Stamp seal (octagonal pyramid) with cultic scene

Stamp seal (octagonal pyramid) with cultic scene

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This stamp seal shows an encounter between two figures who can be identified as male because of their long beards. The seal, carved with an octagonal face in the hard, lustrous stone chalcedony, appears in the photograph at left; at right is a modern impression in modelling clay of the image carved in intaglio into the seal face. In the impression, the figure at right wears a long garment with fringe at the hem and raises his hand to his face, palm inward, in a respectful gesture of greeting. The figure at left wears a fish-skin cloak and carries a bucket, shown as a square formed by incised lines with a handle at top. The fish-skin cloak identifies him as an āšipu (ah-shee-pu), a priest who tended to sick people by exorcising the evil spirits that were thought to be causing their illness. The fish-skin cloak connects this figure with the primordial land of sweet waters, the Apsu, the domain of the wise god Ea. The figure at right may be visiting the exorcist priest in order to be healed. Between them is a staff, mounted in upright position and topped with a globe; in the sky above is a winged disk, symbolizing the Assyrian chief god Assur. A diamond-shaped object appears behind the exorcist priest’s back.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Stamp seal (octagonal pyramid) with cultic sceneStamp seal (octagonal pyramid) with cultic sceneStamp seal (octagonal pyramid) with cultic sceneStamp seal (octagonal pyramid) with cultic sceneStamp seal (octagonal pyramid) with cultic scene

The Met's Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art cares for approximately 7,000 works ranging in date from the eighth millennium B.C. through the centuries just beyond the emergence of Islam in the seventh century A.D. Objects in the collection were created by people in the area that today comprises Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean coast, Yemen, and Central Asia. From the art of some of the world's first cities to that of great empires, the department's holdings illustrate the beauty and craftsmanship as well as the profound interconnections, cultural and religious diversity, and lasting legacies that characterize the ancient art of this vast region.