All that glitters

All that glitters is, in this case, gold. During our Thanksgiving visit to our daughter’s in Philadelphia, we spent time at the Penn Museum, a jewel of a museum. If I lived in Philadelphia, I’d have a membership so that I could take time in each gallery individually and then go home and read more about that era. I love history and this museum brings it alive. Let’s look at just a few items from the ancient city of Ur.

Ur, modern Tall al-Muqayyar or Tell el-Muqayyar, Iraq, important city of ancient southern Mesopotamia (Sumer), situated about 140 miles (225 km) southeast of the site of Babylon and about 10 miles (16 km) west of the present bed of the Euphrates River. In antiquity the river ran much closer to the city; the change in its course has left the ruins in a desert that once was irrigated and fertile land. The first serious excavations at Ur were made after World War I by H.R. Hall of the British Museum, and as a result a joint expedition was formed by the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania that carried on the excavations under Leonard Woolley’s directorship from 1922 until 1934.

Encyclopedia Britannica

Queen Puabi obviously rocked the jewelry! But who was she? The Penn Museum site tells us:

The forensic examination of her remains, undertaken by London’s Natural History Museum, indicates that she was roughly 40 years old when she died. She stood just under five feet tall. Her name and title are known from the short inscription on one of three cylinder seals found on her person. The two cuneiform signs that compose her name were initially read as “Shub-ad” in Sumerian. Today, we think they should be read in Akkadian as “Pu-abi” (or, more correctly, “Pu-abum,” meaning “word of the Father”). Her title is “eresh” (sometimes mistakenly read as “nin”), and means “queen.”

You can read more by clicking here.

These diadems are gorgeous but weren’t found intact, due to a collapse of the tomb. Again from the museum site:

While Queen Puabi’s burial was only one of the 1,850 intact burials that were discovered, hers was the one that drew the most attention since it contained an extensive array of pottery, jewelry, and furniture, and was not looted like many of the other burials. Puabi herself was adorned with rings around each finger, a garter around her knee, an intricate headdress, and a beaded cape on her upper body, all made of valuable gems. Located near Puabi’s head, Woolley spotted a pile of beads and golden amulets on a wooden surface that he identified as a “table.” This pile is what is currently known as Queen Puabi’s diadems. It consists of more than a thousand tiny lapis lazuli beads and dozens of golden animal, vegetal, twisted wire, and rosette pendants.

You can read more about the fascinating discovery, how the diadems were assembled, and see more golden photos here.

The Ram in the Thicket was found in the Great Death Pit of Ur. But it didn’t look like this when found. Take a look to see how it looked originally and how it was restored.

This lyre was found in the King’s Grave, but Queen Puabi has one that was very similar. You can see how the lyre would have looked when intact and strung by clicking here. The Museum site tells us more about the images and their meaning.

I hope you enjoyed this look at some golden items that we enjoyed. If you live close enough, be sure to stop by the museum. If you don’t, you can still see many items and find out more about them on their website. If you enjoy history and archeology like I do, you’ll have a great time.