Origin: Mesopotamia Circa: 2200 BC to 2100 BC Dimensions: 12.5" (31.8cm) high x 9.5" (24.1cm) wide Collection: Near Eastern Style: Neo-Sumerian Medium: Alabaster
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I was idly doing a “Sumerian” image search on the Internet, trying to find some pictures that I could put on this website. I was surprised to find a statue of Gudea I had never seen before. The statue was carved in white alabaster rather than the usual black diorite. I clicked on the link to the website and was surprised (again) to find the statue listed as “a priest” rather than “Gudea”. The notes on the website said, "While this alabaster head may not represent Gudea, or even his son..." I've seen a lot of pictures of Gudea during my research of Sumerian history, so I know what he looks like. I took one glance at the white alabaster face and the distinctive shepherd’s hat (the crown of a Sumerian king) and I said to myself, “That’s not just a priest, that’s Gudea.”
Once again, as with the Face of Ur-Namma, I was staring into the face of a Sumerian king across 4,000 years of history. It wasn't the same lifeless face of the other formal portraits of Gudea the king. It was a realistic portrait of a living man; a portrait of Gudea, the man himself. The face was so lifelike, it seemed as if Gudea was staring back at me.
After the initial excitement of my discovery had died down, I had to dispel the possibility that the statue may be Ur-Ningirsu, the son of Gudea, who looks very similar and who is portrayed in the same artistic style. For comparison purposes, some images of Gudea are displayed below, followed by some images of Ur-Ningirsu.
Seated Gudea. Note the straight mouth, square chin, rounded nose, and the overall resemblence to the bust pictured at the top of the page. See a high-resolution photograph of this statue. Any "image search" on the Internet will display many images of Gudea similar to this one, which are "generic" portrayals of his basic facial features.
Seated Gudea, left profile. Although Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian kings wore shepherds' hats as a crowns, these crowns were not all alike. Gudea's crown always shows the stylized curls of lamb's wool.
Seated Gudea, right profile. Note how these profile pictures closely match the profile pictures on the Barakat website; how the lips and chin look the same and how the nose is slightly squared-off at the tip. Another feature of Gudea's square chin is that it's quite pronounced when viewed from the front, but not so prominent when viewed from the side. See this picture enlarged.
Ur-Ningirsu:
Bust of Ur-Ningirsu, in the Louvre Museum.
Compared to his father, Gudea, Ur-Ningirsu has fuller lips, a sharper nose, and a much rounder chin. Both Gudea and Ur-Ningirsu have flat faces and square cheek bones.
The face of Ur-Ningirsu. Again note the sharp nose, full lips, and rounded chin. See a picture of the entire statue. Both Gudea and Ur-Ningirsu wore the same kind of crown.
Standing Gudea. Notice how the rounded nose, straight mouth, and the square chin matches the picture below. See the entire statue. This statue is very idealized, the one below is very realistic.
Gudea. The statue is a “snap shot” of Gudea when he was a living man, 4,000 years ago.
Gudea and Ur-Ningirsu are the only real possibilities for the identity of this statue, for a couple of reasons: First, the crown is distinctive to the dynasty of Gudea and the city of Lagash. The crown has a straight-sided brim and the stylized curls of a fleece shepherd’s hat, unlike the crown of Ur-Namma, for instance, which is smooth with a curved brim. Second, the artistic style of this statue was developed during the reign of Gudea, and soon after the short reign of Ur-Ningirsu the kingship of Lagash was “taken” to the city of Ur by Ur-Namma, who also took many of the Lagashian artisans with him. Since this statue looks exactly like Gudea, rather than Ur-Ningirsu, it may safely be said that the statue can only be Gudea. The facial features match in every detail. It can only be Gudea, to the exclusion of everyone else.
This is clearly the real face behind the other more idealized statues of Gudea. As such, it is ten times more valuable than all the other statues of Gudea combined. It's actually "priceless".
There are two things noticeably different about this statue compared to the other statues of Gudea. First, at 12.5 inches high, it is life-size. The seated statues of Gudea, which show his whole body, are less than 18 inches high (they’re called “Little Gudeas”). Second, and most importantly, this statue is a realistic portrait, unlike the other statues of Gudea which are rather formal and idealized, typical of royal portraiture in the ancient world.
This point is best illustrated by the two statues pictured above. The statue on top is very stylized. The nose is thin and straight and symmetrical. The nose on the bust of Gudea is less refined; it’s wider, more irregularly shaped; like a real nose on a real man. This kind of “photo-realism” was also applied to the rest of the face. Every effort was made to accurately portray the exact contours of the face, the way the lips are set, and the shape of the chin. It seems that the statue was made to show Gudea as he looked in person, without abstraction and without idealization, with the exception of the “joined eyebrows”, which is a symbol of beauty. Even so, the eyebrows are less stylized than other images of Gudea, and therefore more realistic. His upper lip is also more realistically protrayed than on the other statues. It’s been suggested that Gudea's square chin symbolized his strength of character. Because of the realism of this statue, we now know for certain that the square chin was also one of his distinguishing facial features. It’s this kind of realism that makes the statue different from all the others.
The eyes are another telling feature. The eyes of the other statue, though prominent, are “unseeing”, with the blank uncomprehending gaze of many stone statues. The eyes on the bust of Gudea are different; they are very lifelike. It seems as though they can actually “see” what’s in front of them. In other words, the statue is looking at you, not the other way around. This is the hallmark of realistic portraiture in a sculptured face. This kind of realism is shown on just one other Sumerian statue:
Even with his heavy-lidded asymmetrical eyes, it seems as if Ur-Namma is staring directly at the viewer.
Some statues are realistic, some are lifelike. The best among them are "living". These statues of Ur-Namma and Gudea are living portraits of reigning kings. They are the only ancient kings to portray themselves the way they actually appeared in life.
A slight tilt of the head adds a natural look to the statue that isn't seen in other royal statues, ancient or modern. The eyes are slightly asymmetrical, like the eyes of most people, making the statue more realistic. The eyes of the other statues of Gudea are symmetrical. The left and right eyes are the same size and shape, and therefore unrealistic and "unseeing" (though Gudea's eyes aren't anywhere near as asymmetrical as Ur-Namma's).
This statue is clearly a complex portrait of Gudea and not just an idealized portrayal of his facial features. I would suggest it shows us exactly what Gudea looked like. This is the true face of Gudea, when he was a living man and a reigning king. It is obviously modeled from life, with Gudea himself sitting for the portrait. It might not be as handsome and stylized as the other statues of him, but it is much more realistic. It may represent Gudea in his later years, showing some of the strain of his twenty year rule. Here you will see the serene and pious face of a priest, which is the usual interpretation of Gudea. More importantly, you will also see the face of a hardheaded realist, one who was shrewd enough and tough enough to reign during difficult and dangerous times. For a brief biography of him, see "Gudea translation".
In "The Face of Ur-Namma", I said the other statues of Gudea “are immediately recognizable as Gudea; but it's mostly because they resemble each other more than they resemble the man himself. Although these statues give us some idea of what Gudea looked like, they are too formal and stylized to be an accurate portrayal of the man's face. They are too idealized to be revealing.” I also made a point of saying that I've seen all the other statues of Gudea, and I always instantly knew it was him; but I doubt that I could identify the man himself, even if I bumped into him on a city street. This is the criteria best used to judge if an ancient statue is realistic enough to make a person truly "recognizable". By this criteria, anyone who has seen this statue would recognize Gudea if they encountered him on a city street. The other statues resemble Gudea; they are "representative" of Gudea, but only this statue shows us what he really looked like. To look into the face of this statue is to see the face of Gudea, the man himself.
I had earlier stated that Ur-Namma was the first recognizable man and king in all of history. For a while, this was true; but now the title must go to Gudea, because the reign of Gudea (2140 - 2120 B.C.) predates the reign of Ur-Namma (2112 - 2095 B.C.). Although there is only a slight difference in the dates for the statues, this sculpture of Gudea is indeed the first realistic portrait of any man (or king) in all of history. Never before had the world seen such realistic sculptures of human beings; and it's somewhat surprising that the Sumerians, who usually depicted the human face so "generically", even crudely, should lead the world in realistic portraits of human faces. There was nothing comparable to these statues in China, Greece, Egypt, or anywhere else in the ancient world. The statues of Gudea and Ur-Namma are comparable only to each other.
It would be difficult to over-emphasize the importance of these statues. They are not just masterpieces of the Sumerian civilization; they are masterpieces for all of human history. It is a miracle of history that both of these masterpieces, one of stone and the other of metal, somehow survived the millennia. As a result, we now have these priceless “photographs” of the two most interesting and important kings in Sumerian history, two very different types of kings; one a warrior, the other a priest. Ur-Namma was the “mighty man” and Gudea was the “righteous shepherd”. Together they represent the very pinnacle of Sumerian civilization. A little more than a hundred years after their deaths, the Sumerian civilization was destroyed, and then completely forgotten. Over time, the statues were buried beneath the ruins of several collapsed civilizations. It would be more than fifteen centuries later, during the time of the ancient Greeks (around 500 B.C.) before people once again saw such lifelike human faces sculpted in metal and stone. It would then be another twenty-five centures before Gudea and Ur-Namma were "resurrected", to once again be seen exactly as they appeared in life.
Gudea/ Ensi/ Lagash. See Gudea tablet for a high-resolution photograph of this commemorative tablet.
