Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus | Explore & Learn

The Ruler: Indus Valley

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Unlike in every other early urban society, the ancient Indus rulers erected no monuments to glorify their power, and there are no depictions of warfare or conquered enemies in the entire corpus of Indus art or sculpture. It is possible that they governed their cities through the control of trade and religion, rather than with military might. The rulers were probably set apart from the common people through symbols of wealth and power, including ornaments of rare materials and perhaps carved seals with animal symbols and writing. Their identities may be preserved on these stone seals; when the script is deciphered, perhaps we will be able to speak their names. Some scholars suggest that the animal images may reflect the clans to which they belonged. Large buildings that could have been the houses or palaces of powerful leaders were not located in a single area, but were scattered on all the different mounds that made up the cities.


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Image: Torso of a "priest-king," ca. 2000–1900 B.C.; Harappan. Indus Valley, Mohenjo-daro, DK 1909. National Museum, Karachi NMP 50.852. Courtesy of the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Ministry of Minorities, Culture, Sports, Tourism, and Youth Affairs, Government of Pakistan.

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