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Description (Modern):
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Cylinder seal (Lamia's list no.191)
UE 2 p. 362 no. 364
'The seal of the three gods, two solar deities and the water-god of Eridu, Enki. Enki in his shrine is surrounded by the water of the abyss, the absu: he commands the springs. He is a god of vegetation and streams, and green branches issue from his shoulders. The three pennons, or cups, at the top of the shrine are unexplained. The god is dressed in approved style with kaunakes, horned crown, and rolled hair. Four streams of water wash the four faces of his abode and meet at the four corners. They overflow past the handle at the top of a buckled shaft, which a kneeling Gilgamesh holds fast with arms wound round it. This is perhaps the tarkullu-post marking the entrance.
The solar deities are of two types. There were shrines of the Sun-god at Larsa in the south and at Sippar in the north. Sippar, the supreme court of the land in the days of Hammurabi, had a famous cult image, remembered down to the time of Nabonidus. The Shamash of Sippar was enthroned under a canopy and receiving offerings. Utu, the god of Larsa, was probably the fighting hero of morning. Sippar, in Sumerian times, may have worshipped him under a similar aspect. The two heroes with the flaming wings on one seal give ground for the supposi- tion. Both climb mountains, weapon in hand, but with a difference. One stands on a roaring, crouching lion, and climbs between mountains like wings, stepping on the shoulder of his defeated enemy, the god of night and darkness. The second ascends the stages of a ziggurat crowned by a two-story building. One may be the morning sun, the other the sun of noon. One wears the long Kish skirt pleated and opening in front, the other a short Sumerian kilt of kaunakes closing behind. One holds his notched saw on high, the other trails his club. Both have flaming wings, beards, long hair tied in a roll, but their horned mitres are different. The first wears the plume-like central piece with three pairs of small horns, the second has all the horns converging towards the middle. This rich mythological picture has unusual details. The lion is the emblem of Ishtar-associated with Shamash, also of Nergal the god of underground darkness. The first hero could be the Akkadian Shamash, and the second the Sumerian Utu.
Dark green st. cyl. 36X24 mm. U. 9750, with 9751. PG/699.'
UE 2 p. 548
'U.9750. Cylinder seal, dark green stone, l.0.036 m., d. 0.024 m., with copper caps. PG/699. Pl. 215. (B. 14577.)'
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