Week Three: ‘The Great Lyre with Bull’s Head’

        ‘The Great Lyre with Bull’s Head’ is an instrument that dates back to 2600-2500 BCE. The ‘The Great Lyre with Bills Head’ is 14’’ in height. This piece of art is made from various materials such as wood, gold, silver, lapis lazuli, bitumen, and shell. The front panel of the piece is also known as ‘The Sound Box of the Great Lyre’.  This front panel is wood with shell-inlaid bitumen. This statue was not only an instrument, but also a tool used in celebrating religion. The Great Lyre and Bull’s Head was discovered with the heads of three elaborately attired women, who were believed to be lyrists and singers, in the pit of the King’s Grave.

       Initially when I looked at this piece I thought it was the front of a rowboat. I hadn’t recognized what a lyre was until I saw an image in Google. That is the main reason I chose to write about this piece, because music always brings an interesting outlook on various art pieces. A lyre was generally played to accompany the chants of hymns and songs of praise. It is an 11-string instrument that was believed to evoke the divine bull, a sacred bull said to be the gate keeper of Shiva.

       What we see in this specific instrument is a realistic head of a bull. Most of the head, including its horns, was covered in gold sheet. Its eyeballs were made of shell insets; the pupils, eyelids and hair on the forehead and top of the head were comprised of lapis lazuli. Individual pieces of the same imported stone were set to create the beard.

       Personally I think the beard, aside from the front panel, is the most interesting aspect of this instrument. The bull was a religious icon to this culture. Beards make me think of wisdom, and experience. The fact that this particular bull had a beard made me see it with more power and wisdom. The gold sheet that composes the Bull’s head also makes me think of wealth. We see these attributes of the bull’s head and can connect to the higher representation it brings to the Sumerian culture.

       Then there was the Inlaid Front Panel that brought more interest. The top scene is what looks like a man holding two bulls. These bulls seem to be rearing upwards as if to resist. What’s interesting is that all three of these figures seem to display both human and animal actions. What I noticed was that all three figures are turned to show us their profiles. I’m curious what the meaning behind that was, but I could not figure it out.

       The next three panels are what seem like groups of animals with human characteristics. In the second panel we see a hyena and a lion working together. Judging by the knife on the hyena’s side we can assume he had just hunted the animals he is holding, while the lion brings a vase of water. The next two panels depict the same thing, animals performing everyday tasks (tasks such as playing and instrument, eating, and enjoying the company of one another). Seeing these animals perform everyday tasks as if they were human turns us to the thought of animals as equals if not a more superior evolved species. The combination of these human and animal features represented a Mesopotamian belief that there was power to be gained in combining various species attributes.

I still think it’s interesting how the human form is depicted in various ancient of near east sculptures and art piece. Here we see the animalistic forms of humans where as in the Venus we saw a different form of beauty. Overall I see The Great Lyre with Bull’s Head as a religious tool more than the possible combination of animal and man resulting in power over the physical world. It is an instrument of worship. Where people would gather and sing their hymns and songs of worship to their god(s).