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cylinder seal
Object Type
cylinder seal
Museum number
116142
Description
Black serpentinite cylinder seal; a snout-nosed, horned reptile, of which only part of the head is visible, faces left, below a crescent. Behind this head is the upper part of a bearded god, facing left, wearing a round-topped, horned head-dress, holding a six-pronged thunderbolt in his extended right hand and raising his left hand behind him. Behind him are four of the Pleiades, a globe-with-rays and a crescent-standard. A chevron border. Lower half missing; shiny; a fault in the stone has resulted in chipping. Originally slightly barrel-shaped.
Cultures/periods
Neo-Hittite
(?)
Excavator/field collector
Excavated by:
Sir Leonard Woolley
Findspot
Excavated/Findspot:
Carchemish
, water postern below citadel, in a Late Hittite context.
Materials
serpentine
Dimensions
Diameter:
1.35 - 1.45 centimetres
Height:
1.75 centimetres
(max)
Bibliographic references
Collon 2001a / Catalogue of the Western Asiatic Seals in the British Museum: Cylinder Seals V: Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Periods
(286, pl.XXIV)
Woolley 1921a / Carchemish: Report on the excavations at Jerablus on behalf of the British Museum, Part II, The town defences
(pl.26b:5 and 5*)
Location
Not on display
Condition
Incomplete; lower half missing; a fault in the stone has resulted in chipping.
Subjects
reptile
sun/moon
deity
storm
planet/constellation
Associated names
Representation of:
Pleiades
(?)
Acquisition date
1922
Department
Middle East
BM/Big number
116142
Registration number
1922,0511.275