Hero grasping ostrich and human-headed winged lion (shedu, sphinx)
| Kategória | Cylinder Seals |
| Description of the seal image | A bearded hero grasps an ostrich by the neck with one hand and a rampant human-headed winged lion (shedu, sphinx) by the foreleg with the other. He wears a long, open robe over a short tunic and has two swords at his waist. On either side of his legs is a fish and a rhomb, respectively. A crescent moon is in the sky behind the hybrid creatures. |
| Figures, motifs/symbols |
- bird: ostrich, head turned backwards - crescent moon - fish - hero: bearded, wearing a long, open robe over a short tunic, has two swords at his waist - human-headed winged lion (shedu, sphinx): rampant, bearded - rhomb |
| Subcategory | cylinder seal |
| Collection | The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore |
| Museum number | WAM 42.432 |
| Condition, shape | slightly damaged upper and lower edges |
| Culture | Assyro-Babylonian |
| Provenance | ex-Henry Walters Collection; bequeathed to The Walters Art Museum by him in 1931 |
| First occurence | before 1931 |
| Archaeological context | N/A |
| Registration number | N/A |
| Dimensions (mm): height, diameter | h: 33, d: 17 |
| Material and features | "smoky chalcedony" |
| Style | modelled |
| Scene | contest |
| Bibliography |
Gordon 1939, 29 no. 93 and pl. XI. Gordon, C. H.: "Western Asiatic Seals in the Walters Art Gallery". Iraq 6/1 (1939) 3–34. WAM: https://art.thewalters.org/detail/9832/cylinder-seal-with-a-combat-scene/ [accessed: 12-11-2023]. |