Winged hero fighting human-headed winged lion (lamassu, sphinx) while stepping on gazelle (antelope)
| Kategória | Cylinder Seals |
| Description of the seal image | A winged hero grasps a rampant human-headed winged lion (lamassu, sphinx) by the foreleg with one hand and holds a sickle sword (scimitar) with the other while stepping on a stumbling gazelle (antelope). He wears a feather-topped headdress and a broad-belted kilt decorated with a dot-in-square pattern. On either side of the hybride creature are an eight-rayed star and a crescent moon, respectively, while behind the two central figures are the spade of Marduk (marru) and the stylus of Nabu on separate stands. |
| Figures, motifs/symbols |
- crescent moon - gazelle (antelope): stumbling, head turned backwards - human-headed winged lion (lamassu, sphinx): rampant, beardless - spade of Marduk (marru): on a stand - star: eight-rayed - stylus of Nabu: on a stand - winged hero: bearded, four-winged, wearing a feather-topped headdress and a broad-belted kilt decorated with a dot-in-square pattern, holding a sickle sword (scimitar) |
| Subcategory | cylinder seal |
| Collection | Museum of Fine Arts Boston / MFA |
| Museum number | MFA 27.651 |
| Culture | Neo-Babylonian |
| Provenance | ex-Edward Perry Warren Collection; purchased by him in Paris; lent to the MFA by him on 28 October 1925; purchased by the MFA from him on 17 November 1927 |
| First occurence | before 1925 |
| Archaeological context | N/A |
| Registration number | N/A |
| Dimensions (mm): height, diameter | h: 38.3, d: 15 (Niederreiter 2020, 108 footnote 304) |
| Material and features | "chalcedony" |
| Style | modelled |
| Scene | contest |
| Bibliography |
Herzfeld 1938, 7–8 no. 65, Abb. 135 and Taf. XII. Herzfeld, E.: "Die Kunst des zweiten Jahrtausends in Vorderasien (II. Teil). An die mesopotamische Gruppe anzugliedernde Siegel". Archaeologische Mitteilungen aus Iran 9 (1938) 1–79. Porada 1947, 149–157 no. 3 and pl. III. Porada, E.: “Suggestions for the Classification of Neo-Babylonian Cylinder MFA: https://collections.mfa.org/objects/242386/ [accessed: 13-11-2023]. |