"The city is known as Ur of the Chaldees. It was an
important center
of Sumerian culture and is identified in the Bible as the
home of Abraham.
This military standard is from the ruins of the royal tombs at Ur of the Chaldees in ancient Mesopotamia.
The decoration on each side is divided into three levels (registers)
which can be read from bottom to top. One side shows scenes of peace and
the other scenes of war.
--The war side shows a Sumerian army and scenes of warfare. On 
the
bottom level are chariots pulled by donkeys which are trampling enemies.
The chariots move faster as they move from left to right. Further up
the levels there are infantry soldiers with cloaks carrying spears,
enemy soldiers being killed with axes, prisoners being paraded naked and
presented to ruler who appears at the top carrying a spear and larger
than all the other figures.
--On the other side of the Standard, the bottom two levels show
workers of all sorts carrying bags on their shoulders, probably
containing fresh produce, and backpacks supported by headbands. There
are men leading donkeys as well as bulls, sheep and goats; others are
carrying fish. At the top there is a royal banquet. The ruler, wearing a
woollen fleece skirt, is seated before his guests who are also dressed
similarly, though less extravagantly. The banqueters are served by
attendants and entertained by a singer and musician playing a lyre.
----The peace side of the Standard shows how the city, and in
particular the ruler, draws upon the agricultural and natural resources
of its territory. .... Agricultural surplus could be used
to trade exotic foreign goods, such as the materials used to decorate
the Standard, which came hundreds or thousands of miles from the Persian
Gulf (the white shells), Afghanistan (the blue lapis lazuli) and India
(the red stones).
----On the other side, the Standard portrays warfare as a means of protecting the wealth of the city-state from outsiders.
The royal standard of Ur is important in the study of Biblical
archaeology, it reveals the fact that the original home of Abraham, the
city of Ur really existed.
Genesis 15:5-7 - "And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now
toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and
he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and
he counted it to him for righteousness. And he said unto him, I [am]
the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this
land to inherit it." BritishMuseum/BibleHistory
