World Wonders: The Ram in the Thicket

COURTESY OF THE PENN MUSEUM, IMAGE 151,000

The Ram in the Thicket is one of the most dramatic discoveries from the royal cemetery of Ur, an ancient Sumerian city some believe was the birthplace of Abraham. Indeed, the figurine’s name is an allusion to the story of Abraham’s near-sacrifice of Isaac, in which God instead provides Abraham with a sacrificial ram caught in a thicket (Genesis 22:13). Made from gold, silver, and lapis lazuli, the figurine stands nearly 17 inches tall and depicts a spiral-horned goat eating the leaves of a tree. The statue has undergone considerable conservation work since its discovery and is housed today in the Penn Museum in Philadelphia.

The ram was discovered in the Great Death Pit of Ur, one of 16 royal graves that date to the Early Dynastic IIIA period (2600–2500 BCE). The royal graves were identified by exquisite funerary goods and the presence of dozens of individuals buried alongside the tomb’s royal female occupant, possibly as a form of human sacrifice. It is not certain which royal was buried there, but some scholars think she was a queen or even the high priestess of the city’s patron goddess, Nanna, a role typically held by one of the city’s princesses.