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Audio Guide
Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus
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"Great Lyre" with bull's head and inlaid front panel, ca. 2550–2400 B.C.; Early Dynastic IIIA. Mesopotamia, Ur, PG 789, King's Grave, U.10556. Gold, silver, lapis lazuli, shell, bitumen, and wood; H. of head 35.6 cm (14 in.); H. of plaque 33 cm (13 in.); max. L. of lyre 140 cm (55 1/8 in.); H. of upright back arm 117 cm (46 1/8 in.). University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia B17694.
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Paul Collins
In one of the royal burials in the city of Ur was this magnificent musical instrument, a lyre. And it was found across the heads of three women. They were most likely musicians, who had participated in the royal death ritual. We are first struck by the opulence—and majesty—of the bull's head. Dr. Julian Reade:
Julian Reade
And these musical instruments were in some way envisaged as sounding like animals, as having a life of their own. The bull's head on this one is a magnificent thing with its huge lapis lazuli beard. And the ears that stick out as if he's listening to his own voice in the lyre.
Paul Collins
But what's most remarkable are the inlaid scenes under the head, on the front of the soundbox. Look closely. In four rows we witness a funerary banquet. Animals stand, and act, as if they are human. Professor Piotr Michalowski, from the University of Michigan, points out other details:
Piotr Michalowski
If you look at the second register from the bottom, you will see an animal playing the very lyre that you are looking at.
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