The Staging of Power in the IIIrd Millennium Ancient Near East: Iconographical Study of the Shell Inlays of Mari
The IIIrd millennium B.C. in the ancient Near East saw the rise of a rich production of objects decorated with images. This material production is specific to a period during which society changes and creates objects and images in order to suggest and transmit the principles which define it. They depict individuals through the representation of repeated themes mainly focused on military victories and social and religious ceremonies. One of the many forms of this visual production is represented by figurative panels made of wood, inlaid with marine shell pieces, and organized in registers. These panels were not preserved and only the inlays remain. The subject of this thesis concerns the fragments of inlays found in Mari, dated of the second third of the IIIrd millennium. Mari is the city that has provided the largest number of inlays and its production has to be considered as an integral part of the material and visual culture of the ancient Near East at that time. Our approach of these objects is based on three axis: a material analysis of the pieces and the context of their discovery; an iconographical analysis; a comparative analysis of fragments of inlays discovered in the other cities of the ancient Near East at the same period. Thereby, this study has allowed us to consider the nature and the function of these objects, as well as the terms of representation relative to this period and to that sort of medium.