Standing Male Worshipper (Tell Asmar)

by and

One of a group buried in a temple almost 5,000 years ago, this statue’s job was to worship Abu—forever.

Standing Male Worshipper (votive figure), c. 2900-2600 B.C.E., from the Square Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq), gypsum alabaster, shell, black limestone, bitumen, 11 5/8 x 5 1/8 x 3 7/8″ / 29.5 x 10 cm, Sumerian, Early Dynastic I-II (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City)

Additional resource

Henri Frankfort, Sculpture of the Third Millennium B.C. from Tell Asmar and Khafājah (Chicago: University of Chicago Press) March 1939

Smarthistory images for teaching and learning:

More Smarthistory images…

Cite this page as: Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris, "Standing Male Worshipper (Tell Asmar)," in Smarthistory, December 16, 2015, accessed August 5, 2021, https://smarthistory.org/standing-male-worshipper-from-the-square-temple-at-eshnunna-tell-asmar/.