The Warka Vase

Standing about three feet tall, telling a story within three different registers is the Warka Vase. The Warka Vase illustrates different scenes from early Mesopotamia's offerings and ritual marriages. I chose this work of art because it shows great importance in its story through its detail, the stone that it was carved into, and the placement of each figure and scene. 

According to our book, the vase was carved out of alabaster or a fine white stone. From the picture, the stone looks very sturdy, which to me means that this piece was meant to last and preserve what stories are being illustrated. After reading about the Warka Vase and looking at the pictures, I feel that the illustrations were meant to last and be passed on to remind generations after, what was important. I think that this was their way of documenting their culture and trying to keep it alive. In one of the lectures, we hear that writing was not an option, therefore illustrations were created. Considering that this was their only form of documenting, their illustrations must have been like photo albums or videos to us. 

The illustrations are divided into registers which are horizontal bands. On the Warka Vase, there are three registers and each of them have an important illustration in them. The illustrations carved into these registers provide a lot of detail. In the animals and humans, you can see lines and shapes that make them appear muscular. The lines all look very deep and sharp, producing depth and bringing the illustrations more to life. Movement is implied by the placement of the legs on the animals and on the people which also brings more life to the illustrations, especially in the second register. In the second register, men walk along with offerings in their hands.  Their torsos face the viewers also giving us a sense of movement. Clearly they are taking their offerings to someone who is important to them such as the goddess Inana who is carved into the third register. They each hold something different to present to the goddess

In the third register, the goddess Inana stands between two poles, or her gate, with her rich land behind her. She is the tallest figure in the third register and also has a larger appearance which leads the eye to her. Her scale compared to the other figures also makes her look more powerful. The fact that she is higher up than everyone else shows that she is someone of importance, which is also known as the hierarchy of scale.Depth is shown in the third register making her land look big and full. Also, out of all three registers, the third seems to be the largest which could indicate that it is the most important part of the story. It also overpowers the other two registers by being at the top. It has more control over the other two by sitting on top of them. In the book, it states that the third scene represents the ritual marriage between the goddess Inana and her consort, Dumuzi. It says that this took place during the New Year's festival to ensure fertility of crops, animals, and people, to continue the wellness of Uruk. This could be why the register with the goddess Inana sits above the other two. Inana was the Goddess of Fertility therefore she was seen as having power over the production of crops, animal, and humans. Everything that humans needed to survive and keep their land, was in the hands of the Inana. 

The structure of the Warka Vase also seems to show from the bottom to top, what is important in means of survival. At the bottom there are the crops and the animals. The crops being before the animals. In the middle there are the humans, and at the top is a celebration of survival. The crops feed the animals and humans, the crops and animals both feed the humans, and with healthy, surviving humans, the population of Uruk can grow and survive. 

The fact that this Vase was produced to share the story of the goddess Inana and the New Year's festival for fertility shows that this was an important event and the goddess Inana was an important person to the town of Uruk. I find the vase to be a beautiful work of art and I love how so much is told within three registers of illustrations.