Old Babylonian Cylinder Seals from the Hamrin.

• Author: Yuhong, Wu
• Position: Review

Edited by LAMIA AL-GAILANI WERR. Edubba, vol. 2. London: NABU, 1992. Pp. 63, photos, drawings. [pounds]30 (paper).

In this volume, five authors publish in hand-drawings and large photos 118 cylinder seals, excavated from two sites in the Hamrin Basin, Tell Suleimeh on the other bank of Me-Turan, and Tell Halawa about twenty kilometers north of Me-Turan. Despite the title, the ninety-nine seal designs from the eight levels of Tell Suleimeh, copied and commented by S. Mansour, B. Shakir, and M. Zahawi, cover the Jemdet Nasr to the Old Babylonian periods, suggesting that Tell Suleimeh, the ancient Batir (see below), was one of the earliest cities of Mesopotamia.

Seals 1-7 belong to the Jemdet Nasr period, in which nos. 2526 may be included. Their designs are either geometrical or of goats and gazelles. Seals 23-24 are of baked clay with very simple and crude designs of persons, plants, and animals. Seals 822, and 77-82 bear Early Dynastic designs reflecting Sumerian cultic activities involving deities, priests, servants, and sacrifices. Seals 28-44, 60-63, 74-75, and 94 have Early Dynastic and the Early Akkadian motifs of a beardless, bald, and often nude Sumerian male (Gilgamesh?), a circle for face, and/or the bull man (Enkidu?). They wrestle bulls or rams or an attacking lion.

Seals 43-57 of the Akkadian period are also about contests between heroes and lions attacking a bull/ram; but by now, there are three heroes, and they are all bearded. One of the two men, wearing short kilt, a feather hat, and long beard, uses his weapon to kill or overpower a lion. He may represent an Akkadian king on a hunt. The second man, donning a helmet and a short beard, wrestles a bull, and he might be an Akkadian king or his crown prince. The third person, who has a horn and long beard and whose lower part can be that of a bull, fights a bull (but in no. 46, a lion) with the same human face and curled long beard. They may represent, respectively, deities protecting and threatening the king. The lion that furiously attacks may also symbolize the enemy. Seal 50 is dated to Sargon by the legend (see below).

The motif of fighting against the enemy and his deity is best displayed in a seal impression of scribe Eskidu published by Erika Bleibtreu in "Akkadische Zweikampfszenen," WZKM 86 (1996): 64. It depicts: a) the goddess of Agade (Ulmasitum), dressed, grasping an enemy's long hair; she uses a dagger to kill the enemy's naked goddess (Inanna of Elam?); b) a...