The Stele Of Naram-Sin's Victory Over The Mountain People

The stele of Naram-Sin was created to celebrate Naram-Sin's victory over the mountain people, also known as the Lullabi. This stele is shown through the Victors point of view, giving us a different take on what happened in the battle. It gives us an understanding that Naram-Sin violently conquered the mountain people. The artists used many key elements to help narrate this important victory. These symbolic elements are used to communicate the stele’s intended meaning. From using the Hierarchy of scale to the portrayal of the Kings horned crown, these both elements reveal just how important Naram-Sin was when he led his troops to victory. This work utilized these two simple staples of ancient art in order to give us the impression that Naram-Sin

The hierarchy of scale shows him as the most important figure as oppose to his enemies who are small in comparison. According to our text, hierarchy of scale is the use of differences in size to indicate relative importance (Page 566). The portrayal of his soldiers give us another understanding of Naram-Sin's importance. His soldiers are all looking up to him, almost as if they are viewing him as their hero. The way Naram is shown on top of the mountains with his godly stance is also another reason why we are given the understanding that he is in fact the most important figure, his size is disproportional to the mountain making him seem like he could touch the sky. The dimension of this stele is 6 feet tall. This element of manipulation was used to further the importance of this

Besides hierarchy of scale, another attribute used to distinguish Naram-Sin was symbolism. The helmet he carries has horns on it, an attribute usually reserved for gods. This symbol was used to show his divine power. His "power" made it possible for him to violently conquer the Lullabi since he was given authority from god. His troops all had helmets but none of them had the horn on them which symbolizes his powerful kingship.

A symbol element that is used to convey the meaning of the work is the symbol of a god as a star. Naram-Sin appears to be reaching the star symbolizing the leaders near equivalence with the level of divinity assigned to the gods. He was the one of the first leaders to place himself with the gods and this is evidenced in this stele. This was meant to show us his divinity amongst his people. The stars symbolize greater power, both Naram-sin and his troops are paying their respects to God who helped guide them through this memorable