The Babylonian World - Historia Antigua

— Babylonian seals —
(a) (b) (c) (d)
(e) (f)
Figure 7.3 Representations of the Lama goddess photographed on actual Old Babylonian cylinder
seals (Collon 1986, nos. 73, 388, 394, 237, 588, 488, respectively):
(a) Haematite. 2.35 × 1.15. BM ANE 102046 (1905-11-14, 5);
(b) Haematite. 2.7 × 1.5. BM ANE 130694 (1945-10-15, 21);
(c) Haematite. 2.7 × 1.5. BM ANE 129528 (1945-10-13, 73);
(d) Goethite. 2.7 × 1.2. BM ANE 89083 (1891-1-23, 2);
(e) Haematite, some magnetite and goethite. 2.8 × 1.2. BM ANE 89191 (1894-6-11, 57);
(f) Red and white jasper. 3.3 × 2.1. BM ANE 89076 (1870-11-1, 2).
generally a cylinder 2.5 to 3.0 centimetres high, with the diameter typically half the
height. A few seals are very slightly concave sided. Seals of variegated stones, mainly
quartzes, sometimes belonging to women, are usually larger, but the designs are
simple and often show one or two figures facing an inscription (Figure 7.5), frequently
crudely executed, but the quality of the cutting would have been less easy to see on
variegated stone (Figure 7.3f; Collon 1986: 199–200, pls XL–XLIV). Several of the
carnelian and agate seals are basically barrel-shaped and were probably imported as
beads and subsequently carved as seals (Collon 1986, pl. IV bottom row).
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