Fig. 246.—Triumphal stela of Naram-Sin.
The most interesting of these Chaldæan monuments discovered in the rubbish of the Elamite capital is undoubtedly the triumphal stela of the king Naram-Sin ([fig. 246]), which attracted much attention immediately after the notification of its discovery by M. de Morgan and Dr. Scheil in 1898. This stela is sculptured on a block of sandstone, covered with bas-reliefs and inscriptions. It is 6 ft. 4 in. high and 3 ft. 2 in. wide; the outline is irregular and the sculptor has utilized the whole for his composition, without attempting to get rid of the irregularities, as though the block itself possessed somewhat of a sacred character and was held inviolate, even before the addition of the sculptures with which it is decorated.
A primary inscription relates that Naram-Sin, king of Agade in lower Chaldæa, 4000 B.C. caused this stela to be erected, in order that there should be engraved on it the account of his warlike deeds against the people of Lulubi.
But the stela bears a second inscription, added long after the time of Naram-Sin. This new cuneiform text is not Chaldæan; it is in the Anzanite language and bears the name of Chutruk-Nakhunta, king of the Elamites.
Notwithstanding the uncertainty which still attends the interpretation of Anzanite texts, Dr. Scheil has been able to ascertain that in this inscription, Chutruk-Nakhunta boasts that he has carried off the stela of Naram-Sin from the town of Sippara in Chaldæa, after a victory, and has had it removed to Susa, and caused this inscription to be cut on it, mentioning his victory and the removal of the stela. Thus this monument, discovered by M. de Morgan, was originally a trophy of victory of the Chaldæan king, Naram-Sin, which later became a similar trophy of Chutruk-Nakhunta, when the Elamites took vengeance on the Chaldæans and succeeded in invading Chaldæa.
The curious bas-relief which decorated the greater part of the stela, dates back to primitive times, and represents, not the conquest of the Elamite kings, but those far earlier victories of the Chaldæan, Naram-Sin. M. de Morgan thus describes it: “The king, victorious over the Lulubis and their allies, is pursuing his enemies in the mountains. At the head of his army he climbs the heights; corpses cover the ground and roll over the precipices; the vanquished, who have taken refuge in the forest, are imploring mercy from their conquerors, to escape falling under their weapons. The stars of heaven, favourable to the armies of Agade, are illuminating with their glow the glories of Naram-Sin. Such is the motif that guided the sculptor, and such no doubt was the leading idea given him by the king. As to the interpretation, the arrangement of the figures, and grouping of the whole scene, that is the work of the artist.
“The composition of the bas-relief of Susa is clever in its simplicity. Only eight armed men are figured, to represent the army of Agade, which is led by Naram-Sin in person. Two act as scouts in the forest, while six represent the body of the troops. Three men are falling dead and one wounded under the blows of the king, to express the carnage wrought on the foe by the conqueror, and four fugitives are holding up their hands to figure the submission of the conquered. Two trees remind us by their shape, of the sparsely wooded forests which cover the mountains of Kurdistan.”
Such is the summary synthesis of the victories of Naram-Sin, the sight of which must have struck the imagination of the Chaldæans, reminding them of the mountainous and wooded country which had been the theatre of so terrible a slaughter.