cylinder seal

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Object Type
Museum number: 123193
Description: Serpentine cylinder seal; this is a recut presentation scene which originally consisted of a worshipper being led by a goddess before a seated deity. The goddess is still identifiable and her bent arm overlaps the secondary inscription frame; a second raised hand has been cut alongside the first. The seated deity has been almost entirely removed and a tree or date-palm altar has been roughly cut instead, but part of the knees of the deity survive. On the other side of the altar is a striding figure who holds a crook (perhaps the god Ammurru); it seems unlikely that this figure replaced the worshipper since it is too far from the leading goddess and the intervening space is now filled by a two-line framed inscription, but he may have replaced the attendant figure behind the seated deity. The figures stand on a base-line which forms one of the inscription frame.
Cultures/periods: Third Dynasty of Ur (seal); Old Babylonian (inscription)
Production date: 2100BC-2000BC
Excavator/field collector
Findspot: Excavated/Findspot: Diqdiqqah (Ur)
Materials
Dimensions: Diameter: 1.70 centimetres; Diameter: 0.625 inches; Height: 2.95 centimetres; Height: 1.125 inches
$Inscriptions
Bibliographic references
Location: Not on display
Subjects: tree/bush (?); religious object; deity; devotee/worshipper; attendant
Associated names: Named in inscription & portrayed: Amurru; Named in inscription: An
Acquisition name
Acquisition date: 1932
Department: Middle East
BM/Big number: 123193
Registration number: 1932,1008.163
Additional IDs: Excavation/small finds number: U.18183 (excavation number)

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