Mesopotamian cylinder seal with sun god
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Object number
AR2448-05
| Object: |
Mesopotamian cylinder seal with Shamash
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| Material: |
Black stone, haematite.
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| Period: |
1900 BC to 1600 BC, Old Babylonian period. |
| Description: |
Cylindrical seal with drill hole along the central axis. A mythological scene is carved into the mantle of the seal. The seal impression shows four standing figures. The second from the right is the sun god Shamash holding his saw-weapon. Behind him on the right is an adoring Lamma goddess. Next to him on his left and facing him is a god with a mace. On the far left is a human worshipper.
The scene is completed by a pole standard behind Shamash and a crescent and seated monkey in front of him. A forked lightning is behind the god with the mace.
The god Shamash is depicted and mentioned more rarely by the Babylonians than other gods. This seal shows him with a saw in his hand. According to a Babylonian myth he rises every day from the mountain Mashu into the sky. There he releases his rays of light into the whole world, uncovering all secrets. In the evening he returns into the earth so that the spectacle can begin again next morning. But Shamash was also the god of justice. He plays a role in the Epic of Gilgamesh and aids the hero Gilgamesh in his fight against the ogre Humbaba. |
| Background: |
Cylinder seals have been invented by the early civilizations of Mesopotamia. From the 4th Millenium BC onwards they conquered the whole Near East and beyond.
The emergence of this type of seal coincides with the first abundant use of scripture to manage the young highly organized city states. Such early seals are therefore a glimpse at the beginnings of civilization in Mesopotamia. Later seals broaden the view to all areas of administration, but also to trade and even personal matters. Many officials, traders and private persons must have possessed cylinder seals during the Bronze Age of Mesopotamia. What a happy instance for today's historians. Cylinder seals were made of durable materials and survived the millenia nearly unchanged. A treasury of images and inscriptions is reaching out to us from the Bronze Age. Thanks to the diverse original owners many stray finds have been made in the Near and Middle East. After the interest in antiquity has been reborn in Europe such finds have been preserved and valued. Many pieces could be attended to in private and public collections. And because of academic excavations with documented find contexts a chronology could be worked out. Today, also the stray pieces on the art market and in collections can be dated by iconographic means. For us it is a very special sensation to hold such seals in our hands and reflect the rise and fall of civilizations. |
| Dimensions: |
21.5mm length, 9mm diameter.
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| Preservation: |
Almost perfect condition. Surface slightly worn with small chips at the ends. Inlcuding seal impression.
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| Provenance: |
Acquired 2018 on the British art market. Previously in an important London private collection containing several hundred ancient seals. The piece was acquired for the collection between 1970 and 1988, collection no. PL5.
While in the London collection the cylinder seal was inspected and described by Professor Lambert. A copy of his notes is available. Wilfred George Lambert (1926 to 2011), a British archeologist specialized on Western Asia, was a professor at the University of Birmingham. After his retirement he was active in the ancient near eastern department of the British Museum. |
| Authenticity: |
We guarantee the authenticity of this object and all works of ancient art sold by us for life.
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