Ancient Mesopotamia

The first major settlements in the lowlands of modern western Iran (ancient Elam) appeared around 7000 BC, immediately prior to the start of the Pottery Neolithic period across the Near East.

What would become the city of Susa in the land of Elam was first set up as a farming village. A similar settlement emerged nearby at Chogha Mish, and at first this was the more important of the two sites.

Then, around 3900 BC, the remarkable Uruk IV period of enthusiastic urban construction erupted out of the Sumerian city of Uruk in southern Mesopotamia (see 'related links' for more on the Uruk IV period).

This urbanite effect fanned outwards, possibly carried by a wave of seemingly enthusiastic urban-building settlers. It headed northwards to reach southern Anatolia and the Mediterranean. It also reached into western Iran where it encouraged an archaeological phase at Susa which is known as 'Susa II'.

Enter the priest-king

It was during this Sumer-inspired cultural period, roughly in the middle of the fourth millennium BC, that there appeared several cylinder seal impressions in Uruk, Susa, and Choga Mish.

They show a bearded male figure who, it has been suggested, was a priest-king, perhaps one of the earliest as this institution had not yet properly emerged in Uruk-dominated southern Mesopotamia.

Scholars have already spent some time discussing the potential existence of an individual or institution who or which may have been strong enough to wield sufficient political power to be able to establish domination in Susa and its surroundings, while also being a notable figure in Uruk.

A 'Susa II' and late Uruk IV seal impression showing the 'priest-king', one of several from Susa, Uruk, and Chogha Mish (this one is from Susa: Sb 2125), in which he stands to the left, wielding a composite bow, and aiming an arrow at opponents, some of whom he has shot, while the building is an example of architectural dressing which became regionally-embedded (see below)

Modern study initially established that he appeared to be an Elamite rather than an official from Uruk. Some experts were keen to stress that he could have been a regional governor who was imposed by Uruk.

He probably wears a cap over his long hair (and not a diadem as has been assumed on the basis of less well-preserved representations), with that hair pulled into a knot at the back of his head. He wears a skirt and is naked from the waist up.

At Uruk, he appears in front of a number of captives who, apparently, are being beaten or driven forward by guards who are armed with short whips. The 'priest-king' stands before them with a spear, point down in the earth.

Another Uruk representation shows him in a marsh area, accompanied by a pair of dogs and (possibly) two wild boar. Again he grasps a spear, possibly a staff. The same figure also appears on a seal impression from Uruk on which he is holding a bow.

At Susa, the figure is shown in two instances wielding a composite bow, aiming an arrow at opponents, some of whom he has shot, and some of whom are consequently shown falling off the roof of a two-tiered building.

Finally, an impression from Choga Mish shows the figure, mace in hand, seated on a bovid, apparently in a flat-bottomed boat or barge. Larger than all of the other figures who accompany him (a sure sign of importance), he grasps a rope which emanates, tail-like, from the back of a seated figure on the vessel.

Who was this man and what was he doing at Susa and Choga Mish? Some scholars (Amiet, for example) suggested that this confirms diffusion far from Uruk of political and religious institutions which seemed immediately to precede the appearance of the 'state' in Sumer.

Another 'Susa II' and late Uruk IV seal impression relating to the 'priest-king' (this one is also from Susa: AO 29389), in which his victims are shown falling from the roof of a two-tiered building while he stands centre-left, primed bow in hand

Limited information, but many clues

Luckily the original seal was found at Susa which was used to produce the cylinder seals. This could have confirmed the man as a resident in Susa, and not someone who was based in Uruk but, since that initial analysis at the end of the twentieth century (by D T Potts amongst others), evidence from Uruk would seem to support a claim of the man's importance there, with the Susa site being secondary, a domain rather than his main base.

It will probably never be known for certain whether or not these representations depict a single individual, possibly a paramount ruler of Uruk who also commanded in Susa, or whether they instead represent a picture of a generic 'model ruler' as with the multitude of anonymous depictions of generic deities on later seals.

That 'later' is important, as many of the established standards of the third millennium BC had not even properly been formulated for the period in which lived this 'priest king of Uruk'.

It does seem more probable than not that this figure represents a very real individual of importance. This is made even more likely due to the existence of several pieces of anthropomorphic statuary which also depict him.

As with portraits on coins which continue to be struck long after the death of the original individual who is being represented, there is no way of knowing whether discovered seal impressions were fully issued during the the lifetime of this hypothetical 'priest-king' or are merely later renditions which encapsulate the characteristics of higher authority.

Recent archaeology at the ancient site of Susa has confirmed traces of a village which was inhabited around 7000 BC, and painted pottery dating from about 5000 BC, along with previous finds at later levels which include carved cylinder seals, jewellery, clay balls, and clay tablets with cuneiform inscriptions which record business transactions, political history, and mathematical calculations

The latter question arises as architectural facades which are depicted on two seals from Susa - neither of which necessarily relates to a real building on the site - depict three pairs of horns projecting from the upper story of the facade.

Architectural dressing

This form of architectural dressing continues to be used much later in history to signify both the holiness of a building and the divine power which emanates from the horns.

The horns themselves are a divine symbol from the third millennium BC onwards, with the concept also being transferred to secular buildings. The presence of horns in these seals certainly relates to a decorative tradition which is well attested at Susa over the course of several millennia.

The horns, like images of the 'priest-king' could have been re-used endlessly. The 'priest-king' though would seem to be a real historical figure who wielded some level of power in the Susa region in the middle of the fourth millennium BC.

He visited Uruk often enough to be shown there on seals as a person of importance, and in a period in which true Sumerian kings were still half a millennium from making their first appearance.

Precisely who he was is a question which may never be answered, but the question of what he was has already proven significant.

The Sumer into which the Gutians gatecrashed was formed by a complex network of city states and canals (click or tap on map to view full sized)

Main Sources

D T Potts - The Archaeology of Elam (Cambridge University Press, 1999)

Other Sources

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

John Heywood - Historical Atlas of the Ancient World, 4,000,000 to 500 BC (Barnes & Noble, 2000)

Michael Road - Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East (Facts on File, 2000)

Enrico Ascalone - Mesopotamia: Assyrians, Sumerians, Babylonians (Dictionaries of Civilizations 1, University of California Press, 2007)

S Lloyd - The Archaeology of Mesopotamia (Revised Ed, London, 1984)

Chris Scarre - Mesopotamia (Ed, Past Worlds - The Times Atlas of Archaeology, Guild Publishing, London 1989)

Online Sources

Albrecht Goetze - Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (Journal of Cuneiform Studies, Vol 15, No 3, 1961, pp 105-111)

Archaeology.org

Tehran Times - Archaeological findings may push back Susa's history by millennia, 21 August 2022

Text copyright © P L Kessler. An original feature for the History Files.