The Stele of the Vultures shows a victory celebration of King Eannatum of Lagash over his neighbor Umma. Found in 1881 in Girsu (now Tello, Iraq), Mesopotamia, by Édouard de Sarzec. "Partially reconstructed from numerous fragments found among the remains of the Sumerian city of Girsu, this victory stele, known as the "Stele of the Vultures," is the oldest known historiographic document. It tells a story of righteous victory and also gives us an explanation as to how the people of Lagash came out victorious against their bitter rivals, the people of Umma. What information the stele is providing is a bit ambiguous, however. It is all very “clean”, very abstract and symbolic. On Eannatum’s stele, vultures feed on the heads and limbs of the dead soldiers, but mostly what you see are the vultures themselves, with their wings outstretched. The "Stele of the Vultures" of King Eannatum1 is often considered one of the first examples of a monument of war, commemorating the victory of the city of Lagash over its rival Umma for the control of the water source of the canal on the border of the two southern Mesopotamian cities. An example of legitimizing royal authority in Early Dynastic Mesopotamia. By comparison, Sb 1 is an orgy of violence. (eds. A fragment of the victory stele of king Eannutum of Lagash over Umma, called «Stele of Vultures». vulture scenes is the way in which they are presented. by Daniel Lau This is an unchanged script of a talk held at the Internationales Wissenschaftsforum Heidelberg on May 17th 2013. ), Pictorial Narrative in Antiquity and Middle Ages, (Studies in the History of Art 16), Washington: 11 – 32. Stele of the Vultures. and Shreve, M. Sumer - Wikipedia The Stele of the Vultures , created by Eannatum of Lagash, is remarkable in that it represents different scenes that together tell the narrative of … The stele of the vultures. CC BY-SA 3.0 File:Stele of Vultures detail 02.jpg Uploaded by Sting Uploaded: 18 December 2007 A fragment of the Stele of the Vultures showing vultures with severed human heads in their beaks and a fragment of cuneiform script. The Stele of the Vultures is a monument from the Early Dynastic III period (2600–2350 BC) in Mesopotamia celebrating a victory of the city-state of Lagash over its neighbour Umma.It shows various battle and religious scenes and is named after the vultures that can be seen in one of these scenes. After the Battle is Over: The Stele of the Vultures and the Beginning of the Historical Narrative in the Art of the Ancient Near East, in Kessler, H.L. The so-called Stele of the Vultures, now in the Louvre, is a fragmented limestone stele found in Telloh, (ancient Girsu) Iraq, in 1881. Circa 2450 BC, Sumerian archaic dynasties. Eannatum's Stele of the Vultures depicts vultures pecking at the severed heads and other body parts of his enemies. This stele displays a well-organized, professional infantry in the phalanx-like formation. The Vulture Stele The message behind the Vulture Stele is seen through the constant warfare between La- gash and Umma. The Stele of Vultures is an excellent source of information which give us an insight into the Ancient Sumerian world that would be impossible if it never existed. https://www.exploringart.co/sumerian-sculpture-stele-of-the-vultures