Male Worshipper Statuette

2700 BC - 2600 BC
Gypsum
Tell Asmar
40 cm x 14 cm x 9.0 cm
A12332

Oriental Institute Museum

Artifact Description

Male Worshipper Statuette

Scholars believe that worshipper statuettes were placed in temples to stand in perpetual prayer while their owners went about their daily lives. This is a representation of a male worshipper standing reverently before his god. It is one of a number of statuettes found buried in a pit next to the altar of the Abu Temple at Tell Asmar.

Collected by

Henri Frankfort, Field Director of the Iraq Expedition
Excavated by The Oriental Institute 1933-1934

Multimedia

How Do We Care for Ancient Artifacts?
How do artifacts survive over time? Oriental Institute Museum conservator Laura D'Alessandro tells us how they are cared for in this video.

A Worshipper Statue
What is a worshipper statue and why did the ancient Mesopotamians use them? Learn the answer to this question and more with this interactive.

Web Links

Highlights from the collection of the Oriental Institute Museum; Worshipper Statuette

Images from the photographic archives of the Oriental Institute Museum; Worshipper Statuette

Suggested Readings

Frankfort, H. and H.A., John A. Wilson, and Thorkild Jacobsen. Before Philosophy: The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1946.

Kramer, Samuel Noah. The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963.

Roaf, Michael. Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East. New York: Facts on File, 1990.

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