God with spiked helmet, brandishing mace and ax

between 1650 B.C. and 1350 B.C.
hematite
23 x 11 mm
Morgan Seal 964
Provenance: 
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes: 

"The god in 964, who wears a horizontally striped tight-fitting skirt and a horned helmet topped by a spike, is brandishing a mace in one hand while holding an ax, a bull's rein, and a snakelike object in the other. He may be identified as the weather god by reason of his ax, a typical weapon of that god not only in Syria but also in Anatolia. Morevoer, in the inscription of 964, the seal owner call himself "servant of Adad". Since Adad was the Babylonian weather god, this association may confirm the suggestion that the deity in 964 is a weather god, despite the fact that an identification of figures in a seal on the basis of its inscription is not beyond doubt."--Porada, CANES, p. 129

Summary: 

God with spiked helmet, brandishing mace and holding ax, snake(?), rein of bull -- Before him, bull and worshiper, both on guilloche -- Above bull's rein, bird -- Below, Egyptian life sign -- In sky, seven globes, sun disk in crescent, star -- Inscription.

Classification: 
Department: