The Babylonian World - Historia Antigua

— Babylonian seals —
ruler he serves (Figure 7.4) although, paradoxically, in the design the king is only
occasionally replaced by a seated deity (Collon 1986, pl. VII).
During the nineteenth century, the seated king in ceremonial robes was gradually
replaced by a standing king in a warrior’s kilt, facing the interceding goddess Lama
(Figure 7.1), with his right hand by his side, and holding a mace, head down at waist
level, in his left hand. The inscription still typically consisted of three lines, and the
remaining space was either left blank or was cut with filling motifs (Collon 1986,
pls XV–XXIII). Often, towards the end of the nineteenth century BC, a frontal naked
woman, depicted with shoulder-length hair but without the horned headdress of a
deity, stands in diminutive form between the figures, or full size at the end of a scene.
Her identity has been much disputed, but she may, in some cases, be Shala, the
consort of the storm god Adad (Figures 7.1 and 7.8; Collon 1986: 131–2).
From the middle of the nineteenth century more complex scenes appear with further
deities standing and receiving offerings and with a space for an inscription, although
this was not always cut. The most popular were still three-figure scenes with the
goddess Lama with both hands raised on the left, facing right and standing behind
the royal figure who is either kilted as a warrior, or wearing ceremonial robes with
one hand raised, or pouring a libation, or carrying an animal offering before a standing
deity. The god most frequently the focus of these scenes is the sun god Shamash,
who is no longer shown with rays as in Akkadian times (and on the Code of Hammurabi,
see Figure 10.2); instead, he generally holds the saw-toothed knife with which he
cuts his way through the mountains at dawn (Figure 7.11), but occasionally, he holds
Figure 7.11 Lama; king with offering; the sun god Shamash; lightning fork of the storm god
Adad. Inscribed ‘Ili-turram, son of Ipqu-Adad, servant of Adad’. Haematite. 3.0 × 1.65.
BM ANE 89228 (1814-7-5, 1 – ex-Townley Collection) (Collon 1986, no. 344).
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