28 Victory Stele of Naram-Sin

A stele is a vertical stone monument or marker often inscribed with text or with relief carving. Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker discuss the Victory Stele of Naram-Sin and its historical context.

Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, Akkadian, pink limestone, 2254–2218 BCE (Louvre, Paris)

This monument depicts the Akkadian victory over the Lullubi Mountain people. In the twelfth century BCE, 1,000 years after it was originally made, the Elamite king, Shutruk-Nahhunte, attacked Babylon and, according to his later inscription, the stele was taken to Susa in what is now Iran. A stele is a vertical stone monument or marker often inscribed with text or relief carving.