This famous statue carved from alabaster once stood in the Temple of Ishtar excavated by Parrot at Mari (Tell Hariri). The statue stands approximately 21 inches high.
One of the keys to understanding Mari is the position it occupied on the trade route up the Euphrates. The overland road passed on the south bank of the river avoided the major river crossings at the Khabur and Balikh and thus must have been the preferred route for those travelling west and south. An important navigation canal was constructed on the north bank of the Euphrates. Known today as the Nahr Dawrin, it stretched from the Khabur to Baghouz, a distance of approximately 75 miles (see map below). To understand its purpose, one need only look at a map of Syria. It will immediately be perceived that the Euphrates is a meandering river. For those trying to get somewhere, the bends in the river were a source of frustration, while for those hauling loads upstream with ropes, they would continually have had to deal with the prow of their barge ploughing into the near or far banks of the river. The solution was to cut a strait canal, 30 feet wide, and gently sloping (a mere 8 inches over 1000 yards), parallel to the Euphrates, but far enough away to escape the periodic Euphrates floods. This 75 mile long canal was a highway for boat haulers who otherwise would have had to pull their boats 105 miles against the current through the bends of the river. In a day and age when boats and barges were the only means of transporting bulk quantities of anything, you can see how this navigation canal was a critical piece of infrastructure.
The Nahr Dawrin canal is in red.
The Nahr Dawrin, like the city of Mari itself, was a massive undertaking made possible by a society that was well organized and had access to ample resources. Not much is known about the rulers of Mari, but we can imagine that one of the individuals overseeing such projects was Ebih-Il.
Ebih-Il
We noted in a previous entry that the discovery of the statue of Ishki-Mari in the Temple of Ishtar enabled historians to identify the city. Another statue, larger and of finer workmanship, although curiously not of a king, was found in the same temple. It was inscribed with the following dedication:
This statue, Ebih-Il, the overseer, to Ishtar Virile, he dedicated”
The quality of the statue indicates the high status enjoyed by Ebih-Il, comparable perhaps to the viziers of Ebla, who ruled as defacto kings. Carved from translucent alabaster, Ebih-Il is shown sitting on what appears to be a coiled rope basket.
Ebih-Il shares the overall body plan of the Tell Asmar statues with an upper body shaped like a triangle and a lower body shaped like a cylinder. However, instead of long hair, parted down the middle, Ebih-Il is bald; and instead of a square beard, his is more pointed.
Ebih-il’s kaunakes is bunched into a tail at the back, a northern style which can be seen also on the statue of the Akkadian king, Manistushu. Although Manishtushu has discarded the kaunakes, he nevertheless retains the “tail.” Both are seated on containers made or coiled rope or bundles of reeds. These were probably used for the storage of grain, dates, fruit, etc., and may therefor have born a symbolic value like the cornucopia (“horn of plenty”) in the Greco-Roman world.
The statue of Ebih Il could be a portrait of a man, although a highly idealized one. It lacks the abstract qualities of the Tell Asmar statues. In other respects, however, it seems to have functioned similarly. It was placed in the temple of Ishtar to remind the goddess to look after Ebih-Il!
Characterization
There is one final curious feature of Mariote sculpture worth noting—their exaggerated proportions. Take the famous “Head of a Mariote Man” for example. It appears to be a comic sketch. But in a cultic context, the large ears and nose might have been endowed with magical properties, like the statue itself.
Mari sculptors intentionally exaggerated certain features such as the nose and the ears. Note also how Ishqi-Mari’s kaunakes is joined to a tail at the back.
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