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HOME :
Biblical Antiquities :
Bronze Age Artefacts : Eye Idol
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Eye Idol - PH.0180
Origin: Mediterranean
Circa: 2700
BC
to 2300
BC
Dimensions:
4.3" (10.9cm) high
Collection: Biblical
Style: Early Bronze Age
Additional Information: height is 11cm
£9,000.00
Location: Great Britain
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| Description |
In 1937, archaeological excavations in
Northern Syria at the site of Tell Brak
uncovered evidence of the “Eye Temple,”
named after the hundreds of small eye
idols
found fixed into the mortar of the
temple
itself. Located off a tributary of the
Euphrates
River, Tell Brak was one of the first
large cities
in Mesopotamia that would later serve as
an
administration center for the Akkadian
Empire. However, even during the
Chalcolithic era, the region of Northern
Syria
was an extremely important center for
trade,
linking the civilizations of Babylon
with the
mountainous areas of modern-day Turkey.
Little is known about eye idols and
their
name derives solely from their
appearance.
Shaped like a weight surmounted by two
eyes, much scholarly conjecture has been
proposed about their meanings. These so-
called “Eye Idols” are seen by some
scholars
most likely as votive figurines of
worshipers,
a type of votive object which developed
over
time throughout Mesopotamia into a large
number of figurative idols, all of them
notable
for their accentuated eyes. It is noted
that the
state of open eyes on a religious idol
symbolized devotion to the gods. Thus
these
stone eye idols might have been some of
the
earliest devotional objects from the
Near
East. Other scholars believe that their
function might have been more practical.
It is
believed that some of the larger idols
with
drilled holes in them may have served as
tools used in making threads out of
wool, by
twisting threads of wool or linen into
chord.
Passing the thread into each hole, and
in
twisting two (or three) of them
together, one
could make a nicer and stronger type of
thread, eventually in twisting two or
three
different colours of wool threads one
would
also produce more colourful textiles.
According to the opinion of some
archaeologists, it is also possible that
the
round features assumed to be eyes on a
human face may actually be breasts, with
the
part which is considered as the face
could in
fact represent a human torso.
- (PH.0180)
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