Deciphering chaos in the narratives of order. Tensions and Negotiations between Deities and Humans in the 'Uruk Vase' (c. 3000 B.C.)

The artifact known as 'Uruk Vase' affirms itself as a narrative of order, par excellence. Yet, a closer look at the arrangement and conjugation of its various iconographic elements, which display an intimate dialogue with the object itself, as well as with its cultic-ritualistic functions, also allows us to decipher a latency of chaos. Thus, based on the various academic proposals that interpret this object and the context that produced it, this paper seeks to present a reflective exercise on the tension between order and chaos displayed there. Focusing our attention particularly on what can be interpreted as 'implicit conflicts', we propose a reading of their symbolic meanings where the principles of order/chaos are assumed to be coexistent and interdependent, rather than merely antagonistic. Having in mind that, diachronically, this vision defined and gave meaning to human, natural and cosmic existences for the multiple human societies in the territory of ancient Mesopotamia, we therefore speculate on its outlines at a foundational moment in the history of that region.