Hunting and warfare scene: Horse-riding swordsman hunting bull – Warfare scene: City under siege [triple scene in two registers]

Kategória	Cylinder Seals
Description of the seal image	The seal image comprises a dual scene above and a single scene below, arranged in superimposed registers framed by line borders at the top and bottom and separated by a ruling in the middle. In the upper register, a horse-riding hunter or soldier (swordsman) wearing broad-belted clothing pursues a bull while running down a headless human figure. He has a sheath at his waist. Above the bull are a crescent moon, an eight-rayed star and a fish, while in front of and below its legs are two single wedges and a double one. In the lower register, a half-kneeling archer wearing a triple-belted tunic with a fringed lower edge aims his bow at the defenders of a fortress or a city with crenellated walls and a gate. Behind him stands another archer wearing a longer triple-belted robe with a fringed lower edge. Each archer has a sword in a sheath at his waist. On top of the walls, there is a figure facing left, likely holding a bow and arrow in his hands, while behind him is an archer aiming at the attackers. On the left side of the fortress is a curved ladder-like element, probably indicating a walkway or a siege ramp below a crescent moon. Three single wedges appear, one under the walkway, and two others in front of the two sieging archers, respectively.
Figures, motifs/symbols	- borderlines (2): line borders at the top and bottom - bull: rampant - crescent moons (2) - fish - fortress or city: with crenellated walls, a gate and a walkway outside (possibly a siege ramp) - horse: galloping - human figure: fallen, under the horse, headless - hunter: swordsman, horse rider, wearing broad-belted clothing, has a sheath at his waist - soldier 1: half-kneeling, archer, wearing a belted tunic with a fringed lower edge, has a sword at his waist - soldier 2: standing, archer, wearing a long triple-belted robe with a fringed lower edge, has a sword at his waist - soldier 3: wearing broad-belted clothing, holding a bow and arrow - soldier 4: wearing broad-belted clothing, aiming a bow - star: eight-rayed - wedges (6): cuneiform, five single and one double
Subcategory	cylinder seal
Collection	Musée du Louvre
Museum Number	MN 1241 – N 8396 (3352) – CCO K. 7
Condition, shape	A thin, semicircular crack starts from the curved ladder-like element and runs down to the fortress.
Culture / Production Place	Neo-Assyrian
Provenance	excavated by Victor Place at Dur-Sharrukin (Khorsabad) in 1852
First Occurrence	1852
Archaeological context	Dur-Sharrukin (Khorsabad)
Dimensions (mm), height, diameter	h: 40, d: 14
Material and features	"pierre tendre, brune, avec taches verdâtres"
Style	linear
Scene	hunting, warfare
Bibliography	Delaporte 1920, 86–87 no. K. 7 and pl. 57: 2. Delaporte, L.: Musée du Louvre. Catalogue des cylindres. Cachets et pierres gravées de style oriental. I: Fouilles et missions. Paris, 1920.