A Sumerian Palace and the "A" cemetery at Kish, Mesopotamia

THE "A" CEMETERY, KISH (Continued) 191
together. It is unlikely that two seals would be in use at the same time, but as
all were probably important, they were doubtless carried on the person for safety,
and may also have served the purpose of identification. Even at the present day,
seals are carried on the person in most parts of the East, and care is taken that
they do not get into the hands of those who might use them unlawfully.
Some of the seals are di\'ided into two registers by one or two fine lines.
The upper and lower designs are always dissimilar, except in those seals which
have a single geometric design as in Plate XLI, Figs. 11-12. Seven such seals
were found, but mostly too worn to be illustrated (burials 67, 87, 107, 131, 144.
Reg. Nos. 1973, 2038, 2249, 2400B, 2116, 2674, 2850B). In eleven seals a blank
space was left in the designs, presumably for a name or an emblem as in Plate
XLI, Figs. 3-4 (bui'ials 55, 62, 77, 107, 117, 128, 134, 135, 146. Seals 1953, 1987,
2162A, 2399, 2509D, 2558, 2567, 2648, 2697B, 2718, 2883). It would seem that
the seal-maker was accustomed to leave vacant spaces to be filled in accordance
with the requirements of his clients. Seal-cutting was doubtless in the hands of
quite a few men, and in those cases in which a space was left for the client's name
the designs engraved upon them were probably mostly stock designs. The better
class Sumerian, however, probably ordered his own design, and an example of
such a seal is seen in Plate XLI, Fig. 8. This seal is exceptionally well cut and
finished. It bears an inscription in archaic characters, which Professor S. Langdon
reads as meaning, "the property of 1-Tl-Dar, the Chief Minister." This seal was
found just above the footing of chamber 25 into which it had been washed with
some mud from a denuded grave.
Animals are depicted in most of the seals. The lion is very common, two
males usually being shovvm. The antelopes are of several varieties. Some have
long horns curving over the back as in Plate XLI, Fig. 1. Others have short horns
as in Fig. 2 of the same plate, and in others again the horns take the shape of a
lyre (Plate XLI, Fig. 8). In seals 2116 and 2509B, the stag is shown, and an
ostrich is figui'ed in seal 2400. The last three seals were in too bad a condition
to render good impressions possible. A bull is represented in seals 2558, 2697B,
2432 (Plate XLI, Figs. 4 and 8). In the first seal the animal is represented with a
bull's head and long curved horns, but does the animal really represent a bull?
It is extraordinarily like the brindled gnu, or West African Bubal with the charac-
teristic wrinkling of the skin on the shoulders. In the other two seals the bull-like
body is surmounted with what appears to be a human head with horns. This
figure probably represents Gilgamesh, who is sometimes showm wearing horns.
The figure of Gilgamesh, or possibly some other hero, is depicted on several
seals; for instance, Nos. 2172, 2195, 2558, 2432, 2501, 2569, 2612 (Plate XLI,
Figs. 8, 9, and 17). This figure, which is usually shown wearing a long beard,
is never represented in profile. In some of the seals, the hero is shown holding an
animal up by the tail or hind feet on either side of him, as in Plate XLI, Fig. 9.
The figures of ordinary' individuals are veiy common. In the majority of cases
they appear to be herdsmen, either nude or wearing short kilts, some of which
terminate in a single row of fiinges. The people of better class who are depicted
on the seals wear a longer skirt.