Ancient Depictions of War (3300 BCE-647 BCE)
The history of humanity has been fraught with carnage driven conflict. Lofty notions of bravery, honor, nationalism, religious righteousness, and superiority have sprung from the violence inherent in humankind and found a home within the artist’s palette. Artists throughout time have strived to encapsulate the human experience in fancifully crafted snapshots of time. War, being one of the topics prevalent since the organization of societies, has taken a prominent place in the creation and dissemination of art. This article takes a short walk through some of the ancient depictions of war in art from 3300-647 BCE. It is by no means exhaustive. But rather, it is meant as a quick bridge from the past to the present. Enjoy this stroll through a few ancient depictions of war and let us know if we missed anything you’d love to see!
The Battlefield Palette circa 3300-3100 BCE
Before the Egyptians had invented hieroglyphs they used pictures to document their history. One of the earliest depictions found is the The Battlefield Palette (ca. 3300–3100 BCE). It depicts prisoners being led away from the field of battle and wild animals feasting on the dead carcasses of those killed in the battle.
The Stele of the Vultures circa (2600–2350 BC)
In the late 19th century archeaologists unearthed fragments of the The Stele of the Vultures in modern day Iraq. These fragments combined to depict the victory of the ancient city-state Lagash over Umma. The work was originally carved from a single piece of limestone. The limestone’s dimensions were, “1.80 metres (5 ft 11 in) high, 1.30 metres (4 ft 3 in) wide and 0.11 metres (4.3 in) thick and had a rounded top.(wiki commons)” making for an impressive monument to warfare and victory. The remaining fragments depict scenes of warfare, mythology, history, and its namesake scene of vultures carrying severed heads.
The Standard of Ur. Circa 2600 BCE
The “Battle Standard of Ur,” is an ancient Sumerian artifact excavated from in modern day Iraq at what was once the ancient city of Ur (South of modern Baghdad). It was found next to the skeleton of a ritually sacrificed individual. It is approximately 4,500 years old and has two opposing panels. On one side is the depiction of war and on the other peace. The box was found in a tomb that had been looted in antiquity but amazingly the box remained. It’s wooden frame did not survive the passage of time but the art miraculously did.
“The Standard of Ur survived in only a fragmentary condition. The ravages of time over more than four thousand years caused the decay of the wooden frame and bitumen glue which had cemented the mosaics in place. The soil’s weight crushed the object, fragmenting it and breaking its end panels.[2] This made excavating the Standard a challenging task. Woolley’s excavators were instructed to look for hollows in the ground created by decayed objects and to fill them with plaster or wax to record the shape of the objects that had once filled them, rather like the famous plaster casts of the victims of Pompeii.[5] When the remains of the Standard were discovered by the excavators, they found that the mosaic pieces had kept their form in the soil, while their wooden frame had disintegrated. They carefully uncovered small sections measuring about 3 square centimetres (0.47 sq in) and covered them with wax, enabling the mosaics to be lifted while maintaining their original designs.”
(Chadwick, Robert (1996). First Civilizations: Ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt.)
The Pharaon Tutankhamun destroying his enemies. Circa 1327 BCE
Around 1600 BCE major advances in military technology and tactics led to a new era of warfare. These advances were depicted in the art left behind long after their weapons had rusted away. One of the great advances of this time in the ancient world were the effective weaponization of the horse and chariot. Ancient Egyptians began to show these advances in technology and military strategy in their art. They also served as historical propaganda to benefit the image of those in power long after their lives had ended. One example is shown below of the world famous “King Tut” destroying his enemies. It’s important to note that King Tut probably never lead a force like this into battle, yet the legacy he left behind displays otherwise.
Assyrian War Art
The Assyrian empire ruled Mesopotamia and all of the Near East half a millennium. Their society was led by a series of warrior kings remembered for their great ambitions and proclivity toward aggression. The Assyrian`s society revolved around the military. Men were required to fight within the army at any time there was need. A lot of their art depicts grand scenes of battles and hunting.
We hope you have enjoyed this short jaunt down ancient depictions of war memory lane. If there is a piece we missed that you would like featured from this time period let us know (via email or social media). Want to see more humanities based content? Check out our PODCASTS and ARTICLES. Do you really like us? Consider SUPPORTING US or DONATING a buck or two. Thanks for stopping by! Onward!
