Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta'. As we search for meaning and values associated
with that gold, I would argue that mere scarcity, cost, and material properties are not
sufficient to account for the vested value.
The luminous qualities associated with the sacred in Mesopotamia have been
enumerated by Francoise Bruscbweiler and otbers (e.g., Bruschweiler 1987; Winter
1995), for which gold becomes an ideal material conveyance. We know from botb
text and artifact that both gold and silver served as the materials for sacred, liturgical
objects throughout the Mesopotamian sequence - a spouted vessel in gold from the
Royal Tombs at Dr having been used for libation purposes, modelled upon conch
shells used for similar purposes (Fig. 4 ~ Woolley 1934: pl. 163, top). And as evidence
158 Irene J. Winter

of contact with the divine is often manifest as light, materials that shine were seen
as signals of purity and sacredness. Cultic vessels, therefore, are made of gold (and
silver), then no less than today because of the intrinsic value of the metal, but also, I
would argue, because of the symbolic properties of shine that they possess.
This is not to say that gold itself or gold vessels were restricted to religious
contexts, as fluted bowls from the Queen's tombs at Nimrud testify in material to
what we see in use on reliefs such as Assurbanipal's so-called 'garden scene' (Oates
and Oates 2001; Barnett 1976: pl. LXIII). In addition, gold leaf appears as overlay on
luxury materials such as ivory - as discussed in a paper by Dirk Wicke at the ICAANE
in Rome in 2008. What I am saying, however, is that the 'meaning' of gold, whether
used in palatial or temple contexts, was not restricted to its market value, or even to
its physical property of not tarnishing, but rather was closely associated with divine
properties oflight and lustre.
With this in mind, I should like to look at very specific uses of gold for personal
ornament, as preserved especially in the archaeological records of the 3rd millennium
tombs at Ur and the I st millennium tombs at Nimrud. Based upon the recent paper
by Amy Gansell (2007), it is clear that personal adornment at Ur was not random or
idiosyncratic, but adhered to notions of 'sets', distinct by gender and by status (e.g,
Fig. 5) - comparable to the ornamental set given as a gift by the city of Rome to
Princess Maria Pia of Savoy on the occasion of her marriage to the king of Portugal
in the mid-IS" century. Diadem, hair combs, earrings, bracelets, pins combined in a
cluster offitting and appropriate pieces, the whole ensemble being at least as important
as the individual parts (Soros and Walker eds 2004: 238, figs 9-16, the set presently
in the Palacio Nacional da Ajuda, Lisbon). We are most fortunate that the excavation
methods employed by Sir Leonard Woolley and his staff at Ur in the late 1920s and
1930s permit such detailed contextual reconstruction; and that comparison with other
imagery, snch as an Old Babylonian period terracotta plaque from the Ishtar Kititum
Temple at Ischali (Hill and Jacobsen 1990: pI. 34a; presently in the Iraq Mnsenm,
Baghdad ~ IM24275), can evoke not only personal, but also divine ornament in all
its amplitude - reflected as well in contemporary inventories of temple treasuries
(compare Leemans 1952; and see, e.g., our Figs 5-6).
Related wealth, although nowhere near the same amplitude, is recorded for Assur
in the Middle Assyrian period, recently studied by Wartke (1999) and Feldman (2006).
Bnt for our purposes, it is to the tombs discovered below the Northwest Palace at
Nimrud in 1989 that I would now turn (Hussein and Suleiman 2000; Pinnock 2007-
08). From Tomb II, for example, we learn that in addition to individual ornaments,
the entire body was apparently wrapped (or shrouded) in textiles, now long gone,
onto which gold ornaments had been sewn in such profusion as to suggest whole-
body sparkle. Tomb III actually contained at least three coffins, some 13 bodies and
staggering quantities of jewellery. This particular tomb, found beneath Room 57 of
the palace, bears inscribed bricks of Shalmaneser III of the 9" century BC, while
inscriptions on a sarcophagus lid and tablet refer to one Mulissu-mukanishar-Ninua,
Divine Light and Lustre in Ancient Mesopotamia 159

Queen of Assnmasirpal II and mother of Shalmaneser. It would be lovely to be able

to attribute the entire assemblage to her reign; however among the tomb finds were
objects inscribed with the names of state officials of the later 9th through the mid-S'
century. Some 450 objects were retrieved from the tomb, the gold and silver alone
weighing in at nearly 25 kilos. Abundance was clearly the name ofthe game, as clear
from the fact that multiple earrings were preserved, the whole group constituting
something considerably more than a single individual could wear at one time.
Particularly impressive is an elaborate gold headdress, complexly worked, and
requiring multiple skills in gold-smithing and assembly. The decoration consists of
a fillet of floral rosettes from which drop clusters of lapis lazuli grapes; above the
fillet, a register of winged protective female figures makes the transition to a crown
of overlapping flat grape leaves (Fig. 7 ~ Hussein and Suleiman 2000: pl. 159, 1M
115619).
The impressive quantities of gold and the personal adornment overall, suggesting
access to great wealth and importance, link the Nimrud tombs ofthe Ist millennium to
the Dr tombs ofthe 3rd millennium BC (e.g., the headgear associated with the occupant
of Tomb 800, one Puabi, our Fig. 8 ~ Zettler and Horne 1998: no. 29). Particularly
striking is what the elaborate headgear has in common: that is, 1) the presence of
leafy/vegetal elements as desirable design elements/motifs; 2) the inclusion of other
precious materials, specifically carnelian and/or lapis lazuli, in the form of fruits; and
3) additional protective or auspicious divine elements. But most striking of all is 4)
the sheer abundance of gold that encircles the head, and what that would have meant
as a radiant surround.
A rather radical perspective may be brought to that encircling; for IF meaning
is to be attached to these crowns, as motif-bearing adornments for very high-status
women, then abundance, fruitfulness, and divine blessing would have to be included,
as well as the elaborate surround occasioned by the gold itself. I would submit that
the ensuing physical shine would then have been used to convey both life-force and
contact with the divine, toward positive ends.
Both Elena Cassin (1968) and Paul Garelli (1990) have dealt to some extent with
the importance of intense light-bearing 'radiance' with respect to both affect and the
sacred. That is, not just the material 'shine' possessed by precious metals, gold in
particular, as in Akkadian namru, but a powerful radiance that is 'awe-inducing'.
Several terms convey this power in Sumerian and Akkadian, and if 2ICAANE is
ever published, or my book on Mesopotamian aesthetics, then terms conveying shine
will be enumerated; but most particularly the terms Sumerian ME.LAM2 or Akkadian
melammu have resonances here for what I mean (on which, see Winter 1994; Atac
2007).
Texts make clear that this is a visible luminous manifestation, associated with
both protective and destructive power, often associated with the head. In later art,
whether Buddhist or Christian, this is rendered as a visible halo, devised as a way to
mark the special internal radiance of sacred personages - as in the disk encircling the
 Irene J. Winter
160

head of the enlightened one in early Gandharan sculpture that was probably originally
painted, or in the gold circles framing the heads of the Virgin and Christ child or
Christian saints of the 13th and 14th century paintings. Such needs accounted for the
use of massive quantities of gold leaf in painting throughout Christian representation;
and I would insist that it is not onJy a semiotic marker of special status, but in fact a
direct reference to the more ineffable gloria that encompasses the sacred figures.
In some instances, more than a single emanating radiance is indicated: one around
the head, the other around the body as a whole. Just such a combination is to be found
often in Japanese paintings of the Buddha, and is conveyed as well in Hindu popular
culture, as, for example, in a recent newspaper illustration of the god Shiva depicted
sitting in ascetic isolation in the forest, with a halo encircling his head and rays
extending from that halo across the full image. For our purposes, it is most eloquently
apparent in Andrea Mantegna's painting of Christ Rising from the Dead, originally
part of an altar piece predella, presently in the Musee des Beaux Arts in Tours (Fig.
9). The mandorla-like full-body radiance of the Christ figure is quite distinct from his
solidly-rendered halo; the emanations, although poorly conveyed in reproduction, are
indicated by clusters of parallel lines in gold, and seem to have sufficient force to be
lifting Jesus straight out of the tomb!
Mesopotamian rulers, particularly later Neo-Assyrian kings, claim this property
for themselves, as well (Winter 1997: esp. p. 373). Insofar as it is said to be visible
and have the power to overwhelm, we must envision the king's melammu, too, as a
vital force or energy field emanating from the ruler, not unlike that of the Mantegna
Christ. Although Mesoptoamian artists had not yet found a way to render it in art (as
witnessed by the Assuruasirpal II statue found at the Ishtar Sharrat-niphi temple at
Nimrud), later Muslim artists could convey precisely by showing rulers with a radiant
halo (e.g. Skelton 1988: fig. 5 & discussion, 180-181).
Here, I would side-track a bit, to note that the suggestion that the radiant circle one
sees around the body of the warlike Ishtar on Neo-Assyrian cylinder seals should be
identified with the goddess's melammu (e.g. Parpola 1997: xxix) should nonetheless
be resisted! Whereas most gods and rulers are described in the period as possessing
melammu, with its connotation of similar emanations, this particular visual surround is
unique to the goddess. Indeed, she is seen here in the company of a male deity, likely
Nabu, without a comparable surround. I would suggest therefore that the nimbus of
the goddess is rather related to her specific identity in association with the Venus star,
or planet - the next most luminous body observable in the heavens after the sun and
mOOD.The visual signal would then be a reference to her astral association, not unlike
the surrounds of what are presumably the sun and moon gods in the upper field of the
same seal!
Yet what I am about to suggest is that, although Mesopotamian art did not develop
a representable, halo-like signal to visually indicate the divine radiance mentioned
in text, the gold crowns we have seen from the archaeological evidence, and those
.for which we have textual evidence, particularly divine crowns, may just have been
Divine Light and Lustre in Ancient Mesopotamia 161

implicated in such signaling.

A gold crown made by Esarhaddon for the god Assur provides a good textual
representation for what I mean - the physical reality suggested by the visual
representation of crowns worn by the same god, for example, as here, on one of
Sennacherib's Baviau reliefs (Borger 1967: 83, r.33; Bachmann 1927: pIs 7, 9-10).
The crown for Assur is described through a string of attributes. It is:

labis melammu wrapped in an all-encompassing aura

za'in baltu adorned with vitality
nasi salumattu bearing shimmering light
hitlup namrirri covered with radiance.

The attributes provided for Esarhaddon's crown for Assur are paralleled by an earlier,
Kassite period reference to a gold crown for the god Marduk. The luminous aura,
shimmering with light and radiance, I would suggest, is precisely what is made
possible to the perceiver through the physical materiality of the gold. And I would
argue that this is no less the case when elaborate gold crowns are associated with high
status women, whether Josephine's as held by Napoleon at her coronation, depicted
by the painter Jacques-Louis David, or our own!
To underscore this even further with respect to the headgear associated with Puabi
of Tomb 800 from Dr or from Tomb III from Nimrud, I would compare our gold
crowns to a IS'" century image of the crowned Virgin and Christ child from the Book
of Hours of Catherine of Cleves, where the sacred pair is also marked with their
respective halos, and at the same time, is incorporated within an encompassing full-
body nimbus (our Fig. 10 ~ Duckers and Priem eds 2009: 224-225, no. 42). That
the crown is thought to reflect the title 'Queen of Heaven' bestowed upon the Virgin
does not take away from the fact that her three-fold gold attributes - crown, halo and
nimbus - add up to what radiance + melammubse.s.sss; must have implied in their
time. I only wish that an Assyrian equivalent ofthe male ruler's headgear, and/or that
of the deity, had been preserved archaeologically as well! And I submit that attention
to divine crowns throughout the sequence, similar to that recently undertaken by Licia
Romano (Romano 2008) for the Early Dynastic period, would prove enlightening!
Let me summarise then: gold has physical properties of immutability, shine, and
workability that make of it not only a valuable commodity in economic and political
terms, but also a medium capable of signaling qualities of purity and the sacred, highly
valued in ancient Mesopotamia. Those qualities account for its use for ritual objects
no less than for personal adornment. From the textual evidence that can be brought
to bear on the material evidence, we can also say that it was used with full awareness
of the symbolic potential of the associated material properties. As such, for all of us
who seek meaning in the ancient past, we should not ignore the full record available
to us - artifactual, textual and archaeological - as long as we are conscious of using
the evidentiary base for seeking their systems of meaning, not merely imposing our
own.
162 Irene J. Winter

As for meaning, it would seem that the gold in the archaeological record of the
ancient Near East hoth represents and signifies 'light' in very important ways -light
associated hoth with the sun/radiance and with the divine. As such, the ornaments of
Ur and Nimrud, with their comhination of gold plus other materials such as lapis and
carnelian, introduce that combination of light and colour that I, at least, am persuaded
signals not only wealth through the display of exotic materials obtained by long-
distance trade, but also those underlying cognitive associations that permit us to touch
experience in the distant past."

Bibliography

Ata"M.-A.
2007 The Melammu as Divine Epiphany and Usurped Entity: in M. Feldman,
J. Cheng (eds), Ancient Near Eastern Art in Context, Leiden and Boston,
295-313.
Bachmann, F.
1927 Felsreliefs in Assyrien. Bawian, Maltai und Gundhk [WVDOG 52],
Leipzig.
Barnett, R. D.
1976 Sculptures from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (668-627
BC), London.
Bass, G.
1966 Troy and Ur: Gold links between two Ancient Capitols: in Expedition 8/4,
pp.27-39.
Bernstein, P. L.
2000 The Power ofGold: The History of an Obsession, New York.
Borger, R.
1967 Die Inschriften Asarhaddons, Konigs von Assyrien [AfO, Beifheft 9],
Osnabriick.

14 That Mesopotamia was not alone in attaching associative and symbolic meaning to gold is amply
demonstrated by Late Antique and Medieval Christian tradition - for which, see James (1998; also
Burnham 1911, esp. p. 153, where the author notes that 'gold means perception, knowledge, wisdom,
the power to comprehend the works and words of god ... '}. This in part could account for the number
of gold images of the Virgin in Medieval Christianity, as Fehrenbach (1996). Indeed, I would argue
that a systematic comparison between Christian and Mesopotamian uses of gold and its associated
significance in religious contexts could prove extremely fruitful, as well as pursuit in other traditions,
such as Buddhist, where gold leaf applied to images of the Buddha carries the added valence of the
radiance of illumination (Metropolitan Museum Heian image, Rogers Fund 1926.118).
Divine Light and Lustre in Ancient Mesopotamia 163

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 Irene J. Winter
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Helsinki, 359-381.
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in ancient Sumer: in T. Potts, M. Roaf, D. Stein (eds), Culture through
Objects: Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Honour ofP R. S. Moorey, Oxford,
403-421.
2008 Sennacherib's Expert Knowledge: Skill and Mastery as Components of
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Knowledge: Proceedings a/the 51s1 RencontreAssyrialogiquelnternationale
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 Irene J. Winter
166

Fig. 1: Hasanlu Gold Bowl; hI. ca 20cm.

Muze Iran Bastan, Tehran (No. 15712).

Fig. 2: Hasanlu, Iran: plan, BB I-West, Room 9.

(After Winter 1989: fig. 2).
Divine Light and Lustre in Ancient Mesopotamia t67

Fig. 3: Sri Rangam, India: Gilded temple superstructure.

Fig. 4: Ur gold libation vessel, Tomb PG 755.

University Museum, Philadelphia (U. J 0004).
 Irene J. Winter
168

Fig. 5: Ur, woman's ornament set, 'Great Death Pit,' PG 1237.

University Museum, Philadelphia (U. 10937, etc.).
Divine Light and Lustre in Ancient Mesopotamia 169

Fig. 6: Khafajah.jerracotta
plaque; ht. 12.5 em.
Iraq Museum, Baghdad (IM 24275).

Fig. 7: Nimrud, crown, Tb. III; gold, lapis lazuli.

Iraq Museum, Baghdad (1M 115619).
 Irene J. Winter
170

Fig. 8: Ur, Puabi crown, Tomb PG 800; gold, lapis lazuli, carnelian.
University Museum, Philadelphia (UM 16693, 17710, 17711, 1771a).
Divine Light and Lustre in Ancient Mesopotamia 171

Fig. 9: Andrea Mantegna, Christ Rising from the Dead.

Musee des Beaux Arts, Tours.

Fig.! 0: Catherine of Cleves hefore the Virgin and

Child, Hours ofthe Blessed Virgin.
(After Duckers and Priem 2009: no. 42).
 Proceedings
of the 7th International Congress
on the Archaeology
of the Ancient Near East
12 April- 16 April 2010,
the British Museum and VCL, London

Volume 2
Ancient & Modern Issues in Cultural Heritage
Colour & Light in Architecture, Art & Material Culture
Islamic Archaeology

Edited by
Roger Matthews and John Curtis
with the collaboration of Michael Seymour, Alexandra Fletcher,
Alison Gascoigne, Claudia Glatz, St John Simpson, Helen Taylor,
Jonathan Tubb and Rupert Chapman

2012
Harrassowitz Verlag' Wiesbaden
Cover illustration: Lions depicted on the Assyrian palace reliefs
of Assurbanipal, 7th century Be, from Nineveh, Iraq.

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 CONTENTS
FOREWORD OF THE EDITORS .•..•............•..•.•...•.........•.•.•....•.......•••..•.•........•.••.•.•. XI

PROGRAMME OF THE CONGRESS ..•....•..•..•.••.•.•.•.•..•.•.•.•.•....•..•..•..••.••.•.....•..•.•.•.. Xlll

VOLUME TWO

ANCIENT & MODERN ISSUES IN CULTURAL HERITAGE

PETER STONE
'When Everyone's Culpable, Is Anyone Guilty?' Responsibility for the
Cultural Heritage Before, During, and After Armed Conflict 3
SILVANA Dr PAOLO
Historical, Topographical, Mental Paths: Cypriot Autiqnities Inside
Private aud Public Museums 15
YrTZHAKPAZ
School Children and Agency for Public Engagement in Cultural
Heritage Projects: Some Observations from the Communal Excavation
at Tel Bareqet, Israel .33
ZEYAD AL-SALAMEEN

Pressing Issues Concerning Tourism Development, Site Management

and Archaeological Conservation at Petra, Southern Jordan .45
NAOisE MAC SWEENEY
A Land Without Autochthous:
Anatolian Archaeology in the Early Twentieth Century 63
<;IGDEM AT AKUMAN
Heritage as a Matter of Prestige:
A Synopsis of the State Heritage Discourse and Practice in Turkey 73
F ABRlCE DE BACKER
Early Dynastic and Neo-Assyrian Cultural Heritage aud Conflict:
'Us as Them' or 'Us aud Them'? 81
BRIGllTE PEDDE
Aucient Near Eastern Motifs in the European Art of the Twentieth
Century AD 89
ALlCE BIANCHI

Perspectives of Near Eastern Archaeology between Academic Research

and Cultural Heritage Management 10 I
VI Contents

SHEREEN RA TNAGAR
Frameworks for the Study of the Morphology of Indus Towns:
Indian Heritage or Cross-Cultural Analogy? 111
MARIA GABRIELLA MICALE
Near-Eastern Archaeology Under Siege:
from Real Destruction to Virtual Reconstruction 127
ASHLEY SANDS, KRISTIN BUTLER
The Next Generation Project: Mobilizing Social Networks for Heritage-
Focused International Cooperation 139

COLOUR & LIGln IN ARCHITECTURE, ART & MATERIAL CULTURE

INTRODUCTION 152

IRENE J. WINTER

GOLD! Divine Light and Lustre in Ancient Mesopotamia 153

SERGEY A. YATSENKO

Colour Combinations in the Costume of Three Pre-Islamic Dynasties of

Iran against the Background of the Synchronous Iranian World 173
GIORGIO AFFANNI

New Light (and Colour) on the Arslan Tash Ivories:

Studying 1;<Millennium BC Ivories 193
8T JOf-IN SIMPSON, JANET AMBERS, GIOVANNI VERRl, TJ--IIBAUT DEVIESE, Jo KIRBY

Painted Parthian Stuccoes from Southern Iraq 209

MARTINA ZANON

The Symbolism of Colours in Mesopotamia and the Importance of

Light 221
DUYGU <;:AMURCUOGLU
Colourful Technologies:
A Technical Study of the Colours on Catalhoyuk Wall Paintings 245
FRANCES PINNOCK
Colours and Light in the Royal Palace G of Early Syrian Ebla 271
ALESSANDRO Dr LUDOVICO, MARCO RAMAZZOTTI
White, Red and Black: Technical Relationships and Stylistic Perceptions
between Colours, Lights and Places 287
SARA PIZZIMENTI
Colours in Late Bronze Mesopotamia: Some Hints on Wall Paintings
from Nuzi, Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta and Dur Kurigalzu 303
PAOLA POll
New Interpretations ofthe Neo-Assyrian Wall Paintings from the Palace
of Tell Masaikh-Kar-Assurnasirpal 319
Contents VII

KOUROSH AFHAMI, WOLFGANG GA.t\1BKE

Colour and Light in the Architectnre ofPersepolis 335
CECIL Y HENNESSY
The Chapel of Saint Jacob at the Church ofthe Theotokos Chalkoprateia
in Istanbul 351
IGNACIO ARCE
Aestheticising Politics, Politicising Aesthetics:
Colour and Light in Architecture at Qasr al-Hallabat (Jordan) from Late
Antiquity to the Umayyad Period .367
ANDREA BECKER
Colour and Light in Abbasid Palaces:
Interior Decoration for Harun ar-Rashid .39I
MICHAEL JUNG, PIETRO MOlOLI, FABRIZIO PIERDOMlNlCl, CLAUDIO SECCARONI
Techniques and Pigments Used for the Wall Paintings of the Masgid-i
Jom 'e at Isfahan. A First Preliminary Review .405
MARTINA RUGIADl
'As for the Colours, Look at a Garden in Spring'
Polychrome Marble in the Ghaznavid Architectural Decoration .425
TALLAY ORNAN
The Role of Gold in Royal Representation:
The Case of a Bronze Statne from Hazor .445
SEBASTIANa SOLDI
Notes on Green Glazed Funnels from the Iron Age Temple AI at Tell
Afis 459
DAVID BEN-SHLOMO, AVSHALOM KARASIK, UZY St...nLANSKY
Computerized Rendering of Painted Decoration on Pottery .479
REBECCA BRIDGMAN, GRAEME EARL
Experiencing Lustre: Polynomial Texture Mapping of Medieval Pottery
at the Fitzwilliam Museum .497

ISLAMIC ARCHAEOLOGY

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................•................................. 515

LlDEWlJDE DE JONG
Resettling the Steppe:
The Archaeology of the Balikh Valley in the Early Islamic Period 517
MANDY MOTTRAM
Settlers, Hermits, Nomads and Monks:
Evolving Landscapes at the Dawn of the Islamic Era .533
VIlI Contents

MARIE-ODILE ROUSSET
Chalcis/Qinnasrin:
From Hellenistic City to the lund Capital of North Syria 551
MARTIN GUSSONE, :MARTINA MULLER-WIENER
Resafa-Rusafat Hisham, Syria. 'Long-Term Survival' of an Umayyad
Residence - First Results of the Extended Surface Survey 569
JULIAN WHITEWRIGHT

Early Islamic Maritime Technology 585

KAnA CYTRYN-SILVERMAN

Excavations at Tibcrias (Spring And Autumn 2009):

Remains of a District Capital 599
DONALD WHITCOMB

Formation of the Islamic City:

A Second Archaeological Period of Urban Transition 619
ALASTAIR NORTHEDGE

The Contents of the First Muslim Houses:

Thoughts About the Assemblages from the Amman Citadel 633
FOSUNToLEK

Footsteps of the Arab-Byzantine Armies in Osmaniye Province,

Cilicia 661
ROSALIND A. WADE HADDON

The Middle Islamic Finewares from the Syrien-German Excavations on

the Aleppo Citadel 675
STEPHEN MCPHILLIPS

Islamic Settlement in the Upper Orontes Valley, Syria:

Recent Fieldwork (2009) 691
CINZIA TAVERNARI

From the Caravanserai to the Road:

Proposal for a Preliminary Reconstruction of the Syrian Road Networks
During the Middle Ages 711