More than 4,500 years ago, this clay sealing from ancient Ur depicted a line of naked prisoners being marched together.
Shown one behind another in profile, the captives are completely stripped of clothing and possessions. Their nudity likely emphasized their vulnerability and defeated status—a visual language of captivity and submission that appears elsewhere in ancient Mesopotamian art.
Despite the simplicity of the image, it provides a striking glimpse into warfare, prisoners, and displays of power during the Early Dynastic period, when some of the world's earliest cities were developing in southern Mesopotamia.
📍 Ur, Iraq
📅 ca. 2900–2700 BCE
🏺 Clay sealing
🏛️ Penn Museum, Philadelphia
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