AN AKKADIAN BLACK SERPENTINE CYLINDER SEAL

CIRCA 2334-2154 B.C.

Details

AN AKKADIAN BLACK SERPENTINE CYLINDER SEAL
Circa 2334-2154 B.C.
The scene divided into three parts, one part composed of two dogs seated on their haunches looking up at an eagle in the sky carrying a man, a large pot between the dogs and a spouted vessel above the dog to the right, a man to the left wearing a kilt, standing with his right arm extending forward and his left arm raised, further to the left another scene with a standing shepherd, carrying a vessel on a rod over his shoulder, guiding three goats with a whip in his right hand, between them a tripod from which hangs an oblong object, and the third scene above the goats consisting of two men engaged in a task involving an uncertain object, the two surrounded by circular objects, the terminal in the form of a fence
35 x 24 mm

Lot Essay

The man being carried by the eagle is Etana, thirteenth king of Kish. Etana had no son and prayed daily to Shamash, the sun god, to grant him a child. Shamash directed him to an eagle caught in a pit, where it had been trapped by a serpent, having eaten the young of the snake. Etana freed the eagle who, in gratitude, carried the king on his back to heaven. Upon his arrival in heaven, Etana was brought to the throne of Ishtar, where he begged the goddess for a son, since his queen was barren. She gave him the plant of birth which he had to eat together with his wife. There are gaps in the story, but it seems Etana did eventually have a son. An alternative version of the story informs that the eagle was unequal to the task and plummeted to earth (see Lindemans, "Etana" in Encyclopedia Mythica). For another seal with Etana and the eagle, here in the presence of a hero shooting with bow at ibexes on top of a mountain, see no. 332 in Buchanan, Catalogue of Ancient Near-Eastern Seals in the Ashmolean Museum, I. Cylinder Seals.

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