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May 18, 2007
The Seal of Lugal-Dúr, the Scribe
While looking for something else I came across a beautiful cylinder seal from Nippur. While it is neither from a location (Mesopotamia) nor from a time (3rd millennium BCE) normally among my abnormal interests, its wonderful workmanship struck me. You can take a look at the whole seal by downloading Nippur V and looking at the second seal on plate 157. This file is rather large, nearly 37MB. I have reproduced the inscription from the seal to the left.
The publishers describe the seal and its iconography as follows,
. . . Carved in translucent white rock crystal with a few red inclusions; the scene consists of three pairs in combat: two six-locked heroes - nude except for belts - gripping addorsed water buffaloes by the front legs, followed by a bull-man thrusting a dagger in the belly of a lion. [page 121 of text]
The inscription reads,
LUGAL DÚR / DUB.SAR, "Lugal-Dúr, the scribe"
I'm not very at all familiar with this early linear style script and it took me a while to sort out the first sign. The other signs weren't so easy either but they did go faster. I sure was glad that the publishers did it before me but I did check their work. For those, like me who want to make the effort to figure it out but lack the proper bacground, it is perhaps best to rotate the text 90º counter clockwise. Note that the name, Lugal-Dúr, is separated from the title, DUB.SAR by a line that places both sign complexes in adjoining boxes.
I can only be thankful to the Oriental Institute for putting great stuff like this online at no cost.
Reference:
Posted by Duane Smith at May 18, 2007 7:34 PM | Read more on Scribal Schools |
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