Remembering and Forgetting in Ancient Mesopotamia

A study of how our understanding of Akkadian history has been shaped by subsequent dynasties.

In this innovative new study of ancient Mesopotamian art and architecture, Marian H. Feldman examines the complex legacy of the Akkadian dynasty, which spanned approximately 2350-2150 BCE in the region now known as southern Iraq. The Akkadian state played an essential role in the formation and expression of subsequent political entities in the region, yet our understanding of this period is based primarily on the historical lens of their successors, in particular the rulers of the Third Dynasty of Ur (circa 2100-2000 BCE).

Focusing on four remaining ziggurats in Ur, Eridu, Uruk, and Nippur, as well as surviving statues and steles, Feldman examines how the Ur III rulers selectively curated and erased Akkadian structures and monuments to serve their own political ambitions. Analyzing the archaeological evidence of Ur III building practices and the display of Akkadian royal sculpture, she considers the role of sacred spaces in our knowledge of the period and imagines how the cultivation of the Akkadian narrative helped the Ur III dynasty centralise its power.

In so doing, Remembering and Forgetting in Ancient Mesopotamia proposes a new way to understand the impact of the survival—or erasure—of architectural and artistic remains on collective and historical memory.