Object no. | S01988 |
Description of the seal image | Ninurta (archer), depicted in a wide stance, wearing a long robe, aims his star-studded bow at the rampant Anzu (lion-griffin). He is further armed with a sword at his waist and another bow on his back. Behind Ninurta stands a worshipper wearing a long robe below a large crescent moon. Above Anzu's right wing are the Sibitti (Pleiades), while a rhomb appears above a seven- or eight-rayed, globe-centred star and below the wing. |
Figures, motifs/symbols |
- Anzu: lion-griffin, rampant, head turned backwards - crescent moon - globes: around the figures - Ninurta: archer, hunter, bearded, depicted in a wide stance, wearing a long robe, has a sword at his waist and another bow on his back - rhomb - Sibitti (Pleiades) - star: small, seven- or eight-rayed, globe-centred - worshipper: wearing a long robe |
Subcategory | cylinder seal |
Collection | Penn Museum |
Museum Number | B1051 – CBS 1051 |
Condition, shape | chip below the bow |
Culture / Production Place | Neo-Babylonian |
Provenance | purchased by Dr John P. Peters and Dr Robert Francis Harper in Baghdad in January 1889 |
First Occurrence | 1889 |
Archaeological context | N/A |
Registration number | N/A |
Dimensions (mm), height, diameter | h: 27.5, d: 15 |
Material and features | "chalcedony" |
Style | drilled |
Scene | pursuing |
Bibliography |
Legrain 1925, 307 no. 610 and pl. XXXI. Legrain, L.: The Culture of the Babylonians. From Their Seals in the Collections of the Museum. I–II. (Publications of the Babylonian Section 14) Philadelphia, 1925. |
Object history |