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Cylinder Seal

Object Number:B16306
Current Location: Collections Storage
Provenience: Iraq
Ur
Date Made: c 1900 BCE
Early Date: -1900
Late Date: -1900
Section:Near Eastern
Materials:Stone
Hematite
Length: 2.3 cm
Width: 1.3 cm
Credit Line:British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926
Other Number:U.6255 - Field No SF
UE X: 475 - Other Number

Description

CBS Register: cylinder seal. hematite. Samash. Martu, 3 worshippers and small fig. c. 1900 BC 24 x 13 mm

UE X: a worshipper brings a kid as an offering to his god represented as an active hero of the Samas type but holding a short weapon horizontally. Like him he wears a horned mitre, beard, chignon, a pleated shawl hanging from the waist and open in front to let pass his bare leg, which rests on a bull recumbent. This is a mythical animal with beard and horned mitre, the "bull of heaven." The worshipper in turban and fringed shawl is followed by a number of Amorite figures. First, Martu with turban, splayed beard, short fringed shawl, and club in hand. Next, two little nude men wearing only a belt. One of them is apparently double-faced. Then two more Amorites, worshippers, or servants. The first wears a turban and a long fringed robe and keeps his hands clasped. The second, in short tunic and shawl, is like Martu but without the club. Haematite cylinder.

Current & Past Exhibitions:

Tokens to Tablets: Glimpses into 6000 Years of the History of the Ancient Near East (14 Nov 1987 - Aug 2006) View Objects in Exhibition

Bibliography:

[Article] Legrain, Leon. 1929. "Gem Cutters in Ancient Ur". The Museum Journal. Philadelphia. The University Museum. Vol. 20. no. 3-4. pg. 258-306 Actual Citation : Page/Fig./Plate: p. 302, pl. XL, no. 115View Objects related to this Actual Citation

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