between 1894 B.C. and 1595 B.C.
brown jasper ;
Morgan Seal 368
Description
1 cylinder seal : brown jasper ; 18 x 10 mm
Provenance
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes
"... while the arrangement of the Old Babylonian contests is similar to that used in the earlier period, the introduction of new figures, especially in 359-369, indicates that such ontests had acquire new significance. The new figures include a goat seated upright on a knoll and attacked by a lion or lion-griffin or both, and a man on one knee at the mercy of similar assailants... The weather god on a bull between the pairs of contestants in 368 may likewise have some connection with the main theme, because the lion-griffin, before its appearance in the contest groups and its association with Nergal, accompanied the weather god, as in the Akkad seal 220." Porada, CANES, p. 44
Summary
Seated goat attacked by lion; man on one knee attacked by lion- griffin -- Between pairs, small weather god holding lightning fork and standing on kneeling bull.
Catalog link
Classification
Place
Southern Mesopotamia.
Department