The Babylonian World - Historia Antigua

— Dominique Collon —
Figure 7.17 Seated god; filling motifs. Inscribed with a prayer by Sha-ilimma-damqa, son Lugalmansi,
to the sun god Shamash. Chalcedony. 4.4 × 1.9. BM ANE 89128 (before 1900) (Collon
1987, no. 238; Matthews 1990, no. 34).
First Kassite seals (Figure 7.17) are characterised by seated deities or elongated
figures of a deity and worshipper, and a long votive prayer. Matthews (1992) divided
the First Kassite seals into a Central group (based on dated documents from Nippur)
and a Northern group (impressed on the tablets from Nuzi, near Kirkuk); these
groups use different figure combinations and filling motifs. Matthews also isolated a
Pseudo-Kassite group derivative from Northern, with Elamite connections: many
actual seals have been excavated at Susa and Choga-Zanbil in south-western Iran
(Figure 7.18). His subsequent work on sealed documents from Nippur led Matthews
to speculate as to whether the Northern group was actually a later phase of the Central
group and whether Pseudo-Kassite was what happened to First Kassite when the seals
were carved in a material, such as faience, which was softer than the customary
quartzes (Matthews 1992).
Two interesting variations of the First Kassite style deserve mention although they
are not really Babylonian. They are rock crystal seals (an exceptional material for this
period) and were recovered from a ship that sank around 1300 BC off Uluburun on
the south coast of Turkey (Collon 1987, no. 571). A further extraordinary seal was
recovered from a grave at Metsamor in Georgia (Figure 7.19).
Second Kassite seals (Figure 7.20) are less stereotyped and correspondingly more
attractive. The scene is arranged around a central figure (mountain god, nude hero
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