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Cylinder Seal of King Bilalama

2000 BC - 1800 BC
Lapis Lazuli, Bronze, Gold
Original Site Unknown
4.0 cm x 1.5 cm diam.
A7468

Oriental Institute Museum

Artifact Description

Cylinder Seal of King Bilalama

This cylinder seal was made from a piece of lapis lazuli. It would have been rolled onto clay to produce a unique impression, or "signature," that was used either to indicate ownership or to safeguard personal possessions. This seal, which has a bronze stem and gold cap, belonged to Bilalama, son of King Kirikiri of Eshnunna, who later became king himself. It was purchased from an antiquities dealer in Baghdad in 1931, when archaeologists from the Oriental Institute were excavating levels dated to both Bilalama and Kirikiri at Eshnunna, and had undoubtedly been stolen from the excavations there. Three ancient impressions made from this seal were found by Oriental Institute archaeologists in the Shu-Sin Temple and the Palace of the Rulers at Eshnunna during the 1930 and 1931 seasons.

Inscription

Given by Kirikiri to his son Bilalama

Collected by

Henri Frankfort, Field Director of the Iraq Expedition
Purchased 1931

Multimedia

Cylinder Seals
What are cylinder seals and how were they used by the ancient Mesopotamians?

What is Conservation?
Ever wonder what a conservator does? Oriental Institute Museum conservator Laura Laura D'Alessandro tells you all about her job in this video.

Suggested Readings

Collon, Dominique. Interpreting the Past: Near Eastern Seals. University of California Press. 1990.

Hunter, Erica. First Civilizations: Cultural Atlas for Young People. New York: Facts on File, 1994.

Roaf, Michael. Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East. New York: Facts on File, 1990.

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