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Back to previous pageLOT 0551
Sold for (Inc. bp): £4,216
1400-1100 BC
1 1/2" (12 grams, 39mm).
A banded agate cylinder seal with two figures and five lines of cuneiform text; two facing robed and bearded figures, one with right hand raised and the other with with a tool or khopesh; five lines of Sumerian text in archaising Babylonian cuneiform script, a prayer to Nanna for divine favour: (1) XX sağ-rig˟-ga '... as a present (?)' (2) diğir-ğu 10 šà-lá-me 'my god, you have pity (on me)' (3) [ğiš]gal-è en 6 -ğu 10 'towards (my?) position, my lord' (4) [ki]n igi-du 8 mušen e-na-x '[send] as (a sign of your) favour a bird' (5) diti sağ ku 5 -ba ğiš ku 5 'moon-god (?) the one who cuts wood. the chief of its cutting'; supplied with an impression and summary.
PROVENANCE:
Property of a London gentleman; part of his family collection since the 1970s.
FOOTNOTES:
The name of the supplicant of the prayer does not appear in the text, nor is the divinity named. It is assumed that the prayer's addressee is the moon-god Nanna. This lot is part of a single collection of cylinder seals which were examined in the 1980s by Professor Lambert and most are accompanied by his own detailed notes; the collection has recently been reviewed by Dr. Ronald Bonewitz.
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