The Stele of Naram-Sin is a massive piece of limestone that has been carved in relief style to commemorate a victory between two warring civilizations. This stone slab is taller than most people standing at 6’6”. The battle scene engraved on this stone slab is between Naram-Sin, ruler of the Akkadian people, and the Lullubi. At the top of the stele there are three suns that shine brightly onto mountain in which Naram-Sin is marching his army up in a diagonal path. In the sky just below the suns and on the mountain there are cuneiform script printed that describes the victory. The cuneiform that is on inscribed on the mountain is just on the right side; the left side of the mountain is bare. The cuneiform inscribed confirms that this stele depicts a battle that was won at Zagaros Mountain. At the base of the main peak of the mountain there is an injured Lullubi with a spear in his neck. The Lullubi people are scattered throughout the stele in a very disorganized fashion predominantly on the right side of the stele. Their weapons are depicted as inferior to that of the Akkadian people’s, some are broken and some are smaller.

Naram-Sin is depicted much larger than anyone else in the stele. The use of hieratic scale here amplifies artist’s decision to place Naram-Sin in the center of the composition. Naram-Sin is holding a sword, a bow and a spear as he tramples over his fallen foes. He is shown to possess well defined muscular features in addition to a horned helmet. The army that he commands is dressed in similar garments and is marching in unison together up the mountain. The Akkadian force makes up the majority of the left side of this composition. There is a tree depicted towards the lower right side of the stele. Great care has been given to engrave many details into this tree making it easily identifiable.

There are several key features of this stele that sets it apart from other works of art during this time period and those that came before it. The horned helmet has never been given to an individual before. It was previously only used to depict gods. The attention to the male form also represents power; during this era political power was associated with physical strength and form. It is likely that Naram-Sin purposely had this stele constructed in such a manner that he be shown to have great power. This is not so farfetched of an idea given that he has just triumph over an enemy. Adding to the list of unusual traits, this slab does not have the common horizontal registers but instead there are clear diagonal lines. This was most probably done to accentuate his god-like status and features. Yet another feature that makes this piece stand out is the fact that it has a naturalistic landscape which was not very common prior to this slab being sculpted. The composition of how each army is arranged also supports creating a greater ruler. The Akkadian army is marching in unison which represents order and strength while the Lullubi army is scattered all around which represents chaos. This piece is not only meant to tell the tale of the victory, but it is also meant to inflate Naram-Sin’s ego so to speak.

The Stele of Hammurabi is a massive slab of diorite which is a very hard substance. It stands at a towering 7’ high. At the top of the slab there is a relief with two figures, one standing and one seated. The seated figure on the right represents Shamash, the god of justice and the sun, while the standing figure on the left represents the Babylonian ruler Hammurabi. Hierarchy of scale is used in this relief as Hammurabi standing is only as tall as Shamash seated. Both men are dressed in robes covering most of their body but their shoulders and arms are visible with well-defined muscles visible. Both men have what appears to be either a beard or a veil covering the bottom portion of their face and extending down to the top portion of their chest. Hammurabi has a rounded helmet on while Shamash has conical hat that appears to have a concentric circular pattern. Shamash is holding a scepter in his right hand while his left hand is bare but clenched in a fist. There are three rays emanating from each of Shamash’s shoulders. The chair that Shamash is seated on has a pedestal area that ensures his feet do not touch the ground while seated. The raised area by his feet appears to be alternating stones of similar size and shape in three different levels. The chair itself has a shrinking rectangular pattern on the side with the longest end being vertical. Hammurabi’s left forearm is placed over his stomach and waist while his right forearm is held over his stomach and chest with an open palm. Hammurabi’s feet are not visible but one of Shamash’s feet is.

In the center of the stele below the upper relief area are carvings that represent the laws, rights, duties and punishments that the Babylonian people were expected to follow. The main purpose of this stele is to announce what the laws were and what type of punishments would follow upon the breaking of the laws. The majority of the entries deal commercial trade issues which makes sense since most of the early writings have been about commerce. The writings on this stele serve as proof the many of the equalities that we have today have only been around for a short time. During this period there are laws that favor one class of people over others and are also reflected in the punishments listed on this stele. To a lesser extend this stele also serves to commemorate the ruler Hammurabi.

The time in which these two steli were constructed indicates many shifts in beliefs, but there are significant similarities and differences between the two pieces. These two steli are fairly comparable in size as there are only off by about 6”. They both have identifiable people engraved into the stone slabs. There is a remarkably similar detail given to the muscular male form in each stele which probably means that both cultures associated power with physical strength. Naram-Sin was portrayed as god-like and Hammurabi was portrayed with a god. The fact that both of these artists chose to bring the presence of god into the piece suggest that religious beliefs played a large part in these two civilization’s everyday lives. They could have chosen to emulate a powerful animal but instead those chose a god. This definitely marks a shift towards a more modern society as previously in the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods we saw a movement towards appreciating animals and less human/religious figures.

Despite the similarities in these two steli, there are many differences as well. For example, the main difference is probably the purpose that these works served. Naram-Sin most likely wanted a piece that will immortalize him as a great leader and a powerful warrior. In contrast Hammurabi was not necessarily intending to portray himself as a powerful warrior since he is standing in what could be a prayer stance paying homage to the god of justice. This tells a lot since written below the god of justice are rules for the society. In the first stele the purpose was to mark a victory, but in the second stele the purpose was to ensure peace and justice along with consistency. This consistency in societal laws is similar to how Naram-Sin’s army moves in a consistent uniform manner. Additionally diorite is a much harder substance than limestone and as such is intended for the work to last much longer in comparison.

Naram-Sin’s battle depiction is set in a naturalistic landscape which reinforces the idea in an observer’s head, that what is being viewed is from an actual battle and not a generic war. In comparison, the scene in Hammurabi’s stele is much more simplistic as there are no identifying markers that would indicate a specific moment on time. The lack of detail in the background suggests that the artist wish’s for an observer to focus on writing while the relief area merely serves as a prelude to the writing.

The headgear used is also very different in the two pieces. In the Akkadian artifact, the horned helmet is used to represent god-like properties. The horns are clearly an animal characteristic which indicates that there hasn’t been a complete shift from appreciating animals to more humanistic properties yet since this piece is older than the Babylonian artifact. The Babylonian artifact which was constructed about 450 years later than the Akkadian artifact uses a conical hat to represent a god figure. Conical hats in many societies have been associated with power, maybe not political power but power none the less.