The royal program

Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati – July 2000, June 2025

Introduction

The Hurrian dynasty at Urkesh during the rule of Tupkish and Uqnitum had a very explicit dynastic program which emphasized their role as patrons but especially their role as the rulers of the city and their children as very much connected with this program. We see also that the program continued in the reign of Ishar-kinum, a later king of Urkesh.

Objectives

Their program had very specific objectives. Both Tupkish and Uqnitum wanted to portray themselves as the Urkesh dynasts within very clear settings that highlighted their powers as rulers; this through emphasizing court settings reflecting known places within their palace. Thus for instance the family scene (Q3)of the king and queen both sitting on identical seats facing each other with the crown prince and small child included.

Additionally their iconography connected them with symbols of power, such as the lion laying down passively under the chair of Tupkish (K2). The detailed carving of the lion and the addition of a figure pouring liquid presumably for the lion to drink emphasizes the dominence of the king. Interestingly although a lion not depicted in the seals of the queen it is depicted under the inscription in the two seals of the nurse Zamena. A symbol that is connected with the crown prince is the star placed prominently in K2, Q2 and H2.

At the same time dynastic continuity is highlighted through the depiction of their children especially the crown prince standing on the lion in front of the king in the family scene of Uqnitum. This prince is touching the knees of his father and thereby showing the children’s intimate relationship with the royal couple and emphasized the continuity of the family dynasty. This intimate iconography is found also in the two seals of Zamena who touches the hand and the knees of the small child seated on the lap of Uqnitum.

Palace orginization

Another series of motifs that highlights their power and efficiency as rulers is achieved by their portrayal of activities within the palace of servants of Uqnitum. Two servants, the nurse Zamena, and the cook Tuli, were important in the palace organization; this is shown by their iconography of working, by their inscription naming them and connecting them with the queen, and by the large number of their sealings we found in the palace excavations. In other seals of Uqnitum we have the singer and lyre player both performing for the queen in------ and sitting under her inscription. In the cook’s seal a male butcher and a woman stirring two jars again emphasizes the important palace activities going on under the auspice of Uqnitum. In Q1 two bending figures are holding up her seal inscription emphasing again the important connection between the queen and the work in the palace.

Royal Program continued later

The new royal iconography continued later as we have it in the seal of Ishar-kinum, a later king of Urkesh, where two lions are shown beneath the throne of a deity, but in this case they appear to be statues, and a small figure is standing on one; the figure pouring liquid is also still present. Also in the newly cut seal of the royal cook Tuli we see the same iconographic program with a few changes, eg. the depiction of the working female staffbecause the original seal of Tuli was so worn from use that her name was no longer readable.

Royalty as patrons - working relationship with artists

The royal seals linking the text of their inscriptions with the iconography is a sign of the cooperation between the patrons and their artists, a cooperation that we have not seen previously in the art of Syro-Mesopotamia. One clear example is in the garments portrayed for the two dynasts. In K2 Tupkish is whown seated and wearing a flounced garment. In the family scent, Q2, Uqnitum is wearing a flounced garment but Tupkish and the crown prince both wear a fringed garment. In the seals of Uqnitum when we have the garment represented in our fragments of her seals preserved she has on the flounced garment which appears to be the more important dress both for both dynasts. CH HER DRESS IN HER SI AND ZAMENA SI. When servants are depicted (Q3, Q4, Q5, Q6) they wear a fringed garment. The decision of the garments to be rendered must have been taken by the patrons only or possibly in conjunction with the artists!

In conclusion we can see that the cooperation in the creation of picture and text does not reappear until the Achaemenid empire.