Engraved stone vessel from Uruk, dating at about 3000 B.C., actually in the National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad. The decoration illustrates scenes of offerings to the goddess Inanna, whose main cult center was her temple in the city of Uruk. The images are probably related to the ritual drama of the Sacred Marriage, during which the ruler impersonated the god of the date palm (Amaushumgalana), while his wife, the queen, became the goddess Inanna herself. Their union was the central feature of the rite, showing the goddess as the source of abundance of the gifts of nature, represented by the several offerings which the king’s servants bring to the queen/goddess (Jacobsen 2005).

[Image: http://www.library.yale.edu/neareast/exhibitions/cuisine.html]