Cylinder Seal

CBS Register: cylinder seal. shell. An-gig-hu lugal. crossed lions bulls, goat between lions, hunter and lions.

UE II: Cylinder seal, shell, much decayed; in the upper register an inscription.

When it was first cut, this shell seal would have been a fine example of a combat scene. The main group of combatants is a pair of rampant lions attacking a rearing long-haired goat. Crossing behind the left-most lion is a second caprid rampant toward a two-tiered composition that replaces the nude hero. Each register has two distinct groupings. In the upper register to the left, the personal name Lugal-anzu is inscribed; to the right, a pair of rampant crossed bulls is shown. In the lower register, a heroic master of animals dominates a pair of felines, holding them upside down by their back legs. Next to this group is an elaborate snake interlace. These three scenes, shown in miniature in association with the inscription, are all used on other seals at full scale. Although there is no narrative association between these motifs, each one must have significance, perhaps in reference to the seal’s owner.

Although this simple inhumation had been plundered, Woolley found remnants of the kind of assemblage often associated with military men. Along with the cylinder seal were cockleshells with cosmetic paint, copper razors, remains of a wooden gaming board, a bronze ax with remains of the haft, other weapons, and copper and stone vessels.