Cylinder Seal

CBS Register: Tello (?) Seal cylinder, 2 vultures enclosed in a rope-pattern or snake (?)

PBS XIV: two birds flying over an undulating line of mountains. the first has the head in profile and outspread palm like wings and talons, as the eagle of the coat of arms of Lagash. The second-a vulture or falcon- is entirely in profile, with two wings displayed over his back after the early Elamite style. The Sun god, rising over mountains, with rays on his shoulders, has been early associated with the eagle. In Assyrian and Persian times the emblem of the supreme god Ashur and Ahura-Mazda, is a flying disk, with wings and tail of an eagle, curved streamers instead of legs and talons, and frequently a figure of the god within the circle. Flying eagle and flaming sun were closely connected in the imagination and worship of the Sumero-Elamites. A cross in the field may be the very symbol of the sun. The birds are opposed tail to tail according to a primitive convention of perspective. Worked with the point within a rope like pattern. Cylinder Seal. Serpentine, 23 x 12 mm.