Investiture of Zimri-Lim

Around 1760 BC Hammurabi of Babylon, whose law code stands in this same room, conquered the city of Mari on the Euphrates, and its great palace was later destroyed. In 1935 and 1936 the French archaeologist André Parrot found this painting still in place on one of its courtyard walls. The building had been famous. A letter from the Mari archives passes on a request from the king of Ugarit, on the Syrian coast, who wanted to be shown it. In the central panel a king stands before the goddess Ishtar. She rests one foot on a lion and hands him a ring and a rod, the symbols of royal power. Below, two goddesses hold vases with water streaming out. The king has long been identified as Zimri-Lim, the palace's last ruler, and the Louvre still names him. The French team excavating Mari now thinks he is one of Zimri-Lim's predecessors.