Reply To: Social stratification in the Ancient Near East

[tmbergan]

The Stele of Naram-Sin is a great visual for Mesopotamia’s strict social hierarchy. Naram-Sin is seen as larger than any of the other people in the piece and stands well above them. He also wears a horned helmet which is described as a symbol of the gods, thus equating him with them. The Stele of Hammurabi is similar with the size as the god Shamash would be twice Hammurabi’s size if he were standing, showing his power over the mortal man. A big difference between the two pieces seems to be that Naram-Sin is seen as claiming divinity for himself, then getting the approval from the gods whereas Hammurabi is being given that power and law directly from the god. Either way, it appears that a god will approve of a king’s authority and be closer to the king than the lower-class people as we see the gods and kings next to each other in some of the pieces such as these.