Hematite cylinder seal of Habde-Adad
Old Babylonian Dynasty, about 19th century BC
From Mesopotamia
The design on this cylinder seal shows a typical scene of the
nineteenth century BC of a presentation to a god. A king carries an
animal offering, while behind him stands a goddess or
lamma. A lamma is often shown leading the
worshipper before the god but here she stands with her hands raised
in prayer. The god holds a knife or saw, identifying him as
Shamash, god of the sun and justice.
The cuneiform inscription identifies the seal owner as
'Habde-Adad, servant of the king Ibiq-Adad'. At the time in
northern Mesopotamia, around Babylon and Eshnunna, various Amorite
and West Semitic princes were gaining control of cities. Ipiq-Adad
II was an Amorite ruler whose dynasty had taken control of
Eshnunna, north-east of modern Baghdad. He began to use seals with
typical Babylonian designs.
The seal was part of a collection of antiquities assembled by
Claudius James Rich, the first British Resident in Baghdad in the
early years of the nineteenth century. Rich's collection formed the
foundations for The British Museum's Mesopotamian collection in
1825.
D. Collon, First impressions: cylinder se (London, The British Museum Press, 1987)
D. Collon, Catalogue of the Western Asi-2 (London, 1986)