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Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Old Babylonian Clay Mould with Standing Bull Man, 2000 BCE - 1700 BCE
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Old Babylonian Clay Mould with Standing Bull Man, 2000 BCE - 1700 BCE

Old Babylonian Clay Mould with Standing Bull Man, 2000 BCE - 1700 BCE

height 14.6 cm
height 5 3/4 in
LO.1164
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The Old Babylonian period describes south Mesopotamia between 2000-1600 BC. The early years saw a number of important states dominating the region: Isin, Larsa, Eshnunna and, from 1894 BC, Babylon....
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The Old Babylonian period describes south Mesopotamia between 2000-1600 BC. The early years saw a number of important states dominating the region: Isin, Larsa, Eshnunna and, from 1894 BC, Babylon. Babylon was ruled by a dynasty of Amorite kings. The sixth ruler was Hammurapi, who defeated the other southern states and expanded his control into north Mesopotamia. On the death of Hammurapi the empire gradually shrank over about 150 years. Nonetheless, Babylon remained an important power until it was sacked by the Hittite king, Mursili I, in about 1595 BC. During the Old Babylonian period literary activity flourished with scribes composing and recording religious, poetic and 'scientific' works in Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform. Perhaps the most famous monument is the stele of Hammurapi, now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris.

This plaque depicts a hittyphallic creature with the head and torso of a human but the horns, lower body and legs of a bull. Though similar figures are depicted earlier in Iran, they are first seen in Mesopotamian art around 2500 BC, most commonly on cylinder seals, and are associated with the sun-god Shamash. The bull-man was usually shown in profile, with a single visible horn projecting forward. However, here he is depicted in a less common form; his whole body above the waist, shown in frontal view, shows that he was intended to be double-horned. He may be supporting a divine emblem and thus acting as a protective deity. Shamash (Sumerian: Utu) was an important Mesopotamian god associated with the sun and responsible for justice and truth. Omens attributed to Shamash could be discovered by examining animal entrails. His symbols are a rod and a ring and he is sometimes represented by a winged sun-disc or a Maltese cross. Shamash had major temples at Sippar and Larsa. Although baked clay plaques were produced on a large scale using moulds in southern Mesopotamia from the second millennium BC, and while many show informal scenes and reflect the private face of life, this example clearly has magical or religious significance.

The iconography of this mould has a fine comparable in a baked clay plaque showing a bull-man holding a post now preserved at the British Museum (inventory number 103225), dated c. 2000 BCE - 1600 BCE.
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