Cylinder Seal with Bull-Men and Lion

2700 BC - 2600 BC
Calcite
Tell Agrab
3.2 cm x 2.4 cm diam.
A21560

Oriental Institute Museum

Artifact Description

Cylinder Seal with Bull-Men and Lion

This cylinder seal was made from a piece of calcite. 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 depicts two bull-men slaying a lion, which, in turn, attacks a bull. In the field, between the figures, are two leaves and a calf's head.

Collected by

Henri Frankfort, Field Director of the Iraq Expedition
Excavated by The Oriental Institute 1936-1937

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

Black, Jeremy and Anthony Green. Gods, Demons, and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1992.

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

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

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