"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.
the standard of ur illustrates the common mesopotamian representation of
associated with a Mesopotamian belief that linked death with nakedness