In the flat arid semi-desert of the north of Syria, near the border with Turkey, there are few landmarks of note. Except, that is, a monumental mound which rises suddenly from the sands. This is not a naturally occurring hill, however; it is Tell Brak, the site of an ancient city. In the Middle East, there are countless Tells, which are created by generation after generation building cities on the same site, burying the previous city before they started. The site of Tell Brak was begun sometime in the Seventh Millennium BC. By 5000 BC, Tell Brak could properly be described as an urban centre, achieving this distinction slightly before the more famous cities of Mesopotamia and Egypt. In the Sixth Millennium BC, the site grew precipitously, expanding to 55 acres (222,000 square metres). And in the Fourth Millennium BC, a period known as Brak F, one of the most unique features of the city, the so-called Eye Temple, was founded.

M E L Mallowan named the Eye Temple following his discovery in AD 1937 of thousands of idols with oversized eyes or with spectacle-like rings. Further idols were later discovered at the nearby site of Tell Hamoukar. It is unknown what Eye Idols represent. Some have suggested that they are abstract representations of the goddess Inanna, though the evidence of Inanna being worshipped at the Eye Temple based on later associations given to the temple’s decorative scheme. Another potential goddess is Ninhursag, a northern Mesopotamian fertility goddess, though she was more associated with the Second and First Millennium BC than the Fourth. More likely, the significance of the idols is in the eyes themselves. For the Mesopotamians, the eye was culturally and psychologically significant, as the main organ of perception. Eyes were seen as magical, able to cross the border between the internal self and the external world. The Eye Idols, and the sub-type known as the Spectacle Idols, represent a bewildering variety of types, sizes, and materials. Most are fundamentally abstractions of the human form, with rectangular bodies, a tapering neck, and two large eyes or circles in place of a head. They have no limbs, and no identifiable indications of gender. They are generally small, in the range of a few centimetres, and are too thin to stand upright. This is a unique Eye Idol, of the Spectacle Idol type. While most Spectacle Idols have bell-shaped bodies, this example has a body in the shape of an axe-head. On the front side, the idol is well-worked, with small decorative striations mirroring the elegant shape of the axe. From the top protrude two thick-rimmed circles, the ‘spectacles’ of the Spectacle Idol. The reverse is unfinished, probably reflecting the fact that this idol was meant to lie down and thus never be seen from the back. It is large for an idol of its type, at around 12 cm (nearly 5 in) long. It is made from attractive mottled granite, an unusual material for Eye Idols, which are usually made from alabaster, limestone, clay or bone. The granite itself is of a type known from Egypt, and this idol must therefore indicate the existence of long-distance trade.

The function of the Spectacle Idol, and of Eye Idols more generally, is unknown. It is unclear, even, whether the Spectacle Idol and the Eye Idol are even the same thing. Some have suggested that Spectacle Idols had mundane, everyday purposes, associated with the production of textiles, as loom weights or drying weights. This, however, does not reflect the outstanding variety in size and shape of Spectacle Idols, or indeed the careful decoration on some. Another suggestion, by Walter Andre, is that they represent huts associated with the goddess Ishtar or Inanna. In this instance, the circles on the top would represent reed bundles atop the cult structure, which were a common symbol of Ishtar. But, again, the variety of shapes of Spectacle Idols argues against this. We must, therefore, rely on the interpretation of their original discoverer, M E L Mallowan, that they are in fact early forms of the more sculptural Eye Idols.