LOT 0551

Western Asiatic Kassite Cylinder Seal with a Prayer to Nanna for Divine Favour

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.

Property of a London gentleman; part of his family collection since the 1970s.

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.