Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Hero with curved sword attacking fallen mouflon

between 1300 B.C. and 1200 B.C.
grey agate ;
Morgan Seal 599
Description
1 cylinder seal : grey agate ; 31 x 13 mm
Provenance
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes
"A somewhat exceptional feature is found in 598, in which a worshiper kneels below a winged sun disk on a stand. Such sun disks on stands occur frequently in Mitannian glyptic (see 1047...), and it may be assumed that the motif is derived from some such Mitannian example. The fact that the kneeling posture was prescribed in connection with some Kassite prayers may account for the position of the worshiper. However, it is noteworthy that here he seems to be floating in the air in an attitude recalling some renderings of the figure holding a rope that hangs from a winged gate on such seals of the Akkad period as 225." Porada, CANES, p. 69
Cylinder damaged.
Summary
Hero with curved sword attacking fallen mouflon -- Between them, thistle-like plant, star with rays above.
Classification
Place
Southern Mesopotamia.
Department