The relief measures 2 meters in height (6' 7")[1] and was carved in pinkish sandstone,[2] with cuneiform writings in Akkadian and Elamite.

The stele shows a narrative scene of the king crossing the steep slopes into enemy territory; on the left are the ordered imperial forces keeping in rank while marching over the disordered defenders that lie broken and defeated.

Naram-Sin is shown as by far the most important figure, towering over his enemy and troops and all eyes gaze up toward him.

This stele is in essence telling the viewer that Naram-Sin is a victorious conqueror as a result of his divine status.

[3][4] In 1898, Jacques de Morgan, a French archaeologist, excavated the stele and it was moved to the Louvre in Paris, where it remains today.

This is for good reason because he is shown stepping on the dead body of one of the Lullubi people after kicking another off the side of the mountain.

[9] A tree native to the area is pictured between the two groups of soldiers, firstly to locate the battle in a specific place, and to help frame the stele.

They are depicted as a broken group lacking discipline, conveying their uncivilized and barbaric nature, which in turn justified the conquest.

When a figure is shown wearing a horned helmet in Akkadian art at the time they would have commonly been considered a god.

[16] The low depth, typical of similar reliefs, is unusual in the diagonal composition (compare the scenes on the Standard of Ur).

[17] Alternatively, the stele may depict a campaign to Cilicia; the strongest indication of this is the form of the booty—a metal vessel—carried by one of Naram-Sin's soldiers.

Completely foreign to Mesopotamia, the vessel closely resembles Anatolian crafts from Troy and Cilicia.