Stele Of Hammurabi

All of these reliefs reflect the changing religious political ideas of the ancient Middle East because each artwork as it goes on changes gradually. For example the Warka Vase shows naked men with baskets and jars overflowing with goods to later present to the goddess Inanna, and put it in her temple. Another nude man brings a basket directly to the goddess in the top band showing praise and respect. The Sumerians focus a lot on giving praise to their gods. In the next image there is the Victory stele of Naram-Sin. This stele shows The King and his victorious troops celebrating in triumph over the Lullubi people. The king in this picture is taller and is depicted more important. The book says he is wearing a horned helmet and this signifies his divinity. It also says this is the first time a king is depicted as a god in Mesopotamian art. They portray the king in this stele as a god and a leader with the best and most disciplined people that appear to be worshipping him. In the Stele of Hammurabi the king, Hammurabi is giving respect to the sun god king, Shamash, but the god is also giving Hammurabi the power to enforce his codes and laws. Hammurabi’s laws were harsh and had harsh consequences to the people
Even though this image doesn’t show a king or god the artist is retelling a story of a king’s decisive moment during his victorious campaign. Last but not least is the Ambassadors Bringing Gifts to the Persian King. The Persians are giving gifts to the king. As you can tell the Warka Vase started with people giving gifts to the god and praises him but as time goes on the art starts to reflect that the people gradually started to focus more on the king and worship him more than the god himself. It went from the god’s getting gifts as shown on the Warka Vase to the Persian king receiving gifts from the