Cylinder Seal

CBS Register: Babylonian seal cylinder, serpentine

PBS XIV: A god seated between two buckled spears with hilts held point down by two kneeling Gilgamesh. From the extended hands of the god arise two curved lines, probably streams of water, one of which is connected with the buckle of a spear. The god is probably Ea, with horned mitre, long hair and beard, and a flounced shawl covering his left shoulder. There is a crescent above.

The kneeling figures with head in profile closely resemble the Gilgamesh on the seal of Sargali-sharri, holding the spouting vases from which two buffaloes are drinking. There are few figures of Gilgamesh attending on the water god. He is sometimes represented, buckled spear in hand, on either side of a recess where Ea stands surrounded by waters; or in the part of a fisherman carrying fishes and turtle. The buckled spears on either side of the water god are like the doors or posts on either side of the rising sun Shamash. They probably represent poles or masts (?) at the entrance of Ea’s shrine, the abzu of Eridu. Concave cyl. seal. Serpentine, 32 x 21 mm.