ESHNUNNA STATUETTES, temple at Eshnunna (now Tell Asmar)

Carved of soft gypsum and inlaid with shell and black limestone, the statuettes range in size from well under foot to about 30 inches tall. All of the statuettes represent mortals, rather than deities, with their hands folded in front of their chests in a gesture of prayer, usually holding the small beakers the Sumerians used for libations in honor of the Gods. The men wear belts and fringed skirts, and most have beards and shoulder length hair. The women wear long robes, with the right should bear. The Sumerian sculptors employed simple forms, primarily cones and cylinders, for the figures. The oversized eyes probably symbolize the perpetual wakefulness of these substitute worshippers offering prayers to the deity.