Cylinder Seal

CBS Register: Babylonian seal cylinder, soapstone. W.H. Ward seal cyl. no. 447

PBS XIV: The worshiping of a victorious king treading down his enemy like another war god. Instead of the traditional horned mitre the king wears for the first time the low woolen cap or turban well known as a headdress of the patesi Gudea, a landmark in history and art of Babylonian. He is shaven and shorn, or has only short hair under his turban, and a short loin cloth, or tunic, girded about his middle and leaving arms and legs bare. He wears a necklace and has a dagger stuck in his belt. In his right he grasps a sheaf of six weapons with round heads like clubs, and in his left a curved scimitar. He steps on a naked enemy laying on his back with hands up in fear and prayer. The worshiper, a Sumerian shaven and shorn, provably the scribe owner of the seal, stands in front of the king with clasped hand, a necklace emblem of his dignity and a fringed shawl covering his left shoulder.

“Ka Nannarzu, scribe, son of Lulamu.” Cyl. seal. Serpentine, 27 x 15 mm