cylinder seal
- Museum number
- 89331
- Description
-
Blue chalcedony cylinder seal in the modelled style; beneath a winged disc, a cow suckles a calf and look back over its shoulder towards a leaping gazelle; the leaping gazelle also looks back at an advancing horseman below whose leaping horse runs another kid (note the animal has hooves and is not a dog) also looking back; on the right stands a worshipper facing left, with symbols in front of him and above the scene. The winged disc is of the multipartite horizontal 'bundle' type with a horizontal globe-tipped rod as an appendage and flaring tail-feathers. The horse has a triple crest (with a tall plume, represented by three drill-holes) on its head, beaded harness and a tassel around its neck. The horseman is beardless with shoulder-length hair; he wears a pointed helmet, a sword in his belt and a tunic with a fringed hem and a hatched and cross-hatched pattern which may indicate armour plates; in his right hand he holds the reins and in his extended left hand, a whip, which hangs behind the horse. Behind the horsemen are the wedges or stylus of Nabu, the spade of Marduk and a trident. Beyond these symbols stands the beardless worshipper in a fringed robe, also facing left, with a bracelet on each wrist, one hand with finger pointing and the other extended palm upwards. Above, to the right of the winged disc, are a star with centre-dot and eight rays, a crescent and the Pleiades. Both the cutting-wheel and drills have been used to create this design.Thin line borders at top and bottom. Convex ends and slightly concave-sided.
- Production date
- 800BC-750BC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 4 centimetres
-
Width: 1.80 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- According to catalogue "the subject-matter is unusual. The scene below the winged disc....is juxtaposed with what is apparently a hunting scene. However, the rider is clearly more suitably dressed for war than for hunting and, with prey as swift as gazelles, a bow and arrow would seem more suitable than a sword. The gazelle should probably, therefore, be seen as symbolising a successfully conquered nation, perhaps Babylonia, which may well have been symbolised by a gazelle or a state in the mountains to the east or north of Assyria. In view of the prominence of the rider in the scene, he is probably the owner of the seal, who had himself depicted as both a man of action and as a worshipper before the divine symbols, significantly those of the Babylonian gods Nabu and Marduk. The trident could symbolise either Adad (lightning fork) or Ninurta (who is depicted as firing trident arrows); however a similar trident appears as a symbol on Uratian royal seals and this symbol may have a political meaning rather than a purely religious one. The style, with its use of cutting-wheel and drills is used for seals of the late ninth or early eighth century. The shape of the helmet does not, unfortunately, help refine the date and nor does the sword, with a line across the scabbard probably representing the heads of embracing lions. The horse has a tall plume on its head, represented by three drill-holes, and this was introduced after the reign of Shalmaneser III. The length of the rider's scale-armour tunic (if this is indeed what it is) would favour a date before Tiglath-pileser III, when waist-length corselets seem to have been fashionable; it is possible, however that the skirt of the rider on the present seal is intended to represent the square patterning which became popular during the first half of the eighth century, and there is a close parallel for helmeted riders, wearing the corselet and patterned skirt, and horses with similar harness decoration and triple crests on a relief of Tiglath-pilesar's reign. The type of winged disc appears on a seal dated to the reign of Shalmaneser IV (782-773 BC). The evidence would, therefore, suggest a date after Shalmaneser IIII and probably not later than Tiglath-pileser III but since there are no reliefs to help refine the dating between these two reigns, further precision is at present impossible. However the fact that the owner was happy to have himself depicted as a rider is significant."
- Bibliographic references
-
Collon 2001a / Catalogue of the Western Asiatic Seals in the British Museum: Cylinder Seals V: Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Periods (215, pl.XVII, pl.XL)
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Keppel 1827a / Personal narrative of travels in Babylonia, Assyria, Media, & Scythia, in the year 1824 [= A journey from India to England ... in the year 1824] (192, no.6) (reversed as on seal)
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Budge 1925a / The rise and progress of Assyriology (p.25 or 26)
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Wiseman 1959 / Cylinder Seals of Western Asia (p.78)
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Rich C J 1813 / Continuation of the Memoir on the antiquities of Babylon (pl.I:12) (reversed as on seal)
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Rich C J 1818 / Second Memoir on Babylon (p.57, fig.11) (reversed as on seal)
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Cullimore A 1842 / Oriental Cylinders, Impressions of ancient oriental cylinders, or rolling seals of the Babylonians, Assyrians, and Medo-Persians (21)
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Lajard F 1847 / Introduction a l'etude du culte public et des mysteres de Mithra en Orient et en Occident (pl.XXIX:5)
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Hoffner S 1879 / La classe de l'Hercule assyrien (p.178)
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Frankfort H 1939 / Cylinder Seals: a documentary essay on the art and religion of the ancient Near East (pl.XXXIV:i)
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Beek M A 1962 / Atlas of Mesopotamia (p.119)
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Collon 1987a / First Impressions: Cylinder Seals in the Ancient Near East (739)
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Madhloom T A 1970a / The Chronology of Neo-Assyrian Art (pl.XX;1,3 and p.18) (cf:)
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Barnett & Falkner 1962 / The Sculptures of Ashur-nasir-apli II (883-859 B.C), Tiglath-pilesar (745-727 B.C), Esarhaddon (681-669 B.C) from the Central and South-West Palaces at Nimrud (pls.LXVI-LXVII) (cf:)
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Watanabe K 1993b / Neuassyrische Siegellegenden (81) (cf:)
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British Museum 2011a / Splendours of Mesopotamia (p.208, cat.185)
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1825
- Department
- Middle East
- BM/Big number
- 89331
- Registration number
- 1825,0503.135
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: R.135
