<P> `` War '' is one of the earliest representations of a Sumerian army , engaged in what is believed to be a border skirmish and its aftermath . The `` War '' panel shows the king in the middle of the top register , standing taller than any other figure , with his head projecting out of the frame to emphasize his supreme status -- a device also used on the other panel . He stands in front of his bodyguard and a four - wheeled chariot , drawn by a team of some sort of equids ( possibly onagers or domestic asses ; horses were only introduced in the 2nd millennium BC after being imported from Central Asia ) . He faces a row of prisoners , all of whom are portrayed as naked , bound and injured with large , bleeding gashes on their chests and thighs -- a device indicating defeat and debasement . In the middle register , eight virtually identically depicted soldiers give way to a battle scene , followed by a depiction of enemies being captured and led away . The soldiers are shown wearing leather cloaks and helmets ; actual examples of the sort of helmet depicted in the mosaic were found in the same tomb . The nudity of the captive and dead enemies was probably not meant to depict literally how they appeared in real life , but was more likely to have been symbolic and associated with a Mesopotamian belief that linked death with nakedness . </P>
<P> `` War '' is one of the earliest representations of a Sumerian army , engaged in what is believed to be a border skirmish and its aftermath . The `` War '' panel shows the king in the middle of the top register , standing taller than any other figure , with his head projecting out of the frame to emphasize his supreme status -- a device also used on the other panel . He stands in front of his bodyguard and a four - wheeled chariot , drawn by a team of some sort of equids ( possibly onagers or domestic asses ; horses were only introduced in the 2nd millennium BC after being imported from Central Asia ) . He faces a row of prisoners , all of whom are portrayed as naked , bound and injured with large , bleeding gashes on their chests and thighs -- a device indicating defeat and debasement . In the middle register , eight virtually identically depicted soldiers give way to a battle scene , followed by a depiction of enemies being captured and led away . The soldiers are shown wearing leather cloaks and helmets ; actual examples of the sort of helmet depicted in the mosaic were found in the same tomb . The nudity of the captive and dead enemies was probably not meant to depict literally how they appeared in real life , but was more likely to have been symbolic and associated with a Mesopotamian belief that linked death with nakedness . </P>
the standard of ur illustrates the common mesopotamian representation of
the standard of ur illustrates the common mesopotamian representation of
associated with a Mesopotamian belief that linked death with nakedness
associated with a Mesopotamian belief that linked death with nakedness