Royal Bodies and the Legacy of Akkadian Statues

Abstract

Although modern scholarship has been slow to recognize it because of the fragmentary condition of Akkadian royal statues, post-Akkadian rulers responded to the votive statues of the Akkadian kings in a variety of ways. The statues of Gudea of Lagash, the kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur, and rulers of Mari and Eshnunna from the late third and early second millennia BCE replicate specific Akkadian sculptural features in order to emulate, critique, or affiliate with the dynasty. Other statues, such as a statue from Ashur possibly connected to a Kassite king and statues associated with Puzur-Inshushinak of Susa, resemble the Akkadian models so closely that it cannot be determined if they are appropriated Akkadian statues or newly produced imitations. This chapter explores the circumstances that would have led the rulers to usurp or closely imitate an Akkadian royal statue.